What to look for in a resume screening and assessment tool

Applicant tracking system. Be honest - and let us assure you, this is a safe space - did reading those three words give you a little heartburn? Yeah, us too. That’s because a lot of people in talent acquisition love/hate the ATS. Talk to most people in the field, and you’ll hear a wide range of things, but many will share that while ATSs definitely serve a vital function, a number of them (not all, of course) are outdated, the algorithms and scoring are ineffective, and can leave teams frustrated and banging their head against the desk–literally and figuratively.

This attitude is a far cry from when applicant tracking systems came on the scene decades ago. The purpose was to filter out candidates who did not match a specific role, without requiring a human to read through each and every resume. Amazing, right? While the purpose remains the same, the technology these tools are based on has not kept up with the changing hiring landscape. Current ATS algorithms are antiquated because they rely on methods like keyword matching and are based on models that don’t control for bias. They are designed to filter talent OUT, while most teams are trying to filter talent IN.

It’s painfully obvious that no one is winning with the current technology. The HR Research Institute found in a 2023 study that only 39% of organizations rate their current technology as good or excellent, while 35% say its average and 26% say it’s below average or poor.

Bottom line, you, your organization and your candidates deserve better. It’s time to rethink what your screening tool can do for you. It’s time to invest in a tool powered by ethical AI.

Why?

✔ It mitigates bias.

The time has come to move beyond the outdated practice of viewing candidates through the narrow lens of keyword match. Ethical AI-based recruiting tools use proprietary algorithms and skills-based assessments to ensure every candidate gets a fair shot, from the initial screening to the follow-up and onboarding process.

Candidate de-identification, standardized follow-up questions, and automatic, AI-powered candidate scoring reduce the risk of unintentional bias creeping into your processes. When your screening is less biased, it creates a ripple effect that propels your organization forward. More diverse teams lead to more unique ideas, and that’s how innovation happens.

✔ It puts you where you belong - among leaders in the hiring field.

Trends indicate that organizations that excel at recruitment technology also happen to be early adopters of AI. These businesses are writing the narrative when it comes to the next stage of hiring, and if you’re not with them, you’re losing to them.

If you’re not actively (and responsibly) incorporating AI into your hiring practices, you’re not only playing catch-up, you’re on the losing end of the widening performance gap. Adopters of AI have first pick when it comes to top talent because they have a platform that provides deep insights into each and every candidate, revealing hidden skills and talent. They can also move the right candidates through the screening and hiring process more quickly, saving them valuable time, effort, and money.

✔ It simplifies and streamlines your processes.

As a hiring professional, AI is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal, but it goes beyond putting a prompt into an AI chat box and seeing what it spits out.

When you leverage an equitable, automated resume screening and assessment tool powered by AI, the heavy lifting happens behind the scenes. Say goodbye to sifting through piles of resumes and manually sorting and ranking candidates. Instead, you’ll be free to focus on the important things–building relationships with candidates and moving them through the hiring process.

✔ It’s completely customizable and meets your needs.

Most search and filter functions are one-size-fits-all. They apply the same filters and criteria to all jobs and don’t allow you to tweak and adjust parameters as your candidate search progresses. With AI-powered recruiting tools, you set and adjust candidate weighting criteria for every job. You tell it what’s important to you–whether it’s experience, skills, licenses, education, or something else––and it serves you the best matches. And when the requirements change or a hiring manager’s expectations shift, you can too, ensuring every candidate is reassessed against the new ideal profile.

That’s the way screening should be–simple, equitable, and straight-forward, with no head banging. Ethical AI is the only way to ensure that your resume screening and assessment tool meets all of your needs and keeps the process fair and consistent so you can build incredible teams. Want more insight into how tools like CLARA deliver a hiring experience unlike any other? Request your free trial today.