Author: SourceBreaker

Using Technology To Scale Your Recruitment Business

Posted on by SourceBreaker

.If you’re planning on using technology to scale your recruitment agency, it’s crucial to have a plan in place before making any changes.

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To scale, businesses must establish a few clear objectives:

1) The importance of having a clear goal in mind.

2) Marketing your company’s strengths and services.

3) Understanding what the market wants.

4) Utilising your current resources.

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So what are the key steps in scaling your recruitment business and how do you know when it’s time to scale up?

Why might recruitment agencies want to scale?

Recruitment agencies may want to scale their business for a variety of reasons, including

●the need for more employees to take on new clientele
●the desire to grow and expand by taking on new clients and projects
●the need for a larger office space

What are some common difficulties with scaling?

One of the main difficulties with scaling is retaining your personal touch. If you are too busy to meet with each candidate and make them feel welcome, you may be worried about losing a personal touch; you want to make them feel as valued and comfortable as possible!

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The difficulty with scaling is when some people lose their personal touch. When this happens, it is significant for the recruiter to find ways to keep the candidates feeling at ease and valued to retain them as clients. For example, if the recruiter cannot meet with each candidate in person, then they should consider using video chat or phone interviews.

Difficulty: Lack of Resources, Space, or Storage

Scaling a recruitment business is difficult due to the lack of resources, space, or storage, making hiring and maintaining staff challenging. The solution to this problem is training your employees to do more tasks independently with minimal supervision, allowing you to free up time for other functions like sales and marketing.

Difficulty: Unscalable Processes

1.Determine what you want to do with your business and write down the next steps for each goal.
2.Identify which processes need to be scaled and which ones don’t.
3.Assess the risk of not scaling those processes and determine whether it’s worth it.
4.Determine what you need to scale those processes and ensure you have it before moving forward.

Difficulty: Unrealistic Expectations

It is one of the most challenging industries to scale because so many variables are at play, and it is easy to get lost in the minutiae of it all. The key to scaling your recruitment business is understanding what matters and what doesn’t, as well as finding good people who will be a good fit for your clients. Keep these things in mind when you are starting or looking at other recruiters; you should be able to make a profit with minimal stress, but you must manage your expectations realistically.

Long-term Planning as a Solution to Difficulties Scaling

Make a list of what you need to do to scale your business; this might include hiring new staff members or investing in marketing campaigns if there is a shortage of clients. You need to know how much you can afford to spend on the business each month and how much money you make.

Using Technology to Scale

Recruitment technology, like SourceBreaker, has assisted several small companies, SMEs, and even multinationals in scaling by providing a centralised platform combining various functionalities, from powerful boolean searches to streamlined candidate lists and lead generation tools.

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Automating and streamlining the hiring and recruitment process can save time, money, and resources better invested back into the business.

Top tips for businesses looking to scale

It is a common misconception that scaling your recruitment business is easy; it can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.

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Some top tips when scaling are:

1.Have clear and concise brand messaging
2.Keep the focus on your core values
3.Constantly innovate and improve to stay ahead of the competition
4.Take advantage of new technology for recruitment
5.Embrace diversity and inclusion

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • To scale your recruitment business, establish clear objectives, understand what the market wants, and utilize your current resources.
  • Reasons for scaling include the need for more employees, desire for growth, and the need for a larger office space.
  • Difficulties with scaling include retaining personal touch, lack of resources or space, unscalable processes, and unrealistic expectations.
  • Long-term planning and leveraging technology can be solutions to these difficulties.
  • Top tips for scaling include having clear brand messaging, focusing on core values, innovating and improving, using new technology, and embracing diversity and inclusion.

3 Considerations For Finding Candidates in New Markets

Posted on by SourceBreaker

Diversifying into new candidate markets is not a foreign concept to recruiters. As an industry, we pride ourselves on our ability to effectively pivot into new markets to take advantage of candidate opportunities as they arise.

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As the pace of change in the world accelerates, markets fluctuate and different industries rise to prominence, your team’s ability to diversify is going to be essential to ensuring your agency’s success far into the future.

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So what are some key things to consider when looking for candidates in a new market?

Where to Find Clients In a New Market

Depending on personal preference and the technology available, every recruiter has a preferred source for finding candidates — whether that’s sourcing through job boards, LinkedIn, Internal or External CRMs, or even networking events.

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But when it comes to finding candidates in a new arena there’s a couple of things to bear in mind so be prepared for your primary tool to change depending on the shift in markets.

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Additional factors to consider are also the level of seniority you’re hoping to target, whether you’re recruiting for contracted or permanent roles and if you’re looking to engage active or passive candidates.

Targeting Active or Passive Clients

If you’re working in a mass market against other agencies, target active candidate sources first.

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Some of the most successful agencies still have most of their success from the job boards, often in markets where they’re supposedly less useful.

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With more niche requirements, both LinkedIn and head hunting of passive candidates are in many cases the most effective sources.

The Importance of Speed When Diversifying

The difference between getting a candidate in front of the client and receiving a short, sharp, “we have filled this role.”

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Competition is hotter than ever and being faster than your more established competitors is critical.

Maintaining A Competitive Edge In New Markets

Speed might not always equal efficiency but if you get your strategies right, you’ll be beating out the competition at every turn and improving productivity.

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Here are a few strategies you can use to ensure and maintain a competitive edge.

Automate Recruitment Workflows

The primary value of your recruiters is their ability to engage with candidates and clients, so wherever possible you should automate everything else.

