Resume Screening Using AI

Henry Yu

November 27, 2023

RESUME SCREENING USING AI RESOURCE

Resume screening is an often overlooked hiring process that is incredibly critical to the end result of an organization’s talent acquisition strategy. Effective resume screening is vital to secure high quality, engaged new hires, who contribute to your organization and improve your overall quality of hire.

However, the screening process is monotonous, unstandardized and very susceptible to human error when done manually. This eBook will discuss how organizations can do resume screening using AI to automate repetitive, time-consuming screening tasks to make time for enjoyable, high-value work.

“61% of CEO’s tell us they do not believe they are recruiting fast enough or well enough and that the process has become enormously complex. The entire recruiting industry has become data driven and one of the fastest growing areas of AI.” — Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte

RESUME SCREENING USING AI

Resume screening is the process of determining whether a candidate is qualified for a role based on information captured on his or her resume.

The 3-Step Manual Resume Screening Process (Or, “This is how we’ve always done it.”):

  1. Initial screen of resumes based on the job’s minimum qualifications.
  2. Further screen of resumes based on the job’s preferred qualifications.
  3. Final screen of resumes based on the shortlist of candidates.

“As AI and other technologies take over the basic, time consuming tasks of sourcing and screening candidates, human jobs will shift. Recruiters are now relationship builders and managers. Savvy recruiters will continue to embrace new talent acquisition technologies and hone their relationship-building skills.” — Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte

THE CHALLENGES OF RESUME SCREENING TODAY

According to a recent survey of talent acquisition leaders, the most important recruiting KPIs are quality of hire followed by time to fill. Both quality of hire and time to fill are heavily influenced by your resume screening process.

CHALLENGE #1: VOLUME

By far the biggest challenge of resume screening is volume.

An average job opening receives 250 resumes and up to 88% of them are considered unqualified.

The usual solution for the volume problem is using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).

However, an ATS has some well documented weaknesses. For example, an ATS can screen in a candidate as a false positive based on keyword stuffing or screen out a candidate with strong qualifications as a false negative because he or she doesn’t meet the keyword filters.

CHALLENGE #2: QUALITY OF HIRE

60% of talent acquisition leaders’ top recruiting KPI is quality of hire. Recruiters face increased pressure to show quality of hire but lack tools to link the resume screening process to post-hire metrics.

Because an ATS doesn’t have a way to learn which candidates went on to become successful and unsuccessful employees, it can’t improve its screening function. An ATS’s limited functionality means recruiters need different software tools to help them achieve their most important KPIs.

RESUME SCREENING USING AI

Designed to meet the needs of recruiters that current technology can’t solve, a new class of recruiting technology called AI for recruitment has arrived.

AI for recruiting is designed to reduce — or even remove — time- consuming, administrative activities like manually screening resumes.

Experts predict this type of automation technology will transform the recruiting function.

“Our research shows that companies are not waiting for such technologies to be perfected: they are implementing now. Thirty-eight percent of companies believe that robotics and automation will be “fully- implemented” in their company within five years, and 48% of these companies say their projects are going ‘excellent or very well.” — Deloitte Human Capital Trends

SOLUTIONS TO RESUME SCREENING

AI is designed to integrate with your existing ATS to automate the resume screening process. This is a prime example of how AI is changing the recruiter role by automating a task that most recruiters feel is a waste of their time and abilities.

AI analyzes your existing resume database to learn which candidates moved on to become successful and unsuccessful employees based on their performance and company tenure. The software then applies the knowledge it learns about employees’ experience, skills, and other qualifications to automatically screen, grade, and shortlist new candidates (e.g. from A to D).

“Thanks to cloud-based systems with strong APIs, products, like Ideal, can plug right into your existing system so there is minimal need to change processes or do implementation.” — David Creelman, CEO of Creelman Research, Co-Author of Lead the Work

HOW AI CAN BE USED FOR RESUME SCREENING

AI screening software can also enrich candidates’ resumes by using public data sources about their prior employers as well as their public digital footprint. Automated resume screening helps solve the two major challenges with resume screening: volume and quality of hire.

SOLUTION #1: VOLUME

AI for resume screening can handle massive volumes of data. In fact, AI requires a lot of data to make accurate recommendations about which candidates to move forward. This means AI screening software is very valuable for high-volume recruitment such as retail sales or customer service roles.

SOLUTION #2: QUALITY OF HIRE

AI screening software learns to predict quality of hire because it’s able to analyze your historical hiring decisions as well as learn fromyour current hiring decisions. AI screening software automates resume screening and learns from historical hiring decisions to improve quality of hire and reduce employee turnover.

5 KEY TAKEAWAYS

  1. The time you save screening resumes can be used in much more valuable ways, whether it’s sourcing, engaging, or interviewing candidates to help determine how well they’ll fit the job and company culture.
  2. 61% of CEOs say they don’t believe they are recruiting fast enough or well enough.
  3. The best time to start is now! 48% of companies say their talent acquisition automation projects are going “excellent or very well.
  4. Although the technology behind AI is complex, employers using Ideal find AI for resume screening easy to implement and have realized cost and time savings within one month of deployment.
  5. AI for recruiting companies like Ideal can ensure employers screen every one of their applicants— optimizing their talent pool and increasing recruiter efficiency 3.7x.