Exploring AI and talent management

The use of Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue being a major tech trend across the charity sector in 2023 as organisations look to find new ways to efficiently support people.

 

AI and machine learning are essentially ways computers can carry out tasks, learning, and constantly improve processes.

 

This is already used to power chatbots, which can cost effectively and efficiently respond to people’s issues, signposting support and forwarding on complex concerns to specialists along the way.

 

AI is also being used by civil society to support vulnerable people in their homes to better manage their health and care – or through the use of drones to monitor and analyse natural environments.

 

According to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), 5G mobile technology is set to make AI even more accessible in the future.

 

Increasingly organisations are also looking to use AI to improve their talent management, to improve their recruitment and retention of staff, and help integrate them effectively.

 

Here we look at how charities can use AI to recruit the most talented staff.

 

 

AI in recruitment

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, video and online interviews were commonplace due to social distancing guidelines restricting face to face contact.

 

Post health crisis, recruiters are still using online techniques to interview staff and using AI to analyse the results.

 

Using AI, facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, and the choice of words in interviews can be analysed.

 

In addition, AI can be used to analyse a candidate’s digital footprint across social media.

 

Another use of AI in recruitment is to identify skill gaps within an organisation and help ensure they are filled by strong candidates.

 

 

AI in headhunting

 

According to research, recruiters spend nearly a third of their week sourcing candidates for a single role. Some are spending 20 hours a week headhunting.

 

AI can significantly speed up this process by generating data about possible candidates and finding the best potential interviewees for roles.

 

Woo is among many recruitment platforms to use AI to source candidates. Research into its use found that employers accepted more than half of the candidates put forward by its AI tool. This compares to just 20% among more traditional, human led, headhunting methods. It is also better than the 2.5% of applicants responding to postings on job boards being suitable for interview.

 

 

AI in onboarding

 

Onboarding is the process of integrating new team members into an organisation. AI can be used by charities to help automate repetitive tasks used for all employers and to personalise the experience for new employees to ensure their integration into the team best fits their needs.

 

This can give a great impression to new staff as AI can help speed up repetitive tasks involved in onboarding. Chatbots used can give employees instant answers to their questions, saving them time.

 

AI can also learn from onboarding within a charity, highlighting errors where certain processes were missed and making sure they are not repeated.

 

It can also track which documents or other onboarding material has been read and engaged with, as well as collect e-signatures when tasks are completed to avoid the need for human resources (HR) staff to follow up.

 

 

AI in HR

 

Another use of AI within talent management is to help HR staff improve the working environment for employees, which in turn improves retention rates. AI can be used to analyse data such as staff surveys.

 

HR professionals can also use AI for career development and training, which will also help retain staff. This is especially important for younger members of staff as research has found that Generation Z workers can change jobs up to 10 times between the ages of 18 and 34.

 

Ways AI can help improve career development is to personalise training, so it best fits each member of staff’s goals and skill gaps. This can help show staff that their employer values them. AI can also map career progression, providing them with clarity over their ambitions at work and how they can be best achieved.  

 

 

AI to remove bias

 

Among other benefits of using AI in talent management is to remove bias in the recruitment process.

 

The charity sector is sadly blighted by a poor track record with diversity in recent years.  For example, a 2022 report by campaign group Race Report found that just one in 14 environmental charity staff and leaders are from racial or minority ethnic backgrounds.

 

AI can help remove biases from the recruitment process by highlighting and automatically eliminating human bias, based on ethnicity, gender, or age for example.

 

Tools involving AI can also use data to find candidates by predicting the best potential recruits based on the needs of each role, rather than on any bias or assumptions. This will help ensure recruits are hired purely on merit.