Technology is advancing and we’re reaping all the benefits! These advancements have allowed hiring agencies to connect more easily with potential candidates. But staffing agencies now face a new problem: how to process the resulting volume of candidates. Enter artificial intelligence. A normally time-consuming task for anyone working at a staffing agency (like resume screening) can become streamlined down to a matter of seconds with artificial intelligence. Staffing agencies can benefit from an array of AI-assisted tech, particularly at the early stages of the hiring process when working with a high volume of potential candidates and resumes. As AI has grown more sophisticated to meet this need, its applications and multiple benefits to staffing agencies have also advanced.

Source Potential Candidates In The Right Places

AI works best with lots of data—the more data, the more accurate AI tech can be in its predictions and analysis of the parts and particulars of hiring. Perhaps the key benefit of using artificial intelligence for staffing is sourcing candidates. For example, classification algorithms in AI can tailor job ad postings by job type—because the best place to post for a trucking company position will not be the same as the best source of hire for a vacant nursing position. Staffing agencies have a variety of job types to classify across multiple industries and AI can use historical and real-time data to assess the efficiency of job ads for any type of job, finding the best candidates for a particular job where they actually search.

Use ATS Data To Find Qualified Candidates

Another important sourcing strategy for staffing agencies can be found in their own Applicant Tracking Systems, which are often used to keep tabs on applicants through the hiring process. But what about after? ATS data is often underutilized. Past applicants can be a great source for new job openings, and reassessing applicant data in a new context (i.e. for a newly open position) is one of the ways machine learning can benefit staffing agencies. Going back over that data is efficient with AI applications and can allow staffing agencies to find interested and qualified candidates more quickly.

Screen Applicants With Just A Click

Once the process of sourcing candidates is optimized, staffing agencies will face the “good” problem of having a high volume of candidates to screen. While keyword searches within digital resumes have helped, there’s a lot more that AI can do to whittle down the slush to the top-tier candidates. AI-tech can score candidates based on whatever criteria the head of hiring deems important. From past experience to a candidate’s commute time, artificial intelligence can assess how well a candidate will fit in a particular position, analyzing a broader range of factors in a shorter amount of time.

Keep Candidates Engaged Throughout The Process

How many good candidates are lost simply because the hiring process is too lengthy? Candidates are liable to get poached or even just frustrated with your process. The efficiency of AI can decrease time to hire, and now AI chatbots that use sophisticated natural language processing can also actually keep candidates engaged throughout the process and manage candidate expectations. From answering applicant questions, texting applicants, or scheduling interviews, AI chatbots can take another time-consuming task off a recruiter’s plate.

Interview In The Smartest Way Possible

AI can do a lot to help staffing agencies whittle candidates down to the top tier, but then what? Once the interviews are scheduled, recruiters still have to conduct interviews, do the handshakes, and make the final decisions.  Video software can help staffing agencies review their candidates after the interview is over and can give the team another set of eyes and impressions of potential front runners.

Now facial recognition software that uses AI can take that process one step further to help determine if candidates are lying, nervous, or even surprised. Of course, your average interviewer should have the ability to do this too, but AI software can read emotions as data that can help tabulate a candidate’s personality or success for a particular position—especially when these traits like “people skills” or keeping calm under pressure are integral to the job. AI software can also help staffing agencies assess and reduce unconscious bias on the part of an interviewer, offering more information to hiring managers so they can step back from personal feelings and allow hiring to be a more thoughtful process based on data.

AI takes the guesswork out of hiring while shaving off the frustrating parts of the job that take up tons of your time. Adopting AI into your program will yield top-tier candidates leaving you time to take on more clients and serve them more efficiently.