Resume Screening Using Ai
With advancement in technology such as AI, machine learning, NLP and deep learning, recruitment technology is also undergoing a big change.
AI For Recruitment
AI recruiting software now automating recruitment process like never before. Such AI recruiting tools are modern, intuitive and easy to adapt. These tools are slowly changing the face of HR technology.
Automated Resume Screening Using AI
AI algorithm understands the kind of job requirement you have. It also learns from your hiring practices the kind of candidates you generally interview or hire. Such learning from the recruitment process goes beyond keyword match and takes into consideration multiple factors such as context in the resume, hiring pattern of your organization, etc. Basis that it does the matching and ranking of resumes. It helps you identify right candidates in the very beginning of recruitment and selection process.
AI for resume screening can be integrated with existing ATS or it could be an ATS with AI resume screening capabilities.
Using AI for resume screening solves all three concern areas viz. Time to screen, Domain expertise of recruiters and keyword based resume screening.
AI automatically learns from your hiring process. It learns the kind of candidates you shortlist, interview or hire. Hence, it can easily identify which candidates match the requirement best.
Using AI for resume screening you can screen thousands of resumes in matter of few seconds hence saving recruiters precious time.
The Challenges Recruiters Face While Screening Resumes
According to a recent survey of talent acquisition leaders, the most important recruiting KPI is quality of hire followed by time to fill.
Both quality of hire and time to fill are influenced by your resume screening process.
Volume
The biggest challenge of screening resumes by far is volume.
The number of resumes received is one of the biggest factors that increases time to fill. An average job opening receives 250 resumes and up to 88% of them are considered unqualified. This means a recruiter can spend up to 23 hours screening resumes for a single hire.
The usual solution for the volume problem is using an Applicant Tracking System . An ATS is a must-have software for recruitment and talent acquisition departments, because it organizes all the resumes received for each role.
An ATS usually allows for some measure of automating resume screening through keyword matches or knockout questions.
However, an ATS has some well known weaknesses.
For example, an ATS can screen in a candidate as a false positive based on keyword stuffing or screen out a candidate as a false negative because he or she doesnt meet the keyword filters but has strong qualifications otherwise.
Quality of hire
60% of talent acquisition leaders top recruiting KPI is quality of hire:
- 50% measure quality of hire through new hires performance
- 49% measure quality of hire through turnover
- 43% measure quality of hire through hiring manager satisfaction
Use Ai And Automation
Artificial intelligence, among other things, can help you screen out the least relevant candidates and schedule interviews with the good onessaving you time. If youve been dragging your feet on the right technology, its time to get on board. Chatbots, for instance, can handle the resumes that get through your system and act as the gatekeeper before applicants get to a real interview process.
Chatbots can be an effective way to try to gather information and perform resume screening, particularly for companies hiring large volumes of candidates into relatively similar positions, says Matthew Spencer, co-founder and CEO of AI recruiting network Suited.
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Narrow Down To Your Top Choices
Now that you narrowed the resumes down from the hundreds you received to the 15-30 that seem to match your needs, you have your shortlist. The number of candidates from your shortlist that will move onto the interview process varies depending on your companys specific needs.
If you have a higher recruitment volume, then typically, all candidates who meet the minimum credentials will be contacted for an interview. However, if your company is doing a lower recruitment volume, just the top few candidates who have the minimum credentials and required skills will get called for an interview.
From your shortlist, you will need to manually review the resumes against your knowledge of the position and the job description to determine the top quality candidates to bring in for an interview with the hiring manager.
It is also prudent to involve the hiring manager and have them review your top five to 10 resumes to see if they fit exactly what the manager needs. If they agree with your top choices, it is time to verify their information before scheduling interviews.
Dont Overlook The Benefits Of Working With A Recruiting Professional
Hiring managers are swimming in résumés these days. Its not unusual for even moderate-sized companies to receive up to 500 résumés within the first few days of posting an opening. Thats because numerous services crawl the web looking for new job postings and automatically submit résumés stored in their system.
A professional recruiter, particularly one who specializes in your industry, can save your companys managers countless hours by evaluating résumés for you and conducting your initial screening to identify the best candidates.
Résumés are just the tip of the hiring iceberg, and theres no one right way to find new employees these days. Learn more about what you can do to find the best job candidates by downloading our free e-book, Building a better team: how to attract, recruit and hire top talent.