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Have your team configure their set-up so that information is automatically coming to them rather than them having to go and find it.

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Set up alerts to receive new candidates and vacancies daily.

Source & Sell Top Talent

As all great recruiters know, it’s more about getting the best candidate possible fast and then selling them effectively, rather than waiting for the perfect candidate; this makes it critical to cover all available sources as quickly and efficiently as possible.

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Using an aggregated search, or creating your own sourcing process ahead of time enables this.

Learn The Language of New Markets

Every industry is full of its own unique set of specialist vocabulary. You’ll gain far greater traction by arming yourself with the information to speak knowledgeably about the market.

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If that’s not possible, it may be better to be upfront with the candidate and tell them that you’ve not placed their particular skill set before.

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Whatever you do, don’t trip yourself up pretending to be an expert without having the knowledge to pass it off.

In New Markets, Terminology Is Key

Put some time into understanding the key terminology in the new market. For example, markets such as IT and finance are full of abbreviations and acronyms.

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It doesn’t take much to learn the basics of any market, but will help to demonstrate you as an expert over a competitor who didn’t put in the time.

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There are great tools out there to help you with this, however, a basic start would be to look at any publication / magazines within that industry or reading blogs and articles from the companies you’re trying to break into.

Informed Candidate Conversations are Powerful

A quick copy and paste of the phrase or acronym will normally help give some basic information and also some alternative ways of searching for the skill or experience.

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This will increase your knowledge quickly and often find you candidates your competitors aren’t by giving you ways of expressing the skill that you hadn’t previously known of.

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CIMA in accounting is a great example – Google this acronym and it will tell you what the full expression is, and also for me poses the question ‘which is better ACCA or CIMA’.

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With a bit more research, I can see that either of these qualifications are typically acceptable for clients hiring qualified accountants.

Use Your Client’s Vocabulary

Many businesses have their own in-house terminology — names for processes and ways of working. Your client may have their own.

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Learning them will help you communicate better with both the client and the candidate, enabling you to talk the client’s language and translate their terminology into terms the candidate can understand.

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An easy trap to fall into is to run your search and include acronyms that are specific to your customer. As if it’s an acronym specific to that company, it’ll often cut out most of the relevant candidates and not be a prerequisite for the role.

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Much of this will develop from discussion with your client over time but as your relationships develop, make sure to take note of words and phrases that repeatedly crop up.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • When diversifying into new markets, it’s important to consider where to find clients, whether to target active or passive candidates, and the importance of speed in filling roles.
  • Automating recruitment workflows, sourcing and selling top talent, and learning the language of new markets can help maintain a competitive edge.
  • Understanding the key terminology in the new market and using the client’s vocabulary can help communicate better with clients and candidates.

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Cloud Computing vs Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

Posted on by SourceBreaker

With technological advancements, there has been a significant shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword in the recruitment industry for some time, but what does it really mean?

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Is AI replacing human recruiters or empowering them? Are there benefits to AI in the recruitment space? But more importantly…

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How does artificial intelligence compare to cloud computing in recruitment tech?

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing uses a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data. Through internet-based computing, individuals can deliver shared resources, software, and information to other devices on demand.

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Also known as on-demand computing or utility computing, Cloud computing service relies on sharing both the physical and logical resources of an enterprise over one or more networks such as the Internet.

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By using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data, individuals can deliver shared resources, software, and information to other devices on demand.

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Cloud computing has been around for decades but has since become popular in light of technological advances and changes in how people use computers and access the internet.

What are the differences between Cloud Computing and AI?

Cloud computing is a form of internet-based, on-demand computing that provides shared processing power and data storage and can be used for both personal and commercial use.

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The concept behind cloud computing is users only have local access to services or resources when they’re needed whereas AI refers to Artificial Intelligence which is the science of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs.

AI does not refer to a specific technology but rather it includes technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.

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The difference between Cloud Computing and AI is that one refers to an internet-based technology while the other refers to artificial intelligence which also includes different types of technologies like machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.

How do they work together in Recruitment?

Both Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence are technologies that have the ability to revolutionize recruitment… but only if they’re leveraged correctly.

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With the help of Cloud Computing, companies can save time and money by processing data in real-time from anywhere with an internet connection while artificial intelligence is being deployed to assist recruiters in making more informed decisions.

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This solution combines AI and Cloud Computing to automate many manual processes that are traditionally completed by HR professionals, such as sourcing candidates from social media channels or filtering resumes for specific requirements.

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For example, because of an AI’s machine learning capabilities, it has the power to scan, read, and analyse resumes, job leads, or company information instantly and in real-time – all whilst constantly evolving. The intelligence of these systems means they’re also capable of conducting interviews, scheduling meetings, and even handling follow-up communications.

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Cloud computing, on the other hand, is a type of computer technology that enables storing data and running applications remotely over different servers. These servers are connected through networks which provide access to various services in order to make things easier for recruiters to streamline all their tools and centralise all datasets.

Exploration of Cloud Computing in RecTech

Cloud computing has long been used in many industries but now it’s starting to find its way into recruitment and has many benefits for both employers and candidates.

Cloud Computing Pros

●Access to information from anywhere in the world (provided you have an internet connection)
●Built-in security features which make it safer than storing information on a local device
●Cost-effective storage
●Exponential scalability

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The benefits of cloud computing are significant; however, there are also some cons to consider too.

