How to Invest in a Recruiting Chatbot Based on What Your Applicants Want

Amidst the talk of whether Artificial Intelligence will improve our jobs or take them away, recruiting is one industry where there’s an acknowledgment that the human touch will always be fundamental.

In fact, Artificial Intelligence has already changed the way the recruiting industry operates: Think automated resume screening, job matching, and automated sourcing just to name a few.

But one technology that hasn’t been fully embraced—yet—is that of the recruiting chatbot. Earlier this year, Software Advice surveyed almost 200 recruiting professionals about recruiting chatbots and found that their concern about the impact of a lack of human touch on candidates was the top reason preventing them from adopting one.

While a valid concern, organizations that are avoiding using chatbots, for this reason, are missing out. As it turns out, recruiting chatbots are having the opposite effect that recruiters assume they would.

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Chatbots Are Driving a Positive Candidate Experience

Creating a stellar candidate experience is now an intrinsic part of any recruiter’s role—82% of Hiring Managers now say that the candidate journey and experience is very or extremely important.

We were interested in how job applicants rated their interactions with recruiting chatbots, and so we surveyed recruiting professionals about the responses they’ve received from prospective candidates and applicants.

Our respondents reported that a majority of applicants—over two thirds—have given mostly positive feedback on their interactions with recruiting chatbots during the application process.

Because the market for recruiting chatbots isn’t mature yet, it’s crucial for organizations to analyze the impact that their use is having on applicants. Asking for positive/negative feedback is a good start, but organizations need to be soliciting more granular feedback on their intended effects in order to feedback to vendors for suggested improvements.

Which bring us to our next question:

What Are Recruiters Actually Using Chatbots For?

Of those survey respondents whose organization is already using a recruiting chatbot, we asked them to indicate what was the main reason they began using a recruiting chatbot.

The majority of organizations began using recruiting chatbots to pre-screen and qualify candidates, followed closely by interview scheduling. Based on these results, it’s fair to assume that screening and qualifying candidates and interview-scheduling are top recruiting pain points, that the adoption of chatbots seeks to address.

There’s one key issue to look at when we compare the results of how applicants are responding positively to recruiting chatbots, versus the results around their main uses: It’s impossible to know which of the functions of chatbots applicants are happy with, and which they aren’t. For example, though 40% of organizations began using chatbots to pre-screen potential candidates, this may have been the one part of the candidate journey that the applicant didn’t have a positive experience with.

Solicit Applicant Feedback to Improve on Candidate Experience

Adopting a recruiting chatbot is only the first step: Making sure that it has a positive impact on your applicants and candidates is the next. Soliciting feedback on your chatbot is key to ensuring that not only is your chatbot working for you but for your applicants too.

Read more: How can Chatbots add Value to Customer Experience?