Choosing the right AI tool for your recruitment firm
The AI revolution is in full swing, with new solutions entering the market on what seems like a daily basis. Every tool promises to revolutionize the way your business operates. But because no two businesses are the same, a solution that works for one firm may not be the right choice for another.
Evaluating all the AI solutions available and making the right choice can feel overwhelming, even for the most seasoned recruitment executives. According to a recent poll from SIA Executive Forum, choosing the right AI tools for your firm is the top tech challenge facing staffing leaders today. But making that choice – and making it quickly – is paramount; upcoming Bullhorn research indicates that AI can help recruitment agencies win talent back from 24/7 job boards and differentiate themselves from the competition.
Here are a few key considerations to keep in mind when evaluating — and choosing — AI tools for your recruitment firm.
Take a hard look at your data
We’ve heard it many times before: your tools are only as good as your data. “AI is reading information that humans don’t have time to [read],” said Erika Mendez, COO of Pyramid Consulting Group. You’ll want to make sure that what that AI is reading will help drive ideal outcomes — that is, more placements and more profit.
Before selecting an AI solution, consider the data you plan to feed it. Is it structured data, or do you need to establish stronger data governance and hygiene practices? This doesn’t necessarily need to be a barrier to entry; keep in mind that some AI solutions can actually help you clean your data. “We have a lot of raw, unstructured data,” said Jonah Rader, President of Connected Healthcare. “The first thing [our AI solution] is going to do on a candidate record is look at all of the different important data points and structure it in a more organized fashion.”
For the best outcomes, you’ll also want to determine which source of data has trained the AI model. Is it staffing-specific or a model meant for general usage? Will inputting your firm’s data help to improve the AI solution’s model or your outcomes? The more specific, enormous, and actionable your data is, the more likely it is that the outputs your AI tool provides will be useful to you and your team. Careful consideration of your data — its quality, structure, and the AI’s training source — is critical when it comes to choosing the right AI solution.
Evaluate your tech stack
A key question for any new software — not just AI — is integration. How well does a new tool fit into your workflow? Does it “talk” to your other solutions? Will it scale with your business as it grows?
A decentralized solution is suitable for occasional use or if you only need AI for one specific need. However, a different point solution for every AI use case is cumbersome at best; at worst, it exposes your firm to compliance and legal risks, not to mention headaches as you try to orchestrate workflows..
Ideally, your AI experience should sit directly within your existing platforms, rather than stitching together a string of different tools, so all of your data stays in one place — and your AI tool can make the most of it. “I’m a big believer that if it doesn’t exist in the CRM, it never happened,” added Rader. “And so we are trying to centralize as much as we possibly can.”
Plus, an end-to-end solution can grow alongside your company, eliminating future — and potentially painful — replacement processes and allowing your firm to scale without limits.
Prioritize compliance and security
Security shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be among your first considerations when it comes to choosing the right AI tool. Are there best practices in place to ensure that your data is private and secure? Will the AI tool, and how you intend to use it, meet your security and compliance requirements? Firms should look to trusted providers who have conducted due diligence to ensure their solutions are secure — and that your firm feels confident in its ability to use the AI tool in a legally compliant way.
Additionally, proper guardrails need to be in place to ensure that AI does not introduce bias into candidate selection. Partnering with a trusted provider can help to ensure that your firm’s use of AI solutions — and any employment-related decisions made as a result — are fair and unbiased.
Define your use cases
Finally, the big question: what do you plan to use AI to achieve? How do you plan on fitting it into your workflows? The good news here is that if there’s a pain point, there’s probably an AI solution for it; we’re far away from the days of asking ChatGPT one-off questions.
AI recruitment tools can help you search for top candidates based on job descriptions; interview candidates even when you’re off the clock; and create smart summaries of candidate skills and achievements. Leanne Courtney and her team at Procom use AI to generate interview questions, write job descriptions, and even help with translation for their Quebec-based teams.
AI isn’t just for recruiters; it can also help your sales teams research clients and prepare for meetings, generate candidate submission packets, and launch multi-step, targeted outreach campaigns.
Ultimately, choosing an AI tool requires a deep understanding of your agency’s data, workflows, and goals. The most important step when it comes to making a decision: just get started. As Courtney said, “AI is the future. It’s going to make people’s jobs easier and make us more efficient as a business.”
Want to learn more about how recruiters and AI are working together to achieve more? Check out our blog on the role of recruiters in the age of AI.