Cloud Computing Cons

●It is possible for hackers to steal sensitive data from company databases – only if these databases are not properly secured by firewalls or other security measures

Exploration of AI in RecTech

AI has many advantages for recruiters but the best part about this technology is its inability to get tired or bored – which honestly, is a lifesaver when it comes to the mundane tasks associated with being a recruiter.

AI Pros

●Allows recruiters to focus on more value-generating tasks by automating repetitive tasks such as updating job postings or sending out hundreds of emails in a short period of time.
●Capable of scraping data from various sources, providing more in-depth insights into the candidate or the role

AI Cons

●Artificial Intelligence can be informative but won’t be able to answer human-specific questions like whether or not a company has a good cultural fit for the candidate.
●Unlike recruiters, AI doesn’t understand the psychology and behaviour of humans; at least not to the extent we other humans can, especially when it comes to picking up on context cues.
●AI can’t decipher fact from fiction and might over (or under) qualify a candidate.

Combining AI and Cloud Computing with SourceBreaker

The future of recruitment is a very exciting prospect. The way we work, what we do and how our jobs are done is constantly evolving with the introduction of new technologies. We’re seeing this now in the form of AI and Cloud Computing, which together have been heralded as the ‘future of recruitment.’

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SourceBreaker, a leading provider of cloud-based talent acquisition software solutions, has introduced the SourceBreaker platform to help unify, adopt, and make the most out of recruitment technologies.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • Cloud computing uses a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage and process data, while AI refers to a set of technologies that enable intelligent computer programs to make decisions.
  • Cloud computing provides shared processing power and data storage that can be used for personal and commercial use.
  • AI can be used to automate many manual processes in recruitment, such as sourcing candidates and filtering resumes.
  • Cloud computing offers benefits such as access to information from anywhere in the world, built-in security features, cost-effective storage, and scalability.
  • The benefits of AI include automating repetitive tasks, providing in-depth insights into candidates and roles, and being tireless.
  • Combining AI and cloud computing can help automate many manual processes and unify recruitment technologies, with the SourceBreaker platform being a leading provider of cloud-based AI-powered rectech solutions.

Combatting AI Bias in RecTech

Posted on by SourceBreaker

It’s hard to refute the many benefits of combatting AI bias in RecTech such as increased efficiency, decreased bias, and improved talent acquisition – exactly what the recruitment space needs! However, as AI can’t always assess the necessary variables needed to make an objective decision (no one’s perfect), there are naturally some risks.

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The good news is that there are ways for employers and recruiters to combat the biases present in today’s AI systems. This article will discuss how AI bias can affect the recruitment process and the steps taken to combat this.

The problem with AI bias in recruitment tech

Many companies and organisations are using AI to identify talent that would fit their organisation well but, AI is not agnostic – it has its own biases that can be difficult to identify.

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AI bias in recruitment tech is a problem that will become more apparent in the coming years. There are already many cases of AI picking out specific people for jobs based on their race or gender, which can cause issues down the line.

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Tay, Microsoft’s automated chatbot, is a perfect example of how AI bias can cause problematic outcomes with no human oversight (especially as Microsoft released the bot to the public with no provisions). Within a few days of interacting with humans on Twitter, Tay started using racial slurs and making offensive jokes about heinous dictators shortly after its release.

How does AI bias affect recruitment tech?

The use of artificial intelligence in recruitment technology has increased dramatically over the past few years. However, as AI becomes more prevalent in this sector, it is crucial to be aware of how bias can affect the outcome of hiring decisions.

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AI is programmed to make decisions based on data input and algorithms developed by humans, so there are bound to be biases built into these programs..

How are biases formed through machine learning?

Many companies use AI in their hiring process without understanding the datasets it’s trained on or its algorithms; this means that AI might perpetuate discrimination by filtering out qualified candidates who belong to specific demographics.

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This bias tends to form because datasets are predominantly populated by certain genders, races, or demographics, leading to the exclusion of underrepresented groups and more discrimination.

Why is it important to combat AI bias in recruitment tech?

AI bias in recruitment technology is significant to combat because it can considerably impact how people are treated. It poses a risk for companies, who may unknowingly hire someone an algorithm has discriminated against or, worst-case scenario, rejected due to an unidentified bias.

How to combat AI bias in recruitment tech

In addition to 68% of recruiters believing using AI will remove unconscious bias by handling candidate screening, AI can also help recruiters to make data-driven decisions by providing insights and analysis on the candidate and hiring data.

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The problem is that humans train AI algorithms, and if those humans do not include enough diversity in their training data, then there can be an inherent bias in the algorithm’s results.

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Solutions posed to counter AI bias in recruitment tech include

●Reviewing pre-existing data to check if it’s healthy and without bias
●Diversifying the datasets used by the AIs during training
●Machine Learning Models that are representative of an organisation’s hiring needs

Recruiter Proactivity is Necessary

While leveraging data analytics to measure the diversity of a candidate pool, RecTech can currently only assist recruiters in creating more diverse and inclusive workforces.

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From using AI-powered tools to eliminate bias in the recruitment process to using data analytics for measuring the diversity of a candidate pool, recruiters will need to be proactive in drawing insights from their data and making an active effort to invest in technologies that allow them to do so.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • AI bias in recruitment tech is a problem that will become more apparent in the coming years.
  • AI can perpetuate discrimination by filtering out qualified candidates who belong to specific demographics due to biased datasets.
  • AI bias can considerably impact how people are treated and poses a risk for companies who may unknowingly hire someone an algorithm has discriminated against.
  • To combat AI bias, recruiters need to review pre-existing data to check if it’s healthy and without bias, diversify the datasets used by the AIs during training, and use Machine Learning Models that are representative of an organisation’s hiring needs.
  • Recruiters need to be proactive in drawing insights from their data and investing in technologies that allow them to eliminate bias in the recruitment process and create more diverse and inclusive workforces.

