We have big news this week in the #WorkTrends community. We’re re-launching the podcast, and we’re welcoming back an old friend, Kevin W. Grossman, as my #WorkTrends co-host. We’re also changing up our format. Each episode of #WorkTrends will now include a quick look at what’s happening in the world of HR tech, plus interviews with people who are doing interesting work in HR and leadership.
On this week’s episode we’re talking everything AI — what it really means, what HR leaders need to know and how it’s going to reshape the way we work. For a look at where artificial intelligence and automation are already taking HR, we’re turning to my friend and expert Ben Eubanks, an analyst at Lighthouse Research as well as a podcaster, blogger and author of a forthcoming book on artificial intelligence in HR.
Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
AI for Recruiting
Over the past several years AI has transcended its status as a cultural buzzword and found its way into practical applications for many HR leaders. Eubanks says the most prominent AI use case in HR is probably on the recruiting side, because of the sheer size of the problem that talent acquisition presents for large organizations. Chatbots are already enabling companies to take on some conversations with candidates without having to have a recruiter physically sitting in front of them.
“The more volume there is, the easier it is to try to automate that and more value there is,” he says. “When I was interviewing someone for the book, we were talking about what things you should prioritize, and they said if it’s got a high volume and there’s a high cost of making an error, those are the things you really want to automate.”
Improving the Candidate Experience
Eubanks says his discussions with HR leaders indicate the initial reaction by candidates to these types of automations in recruiting has been surprisingly positive. Candidates seem to be appreciative of any chance to break through the often-opaque job-search process and have a chance to have their voices heard — even if it’s by a piece of software.
He says one manager told him candidates often go through a dialogue with a bot about their desired positions, submit their resume, then say “thank you” before signing off. “Candidates love it, because they have a chance to really feel like someone is listening to them,” he says.
Sentiment Analysis
Beyond recruitment, Eubanks says there are already a handful of companies successfully leveraging intelligent automation to perform sentiment analysis to suss out valuable trends in large employee surveys — a process that would take humans hours upon hours.
“What if we had a tool, a piece of technology, that would automatically go through that, not just look at what the issues are, what the trends are, but also look at the sentiment, the underlying emotions and moods of the employees?” he says. “You find out, ‘wait a minute, all the people in this function over here are actually kind of upset’ — or ‘people that are working in this office, this location, are actually having some issues with infrastructure or management or communication.’ ”
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Let’s continue the conversation. Join us on Twitter (#WorkTrends) for our weekly chat on Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. Eastern, 10:30 a.m. Pacific, or anywhere in the world you are joining from to discuss this topic and more.