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Articulate The Ideal Candidate Prior To The Search
There are many people associated with the hiring process. That means there is the potential for many opinions and subsequent clashes of those opinions if everybody is not on the same page. Thats why everybody associated with the process should know what the idea candidate looks like, on paper, if nowhere else. And since were talking about resume screening, we are talking about paper .
Legal Considerations For Resume Screening
According to federal law, you cannot disqualify a job applicant based on race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, disability, or region. One way to ensure equal opportunities and to overcome unconscious bias in resume screening would be to blind screen the resumes. Before screening, determine what information is non-essential and remove it from resumes.
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What Hiring Managers Look For When Screening Resumes
I am one of those guys who is reading between 50 to 150 resumes for a job opening. This is the number I see after the automated filters and the additional screening by the HR department before the resumes get to me. My goal is to find four or five very good interview candidates.
Round One. I do a first pass through the resumes giving each about thirty to sixty seconds to make it to the next round. The first pass focuses on the eliminating the mass marketed resume and obvious skills to job mismatches.
Round Two. About 40 to 50 percent of the resumes survive the first round. The second round examines how well the applicant matches the job posting. During this round I eliminate additional resumes and begin ranking the applicants suitability.
Automated Systems That Screen Resumes
What is an applicant tracking system? To screen a large volume of resumes, many employers use software to help them conduct an initial screening of resumes. More than 98% of Fortune 500 companies use an ATS, according to data collected by Jobscan. Many mid-sized organizations use one as well.
These systems screen out or reject many resumes submitted, either because the documents don’t reflect the desired qualifications or because they are formatted in a way that the system can’t understand.
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Categorize Each Job Qualification As Minimum Or Preferred
The second step in your resume screening checklist is deciding if each job qualification is a minimum or preferred one.
Minimum qualifications are ones that a candidate must have in order to do the job. An example of a minimum qualification for a retail associate is good written and verbal communication skills.
Preferred qualifications are ones that would make someone a stronger candidate. An example of a preferred qualification is whether the candidate has prior related work experience.
A good rule of thumb is that a candidate would be unable to do the job without each minimum qualification whereas he or she would be able to do the job without any of the preferred qualifications.
For example, an extroverted candidate with good communication skills who lacks prior retail experience can be successful as a retail associate with some on-the-job training.
Depending on a jobs workflow, candidates can be screened based on minimum qualifications, preferred qualifications, or both.
Resume Formatting Matters In Applicant Tracking Systems
When you upload your resume into an applicant tracking system, the recruiter wont necessarily view the file. Some ATS parse the document into a digital profile to make things uniform and searchable.
This causes big problems for job seekers.
Many ATS parsing algorithms are outdated and unintelligent, causing your resume information to get distorted or lost. This means vital keywords or details might not be imported. Imagine your most important qualification slipping through the cracks!
Modern ATS are starting to get away from this practice, but some popular systems like iCIMS still do it. In order to create an ATS-friendly resume that is parsable by these outdated systems, be sure to keep section headings simple, use consistent formatting for your work history and dates, avoid tables, and use a .docx or .pdf file format.
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Red Flags For Employers
Red flags at this point in your resume review, that are unexplained on the resume or in the cover letter, include employment gaps, evidence of decreasing responsibility, evidence of a career that has reached a plateau or even gone in the wrong direction, short-term employment at several jobs, and multiple shifts in career path.
- Review your selected resumes against your criteria and each other.
Applicant Tracking Systems Are Here To Stay
During the Great Recession, employers were flooded with applications and wanted features that discouraged and filtered out unqualified candidates. This resulted in many of the bloated application processes and indiscriminate filters found in ATS today. Unfortunately, improving unemployment rates wont mark the end of ATS.
While outdated systems are still in use at some large companies, we are seeing new ATS being developed for the modern age. As employers fight for the best talent, candidate experience is becoming more of a priority. Automation and ranking systems arent going away theyre just becoming more technical as recruiting software begins leveraging AI.
An ATS-optimized resume is the first step to getting past the bots and face to face with an actual person. Jobscan tests and researches common ATS to help job seekers avoid the traps of these systems, from the outdated to the cutting edge.
Scan your resume to see if it stands up against ATS:
Versions of this article were published in 2015 and 2016 by James Hu. It was rewritten and updated for 2021.