Finding New Candidates By Diversifying Your Recruitment Methods

Posted on by SourceBreaker

Finding new candidates by diversifying your recruitment methods can be a nightmare as there are often 100s of ways of describing precisely the same role. In fact, over the last year, we’ve looked at several thousand searches and in each case, recruiters are missing out on a straightforward technique to find more candidates.

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So what steps can recruiters take to diversify their recruitment methods and how does it enable you to find new candidates effectively?

Strategies For Finding Free Candidates Across The Web

The ability to find free CVs is a valuable skill, particularly now that the free LinkedIn party looks like it’s over.

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Here we’ll show you how to find candidate CVs that are on the web free of charge.

Indeed Candidate Sourcing

First up, use Indeed! I’ve lost track of the number of clients that use it for advertising but didn’t even realise they had a free CV database.

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Indeed’s mission is global domination, so while it may not yet have the depth of candidates of a Monster, it’s got a decent pool that is growing by the day.

Niche Candidate Sourcing

Take “PHP Developer” for example. Every time we ever see a search looking for this, or any other kind of Developer, it will contain “PHP Developer”, then maybe a couple of other variations.

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What’s never present is “Developer PHP”. A quick check on LinkedIn shows that adding this into your search will increase your candidate pool by 11% – a substantial increase for one small tweak.

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On top of that, because the vast majority of Recruiters aren’t searching like this, the extra 11% are less likely to have been contacted than “PHP Developer” candidates – so more chance of engagement and getting them placed.

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The reason why you achieve such good results with this technique is that a significant number of candidates will present their title and follow it with their key skill/area of expertise.

All of the below candidates were picked up simply by typing “Developer PHP” as LinkedIn will automatically exclude special characters and commonly appearing words such as ‘with’.

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This technique isn’t exclusively for the tech world, it’ll work across most industries – here are a few examples:

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So a really straightforward technique to find you more candidates, with a minimum of extra effort or training required.

X-Ray Techniques

Second up, you can use X-Ray techniques to uncover candidates and their contact details that you might not otherwise find.

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Start by looking for CVs / Resumes. The inurl: operator does exactly what it suggests – searches within the URL (or address bar) for the words that you specify. In this instance, words relating to CV / Resume.

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inurl:CV OR inurl:vitae OR inurl:resume

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Then start adding the skills and locations you’d like to see. In this instance, we’re going to look for a PHP Developer in London, so start adding your Boolean search here. (Pro tip – you don’t need brackets or AND when searching on Google, but if you’re new to it, it helps avoid confusion)

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inurl:CV OR inurl:vitae OR inurl:resume

PHP AND (Developer OR Programmer OR Engineer) AND London

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As you can see, this gives us some false results such as templates, jobs pages, so we’ll start excluding those terms that are giving us bad results.

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inurl:CV OR inurl:vitae OR inurl:resume

PHP AND (Developer OR Programmer OR Engineer) AND London

-template -sample -jobs

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So now we’ve got some pretty reliable results, we can quickly and easily contact these people about vacancies. You’ll find that with different skill sets, the quality of your results will vary. If you find you get a lot of irrelevant noise, have a look at the words that feature that are irrelevant and just exclude them from your search, like we did with template.

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To get even more results, you can remove the inurl: before CV, Resume, Vitae and it will return more pages. While this will increase the number of results you find, it will also increase the noise.

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So the message is to adapt based on what you’re looking for!

Finding 50,000+ Data Scientists as an Example

One of the most sought after skill sets these days is the Data Scientist. Commanding high salaries and high fees, these candidates are worth their weight in gold, but a huge proportion of them are currently being missed.

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Each of the hundred odd Analytics-focused Recruiters we’ve worked with tend to start their Data Scientist Boolean search with:

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“Data Scientist” AND …..

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A logical way of searching, but it misses a significant proportion of candidates who represent the same title differently – “Data Analytics Scientist”, “Scientist – Data”, “Principal Scientist”, “Lead Scientist” and countless other variations.

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By searching just for Scientist, along with relevant keywords such as Hadoop, Python etc. that ensure you find Data Scientists rather than other types of Scientists, you’ll dramatically widen your pool of candidates.

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As ever, this won’t just find you more candidates, but it will find you candidates who are being contacted less often and so are more likely to respond to your attempts to engage with them, increasing InMail and email response rates.

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Here’s an example of how we found an extra 50,000 candidates worldwide with this technique, at the same time excluding anyone who calls themselves a Data Scientist, so as to only bring up people we might otherwise have missed.

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As you can see, without even adding many data related keywords, we’ve brought up an extra 50,000 candidates worldwide. Not bad for a quick tweak of a search!

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If you’d like to find out more about how SourceBreaker can find you 1000s more highly skilled candidates, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • Searching for candidates with specific job titles can be limiting, as candidates may represent the same job with various titles.
  • Diversifying recruitment methods can help find more candidates effectively.
  • Indeed has a free CV database, which can be used to find candidates.
  • Adding job titles with variations can increase the pool of candidates and provide a better chance of engagement and placement.
  • X-Ray techniques can uncover more candidates and their contact details, making the recruitment process more efficient.
  • Excluding irrelevant terms in Boolean search can lead to more reliable results.
  • Searching for the keyword (for example “Scientist”) with relevant keywords (e.g. Hadoop, Python, etc.)  can widen the pool of candidates and find more potential candidates who are less likely to have been contacted before.

