In this series, business correspondent Timothy Goh provides practical answers to candid questions to address workplace challenges and advance your career. Sign up for more tips Straits Times Headstart Newsletter.
Q: How are employers leveraging AI in recruiting, and how can candidates improve their chances?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used for a large number of recruitment tasks, including creating job ads, sourcing candidates, ranking resumes, scheduling interviews, and conducting first-round interviews.
“When used well, it allows hiring managers to spend more time on judgment, cultural fit, and career motivation, which a system can’t assess without actually interviewing qualified candidates,” said Michelle Coe, managing director at The Edge Partnership, an executive search firm.
Mr Koh also said that the use of AI chatbots to conduct first interviews has recently moved “from experimental to mainstream”. Such a system is candidate The same questions are asked in the same order, reducing variations in “interviewer mood” that can affect human selection.
Chatbots can also save recruiters time by answering routine questions about salary ranges and company culture, while allowing candidates to complete interviews at their convenience without having to take time off to attend interviews.
But AI tools trained on a company’s past hiring data can also reinforce existing biases.
“For example, if a company has previously hired from the same two or three universities or filtered out candidates who took a career break, the algorithm will continue to do that at scale, just faster and more discreetly than a human could,” Koh said.
He said candidates should leverage AI to refine and tailor their resumes to the role, but cautioned against relying too much on AI.
“Using AI to review your writing and tailor your resume is now easy and really worth it.” to What is required in the job description,” she said.
However, overly sophisticated or clearly AI-generated applications can also backfire.
“The AI version of the resume still has to be well thought out,” she said, adding that candidates still need to provide relevant information. that Their applications reflect both the requirements of the role and their personal brand.
Mr Koh also cautioned against relying solely on AI-generated resumes and online job portals.
“Build relationships with recruiters and people in your field before you need a job, and keep your LinkedIn up-to-date instead of stuffing it with keywords,” she said.
“Both the algorithm and the humans reading it afterwards will notice a difference.”
Kevin Chan, CEO of HR technology company Epitome Global, said humans ultimately decide which criteria are important, which requirements are essential, and what the system should reward.
“Even if a machine makes a pass/fail decision, the employer remains responsible for the process behind it,” he said.
Still, candidates are increasingly using AI to generate and tailor their applications, creating a hiring race.
“Recruiters receive more sophisticated applications, often using similar language and revealing little about the job offer. individual behind them. This is why employers are turning to further automation to manage volume,” said Chan.
He said making it easy to identify key qualifications and skills, and supporting claims with specific examples and measurable accomplishments rather than general statements, can increase a candidate’s chances of progressing through the hiring process.
He also encouraged me job seeker Especially if you choose a non-traditional career path, build a portfolio and other work evidence and develop professional relationships that can provide context beyond your resume.
While AI can improve clarity and help customize applications, Chan says it should be used as an editing tool, not as a replacement for personal judgment.
“An outstanding candidate will be someone who can demonstrate what they can do, rather than just optimizing how they express themselves,” he said.
For employers, Chan said resumes should be treated as just a source of information rather than the main basis for hiring decisions.
“Generative AI has made it easier to make professional-looking claims, but automated screening has made it easier to process those claims, neither of which necessarily translates into better employment.”
Instead, employers consider structured interviews, work samples, portfolios, job simulations, references, and consistent evaluations to provide job-changers with Returnee Self-study candidates have multiple ways to prove their abilities.
“AI should help recruiters uncover relevant evidence, understand the whole person, and make more consistent decisions. AI should support human judgment, not remove human responsibility,” said Chan.
While AI can improve recruiter efficiency, it can also hurt the candidate experience, especially for senior applicants.
Mr. Koh cited the example of a finance director candidate who was rejected from a recruitment process at a multinational healthcare company after participating in an initial evaluation through a “screen-based conversation.”
“For a senior candidate considering multiple offers, it shows how the employer is evaluating the conversation and that the candidate’s experience is simply not there,” she said.
“If the most in-demand candidates are self-selecting at the top of the funnel, it’s not just an optical issue, it’s a significant cost to talent acquisition.”
