Are HR Executives and HR Practitioners on the same page when it comes to AI in Recruiting?

As companies continue to evolve their recruitment processes and technologies, many are turning to AI-enabled solutions to help them identify the best candidates for job openings. These AI tools can offer numerous benefits to companies, from improving efficiency and reducing costs to eliminating bias in the hiring process. However, there are also concerns around the potential dehumanization of recruitment, discrimination, and the accidental exclusion of qualified candidates.

Despite these concerns, there has been limited research into the perspectives of HR practitioners who actually work with AI-enabled recruiting tools. In fact, studies show that only 32% of companies include individual practitioners in discussions around talent acquisition technology. This is a significant issue, as HR practitioners are the ones who leverage these tools on a day-to-day basis, and therefore need to be aware of and able to mitigate any potential risks.

This was the focus of my graduate thesis work, which aimed to identify whether the perspectives of HR practitioners on AI-enabled recruiting tools differed from those of HR executives.

You can see the full research here or read bellow for the key findings:

My research found that HR practitioners do have different attitudes towards AI-enabled recruiting tools compared to HR executives. I found that 68% of HR executives think that their organization uses AI-enabled hiring tools. However, only 42% of individual HR practitioners believe their organization uses AI-enabled hiring tools and over 25% of individual HR practitioners are unsure if their organization uses AI-enabled hiring tools. Significantly, one quarter of individual HR practitioners are unaware whether their organization uses AI-enabled hiring tools this could indicate that they are unaware of additional legal expectations and ethical considerations.

Individual HR practitioners are not very confident in themselves or their organization’s preparedness to limit bias when using AI-enabled hiring tools; however, individual HR practitioners still show a higher level of confidence than HR Executives who are significantly more skeptical of both their own and the organizational abilities to address bias in the use of AI-enabled hiring tools. Almost 30% of individual HR practitioners show high levels of confidence in their preparedness and the organization’s preparedness to limit bias when using AI-enabled hiring tools. HR executives, however, unanimously showed extremely low levels of confidence in their organization's preparedness to limit bias when using AI-enabled hiring tools. It is unclear from this survey whether the difference in perspective is expected by HR executives. It is possible that HR executives intentionally communicate confidence to their teams to inspire trust. The confidence of individual HR practitioners in their preparedness and the preparedness of the organization to limit bias when using AI-enabled tools could be a positive indicator of trust towards the organization and executives; however, HR executives also need to be aware of the possibility that individual HR practitioners are overestimating their abilities to limit bias when using AI-enabled hiring tools.

Based on my findings, here are 7 steps HR Executives should take to help ensure that their organizations deploy AI-enabled tools responsibly and ethically.

1. HR executives should audit whether their teams leverage AI-enabled hiring tools. This audit should include both tools officially purchased by the organization and any additional tools leveraged by individual practitioners. This audit will allow the executives to assess whether the recommendations are relevant to their organization.

The following recommendations are for organizations that are using or planning to use AI-enabled hiring tools.

2. Using AI-enabled hiring tools ethically requires multi-disciplinary coordination. HR executives should identify champions across departments who can assist in leading the initiative. Partnerships with the legal team and IT teams could be exceptionally beneficial at this stage. The legal team will be essential for the organization to stay abreast of the shifting regulatory landscape for AI-enabled hiring tools. The IT teamwill be instrumental in implementing the tools ethically and assessing potential vendors for their practices.

3. The cross-departmental team should review the tool acquisition process. Some questions to consider: does the process establish requirements for vendors to be audited for algorithmic bias or fairness? Does the vendor commit to updating the tool per shifting legislative environments in all locations relevant to the organization? Are there requirements to provide privacy documentation? HR executives should be clear on what services the vendor does and does not provide.

4. HR executives should initiate an anonymous survey to understand the preparedness of individual HR practitioners to use AI-enabled hiring tools. The anonymous survey can leverage questions from the original survey in this paper and include inquiries on how supported individual HR practitioners feel. This will allow executives to identify communication gaps that need to be addressed as the organization uses AI-enabled hiring tools.

5. HR executives should communicate to their teams the importance of considering both the ethical and legal consequences of using AI-enabled hiring tools. The tone of the communication is critical as it will guide the level of departmental buy-in into the next steps. A positive and inspiring message of advancing equity in hiring may be more inspiring than a message focused on risk and legal liability.

6. HR executives should engage the vendors of AI-enabled hiring tools for help in creating training on the risks and best practices of AI-enabled tools. The vendors are uniquely positioned to provide insights into mitigating legal liability and addressing ethical concerns around dehumanization and bias.

7. Finally, HR executives should invite individual HR practitioners into the process of ensuring the legal and ethical use of AI-enabled hiring tools. Since the practitioners are the ones using AI-enabled hiring tools daily, any initiatives will not be effective without their buy-in. HR executives should make sure to empower individual HR practitioners to escalate any concerns they have about AI-enable hiring tools and encourage individual HR practitioners to share best practices with the rest of the organization.

Overall, my thesis work highlights the need for more research into the perspectives of HR practitioners when it comes to AI-enabled recruiting tools. By understanding these differing perspectives, organizations can more effectively and ethically implement these tools, and ultimately improve their recruitment processes.

You can see the full research here.