Are automated chatbots maximizing efficiency in Recruitment?

Posted on by SourceBreaker

You’ve spoken to an automated chatbot, right? We probably all have and maybe even today, it wouldn’t be surprising considering how commonplace they’ve become.

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But just like everything else, the current AI is innovating rapidly, and we’re seeing an introduction of various messaging-based bots that are essentially intelligent CRM systems and not repetitive robots.

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Leveraging a chatbot in recruitment can add exponential value to your agency. As the industries continue to evolve, the demand for recruitment will increase, creating the need for more qualified recruitment professionals.

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These professionals will need to be very efficient and effective in their approach to engaging with prospective candidates, and leveraging the power of a chatbot can help make their engagement with them more accurate and efficient, which can make the difference between a candidate placed and one lost to competition.

Machine Learning Chatbot Essentials

To understand the level of sophistication of machine learning chatbots, it is important to understand their fundamentals. A chatbot is an interface where your conversation can be programmed to take place using natural language processing and a set of pre-programmed responses.

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By using natural language processing you can automate many aspects of your recruiting process. For example, in the world of recruitment, interview questions are the main drivers of candidate satisfaction and hiring satisfaction as understanding your candidate is crucial to placing them effectively.

How Do Automated Chatbots Work?

Because chatbots are designed to engage in interactive conversations with prospects, they come equipped with the ability to draw on previous experiences and issues in hopes of solving the problem at hand.

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The core aspect of this technology is to take an automated approach to the communication flow and solve the customer’s issues within the time it takes for the customer to respond.

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In the recruitment industry, these bots are even being leveraged to provide key features like automatic reminders and quotes, conversion-related functionality, and even customized results based on each individual’s interaction history.

So why isn’t everyone using machine learning bots?

Well, just like most innovative tech, there’s a learning curve when developing AI of this calibre, and so it’s not uncommon for customers to become exasperated at being offered the same solution every time they connect. With that in mind, technology is constantly evolving, and it’s now possible to construct bot systems with the capability to learn from every candidate interaction.

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What’s more, the bots are primarily developed with the IT and HR sector in mind meaning the key characteristics of these bots are, to a large extent, all about the customer, which ultimately benefits the brands whose customers use them.

The Use of Chatbots in Other Industries

Some of the most well-known chatbot services include:

Google Assistant

GA is a voice assistant created by Google that acts as your personal virtual assistant. The bot is a customer service-style option, as well as a sales assistant with the capability to understand and accurately respond to questions in real time.

Uber

The company where chatbots can become a true workforce assistant, Uber’s bot allows passengers to book a ride, ask questions, and receive updates on a driver’s location.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger has also added a Messenger bot which can do many things including booking a cab or food delivery, finding events and stores, as well as searching for nearby restaurants.

How to leverage AI Chatbots for Recruitment?

Many tech companies are implementing automated chatbots in their tech stacks to assist in the search for candidates and encourage a stronger candidate-to-hire relationship. In turn, this decreases the time spent on candidate sourcing and engagement, and improves the overall success of your recruitment process.

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Bullhorn’s initiative chatbot is a perfect example of a symbiotic relationship between chatbots and recruiters working effectively alongside one another. With their chatbot able to seamlessly jump from one chat flow to another, it’s also skilled at collecting candidates’ qualifications, measuring interest in the position, and can even ask and answer questions about the position the candidate is applying for.

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Moreover, one of the biggest problems in recruitment is the influx of enquiries from potential candidates as responding to each of them can be time-consuming and sometimes, frustrating.

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There are dozens of questions that most recruiters will ask potential candidates when evaluating them for a job opening. An automated system that understands the intent behind these questions will, more often than not, lead to more productive interviews and increased success rates for the recruiting firm.

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By using an AI chatbot to streamline these communications, recruiters can dedicate their time to value-generating tasks and personalising their outreach. For example, if a candidate wants to find out more about the company, the chatbot will try to give the candidate an insight into the firm without needing input from recruiters.

What are some of the benefits of an automated chatbot in the recruitment space?

Chatbots provide a number of benefits to both candidates and recruiters and are particularly useful for those who may be shy or apprehensive about starting a conversation, empowering them with information ahead of the call to ensure they’re more responsive to incoming leads.

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The bots are also capable of performing deeper and wider-ranging analyses, learning from them, and adapting their functionality to suit the prospective candidate’s needs and preferred communication methods.

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With this being the case, there’s more flexibility for these bots to match candidates to the right roles and ensure all communications remain productive for both the business and the customer.

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Another major benefit that makes a chatbot a serious addition to a recruiter’s toolkit is the time and cost saved by not hiring a temporary worker. Recruiters are often forced to choose between hiring an employee for longer than they need or using a temporary worker for shorter periods. A chatbot will automate almost all of these human tasks, allowing the recruiter to work directly with their candidate to solve their problem.

How are chatbots changing recruitment?

As the industry evolves, AI continues improving our working lives and isn’t only available to serve customers but is rather being used to benefit the bottom line -, particularly when making lucrative placements.

