Revolutionizing recruitment: AI-powered tools transform hiring

This article was produced in partnership with Indeed.

Historically, the hiring process goes something like this: a recruiter advertises a job opening on various online platforms. An overwhelming influx of resumes flood their inbox, many of whom lack the requisite skills and experience for the position. The hiring manager then finds themselves knee-deep in this deluge, manually sifting through applications. Due to sheer volume, a cursory scan of superficial details like educational backgrounds or previous employers sets the standard rather than the candidate’s actual abilities.

The cost of this flawed approach? Individuals who might not possess the traditional credentials or exact experience deemed essential for the role, but are highly qualified, are overlooked — and employers waste valuable time as they grapple with an inefficient process.

“Although much in the world of work has changed, hiring remains challenging and inefficient — in many ways, it’s still a manual process,” says Deepti Patibandla, Senior Director of Product at Indeed. “It takes too much time and can make it challenging to source the right people for the right jobs.”

Survey says: traditional hiring difficult and inefficient, but there is hope

According to a recent survey, almost half — 48% — of HR decision-makers in Canada feel the recruitment process has become harder over the past five years for their organization, and 26% of Canadian HR decision-makers feel their organization’s recruitment process is ineffective in attracting talent. Of those who found the recruitment process ineffective, 46% say employee skill gaps are partially to blame while 49% identify changing expectations from candidates — for example, more people seeking remote work — as the main issue.

The same survey also showed that globally, 68% of HR decision-makers are confident AI will speed up recruitment and 53% feel it will help with talent spotting — a positive outlook that Indeed shares.

“The future of hiring is all about finding the right people with the right skills for a specific job, and we believed there was a better way to do that,” Patibandla says. “So, we did something about it.”

Source and connect with quality talent faster

Indeed recently launched new AI-powered features in Canada, tailor-made to elevate and enhance the recruitment process. Enabling employers to hire more efficiently and helping job seekers discover new opportunities and better work, Smart Sourcing lives up to its name by automatically connecting the two sides. 

Using Indeed’s large talent pool, Smart Sourcing prioritizes those who are actively looking for a new job, especially those who’ve used Indeed over the past 30 days. It’s all about empowerment as the new matched candidate capability automatically curates top candidates based on the specific job requirements and delivers them directly to the hiring manager for review.

Smart Sourcing also shares AI-powered candidate summaries with context on why someone is a good fit for a role, speeding up the evaluation process. It also explains why some candidates should not be overlooked. For example, having four years of experience when the listing asks for five could be a negligible difference with an otherwise stand-out candidate.

“Smart Sourcing recommends job seekers that are a strong match based on their profile, skills, qualifications, and preferences,” Patibandla explains, adding the capability to handle the heavy lifting in matching quality candidates sets Indeed’s solution apart from other recruiting platforms.

“Employers can then invite qualified candidates to apply directly from the tool, which we’ve found makes a significant difference: when invited, matched candidates are 23^[1] times more likely to apply than if they found the job on their own.”

Faster, simpler, and more relevant

Since its launch in the market, Smart Sourcing has already made an impression on employers and the way they hire. In a survey of those already using Smart Sourcing, 92% say it’s their preferred product for finding active candidates^[2], and 91% report that Indeed has a larger pool of active candidates than other job sites^[3]. And it’s already saving employers time, with the majority (83%) agreeing that Smart Sourcing provides the most effective way to communicate with candidates^[4], while 77% of employers report it’s the fastest way to make a quality hire^[5].

At Indeed, the central belief is that hiring should feel inspiring and easy, and leveraging cutting-edge technology can deliver that shift by reshaping the entire experience.

“AI can't replace the ‘human’ in human resources and hiring, but it has the power to give HR professionals more time to focus on the aspects of hiring that require human attention, judgment, and connection,” Patibandla sums up. “Smart Sourcing will deliver a new, better way to source quality candidates to help employers hire more efficiently — it’s a uniquely powerful tool.”