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How Accurate Are Applicant Tracking Systems
While ATS programs enable HR to be more efficient in sorting through resumes, they are not without faults. A study from Harvard Business Review found that 88% of employers felt that qualified, high-skilled candidates were vetted out of the process by an ATS because they did not match the exact criteria established by the job description, and that number rose to 94% for middle-skilled candidates.
Trouble can arise when it comes to updating and tailoring requirements in job descriptions. Often, job descriptions are too lofty or idealistic, with a long list of required skills or experience that quickly narrow the pool of candidates. The survey found that 72% of employers acknowledged that they rarely updated or changed job descriptions or only slightly modified them.
Over time, job descriptions can become bloated with excessive or outdated skills and requirements, which will eliminate qualified candidates from the job. A candidate might have the right experience, but not have the exact skills listed on the job description, which means theyll go unnoticed by the ATS. This has a negative impact on both candidates and employers candidates get overlooked and employers run the risk of creating a self-inflicted skills shortage.
Compile A List Of The Job Qualifications
The first step in your resume screening checklist is understanding which skills, traits, and behaviors are necessary to be successful in the role.
The best way to do this is to assess what the qualifications of successful employees look.
Figuring out the jobs qualifications can involve talking to current employees and their supervisors as well as examining their resumes to find common patterns in:
- Work Experience
- Personality Traits
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Why Do Candidates Lie In Their Resume
Its tough to get a job in such a competitive market.
Recent graduates and people with gaps in their hiring history, in particular, have a really hard time to compete.
To gain the upper hand, they lie. Its a fact. Its not the right thing to do, but they are doing it.
As a hiring manager, it is your responsibility to make sure all information in a candidates resume is true before you hire them.
Well tell you how to do that.
The Tools Of A Strong Screening Process
A strong applicant screening process includes:
- Posting job descriptions to job boards that align with your targeted audience.
- Setting parameters on applications so only qualified candidates can move forward with your process.
- Assessing candidates that meet minimum requirements to determine if they should continue to move forward.
- Selecting your top candidates and setting up initial phone interviews, in-person or virtual interviews as well as scheduling any job performance tests.
- Verifying your top candidate is eligible to work and administering any background or drug screenings.
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Common Red Flags When Screening Resumes
Candidates are very creative. In some cases, resumes may contain subtle warning signs of potential problems that you may want to follow up on with the candidate. Some of these red flags may outweigh a candidates otherwise perfect fit or abilities and experience for the job. Some examples of red flags to look out for when reviewing resumes are:
Read The Customized Cover Letter
Look especially for a flawless presentation in the cover letter, correct spelling and grammar, and the applicants attention to detail. Whatthere is no cover letter? This is the downside of electronic resume spamming. Receiving countless, usually unqualified, applicant resumes, occurs following every job posting. The tip-off? Usually, unqualified applicants fail to write a cover letter.
Worth noting, too, is the fact that advice to job applicants has changed. Disagreement exists about whether a cover letter is still a necessary component of an application. Supporters contend that it is a wonderful opportunity for an applicant to demonstrate that their credentials are perfect for your job requirements. Then, choose, or choose not, to continue your resume review at this point.
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How To Become A Human Resources Intern
Most SMEs in the US have internship programs that include open positions for an HR intern each year. Meanwhile, larger organizations have multiple openings for paid internships throughout the year.
You can become a human resources intern if youre enrolled in your third or final year of your bachelors degree, or if you already have a degree in HRM or any related field. Usually, internships range between three to six months however, it may vary in different industries and organizations.
Typically, the average human resources intern hourly pay is $14.78 in the US. The hourly amount varies between $10.71 and $21.67 depending on the organization, while some companies also offer bonuses.
After their internship, the usual career path for a human resources intern is towards an HR generalist or HR coordinator.
Its best to familiarize yourself with some HR resume examples so you can be easily shortlisted. It will also help you establish yourself in the organization if the internship leads to a job.
You should also consider opting for certifications and courses, especially if you already have a degree. For example, working towards an SHRM certification during your internship would reinforce your HR career path and help you land a better position.
Freeing Up Time For Other Things
The average job posting leads to a recruiter getting approximately 250 applicants. Take a moment to think about how long it takes to manually go through each of those applications and screen the resumes in the steps we described above. And that is for just one job.
Resume screening software can cut that time down significantly. Rather than having to go through each resume manually one by one, you can implement an AI ATS to do the job for you. This means less time for you and more time for talking to the candidates who have a strong chance of getting the position or other tasks. It also streamlines the process of hiring so things can happen much faster.
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