With these bots working to make the process of recruitment simpler for both employers and candidates, both parties can reap the benefits of improved efficiency in the recruitment space.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • Using chatbots in recruitment can add significant value to an agency and make engagement with prospective candidates more efficient, leading to higher success rates.
  • Chatbots are designed to engage in interactive conversations with prospects using natural language processing and a set of pre-programmed responses.
  • These bots come equipped with the ability to draw on previous experiences and issues in hopes of solving the problem at hand and can provide key features like automatic reminders and quotes, conversion-related functionality, and even customized results based on each individual’s interaction history.
  • Although there’s a learning curve when developing AI of this calibre, the technology is constantly evolving and now, bot systems can learn from every candidate interaction.
  • Chatbots can provide a number of benefits to both candidates and recruiters, including empowering candidates with information ahead of the call, performing deeper and wider-ranging analyses, and matching candidates to the right roles.
  • By using an AI chatbot to streamline communications, recruiters can dedicate their time to value-generating tasks and personalizing their outreach, leading to more productive interviews and increased success rates for the recruiting firm.

Drive Reach with an SEO Recruitment Strategy

Posted on by SourceBreaker

With the market heavily saturated by recruitment agencies, SMEs, and multinationals alike, it’s crucial to maximise your visibility and reach… and one underrated method for recruiters is search engine optimisation, more commonly known as leveraging an SEO recruitment strategy.

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It’s a low-cost online marketing method that most businesses don’t necessarily understand in its entire complexity, but investing in a successful SEO strategy can help your recruitment agency stand out against the competition.

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Some apparent benefits for recruiting agencies are higher website traffic, an influx of visitors most likely to be interested in your services, and media coverage that translates to potential clients, contract opportunities, and more.

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SEO techniques differ in every industry and position but the consensus is that unique content is crucial for promoting your brand as it allows you to attract an audience relevant to your business if done correctly.

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The majority of website users are highly targeted, and if your content isn’t for them, it’s likely you won’t leave a mark. So, an SEO strategy that educates and appeals to a specific group of people is essential and it’s the most innovative way to get your business out there.

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Recruitment agencies can use SEO to attract website visitors searching for similar services or businesses in the same industries.

So, what is SEO?

Essentially, SEO is a method of effectively marketing and reaching new audiences on the web. It’s difficult to put it into just one specific term, as it comes with many sub-steps, but here are a few elements that make up SEO in its most basic form.

What are the benefits of leveraging SEO in recruitment?

The benefits of SEO in recruitment are limitless, provided you leverage an effective strategy. They include but are not limited to:

Increased website traffic

Websites with engaging websites can generally achieve higher rankings and significantly higher traffic.

Beat Out Competitors

You’ll find competition in any industry; there’s just no way around it. The first thing you should do is make sure you’re the go-to person – this is why it’s essential to have high-quality content on your site.

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You aim to position yourself as a resource other businesses can benefit from and link back to but remember that if your content isn’t attractive to people, you won’t be able to convert them into customers.

Higher conversion rates

Websites that are well designed can have much higher conversion rates – such as lead nurturing – which are at the heart of the recruitment industry.

Brand awareness

Brands that invest in creating and maintaining attractive and engaging websites will benefit from increased brand awareness which will help them to achieve higher visibility.

Putting Your Content Out There

Whenever you put your content online (or print), you’re essentially taking the first steps to ‘search engine optimisation’ by doing just that. Most people use search engines regularly, so you can expect that those who find your content organically are more likely to visit your website and browse your services.

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Organic traffic – audience gained traction that was acquired organically and not paid for – works best and as a recruiter, you can use these visitors to guide your strategy moving forward. They’ll be more willing to provide input in the future and more likely to work with your business if you follow up with them; especially as they came to you and not the other way around.

Breaking down the Volume of Traffic

SEO works in conjunction with but isn’t necessarily a replacement for, building traffic directly to your website. The good news is that the more traffic your website receives, the better the chances of it getting noticed by recruiters.

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Search engine optimisation works by placing keywords in your content to increase its search rankings and increase your site’s visibility in the search engines. The downside is that if you have smaller traffic, you’re less likely to receive the results you’re looking for, and even if you do, you’re less likely to achieve your goals.

Gaining Conversions

The next significant aspect of SEO is gaining conversions. By putting your content out there for potential recruiters to see, you’re essentially giving them the option to take a closer look at you. Here’s where you get into more in-depth conversion and get your visitors to move further down your sales funnel.

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Once they take that step forward, they’ll want to know a bit more about you and see if you could be a good fit for them – this can range from your ability to meet deadlines, and communication skills, to a specific skill that you have and would be excellent for a company.

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By adding some searchable keywords to your site and creating content that’s a bit more related to your potential client’s industry, you’ll have a much better chance of getting them to click on your site. And because you’re actively searching for them, more people are finding you.

Having High-Quality Content

High-quality content is an essential component of SEO, but this doesn’t mean simply uploading the best-written content available; it’s also creating content that’s relevant to what your audience needs but also provides additional value.

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For example, many people are interested in IT, so content involving ‘AI and Machine Learning’ would be more likely to be relevant than content detailing your work routine.

Plus, If you include links back to your services, you’ll be adding even more interest and expanding the scope of your target demographic to include potential candidates who might actively seek out your recruitment agency after seeing you mentioned.

Optimised Site Infrastructure

Many factors make a site design effective in improving the way your website ranks for a keyword. In fact, it can significantly impact the number of people who find your website through search engines and the number of people who end up connecting with you.

Optimising Your Content Strategy

Whether you use an agency or handle it in-house, search engine optimisation is the best way to generate a healthy influx of organic traffic and cultivate a reputable digital presence.

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If Google algorithms deem your site as both relevant and useful for the industry you’re operating in, it’s more than likely they’ll push your content out to more people – after all, Google’s aim is to provide the best user experience and optimised content is the best method for it.

