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AI and Its Increasing Relevance in Recruiting Agencies
At this point, artificial intelligence is no longer considered the “future” of technology. For us all, it has become second nature to rely on AI for so many different aspects of how we live, connect, and work.
When was the last time you tried to drive somewhere you have never been to? I’m going to take a wild guess and say you didn’t whip out a compass. Instead, you probably used a GPS, whether on your phone or in your car, to get you to your stop. It’s an incredible concept when you stop to think about it—we’re trusting a bunch of metal parts and technology to take us exactly where we need to go, decide the best routes, help us avoid traffic, or even recommend personalized pit stops ahead like it’s just another day on the road.
In the same way, this level of trust in technology has naturally extended toward recruitment. Forward thinking recruiting agencies are reaping the benefits of AI to screen resumes, find candidates, make better placements and more. Below, we will be exploring how recruiting agencies are opening up new growth opportunities with AI-driven hiring.
Issues in Recruiting Agencies Today
The job market today is very demanding and recruiting agencies are being pressed with challenges like:
- Volume management
- Pressures with time to hire
- Candidate experiences
- Skills assessment
- Competition in the market
It only becomes more intense when you add in how much the job market changes. Things are shifting around fast, and we’re also now in a situation where 40% of executives believe a large portion of the global workforce (approximately 1.4 billion individuals) will need to reskill within the next three years.
Certain skills that were once highly preferred in the past are now losing their relevance across many industries. On top of market changes, a lot of it has to do with things like advancements in technology or new ways of working; the need for new skillsets are rising at a fast pace. The agencies that are dedicated to updating their strategies, and adopt modern solutions will perform a lot stronger in meeting the needs of their clients and candidates.
To keep up, here’s what you should focus on:
- Understand the new skills employers want and how they are changing
- Use AI tools to look for transferrable skills
- Having structured and consistent training programs for your team
- Encourage continuous learning so your agency can confidently adapt with industry trends
To stay competitive, AI for recruiting agencies can help:
- With predictive analytics to help present to you which candidates will most succeed
- Automate candidate screening and evaluation
- Improve scheduling with intelligent systems
- Make job descriptions more appealing to the right candidates
- Automate communication workflows with candidates and clients
The Use of Modern Technology To Address Common Hiring Problems
Staffing and recruiting agencies, along with large BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing), have been among the earliest adopters of AI recruitment tools.
Furthermore, research shared by the Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) shows us that most agencies are using AI in recruitment—84% to be exact. However, the report had found that more than half of the employees (around 55%) in the organizations using these tools only have basic, very limited or no understanding of AI systems or AI in general. This kind of disconnect that exists in the adoption and understanding of AI-powered recruiting agency technology can cause serious issues.
It’s easy to get excited when looking at the plethora of options we have today, and immediately start using one in hopes of solving our problems quickly. Thoughtful consideration and planning isn’t a step to be skipped though. It’s our responsibility in making sure that whoever is handling them is appropriately trained, and carefully follows best practices to get the most of these tools.
If your team doesn’t train properly before implementing AI into their hiring strategy, your agency could risk missing out on it’s real benefits and most optimal outcomes. Also, with the EU AI Act, AI systems used in recruitment are categorized as high risk. Moreover, irresponsible use of AI in hiring (even if unintentional) could get your agency into a lot of trouble (e.g., legal consequences, and a damaged reputation). So it’s important that when using these tools, you do all your hiring activities in a strategic and compliant manner.
What Happens When You Let An AI Recruiter Handle Your Recruiting Process
84% of recruiters say that engaging passive candidates is becoming more important in lower and middle-level roles (e.g., sales, or customer service). To address this, AI tools can help connect you with talented professionals who aren’t actively looking, but have the experience and skills that could be an excellent match for your needs.
Other than gaining access to passive candidates, you can unlock a range of benefits like:
- Better candidate matching: Mistakes that we often make are significantly reduced as AI accurately analyzes the data provided
- Increased Efficiency: With AI automating your repetitive tasks, you are left with more time to build relationships, connect with clients, assess candidates in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re on a timer, make faster and higher quality placements etc.
- Stronger Decisions: A lot of hiring today is still based off of subjective judgement. To mitigate this, data presented from an AI recruiter like HeyMilo excludes human biases to show you an accurate representation of a candidates alignment for your roles.
Sometimes, when we try out new methods, they don’t always work out the way we expect. Having a truly reliable way to make hiring decisions entails a strong, structured approach in the way we interact with job seekers. Whether that be with the help of AI or not, it’s important to make sure that everyone can have an equal opportunity and experience.
A Look Into How AI is Used Every Day in a Recruiting Agency: What’s Possible + Real Examples
Let’s take a closer look at what AI looks like in day to day recruiting operations. Before we proceed, we want to share something interesting with you: 67% of job seekers found or applied for a job through job boards last year. That is a huge volume of candidates coming through just one channel. To take advantage of the flood of applicants that these platforms can bring, agencies are incorporating AI into their workflows for improved management.
Healthcare Staffing Case Study:
Care Dynamics, a healthcare staffing agency, was dealing with the pressure in finding qualified candidates, high volume, and urgent business needs.
Major Improvements They Achieved With HeyMilo AI:
- 3x the Submissions and More Placements: they increased their submissions from 10 to 29 monthly, helping to drive revenue growth
- Expanding Recruiter Expertise: their recruiters are now able to manage a wider spectrum of roles
- 90% Less Screening Time: their interviews went from taking weeks to days
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) - Industry Flexibility Case Study:
While not a staffing agency, BPO Labs has a similar story. They also were handling massive hiring campaigns, and needed to maintain quality while scaling their operations.
Major Improvements They Achieved With HeyMilo AI:
- 3x The Screening Capacity: they were able to enhance their efforts without expanding team size
- Higher Quality Matches: better initial filtering matched them with stronger candidate fits much earlier in the process
- Stronger Brand Image: their use of AI in recruitment positioned them as tech forward employer
- Cost Savings: $12K+ saved and 30+ days of work in just a few days
Looking back on traditional or outdated strategies, it’s clear that recruiting has never been more efficient than it is today. It’s no wonder that 73% of people believe AI can even help match candidates with roles they never applied for.
Emerging Trends In AI For Recruiting and Hiring
Some really exciting trends are coming out of the recruiting landscape, and here’s a bit of what’s happening right now:
- 41% of companies now use chatbots in part of the recruitment process,
- 81% of companies use AI for screening,
- 60% for interviewing across all positions,
- and 50% for candidate evaluation.
Statistics like these tell us an interesting story about where it’s all headed, so it’s important to stay up to date.
Experience Results on The Same Day With HeyMilo
You no longer have to wait months to see results in your hiring strategy with modern recruiting agency technology. Without changing everything about how you operate, it smoothly complements your existing strengths so you can work the most optimally. There’s a difference between just using technology, and truly leveraging it for your business’ growth. Apart from older systems that aren’t fully optimized, take forever to implement, and even longer to get results—you can start seeing improvements right on day one.
Use AI To Improve Your Hiring
If you want to get a better sense of how AI-driven hiring might work for you, we are inviting you to explore HeyMilo’s AI for recruiting agencies. If you sign up today, you’ll gain immediate access to 10 free interviews with an AI interviewer. Get a commitment free, and practical look at how these tools can save you valuable time, make improvements to your candidate matching efforts, and your overall hiring decisions.