Last Thursday, the RippleMatch team was thrilled to welcome nearly 50 talent acquisition professionals and campus recruitment teams to our NYC office to talk about one of the most pressing topics in today’s landscape: AI and its impact on the human experience in hiring.
During this half-day event, we covered everything from Gen Z job search behavior and expectations to strategic use of emerging technology to key elements of personalization in the interview process. If you weren’t able to join us, no worries! We’ve included a short recap of the day’s events and insights.
To kick off our Micro-Summit, we looked at key insights collected by RippleMatch from our latest survey of 1,500 Gen Z candidates as well as an analysis of our platform data. The data collected highlights a new era in recruitment ushered in by the expectations and behaviors of the next generation of talent. Here are the stats that got our attendees talking the most:
Algorithms are as influential to a candidate's career paths as traditional channels, such as past work experience or academic careers. 54% of candidates say a job or internship recommended to them by a job search platform influences their career; 53% say previous work experience, and 52% say an academic major influences them. The mainstream usage of job boards and easy-apply sites has become core to candidates’ strategies, and is ushering in a new era of mass-applying.
The majority of candidates are submitting 100+ applications in their job search – and 63% expect employers to get back to them within 5-7 business days of submitting their application. 76% of candidates say the No. 1 contributor to a negative candidate experience is never hearing back from an employer after submitting an app – what they view as ghosting. On top of this, nearly 80% of candidates expect a hiring process to be complete within 4 weeks, a tall order for many employers who are currently inundated with application volume.
Candidates still crave the personal elements of the hiring process, such as thoughtful details when interviewing. Candidates who are traditionally underrepresented in the workplace, specifically Black and Hispanic women, cite ‘Lack of diversity from interviewers’ as the No. 2 biggest contributor to a negative candidate experience. Candidates also cited ‘lack of details from interviewers’ and ‘no follow-up after interview’ as top contributors to a negative candidate experience.
The current landscape within recruitment is more challenging and intimidating than ever due to ever-shifting expectations of candidates coupled with the rapid emergence of new technology. During our panel discussions, we turned to the TA leaders facing these challenges every day to navigate this new era of talent acquisition.
During our Micro-Summit, we heard from six talent leaders as well as RippleMatch founder & CEO, on the delicate balance between emerging technology and human-centric hiring.
Our first session focused on Emerging Technology in TA with Natalia Le, Team Lead, Campus Recruiting, Datadog, Katelyn Peker, Director of Global Early Talent, MongoDB, and Courtney Kaezyk, Campus Recruiting Lead, Vitech Systems, all customers of RippleMatch. Our second session was centered around how to craft human-centric hiring processes and featured Heather Faulkner, Associate Director, Talent Acquisition Campus Relations, Verizon, Katherine Ervelli, Regional Head - Entry Level Recruiting - Americas, Oliver Wyman (both RippleMatch customers), and Matt Peppler, Engineering Recruiting Team Lead, Bloomberg.
These are the top takeaways from across our two sessions:
1. AI-Powered Recruitment: The Power to Streamline Processes, Enhance Efficiency, and Expand Possibilities
AI-powered tools and algorithms are revolutionizing recruitment processes by automating repetitive tasks, identifying patterns and insights, and providing data-driven recommendations. This frees up recruiters to focus on more strategic and relationship-building activities, such as developing and nurturing candidate pipelines, building rapport with top talent, and creating a positive candidate experience.
AI can also help to expand the talent pool by identifying qualified candidates who may have been overlooked by traditional methods. For example, AI can consider a wider range of factors than human recruiters can, such as a candidate's skills and experience from previous jobs, extracurricular activities, and even personal projects. This can help to level the playing field and create a more equitable hiring process.
2. Addressing AI Bias: A Critical Imperative
While AI offers immense potential for recruitment, it is important to be mindful of the potential for bias. AI systems are trained on data, and if that data is biased, the AI system will be biased as well. Organizations must take steps to mitigate AI bias, such as creating interpretable algorithms, regularly auditing their AI systems, and implementing anti-bias measures. RippleMatch, for example, partners with a third-party bias auditor babl.ai to review our technology on an annual basis. Additionally, RippleMatch’s core algorithm that assesses whether a candidate is a fit for a job is easy to unpack. The importance of these safeguards leads us to the next topic among our speakers: assessing vendors carefully.
3. Assessing AI Thoughtfully: Viewing Potential Tools and Vendors Through a Critical Lens
With all the buzz around AI, it’s easy for companies to jump on the bandwagon and claim to be the next great AI solution. That’s why it’s essential to ask questions to figure out if a vendor is genuinely an AI-native company (meaning they had this product capability all along or have dedicated significant resources to it) or are just tagging along with the latest trends. Get specifics on how and where AI plays a role in their product, including how they approach AI safety. In general, when a vendor claims to be all about AI, do your homework: look into their technical capabilities, performance records, and how transparent they are about their AI tech stack.
4. Human-Centric Hiring Processes Are Here to Stay
Having a human-centric hiring process doesn’t mean technology isn’t involved. In fact, our panelists shared that increasing elements of automation have allowed them to make their process even more personalized and prioritize candidates at a higher level than before. By automating tasks like reviewing resumes, sourcing candidates, scheduling interviews, and other coordination-heavy components, recruiters are able to spend more time strategizing how best to connect with candidates, strengthening their interview processes, and connecting with candidates to ensure they are the right fit for the role. The continued investment in automating manual, time-intensive tasks has proven to be a win for human-centric hiring processes, opening up a new opportunity to craft a better experience for candidates and employers alike.
In between panels, we hosted small breakout room discussions among our guests to dive deeper into the complexities of AI and human-centric hiring processes. Following the event, we hosted a happy hour to continue the conversation, as well as reflect on the most recent campus recruitment season.
Wherever emerging technology takes us next, one thing is clear – there will always be a place to come together as a community and discuss where campus recruitment and talent acquisition is headed. We hope to see you at future events!
Want to keep exploring the balance between AI and the human experience in hiring? Check out the replay of our most recent webinar, ‘The Future of Talent Acquisition: Perfecting the Human Experience in the Age of AI’ featuring RippleMatch CEO Andrew Myers.