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So what’re you waiting for? Kickstart your SEO journey.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can be an effective low-cost method for recruitment agencies to stand out against competitors and maximise their visibility and reach online.
  • An effective SEO strategy can attract a highly targeted audience to your website, increase website traffic, and boost conversion rates, ultimately leading to potential clients and contract opportunities.
  • Organic traffic (audience gained traction that was acquired organically and not paid for) is an essential component of SEO and works best for guiding your strategy moving forward.
  • Placing keywords in your content to increase its search rankings and creating high-quality content that provides additional value and relevance to the audience is crucial for a successful SEO strategy.
  • The site design is another essential factor that significantly impacts the number of visitors and ultimately leads to achieving higher visibility in search engines.

How To Preserve Privacy In An AI-driven World

Posted on by SourceBreaker

Data protection and privacy is a real concern in this day and age but with so many cookie policies to read and not enough time, we give up a lot more data than we expect… and that’s willingly.

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We’re serious; request the data Google has on you and find out exactly what certain companies know.

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But is there even a way to prevent being tracked while using the internet?

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Not quite, but there are ways to mitigate the risks surrounding your privacy, and in reality, AI is actually crucial in protecting your data.

Can machine learning and AI be used to protect privacy in the recruitment sector?

Despite the onslaught of ‘creepy’ headlines about AI, using technology to protect privacy is possible. When AI processes data, it often picks up clues about an individual and gathers any personal information they’re likely to give. The only way to ensure your data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to create a policy on handling it when you’re not there.

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People talk about how they need a chief data officer to create the right strategy for collecting, storing and working with data but the reality is that the industry needs to move away from the ‘build it quicker, not better’ technology.

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The consequence of using AI that hasn’t been developed correctly is that it begins leaving out job positions and incorrectly matching candidates. These systems are not scalable or sustainable solutions if we’re serious about tackling discriminatory employment practices.

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If we want to protect our privacy, at least with AI, we must ensure the data is stored in reliable, secure, and preferably encrypted servers. We also need to fight the urge to collect more data than necessary, especially within the recruitment industry.

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Having the most expensive, data-intensive service on the planet should be seen as a business opportunity, not a threat to your customers… So how do we protect it?

How can AI be used to protect data?

When developers produce recruitment tech, the company must prepare a standard data protection policy and use data tracking and retention. In the same way, if your data is subject to GDPR, your developers should formalise your use of machine learning algorithms in a way that’s both compliant and protected.

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Feeding consistent and trusted data into an AI system is essential to creating a Learning Machine capable of providing data privacy. Your security habits, behaviour, browser use, and even your MAC address can train a learning machine to have insights on potential security issues to keep users safe.

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As AI understands the ins and outs of your database better than anyone else could, machine learning can quickly identify abnormal behaviour and flag them to the appropriate parties – sending out automated alerts to gauge the user’s input.

Artificial intelligence and data security

Once NLP algorithms have identified the content of a page, it can then be categorised appropriately. During categorisation, AI follows guidelines to ensure that all personal information is adequately managed, processed, monitored and used.

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The guidelines used by artificial intelligence are laid out by the European Union’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents (PIPEDA) and the Data Protection Directive, established to safeguard personal information.

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While the guidelines are based on well-established legislative practice, AI can help prioritise data using complex algorithms that assess a user’s personal data to further mitigate risks.

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This ability to categorise data as safe or dangerous can help to make artificial intelligence more efficient. By taking a ‘big data’ approach, companies can prioritise and filter the data they are allowed to receive from users and information deemed unnecessary, providing the necessary information for them to remain compliant with data legislation.

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Whilst most AI applications are designed to gather and analyse large amounts of data from a user’s interaction with a webpage, we have seen that automation can specifically target and analyse specific data from large volume databases and at lightning-quick speeds.

The relationship between machine learning and AI in recruitment

While AI-driven web content management systems can provide greater efficiency for the data that is processed, data and machine learning are increasingly finding their way into web content management systems.

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As mentioned, machine learning powers many tools and software, most notably systems where users are actively involved in making decisions. AI systems can examine a user’s input and generate their own understanding, suggesting the questions the user will want to answer to the best of their ability.

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Machine learning in this context is also known as declarative technology, meaning that users don’t follow a set of instructions but are presented with the correct data to help them decide the best path for their final actions.

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Here, we can see that AI systems can utilise existing information to build up a picture of the user’s actions and intent based on the system’s analysis and understanding.

Optimised Security with AI

The potential to utilise machine learning in ensuring security is endless as web content management systems can now access and process data from various sources to provide relevant data to the user.

How can AI improve the security of recruitment technology?

As with web content management systems, there are rules for how users’ private information is handled. Some regulations require all information to be stored securely, and a well-documented and secure way to access that information must be made clear.

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When identifying a potential vulnerability, the software will protect the user’s data and contact details from that vulnerability. Therefore, the introduction of machine learning is an excellent idea as it allows the security of the personal information in such systems to be better maintained.

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As previously mentioned, AI systems will also assist in prioritising the data and ensure that only the correct information passes through to the right person. This prioritisation means that the data is cost-effectively positioned to target the right user.

