Survey Shows Big Growth in Staffing AI Next Year

The staffing industry is jumping into the world of AI, with two-thirds of staffing firms overall planning to implement an artificial intelligence-driven ATS by the end of 2020. Of “enterprise” staffing firms, meaning those with more than 100 recruiters, an even greater proportion—79 percent—will adopt AI.

“Now that the reality of AI technology in our industry has actually caught up to its buzz, we want to quantify the sea change it’s causing and share that data with our customers and the rest of the staffing world in preparation for the coming new year,” said Sameer Penakalapati, CEO of CEIPAL, the solutions provider for staffing companies that studied the topic for its 2019 Artificial Intelligence in the Recruiting Industry benchmark report.

Although CEIPAL expects most enterprise firms to embrace AI systems, its research found that “large” firms—those with between 50 and 100 recruiters—have a relatively low awareness of AI technology. Forty-three percent of them have no plans to adopt AI, the report said.

However, respondents agreed or strongly agreed that AI’s movement into the recruiting world is inevitable, and that its adoption will help recruiters build better candidate relationships. The “vast majority” said they either already rely on an AI-driven ATS or will deploy one within the coming year. Not surprisingly, that leads CEIPAL to believe that industry is moving away from manual processes, a conclusion that syncs up with numerous other studies.

Interestingly, CEIPAL found that “marketing requirements” are the biggest driver toward AI adoption. Next came productivity, quality and reporting needs. Respondents who called marketing requirements a pain point were more inclined to adopt AI in their recruitment practices than those who didn’t, 80 percent compared to 65 percent.

Even more interesting: Despite the growing concern that inherent biases that may be inadvertently built into many AI systems, most respondents—71 percent—said that AI will eliminate human bias from the recruitment process. That strikes us as a sign that end users aren’t paying nearly as much attention to advanced technology’s nuances, and potential pitfalls, as are the vendors and IT departments implementing such solutions.

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