AI and ChatGPT in recruitment: How to utilise new technology

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, the question on most recruiters minds is “how will AI affect my job?”. But for a good recruiter, AI isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s a set of tools that can help revolutionise the recruitment process like never before.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is the most famous and advanced AI content tool available at the moment. It can take complex questions and requests and produce human-like responses in real-time. ChatGPT has been developed by a company called OpenAi and was founded by a group of data scientists and tech entrepreneurs, the most famous being Elon Musk.

Even the most advanced machine learning systems have their limitations. For example, the current ChatGPT model (GPT-3 Language) was developed using data from 2021, so it has no recollection of any data or events from the past 12 months, so any data that it provides needs to be thoroughly checked by the user.

How do you use ChatGPT?

There is a completely free version of ChatGPT at openai.com, and as the name suggests, users interact with ChatGPT through a chat window. The user requests or asks questions in the form of ‘prompts’, and the AI uses natural language processing to extract the information requested and answers questions in such a natural way you think the answers are human written.

This powerful piece of software can perform many tasks, you can ask ChatGPT to create content writing for your blog, break down complex information into easily understood summaries, and even find bugs in a programming language. Its writing can be so convincing it even fooled a recruiter into putting it forward for a job interview.

How to utilise ChatGPT in recruitment?

There are multiple ways ChatGPT can be used as a tool to streamline the hiring process; the best thing about ChatGPT is that you can use it to suit you and your individual needs; Here are the top 5 ways it can change the way recruiters work:

Assisting in writing a job description

A great job description is the best chance of attracting the right candidates for any job, but making sure you are hitting all the important points whilst keeping it concise can be tricky; with ChatGPT, you can take a brief from a client and turn it into a Job Description within minutes. You can then edit the description, adding any missed information or changing the tone, helping to save time to get the job listed.

However, because Chat GPT uses information widely available on the web, it’s important to finesse what the machine outputs. This can be achieved by writing comprehensive prompts to act as briefs and correcting any robotic sounding content by injecting personality. After all, the role of any job description is to attract the right candidate for the job, so ensuring readability and accuracy are critical.

Preparing a bank of interview questions

Whilst working across many different sectors and roles, it can be difficult to have the relevant questions on hand when it comes to screening applicants. To make it easier, you can load the client’s brief into ChatGPT and ask it to generate a series of questions. You can then adapt these questions to your own needs by using your own experience to focus on the most important aspects of the role.

Filtering applicants

Once you have taken your job description from ChatGPT, edited and posted it, you will hopefully be receiving hundreds of applicants’ CVs filling up your inbox. Thankfully ChatGPT can help with this as well; you can use ChatGPT to filter through the mass of CVs, making sure that the candidates have the relevant experience and qualifications, severely cutting down on the time it takes to assess a candidate.

Automating Candidate Feedback

As a busy recruiter, your focus is often on those high-value tasks and the needs of your clients. This means it is often impossible to give applicants the attention they want. With ChatGPT, you can generate unique email templates for an applicant, whether it is an update on the process or feedback on why they haven’t been selected. This is useful, especially in the early stages of the process, where applicant numbers are higher.

What are the Limitations of ChatGPT?

One of the biggest drawbacks of ChatGPT and other machine learning projects is consistency with the information produced, ask ChatGPT the same question phrased differently, and you may receive two conflicting answers. Also, as previously mentioned, the information it provides can be dated. As of 2023, the latest ChatGPT model was trained in 2021, so it does not know of any event since, for example, it does not know of the Queen’s passing in September 2022.

Like all ai development, the software is only as good as its programming, and with ChatGPT, there is an inherent bias built in, as OpenAi CEO Sam Altman acknowledged in his tweet earlier this year. It is something that they will be looking to write out of the code in future releases, but this has to be a watch out for anyone looking to use the software in a professional capacity:

Why you are the best human for the job

As a recruiter, your individuality and knowledge play a huge part in your success; it is your experience and insights that help match candidates with their perfect roles. As a recruitment consultant, your ability to network and connect with clients and candidates directly cannot be replaced by AI software like ChatGPT. It can’t answer candidate questions like: ‘what is the company culture like?’ or ‘do they offer flexible working?’ or help give them the interview insights that help secure a candidate the job, and that is why the human touch is so important in the recruiting industry.

If you are looking for the next step in your recruitment career and want to join a future-facing recruitment agency ready to embrace change, we’d love to hear from you. We have opportunities for experienced and new recruitment consultants to join us at RE: Recruitment. By joining RE Recruitment you will be working with household name clients and joining the the UK’s fastest-growing recruitment agency!