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By iCIMS Staff Chatbots (or digital assistants) have been around for a while, but their use has soared in recent years,
especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is expected to climb even higher. Not only are these AI-powered
automated software robots rapidly growing smarter, but they're also becoming increasingly capable of
handling recruitment tasks such as answering job seekers' questions, prescreening candidates, and scheduling
interviews. (One of their most valuable contributions toward recruitment is their ability to recruit 24-7:
at any time of day or night, a chatbot can connect a job seeker with positions that best match their skills,
experience, and interests.) In order to best leverage chatbots for their own recruitment, though, hiring
managers and HR staff first need a basic understanding of what they do and how they work. The first chatbot, ELIZA , was created in 1966, but it took a few more decades for the technology to be
developed well enough for widespread use. Only in 2016, for example, did Facebook begin allowing software
developers to put chatbots on Messenger. Other big brands then started creating their own digital
assistants, and software vendors soon entered the ring with the specialized voice-based technology known as
conversational AI. The growing use of AI shows no sign of slowing: research published by Deloitte in March 2020 stated that "63
percent of the leaders surveyed already view AI as 'very' or 'critically' important to their business
success, and that number is expected to grow to 81 percent within two years." 1 Why the sudden boom in popularity?
Thanks to rapid advances in machine learning technology, AI now "learns" from its own experiences, becoming
more "humanlike" and valuable to businesses. Along the way, chatbots took on the ability to use natural language processing and became increasingly
sophisticated in their abilities to mimic human conversation. Not surprisingly, compared to survey
participants in 2018, "twice as many consumers surveyed in 2019 would knowingly engage with chatbots because
they are 'very helpful.'"2 CIOs surveyed in 2019 identified chatbots as the main AI-based application used in
their enterprises, and at that time experts predicted that "by 2022, 70 percent of white-collar workers will
interact with conversational platforms on a daily basis."3 And in a 2019 survey of "customer service decision
makers in the US, CA [Canada], and the UK," 89 percent of respondents ranked chatbots and virtual agents
among "the most useful AI/automation technologies for personalizing customer interactions."4
Chatbots are making great strides in many sectors, but have been especially powerful performers to human
resources. As far back as 2017, 58 percent of surveyed job seekers reported feeling "fairly to extremely
comfortable interacting with chatbots to answer questions in the application and interview process."5 And
just two years later, "88 percent of companies globally [were] already [using] AI in some way for HR." 6 The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic kicked chatbot adoption into high gear, with the use of this technology
increasing tremendously over the past year and all signs pointing to continued high growth even after the
pandemic ends. Companies that aren't already using chatbots for recruitment should consider doing so soon if
they want to stay competitive with other brands in their industries. Integrating digital assistants into its
talent-acquisition strategy can save an organization time and money, bring in quality candidates, deliver
insights into candidate behavior, and enhance the hiring experience for both the job hunter and the
recruiter. To make the most productive use of chatbots for recruitment purposes, companies need to figure out where
their chatbots should live by determining where their targeted candidates spend their time online and what
their preferences are. Many people assume that chatbots are found only on websites. But chatbots can text
with candidates, too, and communicate via not only Messenger but other applications (such as WhatsApp and
Slack) as well. Companies that already have chatbots in hand can do some test runs on the Web as well as on
texting and other platforms and, by comparing response rates for each, determine which options work best for
them. Third-party tools such as Google Analytics can help companies determine how candidates find their career
sites and what they do once they get there. (For example, do they come in through job boards or through
Messenger? Do they hit the "apply" button right after reading the job description, or do they go to the
"contact us" section to send an e-mail asking for more information before they submit an application?) Keep
in mind that different demographic groups have different communication preferences. For example, the vast
majority of Millennials would rather text than talk, and job searches are increasingly taking place via
mobile devices, not just via desktops and laptops. The most straightforward approach for a company to figure out where its recruitment bots should live is to
ask the candidates. Use a bot to tell job seekers "We'd like to stay in touch" and ask whether communication
by text, e-mail, Messenger, WhatsApp, or some other application is most convenient for them. (Organizations
that don't yet have chatbot technology but are planning to implement it can include this question on their
application forms.) Three of the most widely discussed ways chatbots are used in recruitment are for answering frequently asked
questions, prescreening candidates, and scheduling interviews. But they can also be leveraged for many
other, less obvious functions. Job hunters often favor interacting with chatbots over talking with humans because the chatbots can deliver
basic information quickly. The types of questions most frequently asked of chatbots cover how to apply for
jobs, details (such as salary) about open positions, and updates on the status of a submitted application.
Since the pandemic began, however, new questions have cropped up on topics such as COVID-19 preparedness,
remote work and work-from-home policies, and medical and personal leave paid benefits.
