By Livia Whitermore
Gen AI tools set to boost equality, diversity, and inclusion
Take a moment to consider the benefit of Gen AI in recruitment. One of the major threats to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for a company is a job post that speaks to an overly specific audience. Too often, the purveyed “target audience” excludes women, LGBT folks, and people of colour. Perhaps the post’s language is abrasive and technical to the extent that it intimidates, or perhaps the required experience does not reflect the gamut of experience that the post viewers profess.
“Fearless” Applicants Versus Recruiter Responsibility
Applicants can only do so much in the face of an unfair hiring culture. Harvard’s Mignone Center for Career Success site discusses the problem of “imposter syndrome” in the job application process, and ultimately advises that applicants take a “fearless” approach. On this same site, a Harvard Business Review survey is cited:46.6% of men and 40.6% of women do not apply to an open position because they believe they do not qualify. Now that Gen AI has hit the scene, being “fearless” is not the only solution for a systemic problem. In fact, Gen AI rightly returns the responsibility of EDI to the employer and recruiter.
Although many popular websites still require that the user put together their own posts, LinkedIn is moving toward an AI-assisted take on equal employment opportunity. The LinkedIn tool “helps you draft job descriptions using AI, leveraging a series of inputs, including title, job location, company, workplace type, job type, and internal skills insights”. LinkedIn job posters may now select the option to create their description with LinkedIn’s in-house tool, which poses a certain benefit for applicants from diverse backgrounds who need greater inclusion.
LinkedIn’s built-in Gen AI tool can help job posters attract the right talent, more diverse talent, and broader talent. Sometimes, job descriptions are biased—replete with jargon and confusing language usage. Today’s job applicants and LinkedIn users are finding more compostable language that facilitates their application process and allows them to put their best foot forward.
How Can Recruiters Make Use of Gen AI Tools—Including Off LinkedIn?
Even when posting job opportunities to sites at platforms that do not yet incorporate Gen AI, tools like ChatGPT and Bard can be used to reach talent more effectively. Putting together a Gen-AI post in a piecemeal fashion is not too difficult.
It is possible to:
Prompt the tools to describe the desired audience and then tailor the final product to address this described audience
Systematically remove jargon from a job description at the click of a button
Tell the tools to use gender neutral language in the output
Calibrate the tone of the post to suit the culture of the posting company (e.g. casual or formal)
Translate the job post into a different language to reach broader audiences
Recruitment extends beyond crafting the perfect job post, however. From cold outreaches to responding to candidate questions, recruiters and companies themselves need to standardize their methodologies, produce succinct language, and use socials to, colloquially put, make some noise!
For example, for frequently asked questions (FAQs), recruiters can keep a list of short, standardized answers, ensuring that every candidate has the same access to information, and the same application experience. Gen AI can make sure that these responses reflect company brand/tone and answer applicant questions concisely. Even cold outreaches can perform better with the assistance of Gen AI tools, which allow for caps on word count.
The Bright Future of Recruitment
The future of recruitment is bright with Gen AI in the mix. According to a Forbes Council Post, LinkedIn’s software will eventually track candidate activity and engagement related to the post, creating personalized summaries to reflect these. The recruiter will be able to more effectively build a personal connection, which will, in turn, garner better talent. As AI knows more and more about internet users, there is expected to be greater opportunity for targeted engagement, including for the recruitment industry.
Gen AI is not only making recruitment easier, but also bringing in a more inclusive future for hiring. In a McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, Lareina Yee points out that tagging structured data for words, a Large Language Models (LLM) technique, makes credentials less important, as the capabilities are what matter. Thus, where hiring trends have previously relied on name-brand degrees and other credentials to pare down the number of candidates under consideration, AI can now act as a kind of credentialing body. The applicant’s online behaviour is, in a sense, the proof in the pudding.
On the employer’s and recruiter’s end, Gen AI is making EDI more accessible, and a sustained trend toward greater inclusion is to be expected (finally)!