qwerty AI for Hiring: What Staffing Agencies Can Do that AI Can’t

AI for Hiring: What Staffing Agencies Can Do that AI Can’t

by | Jul 26, 2023

AI for hiring is exciting – the technology promises to reduce the cost and time it takes to hire new employees. If AI tools for hiring can help your organization avoid these costs and time, that could mean exponential returns. 

But here’s the thing: AI for hiring isn’t always the best option. In fact, the best staffing agencies in Toronto are often able to outperform AI tools for hiring – especially with AI’s current state. 

AI Tools for Hiring – Their Current State

AI is making a lot of waves across industries – recruitment is no exception. From AI for FP&A (including workforce planning) to assessing candidates, this technology is poised to shape the future. 

You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT – it’s stealing headlines with its impressive ability to pump out thousands of words on a seemingly endless variety of topics in mere seconds. And it appears to do so competently. But when you dig deeper you notice that ChatGPT has some deep flaws. 

ChatGPT consistently makes stuff up. It fabricates the Guardian articles. It manifests academic references. On balance, it’s more likely to return false information according to one study.

Which isn’t to slam ChatGPT! The large language model is very impressive. No, what this means is that AI still has a way to go. 

And that holds true for using AI for hiring as well. 

This inability to return accurate information 100% of the time (or even most of the time) means that any users in all fields need to be wary. 

Let’s now go into what the best staffing agencies in Toronto can do better than AI – and then we’ll wrap up by examining where AI is going next. 

Unbiased Hiring Practices

Intuitively, we’re prone to thinking that machines have a dispassionate, disinterested way of evaluating situations and, in this case, candidates. But that’s simply not the case. Too often, AI exhibits the biases of the creators, meaning that AI can demonstrate discriminatory behaviour when hiring. 

Allowing AI to evaluate resumes without human oversight, for instance, may lead to a huge pool of diverse candidates being overlooked due to the coded biases contained within the AI itself. 

Staffing agencies, by contrast, have developed a comprehensive evaluation system for potential candidates that prioritizes:

  • Relevant experience
  • Potential
  • Fit
  • Adaptability 

To name a handful of criteria that AI may miss. 

Unable to Game the Hiring Process

Qualifying candidates for job openings at your organization requires an in-depth understanding of what you’re looking for, an ability to identify those needs in prospective candidates, and the attention to detail necessary to ensure that you get the best person in the role in as little time as possible. 

The best staffing agencies in Toronto have streamlined this process so you can get the best talent without a long wait by drawing on an established pool of top-level talent.

AI, meanwhile, may be able to sift through hundreds or even thousands of resumes much faster than any human, but like all machines, it can be tricked.

Natural language processing models will be trained to seek out certain keywords when assessing different candidates. This will lead to the development of resume builders who will attempt to ‘game’ the AI by stuffing their resumes with keywords (or pay to have third-parties do so). 

This means that many talented candidates could fall through the cracks simply because they choose different verbiage, and nothing to do with their actual abilities. 

AI Can’t Reproduce the Human Touch 

Human resources departments need to be just that – human. People will spend hours preparing their resumes, going through interviews (potentially several of them), completing trial tasks . . . only to face rejection at the end of the process. 

Being able to bring a compassionate and caring touch to these sensitive situations will help maintain your business’s reputation while also fostering long-term relationships with qualified candidates. 

Staffing agencies are adept at ensuring candidates know that they are a valued partner in the hiring process. Candidates are more than keywords. If something doesn’t work out with a potential role, a staffing agency’s relationship doesn’t end with the candidate. In most cases, that partnership continues until the candidate finds a suitable role. 

Even if AI can produce a lovely rejection letter, closing the loop on the hiring process this way can leave a negative impression after the time invested with interviewing on the candidate’s end. It’s not something potential talent forgets easily and can impact future recruitment efforts.

TDS Personnel – a Leading Staffing Agency in Toronto

If you want to ensure that you find the best candidate in the shortest amount of time for job openings at your organization, then you want TDS Personnel managing the recruitment process.

TDS Personnel is a premier Toronto recruitment agency which has been in operation since 1975. We’ve partnered with businesses operating in a variety of industries within the GTA, helping them meet their staffing needs. 

Our team has a proven track record of identifying top candidates, helping them advance their careers, and placing top talent with some of the best organizations in Toronto, with always keeping an eye towards culture fits. Get in touch to see how TDS Personnel can help you with your staffing needs.

Lisa de Jong
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