How can AI help you find passive candidates in tech recruitment?

Technology is highly dynamic, evolving constantly, and presenting new challenges every day. I thrive on tackling these evolving tech demands, as they provide opportunities for me to learn and grow on a daily basis. This ongoing learning process is of utmost importance to me. This is where AI plays a pivotal role, assisting in the sourcing of new tech consultants. For any recruiter, it is essential to have a solid grasp of the technology they work with, or the specific tech needs of their clients. Tech recruitment isn't inherently complex; it's all about comprehending the technology itself, which is the cornerstone of success. With the utilization of AI, one can streamline the recruitment process and gain a fundamental understanding.

Recruiting tech talent is undoubtedly a formidable challenge in today's competitive job market. The demand for highly skilled professionals far outweighs the available supply, intensifying the competition among recruiters. An additional complication arises from the fact that numerous potential candidates aren't actively seeking new job prospects; however, their interest can be piqued if approached strategically. These individuals are referred to as passive candidates, and they represent a valuable, yet often underutilized, source of talent for tech recruitment. Effectively engaging with and attracting passive candidates can be a game-changer in the quest to secure top tech talent for your organization.

AI is a powerful tool for identifying passive candidates in tech recruitment. It analyzes data from sources like social media, online portfolios, and professional networks to spot signals of skills, interests, and availability. For instance, if someone updates their profile or engages in industry-related activities, AI recognizes them as potential candidates. This allows recruiters to target passive candidates who are open to new opportunities, enhancing the efficiency of tech recruitment.

These days when the demand for talent is growing exponentially it is important to look beyond the realms of conventional search platforms and look to innovative ways of finding talent. This is where AI comes into play and it is also important for the recruiter to be in the adept of such changes. AI plays a vital role in identifying potential talent who may or may not be active job seekers by looking at their recent activities on their social media handle etc. Also AI helps in scoring the profile with the JD which would give the recruiter a fair understanding on the match percentage.

AI helps tech recruiters find passive candidates by scanning and analyzing resumes, social profiles, and online behavior to identify potential matches. It can predict which professionals will likely open to new opportunities and automate the sourcing process, making it more efficient. Additionally, AI can personalize outreach and engagement to attract passive candidates, improving the chances of successfully recruiting top talent in the tech industry.

Not just according to me but the world now knows the power of AI and when it comes to engaging candidates using AI so it equips us with the ability to identify, approach, and engage passive candidates in a more targeted and effective manner, ultimately broadening our talent pool and increasing the likelihood of attracting top talent to our organization.

Recruiting can be (not always) a volume game. By utilizing AI effectively, you can increase the volume of potential candidates in the top of your funnel, maintain consistent and tailored messaging, and manage the drip campaigns to continuously engage passive talent. This is a game changer for building a brand in a niche talent pool and can help you increase your network amongst clients and candidates in your chosen field.

I think you can use a kind of 'AI-Enhanced Engagement Scoring'. By tracking engagement levels of passive candidates across various touchpoints, AI can help to score and prioritize candidates based on their responsiveness and interaction with your content and outreach efforts. This allows recruiters to focus their energies on candidates who are showing the most interest, thereby optimizing the recruitment funnel and increasing the chances of a successful hire.

AI tailors messages like a pro, matching tone and style for each candidate. Automated follow-ups keep the excitement alive. AI can track the performance of your outreach efforts, including open rates, response rates, and conversion rates. This data can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your engagement strategy and make data-driven decisions on how to improve it. It scales your outreach, saving you time and ensuring a smooth experience.

I've yet to see AI-driven outreach that doesn't scream "AI-driven outreach". While you can certainly copy a Linkedin profile and ask ChatGPT to tailor a personalized message for you, at this point, I'd take the time and care to do it myself.

AI can transform passive candidate qualification by streamlining analysis and engagement. It sifts through online profiles and activity to identify potential matches based on skills and industry presence. Plus, AI-powered tools can engage in initial contact, attempting a personalised approach at scale, analysing responses to prioritise interested candidates. However, as personalised as a message might appear, candidates are already realising what is unique and what is automated and AI. I guess it depends on your market, for mine in Switzerland and DACH, less is more and a hyper-personalised approach but to less people will create a better response. Albeit time consuming.

This is the real value when using AI for your recruitment process. Let's not lose the human touch however. Utilize AI to help with pre-screening questions, but ask the questions yourself. Many recruiters will simply email a list of ChatGPT generated questions and while this may be more time effective, I'd take the sniper approach over the shotgun approach any day of the week. If you've identified a stellar candidate, use AI to help you qualify them, but do it yourself - make the call and build that relationship.

