The Role of AI in Resume Screening and Candidate Evaluation

Reportedly, L’Oréal receives one million applications annually for recruitment. Naturally, the hiring process for the huge number of applicants requires time and expense. 

So, they implemented "Mya," a conversational AI chatbot in their recruitment process that handles the initial interviews, saving forty minutes for each interview and almost $250,000 in operational costs annually.

If a leading international company has trusted AI as their hiring team member, you can assume that the role of AI has become influential in HR teams these days. 

You might be wondering how AI works in the hiring workflow without any flaws or malfunctions, especially when you are feeling skeptical about using AI HR management in your own organization. 

So, here is a simple explanation of the roles AI has been playing and how it works to ensure smooth recruitment, so you can understand the workflow.    

Filtering AI-generated Resume

The most underwhelming aspect of AI involvement in the recruitment process is that candidates also send automated resumes. 

These resumes, most of the time, lack authentic information about the candidate. Moreover, the resume may exaggerate some claims and skills about the applicant just to fit into the role for the job and get selected. 

When companies call them for interviews based on those CVs, the interviewers are mostly disappointed by their answers.  

So, companies are now ensuring there is a reliable AI detection process that can identify AI-written CVs, making it easy for the hiring teams to shortlist the applications. 

Mostly, the hiring teams use an AI checker or detection tool that can automatically find out the automated resumes. The tool saves a lot of time for HR to identify AI-produced CVs and consider their applications differently.

So, this is one of the significant roles AI plays in the initial phase of a hiring process.       

Tracking Suitable Applications

Another very useful step or way in the automated HR workflow is using an AI application tracking tool.  

The applicant tracking tools can easily manage all the resumes and organize them on a priority basis. From collecting to identifying the best one, the tool can automatically store and shortlist them for the hiring teams. 

The tool first analyzes the current job context and reads each of the applications. Then, they match the keywords mentioned in the skills and career summary of the CV with the job description and required qualifications in the job post or advertisement. 

Based on the keyword comparison, the system can decide which applicant is a stronger candidate for the particular position. So, they keep them at the front of its list for possible interviewees. 

Moreover, the system can also find unnecessary and generic keyword stuffing in the CV and flag it as potential resume padding. Not only that, but the tool can also identify possible fraud by reading the false claims in the resume.     

So, AI applicant tracking can reduce the workload of HR and hiring teams by half.         

Resume Evaluation

After you have shortlisted all the resumes through the application tracking tool, you can also use an AI resume screening platform to evaluate the candidates. You can consider it like a co-HR or an assistant to the hiring team. 

Through this app, the hiring team can decide which candidates to call for the next procedure or the next phase. The platform studies shortlisted candidates' potential to fit the position. 

The tool breaks down all the information and data in the resume about the applicants and displays it on a common screen for the recruitment board members.   

It organizes all the data according to the skills, qualifications, and experiences of the candidates, and matches them with the tasks that the candidates will be performing after getting hired. 

Based on that, it also gives a score or percentage of the possibility of a candidate performing well in the role. Moreover, to remove biases, the tool removes the photo, names, and reference list from the CV. So that they can hire someone solely for their qualifications and expertise, and be fair.  

Ultimately, the resume screening tool helps employers move forward to the next stage as fast as possible.   

Interview Screening 

Through online interview screening, an AI agent asks relevant questions to the candidates and records all their answers. Also, based on their answers, the agent asks some specific follow-up questions to the candidate and judges their spontaneity, presentability, and reasoning.    

AI interview screening is beneficial to both the employers and candidates in multiple ways. 

First of all, when it comes to the interview stage or a viva voce, both the candidate and the organization do not know whether the candidate will be hired or not. So, calling them to physically attend a session with senior employees is quite a hassle and nerve-wracking.   

Secondly, the candidates may not be present in the same state where the company is situated. Or they may not be able to go to the place where the interview is supposed to be conducted. As a result, the candidate may not attend the session at all.   

So, in both regards, an online AI interview is quite a viable way of conducting an interview. This way, the candidate will be able to perform the viva sitting anywhere. 

Moreover, they stay relaxed as there will be nothing like an actual interview board of senior management. The applicants will only know that their answers will be recorded, which will allow them to perform the interview confidently.   

So, this procedure helps the employers and candidates with the initial interview without wasting too much time. 

Decision Making 

As the AI agent records all the information and interview responses and provides the recruiters with a score or percentage, it helps them to make a decision. 

Even based on all the analysis, the AI co-HR can provide a decision on its own and also provide the logistics behind its own opinion on which candidate would be hired.     

However, the hiring team should always be careful at this stage, as this is quite a critical and important one. And use their own judgement as well, instead of depending on the AI-provided scores and decisions. 

Final Thought 

So, there is no doubt that AI is contributing a lot to reducing the time and workload of judging a new employee, and playing a significant role in making a decision for the onboarding of a new member. 

But it is important to always keep in mind that blindly trusting an AI decision or AI-given score is not a good option. 

The best pathway would be to sort out, shortlist, and conduct the first round of the assessment of the candidates through AI, and make a final decision based on your own and your team members’ judgment.