AI vs. Human – Who do jobseekers prefer to deal with in the recruitment process?
AI is rapidly going mainstream, and people are as excited as they are sceptical about its implications in the world of work and beyond. So, who is winning jobseekers’ hearts when it comes to hiring?
AI has been a hot – and controversial – conversation topic lately. From the exciting public launch of ChatGPT last November to the open letter by leading experts to shelve big AI projects, it certainly stirred up discussions.
Its application in the recruitment space is no exception when it comes to mixed views. To start, it’s important to understand how recruitment with AI works.
AI tools can screen CVs and applications, match candidates to relevant jobs, schedule interviews, assess candidate skills and analyse video interviews via facial recognition systems. AI-powered chatbots can increase candidate engagement by sending candidates roles they are suitable for and answering their questions.
In short, AI automates and streamlines various stages of the recruitment process – which can save time for applicants and recruiters.
To understand the public perception of AI, we asked 2,002 UK workers to share their thoughts on its impact on their working lives and how they felt about AI’s use in recruitment.
Key findings
- Only four percent of respondents said they use AI daily. Whereas almost half (47%) said they haven’t used it yet.
- However, people are open to using AI as most respondents said they would be comfortable using it. Predictably, Millennials and Gen Z reported feeling more comfortable than Boomers (58% vs. 48%)
- Over half (52%) of respondents would be comfortable with applying for a job where a small part of the process is driven by AI. Respondents largely think AI could be used in:
- Sourcing: Identifying potential candidates by matching them to relevant jobs (65%).
- Screening: Scoring and ranking candidates based on defined criteria (57%).
- Scheduling: Using chatbots to automatically coordinate interviews and other meetings (57%).
- However, majority of candidates across all age groups and genders don’t want AI to conduct job interviews (86%) or help with the decision-making process after an interview (84%).
- Almost half say they are comfortable sharing data with an AI platform if they would receive better matched, personalised job offers (46%).
- 72% say they are concerned about AI not picking up blind spots and think it should be mandatory for companies to outline how and why they are using AI in the recruitment process.
Artificial Intelligence first became a field of study half a century ago but its entrance to our daily lives is more recent. Today, AI adoption is slowly scaling up and its use varies from industry to industry. According to McKinsey’s Global Survey on AI, 50% of organisations adopted AI in at least one business area so far.
Yet, as it stands today, only 4% of our participants say they use AI daily and almost half (47%) say they have heard of it but never used it.
How do people feel about using AI tools at work?
MIT’s research on AI adoption in business found that it is mostly being used by IT, HR, finance, marketing, and advertising teams, as well as in business functions such as supply chain, product development and sales. This is predicted to increase significantly by 2025.
According to our survey, although most people say they don’t use AI daily, over half (56%) of respondents would be comfortable using AI for work. Especially younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials) think AI will revolutionise their daily tasks and workflows within the next 5 years (53% vs. 34% of Boomers).
However, AI is still a new concept for most people. 2 in 5 say they don’t have the necessary skills to make the most of AI tools available in their workplace.
Younger generations and office workers are generally more excited about the future possibilities and innovations AI will bring to their industry (48% of Gen Z and Millennials vs. 33% Gen X and Boomers, 59% of office workers vs. 47% of manual workers).
There is also disparity between ethnicities and genders, with those from Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African backgrounds feeling significantly more comfortable about using AI (80% vs. 53% from a White background).
Women are mostly sceptical of the benefits of AI for their career growth (26% vs. 35% of men), and less comfortable than men in using it (65% men comfortable vs. 44% of women). This is unsurprising, considering the gender representation in the tech industry. In the UK, 26% of tech roles are held by women and the numbers go down as earnings go up. Women hold only 9% of leadership roles in the UK.
Overall, most people have mixed views about AI’s integration into the workplace.
It’s clear that companies are slowly trying to automate functions that will save on time, money and resources. Our Hiring Trends Index found that 16% of employers in the UK are investing in technology and automation to supplement the workforce and plug labour and skills shortages.
