Report: 92% of HR Leaders Aim To Use AI to Acquire Talent

Highlights –

• The report explores opportunities to tide over the current talent shortage and record-high turnover by devising solutions that are intelligent by design.
• The report suggests that HR leaders must change their current approaches to attracting and acquiring new talent to keep pace with current demands and simplify the sourcing process.

Eightfold AI, a talent intelligence platform, has released findings from its 2022 Talent Survey, The Future of Work: Intelligent by Design. The report talks about a plan to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to meet the demands of the modern talent space. The survey was based on responses received from 250 HR executives and nearly 1,000 employees.

In fact, 92% of HR executives are contemplating increasing their use of AI in at least one area of HR. The report by Eightfold uncovers new challenges and priorities of HR leaders and employees. It explores opportunities to tide over the current talent shortage and record-high turnover by devising solutions that are intelligent by design.

“As HR leaders recognize the need for sophisticated technology to solve an urgent and growing list of priorities, they must know the best practices as they scale their talent operations,” said Ashutosh Garg, Founder and CEO of Eightfold AI. “Talent intelligence has the power to reshape how leaders face today’s greatest challenges. By infusing data and insights into decision making, they can take a comprehensive approach to manage all Talent and architect a future-ready workforce.”

A survey of the employees sheds some light on a shift in their expectations and priorities ever since the pandemic. Employees now value transparency, flexibility, and above all, growth opportunities. Key findings in talent management include:

• Employees want greater visibility into skills gaps: Nearly 76% of HR leaders believe it’s important to understand skills and capabilities across the workforce to ensure long-term organizational success. Employees, too, were on the same page, with 64% accepting that it’s essential to have greater visibility into their skills gaps or the organization’s future skills needs. To compete for and retain top talent, there’s lots of space to double down on understanding people’s current capabilities and the skills needed to succeed today and tomorrow.
• Employees expect transparency in the promotion process: Employees, 69% of them, expressed that a transparent promotion and career development process is vital. However, only 41% of employers offer transparent career development opportunities to all talent. Post-pandemic preferences have changed, and HR leaders must revisit their approaches.
• Organizations have an opportunity to democratize employee experience offerings: When queried about how best the HR leaders offer employee experiences, programs, and opportunities, less than 50% of HR leaders provide any single benefit to everyone. In fact, it was found that just about 35% of employers provide opportunities to hinge into new roles within the company to all talent within the organization. Democratizing succession planning and internal mobility helps retain talent and brings down the time spent in headhunting.

The report suggests that HR leaders must change their current approaches to attracting and acquiring new talent to keep pace with current demands and simplify the sourcing process. With employers finding it difficult to find the right talent, they must seize the opportunity and eliminate the barriers faced by the candidates in the application process. They must expand the criteria to attract alternative candidates. Key findings in talent acquisition include:

• Recruiters are having a tough time: The report found that 95% of the HR leaders face challenges with the recruitment process. It may not come as a surprise that one in five HR leaders confirmed that their recruiters were overwhelmed. Arming the recruiters with data and intelligence around candidate capabilities enables them to go high-touch with applicants.
• Job seekers encounter barriers in the application process: Around 74% of the surveyed employees reported that they have considered applying for a job in the past 12-18 months. However, they did not submit the application owing to a perceived mismatch between their past experience and the job description. Organizations need to re-think the job descriptions to improve the applicant experience and lure more qualified candidates into applying.
• Expanding candidate criteria broadens the talent pool: Around 40% of HR leaders preferred candidates to have previous industry experience. Instead of opting for a “box-checking” approach to hiring, organizations must widen the criteria and consider adjacent skillsets and upskilling potential to broaden the pool of available candidates.
• Eliminate bias to attract more diverse talent: AI for DEI efforts is being used by a notable 95% of HR leaders. But only 26% of the respondents use AI for masked resume reviews. Eliminating names and demographic information is a sure shot way to remove conscious or unconscious bias and support marginalized communities.

Eightfold’s 2022 talent survey was conducted in two parts. It covered a statistically significant group of qualified respondents: Business leaders and employees in the U.S. Conducted between March 23, 2022, and April 4, 2022, the business leader survey included more than 250 HR professionals at the director level and above from companies with over 100 employees who had direct influence over HR decisions. Additionally, about 1,000 employees aged above 18 years working part-time or full-time were surveyed between March 31, 2022, and April 4, 2022.