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • Using AI to protect privacy in the recruitment industry is possible by having a policy for handling data.
  • Storing data in reliable, secure, and encrypted servers and collecting only necessary data helps protect privacy.
  • Machine learning algorithms must be formalized in a compliant and protected way to protect data privacy.
  • Feeding consistent and trusted data into an AI system is essential to creating a learning machine capable of providing data privacy.
  • AI can quickly identify abnormal behaviour and flag them to the appropriate parties to mitigate risks.
  • AI can help prioritize data using complex algorithms that assess a user’s personal data to remain compliant with data legislation.
  • Machine learning in web content management systems can provide greater efficiency for the data processed and help build a picture of the user’s actions and intent.
  • AI can improve the security of recruitment technology by identifying potential vulnerabilities, protecting personal information, and ensuring that only the correct information passes through to the right person.

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AI in recruitment: how it’s changing the way we hire

Posted on by SourceBreaker

AI is revolutionising the world of recruitment. From hiring and identifying candidates to qualifying them, AI has significantly impacted how we find and engage candidates who are perfect for the job.

How AI can revolutionise your recruitment process

AI can be used to automate almost any recruitment workflow and can even be applied to various stages of the hiring process, from sourcing or screening applicants to onboarding them into their new position.

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This type of automation has been a much-needed solution for companies looking for ways to cut costs without having to compromise on the quantity or quality of candidates. AI has also helped with diversity as many companies have found that they can reach a broader audience quicker.

How does it work?

The tech works by taking in all the information about potential employees into one system and deciding how well they fit the criteria set out by the recruitment agency, on behalf of their client. It uses cognitive learning algorithms to help people find jobs and can even be used as an automated applicant-tracking system.

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AI can automate many tasks involved with finding and screening candidates, from sifting through resumes to conducting phone screenings. Some AI can even create personalised interview questions tailored specifically to each candidate’s skillset and experience, using algorithms to ask questions that are more targeted and less biased than human recruiters could ever be.

Why has AI become so popular in recruitment?

Because the recruitment industry relies heavily on data, implementing artificial intelligence was a natural evolution welcomed by many companies.

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AI in recruitment has been around for a while, but only recently has it been implemented at scale. That’s because neural networks, which are at the core of all contemporary AI technologies, require vast amounts of information to be trained correctly.

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However, since making technological advancements in recent years, these AI-assisted tools are in a better position as high-quality data is readily available. This in turn means contemporary artificial intelligence is considerably more powerful than any other pre-existing system, making it an incredible addition to any recruitment agency’s tech stack.

The drawbacks of AI in recruitment

While there are various benefits to using AI, there are also some challenges to consider before making an informed decision.

Inability to Feel

AI doesn’t understand nuance, emotion, or social context cues that recruiters naturally pick up on. For example, an AI could never truly understand the sentiment behind a piece of writing from a candidate to know whether they are being sincere or sarcastic.

Lack of Cultural Understanding

These systems are intelligent but would struggle to place a candidate with a company based on cultural fit or make decisions based on the nuances of society or culture.

Humans & AI: A Symbiotic Duo

While it may not have the emotional intelligence or cultural understanding that human recruiters possess, it still provides tremendous value when used in conjunction with human recruiters.

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By using AI as a tool to support their efforts, recruiters can find the best candidates faster and more efficiently, ultimately improving the quality of hires for their clients.

So how does AI empower recruiters?

As AI becomes more advanced, it has become a more viable option for companies to use when recruiting candidates and with excellent cause. When leveraging AI, the possibilities are endless, and with opportunities to streamline every aspect of the recruitment process, the results start speaking for themselves.

Maximises Productivity

Machine learning and AI can calculate data points such as the candidate experience of over a thousand clients in just a few minutes, something that would traditionally take weeks of human labour. By saving time and allowing recruiters to focus on value-generating tasks like candidate engagement and lead generation, your team(s) can maximise their productivity.

Combats Unconscious Bias

When it comes to recruitment, humans tend to adhere to an unconscious bias, may forget specific information, and don’t process data as quickly as AI systems do; meaning it can effectively sift through candidates from an unbiased perspective.

Cost-efficient

AI is changing how we recruit because it’s making hiring more accessible, efficient, and significantly less costly. With recruiters spending fewer hours on monotonous tasks, they can dedicate their time to more vital revenue-building tasks and produce better results.

Provides Effective Reporting

AI can read, review, and compile collected information into comprehensible reports accessible by HR professionals, managers, or recruiters, empowering them to make hiring decisions more confidently than ever before.

Leveraging AI with SourceBreaker

The recruitment industry has come a long way since its humble beginnings, and AI is a powerful new tool that continues driving it forward. That’s because automation and AI can assist, supercharge, and maximise the productivity of recruiters but only if leveraged correctly

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Luckily for you, at SourceBreaker we pride ourselves on our customer success and so you’re guaranteed to be equipped with technology capable of propelling you to more success.

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Want to see how SourceBreaker can drive your business forward? Schedule a demo with us, it only takes a few seconds!

TL;DR Key Takeaways

  • AI is revolutionizing the recruitment industry, from identifying and qualifying candidates to onboarding them.
  • AI can automate recruitment workflows, helping companies cut costs while reaching a broader audience faster, improving diversity.
  • AI uses cognitive learning algorithms to help find jobs, sift through resumes, conduct phone screenings, and even create personalized interview questions.
  • AI became more popular as high-quality data became available, making contemporary AI technologies more powerful.
  • While AI lacks emotional intelligence and cultural understanding, it provides tremendous value when used in conjunction with human recruiters.
  • AI empowers recruiters by maximizing productivity, combating unconscious bias, being cost-efficient, and providing effective reporting.
  • Leveraging AI with tools like SourceBreaker can assist, supercharge, and maximize the productivity of recruiters.