However, workers are concerned about its implications such as their job becoming obsolete. If AI integration is going to benefit both employers and workers, upskilling employees and educating the workforce on AI’s benefits will be key to smoothen the transition.
Positively, people expect employers to invest more in AI and use it to increase productivity and performance in the workplace (46%). Almost 2 in 5 (38%) say companies that are recognised as leaders in AI technology are highly appealing employers, with office workers agreeing more with this statement (40% vs. 35% of manual workers).
How do candidates feel about AI’s use in recruitment?
People are more comfortable with AI being used in the first stages of the recruitment process. These stages include sourcing and screening candidates, and scheduling interviews.
Candidates are tentative about the use of chatbots, such as ChatGPT, to create job adverts (38%), tweak the job advert to remove biased language (36%), screen CVs and job applications for a human recruiter to then shortlist candidates (36%) and create interview questions (34%).
Most candidates (89%) want to be aware of the use of AI if it’s a part of their recruitment. Therefore, disclosing how you use AI tools in your recruitment process can reassure candidates.
Public perception is still in favour of humans when it comes to face-to-face interactions and decision-making skills. Most candidates across all age groups and genders don’t want AI to conduct job interviews (86%) or help with the decision-making process after an interview (84%).
What makes candidates tentative?
At the moment, people are unconvinced of AI’s skills when it comes to evaluating the more human aspects of candidates. 2 in 3 (66%) say they are concerned about AI not being able to measure softer skills or cultural fit. Boomers are significantly more concerned about this than Gen Z (74% vs. 59%).
Similarly, almost 3 in 4 (72%) say they are concerned about AI not picking up blind spots and think it should be mandatory for companies to outline how and why they are using AI in the recruitment process.
For example, women overall feel more concerned about AI not picking up on certain skills in their CV because descriptions don’t contain AI-approved keywords or evaluates their communication style differently (71% of women vs. 61% of men).
These, of course, aren’t baseless concerns. AI has a bad reputation when it comes to bias, but it’s important to remember that AI tools are only as impartial and comprehensive as the data they have been trained on. If developed responsibly, AI tools have the potential to remove human bias from the recruitment process.
Another concern over half (54%) of jobseekers have is around ethics of privacy and data protection, as AI has to collect and process vast amounts of personal data. Currently, there is no AI-specific legislation in the UK but UK GDPR brings some restrictions to the use of AI.
The ICO explains, “The UK GDPR restricts you from making solely automated decisions, including those based on profiling, that have a legal or similarly significant effect on individuals. A legal effect is something that affects someone’s legal rights. Similarly significant effects are more difficult to define but include, for example, automatic refusal of an online credit application, and e-recruiting practices without human intervention.”
How should AI be used for recruitment?
Overall, it seems that jobseekers still expect human overview on the use of AI in recruitment, and existing data protection legislation backs this.
People aren’t yet comfortable with the idea of AI steering the wheel when it comes to their career prospects. Most people want to know how involved AI is in their recruitment, and 3 in 5 (62%) say they feel uncomfortable applying for a job where the entire process is driven by AI.
Yet, jobseekers expect AI to help them during the application process too. Although over half (56%) have concerns around privacy and data protection, almost just as many people (46%) are comfortable sharing their data to receive better matching job offers.
Perhaps the most important thing in developing and using AI tools is regulating and continuously risk assessing.
Candidates agree. 2 in 3 think there should be clear legal rules that companies should follow when using AI, and almost as many (61%) say there should be strict regulation on the way AI is developed.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai reiterates:
AI is too important not to regulate, and too important not to regulate well. Developing policy frameworks that anticipate potential harms and unlock benefits will require deep discussions between governments, industry experts, publishers, academia and civil society.
Sundar PichaiCEO of Google
About the research
This survey was conducted by Totaljobs between 26 April – 9 May 2023.
The sample consisted of 2,002 respondents who work full-time or part-time in the UK (aged 18+).
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