To address shifting business needs and improve efficiency, many organizations are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and other functions across the business.
AI-powered recruitment solutions have the potential to transform how companies source, evaluate, and engage with top talent. For leadership roles in particular, AI can help HR and talent acquisition leaders reach a broader pool of candidates and ensure they’re effectively evaluating potential leaders to identify the most qualified individuals. A more streamlined process can also help keep qualified leaders engaged in today’s competitive labor market.
While AI can be helpful, no leadership recruitment process should be completely automated and human expertise and empathy remains critical. Below, we’ll outline more about how AI is used in recruitment and leadership hiring, as well as best practices for balancing technology and human touch.
The growth and adoption of AI in recruitment
From resume parsing tools to interview scheduling, the use of automation and AI in recruitment has steadily gained momentum over the past decade. However, AI has become even more prevalent in recent years given the significant growth and adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
Here are some quick statistics about AI adoption:
- 81% of companies planned to invest in AI driven recruiting solutions in 2024 to automate and streamline their recruiting process
- 82% of companies use AI to review resumes and only an astounding 0.2% of companies report not using AI at all in their hiring practices
- The global AI recruitment market is expected to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8% through 2030
6 benefits of AI in leadership hiring
According to research from Tidio, 67% of HR professionals believe that using AI brings many benefits and has a positive impact on the recruitment process.
Using AI technology in leadership hiring offers several benefits, including:
- Expanded candidate pools: Unlike the limited personal networks or databases of traditional executive search firms, AI-powered recruitment tools can scan vast datasets of executive profiles in minutes. This approach opens the door to access a larger, more diverse pool of qualified potential leaders.
- Time savings and faster time-to-hire: By automating tasks like resume screening, candidate sourcing, and interview scheduling, AI-enabled recruitment platforms free up valuable time and resources for human recruiters to focus on more strategic, high-impact activities. The speed and efficiency of AI-driven screening, matching, and scheduling processes also significantly reduces the overall time required to fill critical leadership positions.
- Reduced bias: When implemented thoughtfully, AI can help mitigate the impact of both conscious and unconscious human biases that often happen in traditional recruitment processes, leading to more equitable and inclusive hiring decisions.
- Improved candidate experience: AI-powered chatbots, personalized communications, and streamlined application processes can improve the overall experience for leadership candidates, making them feel valued and engaged throughout the hiring journey.
- Predictive insights: By analyzing the attributes and behaviors of past successful hires, AI can uncover previously hidden correlations and provide predictive insights about which candidates are most likely to succeed in a given leadership role.
- Proactive pipelining and scalability: AI technology can help organizations quickly evaluate and proactively build pipelines of qualified executive candidates for current and future open roles. The right technology can also help companies efficiently scale leadership hiring efforts up and down based on business needs — without impacting recruitment team headcount.
Best practices for balancing technology and human touch
A survey of 1,000 people involved with hiring conducted by ResumeBuilder found that 85% of respondents said AI can help provide recommendations on candidates but final hiring decisions should be left to people. Additionally, survey results from the Pew Research Center show that 44% of U.S. job seekers surveyed believe AI would miss the “human factor” in hiring.
Striking the right balance between AI technology and human expertise can help your organization maximize the benefits of AI-led leadership hiring while mitigating potential risks.
Here are some best practices to consider:
- Align on tasks supported by AI versus people: Establish a clear breakdown of responsibilities between AI and human recruiters, such as technology handling high-volume, repetitive tasks and human experts focusing on strategic decision-making and building relationships with candidates.
- Write clear job descriptions: Many AI tools review and match candidates based on criteria and requirements outlined in job descriptions. While AI can also be used to draft engaging, unbiased job descriptions, your team should directly review and approve all job descriptions before they’re posted to ensure you’re targeting the right candidates
- Evaluate candidates based on accomplishments rather than skills: Traditional, mass-market recruiting solutions evaluate candidates based on skills, but this doesn’t work for leadership hiring. Rather, partnering with an AI-led leadership hiring platform that matches candidates based on accomplishments is essential to identifying the most qualified leaders.
- Ensure humans make final hiring decisions: While AI can weed out leadership candidates who aren’t a fit, experienced HR or talent professionals should review top recommended candidates, conduct interviews to learn about potential leaders on a personal level, and make final hiring decisions.
- Maintain transparency and privacy: Be open and transparent about the use of AI in the recruitment process. Also reassure candidates that you’re using ethical AI solutions, their personal data will remain protected and private, and a human recruiter will make the final hiring decision.
- Optimize over time: Regularly evaluate the performance of the AI-human hybrid recruitment model, making continual improvements to processes, technology solutions, algorithms, and human-machine collaboration. To help improve the leadership hiring experience, also ask candidates for feedback on the process, including their perceptions of interacting with AI technology.
Partner with SucceedSmart for AI-led technology and human expertise in leadership hiring
The competition for qualified leadership candidates is always a challenge. Embracing the right AI tools and striking the right balance with including human expertise in the hiring process can help your organization gain a leadership hiring advantage — no matter the market conditions.
At SucceedSmart, we blend human empathy with AI-led precision, empowering companies to accomplish more and to find leaders who embrace change and drive innovation. We challenge outdated recruiting models by delivering diverse, future-ready talent, faster and smarter.
Our patented, accomplishment-based matching algorithm shortlists the ‘best-matched’ candidates based on an organization’s specific needs while mitigating bias in the hiring process. The “last mile” of the leadership recruitment process is then completed by expert human recruiters who act as an extension of talent acquisition teams and review top candidates, only presenting qualified, interested, and immediately available talent for consideration.
With SucceedSmart, HR teams can accomplish more by spending 50% less time sourcing candidates and reduce hiring time from 4 to 6 months to 4 to 6 weeks.
If you’re ready to accomplish more and gain a leadership hiring advantage, request a demo to speak with a member of our team directly.
