Inside Outdoor Magazine - Fall 2018

Inside Outdoor | FALL 2018 16 D uring this time of the year, many organizations increase their workforce to take into account the demands on their business. In fact, the top four indus- tries that hire more people in readi- ness for seasonal periods are retail, hospitality, tourism and media. However, volume recruitment and seasonal hiring create many chal- lenges to the recruitment process that many organizations experience time and time again. Fortunately, organiza- tions have a new tool at their disposal to help them to achieve customer suc- cess – artificial intelligence. Here are some ways this innovative new tool is helping to aid in the recruitment pro- cess and solve hiring challenges. Challenge #1: Managing a large number of applications. According to Career Arc, 65 per- cent of candidates never, or rarely, hear back from a company after an application.  Conversely, those same candidates are 3.5 times less likely to re-apply to that same company, and 72 percent also will share that negative experience online or with somebody directly. Over time, this will erode and weaken the employer brand. If prospec- tive employees hear from their friends and colleagues that a hiring process is generally unresponsive, some of the best candidates may simply not apply. In the world of recruitment, it is a challenge for employers to communi- cate well with all their candidates. Espe- cially for high volume recruiting, where this would require communicating with thousands of candidates, in addition to a recruiter’s normal screening functions and other duties. Using artificial intelligence, such as chatbots for example, can take away the strain of managing and com- municating with a large number of ap- plicants. Each and every applicant will have an immediate engagement with your organization.  In real time, a chatbot can col- lect information from candidates such as their contact information and ask screening questions about candidates’ salary expectations, availability, loca- tion and skills/experience. What’s more is that this can be done with thousands of candidates all at the same time – in- stantly taking the heavy lifting out of the top funnel of volume recruitment and improving the candidate’s experience with a brand. Challenge #2: Managing a tal- ent pool of previous tempo- rary workers. Do you have the same temporary staff that work for you every festive sea- son? How about the same students that work for you every summer or holidays when home from university? Being able to activate and mobilize a large number of candidates from your database takes time and moves recruit- ers away from their other activities. Ar- tificial intelligence can instantly connect with thousands of candidates within your talent pool or database to adver- tise that the recruitment process has begun and ask if they are available to work. It also can have the capability to update any profile information to ensure you have the most up-to-date details within your database. Better yet, artificial intelligence allows you to engage and capture candidates throughout the year in anticipation of the holiday season and maximize referrals from your current talent pool – all without a recruiter having to lift a finger. What if you could come to work every morning and receive a list of candidates who were screened the evening prior and are available and ready to be placed into an open role? That is the reality of what can happen when using artificial intelligence in your recruitment process. By Chris Collins FourWays AI is Solving Seasonal Hiring Challenges Tech Savvy (Story continued on page 58)