Facts Over Gut Feelings: How Technology Contributes to More Objective Recruitment
The daily flood of information and sensory impressions would completely overwhelm the human brain if it weren’t for cognitive processes that automatically prioritize and process most information unconsciously. This allows us to reserve our mental resources for complex, unfamiliar tasks instead.
While the brain operates not perfectly, but efficiently to prevent overload, this can be detrimental in recruitment. Recruiters, like everyone, fall prey to cognitive biases—errors in perception, memory, thinking, and judgment. These biases often lead to selecting the wrong candidates.
The industry’s persistent time constraints exacerbate issues like unconscious confirmation bias or the halo effect. According to consultancy Psych Press, only half of all hiring decisions are correct when based solely on resumes and interviews.
Unconscious Confirmation Bias: Everyone tends to interpret information in a way that confirms their own expectations. Recruiters often focus on the positive aspects of a resume and overlook red flags, like inappropriate behavior in an interview.
Halo Effect: People often generalize from known traits to unknown ones. For example, if a candidate is skilled with software, they might be incorrectly labeled an IT expert by recruiters.
It’s crucial for recruiters to be aware of these cognitive traps to make better decisions. While cognitive bias can’t be entirely eliminated, it can be minimized with the help of modern, data-driven recruitment technologies.
Serious Consequences of Subjective Decisions
Recommending unsuitable candidates can cost recruiters not just their commission if the hire quits during probation, but more significantly, it can cost them trust and future success with frustrated HR departments. No one wants to work with someone who isn’t good at their job.
Candidates can be equally disappointed if they feel left out despite being well-suited for a job, which can quickly lead to feelings of discrimination based on name, gender, age, or origin. A study by market research firm EARSandEYES reports that a third of respondents have felt discriminated against during a job application process.
Recruiters face various pitfalls, such as:
- Misinterpreting resumes: Detailed and elaborate resumes are often favored, yet some highly qualified candidates who apply discreetly to test the market may not put as much effort into their resumes and get overlooked. Technology can help acknowledge resumes that stand out more qualitatively than quantitatively.
- In specialized fields, recruiters might only look for candidates with specific educational backgrounds or work experience, overlooking potentially better-suited candidates from other sectors who might just require a little time to adjust. Intelligent technology can evaluate personality test results and suggest suitable candidates.
- Recruiters often instinctively prefer younger candidates believed to be more dynamic and available longer. They forget experienced workers know the shortcuts and are usually equally efficient. Plus, they’re less likely to job-hop. Data-driven solutions help maintain objectivity here: if the older candidate is better suited, they are recommended.
Using smart technologies can help avoid these misjudgments. While they don’t replace humans, they save time and lead to more accurate decision-making.
Predictive Recruitment: Rapidly Identifying Suitable Candidates
Recruiters can improve their processes once they acknowledge their fallibility, turning to modern technologies for assistance. Data doesn’t lie or get influenced by the environment. Artificial intelligence evaluates historical data to uncover patterns.
The solution for neutral candidate selection is employing the right recruiting technology. It needs a comprehensive data foundation to quickly incorporate details that recruiters might overlook or misweigh. Data can be found, combined, and analyzed within seconds, creating a more comprehensive candidate picture than a recruiter can quickly piece together.
Taking into account all data sources from resumes, soft-skill analyses, and monitoring activities in the hiring process, AI-powered predictive recruitment can make forecasts. It predicts market trends, manages growth initiatives, minimizes drop-off rates, and identifies channels for finding talent. With predictive knowledge, recruiters can expertly recommend the ideal candidates to companies.