Artificial intelligence was one of the hot topics at our annual Talent Connect conference in Nashville last week, and rightfully so. Automation and AI are becoming even more prevalent in our everyday activities. But what does this mean for those of us doing recruiting and hiring?
I want to highlight a few ways you can benefit from the subtle enhancements AI is bringing to how we develop our recruiting products and what you can do to stay informed.
How we use AI to help you save time
Whether you realize it or not, your teams are using artificial intelligence (AI) everyday. Not just when Netflix recommends a list of movies, but in sourcing and managing candidates. When you type in a search in Recruiter - we’ll use the title “UX designer,” for example - we tee up smart search suggestions that recommend relevant skills, such as interaction design and wireframing, so you can take your search further, without having to remember all the skills that your role requires.
That’s AI. It looks for patterns in the answers that have led to success for similar searches before. With every successful match, we are learning how we can take what you’ve done in the past and replicate it to make your job easier.
Last year, we announced one million Open Candidates - people who have signaled that they are open to new opportunities. Today, this number has increased to 7M, offering one of the highest-response channels for a recruiter to contact a candidate. LinkedIn trains algorithms on the huge amounts of data we have from signals like these, and then those algorithms can predict who might be the best fit. By identifying signals from Open Candidates, as well as member actions (i.e. connections or viewed jobs), we’re able to gather the data that surfaces candidate spotlights such as “likely to respond” or “open to new opportunities.”
Over the last year, improvements to our products like these have helped increase your collective InMail response rates by 45%. Even better, the total number of continuing, two-way conversations started in LinkedIn Recruiter has doubled. And when you use some of our newest and most powerful spotlights, every InMail you send is twice as likely to turn into a hire.
Machine learning helps your jobs reach the right people
Job-seekers today are in a unique position to tell us exactly what they want in jobs - from the type of job they’re looking for, to relocation preferences, to their work authorization. By looking at deeper insights into the behavior of applicants on LinkedIn, we’ve started to predict not just who would apply to your job, but who would get hired and we’ve already seen roughly twice as many applications going to the set of jobs posted on LinkedIn.
Next year, we’ll be launching a new feature called Jobs Targeting. This feature is designed to reduce the time you spend reviewing unqualified applicants by allowing you to select the exact qualifications in the candidate you’re looking for. You can define specific skillsets, years of experience, and levels of education associated with a particular job title for more precise targeting. Using machine learning and targeting, we’ll only serve your job to the applicants who are a good fit for your role. Imagine how much time that saves on reviewing only the most qualified applications.
With access to more than 530M member profiles and billions of data points, we’re using our insights into candidate behavior to deliver a deeper understanding of your intent and an ability to learn from your actions across all our jobs products.
Keep track of your talent pool - no matter where they’re coming from
We are also exploring how AI and automation can go beyond just our own products through integrations such as Recruiter System Connect. We are working closely with our partners to deliver the most robust integration with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), to date, helping to make your workflow more efficient and productive. Companies that are turning on Recruiter System Connect are powering their “Past Applicants” spotlight, which guides you to the best candidates based on the interactions stored in your ATS, and are seeing half or more of all messages get responses.
As a planned integration with our ATS partners through Recruiter System Connect, we have plans to launch a new feature called LinkedIn Match in 2018. This will show a checklist indicating how an applicant’s experience matches a job description, helping customers prioritize candidates within the ATS dashboard. LinkedIn Match will leverage member profiles and resume data to provide insights on the applicants in the ATS -- no matter what method they used to apply.
The future of AI and LinkedIn Talent Solutions
In the coming months, you’ll see Recruiter and Jobs do so much more, including learn from your success. With each action you take as you browse profiles and contact prospects, Recruiter search will better understand how it can help you find more of the people you want, and fewer of the people you don’t.
Many people have questions about if their job could change radically, or whether AI will make much difference at all. Nobody has all the answers, but what I can tell you from years of following the trends in AI and HR is this -- now’s the time to be excited about the possibilities. AI is already bringing real benefits to our work.
All of these enhancement in our products are designed to do one thing, make your job easier and help you execute your talent intelligence strategy. The future of AI really starts with your instincts, helping to train the machines. That way, you get to spend more time where it matters, focusing on candidates instead of keywords.
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Topics: LinkedIn product tips
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