When training a chatbot, organizations should be sure to include questions that cover topics that are likely
to interest applicants. Possibilities include: AI-enabled digital assistants can rapidly prescreen candidates on the basis on their applications, resumes,
and other written materials, as well as prerecorded video interviews. This prescreening frees recruitment
staff to focus on functions that require a human touch, including follow-up live interviews (conducted
either virtually through two-way video or in person) with the most qualified applicants. In addition to
prescreening, chatbots can handle other routine recruitment processes, such as background checks, skills
assessments, and requisitions routing. Companies need to make the most of their HR staff, and adding interview scheduling to chatbots'
responsibilities gives recruiters more time to work on sourcing and building relationships with in-demand
talent. Brand reputation matters to job seekers, with 39 percent of women and 33 percent of men saying "the
reputation or brand of the company is 'very important' to them when considering a job move." 7By helping a
company strengthen its brand, chatbots also help boost the company's bottom line: strong employer branding
can enable organizations to lower their per-hire costs by as much as 43 percent. 8 Potential candidates can get turned off when companies don't get back to them ASAP. But chatbots can do much
more than just initiate engagement by welcoming newcomers to an organization's career site, asking how they
can help, and answering FAQs. When companies capture job seekers' contact information, chatbots can also
maintain candidate engagement later by thanking them for applying, reminding them of interviews, keeping
them updated on their application status, and informing them of future job openings that arise. Even when current employees aren't actively looking for jobs, they are still usually interested in learning
about possible job opportunities. Recruitment chatbots can reach out to—and work one-on-one with—both active
job seekers and passive job seekers. (In fact, because interaction with a chatbot requires less commitment,
passive job seekers may be more willing to engage with chatbots than with recruiters, this helping companies
avoid wasting resources on potential candidates who are less likely to become active applicants.) With the
pandemic making in-person job fairs tough (if not impossible) to pull off, chatbots can also help
organizations increase their outreach by facilitating virtual job fairs while still leaving room for
recruiters to manage conversations themselves if they wish. Today, organizations are striving to increase their diversity across regional and national borders and across
demographic factors such as ethnicity, gender, and age. Remote-work arrangements that became widespread
during the pandemic are likely to continue to some degree after it ends, thus improving the geographical
diversity of companies' talent pools (aided in part by chatbots' multilingual capabilities). Chatbots can
also be used to help prevent unconscious bias during candidate prescreening.
Most recruiters, HR staff, and hiring managers aren't AI experts—and they don't need to be. But they do need
a general understanding of their chatbot's conversation capabilities, which can include the following
functions: A chatbot can be customized in myriad ways. For example, it can be trained (using simple logic) to recognize
and reply to countless questions. It can also have a distinct personality and name. Updating the chatbot is
merely a matter of opening the script and making the changes. With more than 175 stores in five states, Domino's franchisee RPM Pizza Inc. is one excellent illustration of
an organization that's customized its chatbot to act as an extension of its brand. With an application
tracker that mirrors the pizza tracker that Domino's customers can use to track their orders in real time,
"Dottie" is cheerful, courteous, highly competent, and also a true expert on pizza trivia.
But Dottie has a serious side, too. In her first year on the job only, the multifaceted chatbot managed to
send out more than a quarter of a million texts, an effective way to communicate with the target candidate
group—Millennials and Gen Zers—who are rarely without their smartphones. With Dottie's help, RPM Pizza has seen a 66 percent increase in application, a 50 percent reduction in
application time, and a 50 percent drop in time to hire.9
Chatbots are here to stay—and growing in popularity. Candidates now often expect to interact with chatbots as
part of the application process, and companies are increasingly making use of these AI tools to streamline
their hiring processes and improve their bottom lines. With their impressive versatility, chatbots can be
customized to meet the needs of any organization.
1 Susanne Hupfer. 2020. "Talent and Workforce Effects in the Age of AI: Insights from Deloitte's
State of AI in the Enterprise, 2nd Edition, Survey." Deloitte website, March 3, www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/cognitive-technologies/ai-adoption-in-the-workforce.html.
2 Gil Press. 2019. "AI Stats News: Chatbots Lead to 80 Percent Sales Decline, Satisfied Customers,
And Fewer Employees." Forbes website, September 25, www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/cognitive-technologies/ai-adoption-in-the-workforce.html.
3 Laurence Goasduff. 2019. "Chatbots Will Appeal to Modern Workers." Gartner website, July 31, www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/chatbots-will-appeal-to-modern-workers/..
4 Forrester Research. 2019. "Prioritize Personalization When Choosing Conversational Chatbot
Platforms to Reap Rewards." Ada website, April, www.info.ada.support/hubfs/Ada%20Content%20Assets/Ada_Forrester%20Opportunity%20Snapshot.pdf.
5 Roy Maurer. 2017. "Many Job Seekers Are Ready to Work with AI, Chatbots." SHRM website, May 17,
www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/many-job-seekers-are-ready-to-work-with-ai-chatbots.aspx.
6 Dinah Wisenberg Brin. Undated. "Employers Embrace Artificial Intelligence for HR." SHRM
websitewww.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/global-hr/pages/employers-embrace-artificial-intelligence-for-hr.aspx.
7 Glassdoor. 2017. "50 HR and Recruiting Statistics for 2017." Glassdoor, resources.glassdoor.com/rs/899-LOT-464/images/50hr-recruiting-and-statistics-2017.pdf.
8 Alyssa Leppla. 2015. "LinkedIn Data Proves the Impact of a Strong Talent Brand." LinkedIn Talent
Blog, March 17,business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2015/03/the-roi-of-talent-brand.
9 iCIMS. Undated. "Customer Success Stories: RPM Pizza." iCIMS website, www.icims.com/customers/success-stories/rpm-pizza/.
iCIMS Inc. is a leading provider of innovative Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent-acquisition solutions
that help businesses win the war for top talent. To learn more about how iCIMS can help your
organization, visit www.icims.com.
The Definitive Guide to Recruitment Chatbots
The Rise of the Chatbot
Where to Position Chatbots
How to Get the Most Out of Chatbots
Answering FAQs
Automating prescreening and other processes
Scheduling interviews
Representing the company's brand
Engaging with job seekers
Sourcing candidates
Increasing diversity
Setting up a Recruitment Chatbot
A Chatbot Success Story
Looking Ahead
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