AI can open a door towards different avenues for passive or dormant candidates. It can help identify a skilled candidate's transferable skills that can be well utilised in a different job. For example, a prospective candidate working in legal which requires an eye for compliance and negotiation can fit in employee relations role which also requires an adherence to legal and compliance angle.

In my experience, AI has helped to qualify passive candidates by having them answer pre-screening questions that identify their needs. From there, I always want to call and ask the questions myself, but it helps me to steer the conversation towards the candidate's needs.

I believe the AI could in someways prescreen a résumé however, it does not have the same capability to evaluate opportunities that a recruiter might see you based on the full picture, previous experiences with their net work, or other external forces that have not been programmed into or trained into an AI model. This means that a Recruiter wouldn’t spend more time training the model that they could be spending creating quality in lasting relationships with potential candidates.

I would argue that in many ways AI cannot build the empathy, trust and rapport with candidates that would be needed earlier in the process. This is just one way in which AI cannot replace recruiters. I do agree Recruiters need to be trained more in leadership development, emotional intelligence and empathetic communication approaches but I see AI impacting recruiting by taking on more of the day today logistics metrics strategy and repetitive labor like scheduling and sourcing.

AI can't engage passive candidates. While it speeds up hiring, without a rapore between recruiter and candidate, there's no trust or loyalty. This lack leads to disengagement and candidates dropping out, fostering a culture of ghosting. Moreover, candidates may resist fully AI-driven processes, craving human connection in their career journey. Expect a backlash against roles devoid of human interaction.

AI is a powerful tool for tech recruitment, aiding in converting passive candidates into hires. It streamlines the hiring process by coordinating scheduling, communication, and documentation. AI offers guidance on negotiation and closing the offer, ensuring a positive candidate experience. It also supports candidates post-hire, aiding in their onboarding and integration. While AI is invaluable, it doesn't replace human judgment. Building trust and rapport with candidates still requires human skills, intuition, and empathy. AI enhances the process but doesn't replace the essential human touch.

I believe AI's role in converting passive candidates is invaluable. It streamlines the hiring process by coordinating schedules, easing communication, and providing guidance through the crucial stages of negotiation and offer closure. Its support extends even further, ensuring a positive onboarding experience and aiding in candidate retention. Nonetheless, while AI offers substantial efficiency and organization, it should complement our human touch. The importance of personal interaction, empathy, and sound judgment in the final hiring decision cannot be overstated. Balancing AI's prowess with human insight remains pivotal in successfully converting passive candidates into valuable hires.

When we have a community of like-minded and like-preferences people and they are engaged in a community with relevant information, such engaged community will always be open to converse on areas of their interest. As such when a career opportunity arises, the AI can help in positioning the opportunity in the right fashion so as to enable conversation. Any such conversation enabled will maximize the conversion ratio and improve performance metrics thereby maximising time with minimal effort.

AI allows recruiters to use the power of data to make better decisions. AI for recruitment can assist in sourcing and screening candidates, analyzing resumes and job applications, conducting pre-employment assessments, and even predicting candidate success and cultural fit. I use a tool called Metaview, allows me to just listen to the candidate and actually show a genuine interest. If you can give constructive feedback to the candidate as well then your a good recruiter. Think about them not your pocket.

The power of AI is yet to be fully understood and is still in nascent stage. This concept and various tools associated it with it will truly transform every people process. However, the human elements such as decision making, collaborativeness, empathy, situational thinking, crisis thinking and action, creative problem solving etc can and should never be replaced by AI. The ideal solution would be in finding the best combination of AI and Human's with clear distinction of where AI stops and where Humans are required.

Data, Data, Data will help TA understand the realities of what is working and where we still have room to shine. I'm most interested in all-inclusive and reliable data - the verdict is still out on how AI can help with the gathering of good data.

Recruiting is a human based business dealing with real people. Your AI may make outreach easier but the quickest way to lose someone's interest is to not take the time to learn about them and make a connection.

AI can't replace the human touch in interviews. We need humans to gauge empathy, problem-solving, and cultural fit. However, AI can assist a lot in finding passive candidates. It's great for crafting messages, tracking down potential hires on social media,crafting assessments, and handling scheduling. It's like a tag team where humans and AI each play their part in the hiring game.