More People Are Comfortable With AI When Applying for a New Job

Just how comfortable are you with AI in the job application process?

That's the question a new study from HireVue, a recruiting and human resources company, asked of more than 4,000 workers and HR professionals in the US, UK, and Australia.

What they found was a growing acceptance of the use of AI systems for finding and hiring candidates across industries.

"People are seeing that it works," Dr. Lindsey Zuloaga, Chief Data Scientist at HireVue, told Lifewire in a video interview. "They're trusting it more. And from the candidate side, [around] half the people are saying that AI does better in terms of fairness."

By the Numbers

The study found that 73 percent of HR professionals responding trust AI systems to make candidate recommendations, 70 percent plan to use AI in some capacity within the next year, and 66 percent have a more positive attitude towards AI work than compared to a year ago.

Three out of 4 job candidates and worker study participants, understandably, are opposed to AI making final hiring decisions, and 79 percent want to know if employers are using AI in the hiring process.

Both groups of people are comfortable with AI dealing with the tedious tasks in the hiring process, like creating and sending automated responses and writing resumes for job seekers, HR leaders are largely in favor of using AI from start to finish in the hiring process, says the study, while workers have concerns about bias built into the AI systems.

HR Professionals Use of AI

The study found that 31 percent of study participants who identified as HR professionals use AI for communication with candidates, 27 percent use AI for resume screening, and 27 percent use it to assess potential candidates.

These professionals also say that AI allows them to have more time when day-to-day manual tasks are automated (53 percent). More than half also say they notice greater productivity (53 percent), and half (50 percent) say they see faster turnaround in filling job roles. 44 percent of HR professionals worry about biased recommendations, 42 percent worry about legal compliance, and 36 percent worry about poor communications.

Job Seekers and AI

Study participants who were identified as workers also appreciate what AI can do for them. 53 percent say they use AI to update resumes, 46 percent say they use AI to write cover letters, and 42 percent say they use AI to prepare for interviews.

80 percent of workers in the study said they want to know when an employer is using AI in the hiring process and how it's being used, especially if the company is using AI to make final hiring decisions. Only 37 percent felt that AI would do a better job than humans when choosing well-qualified applicants, and only 50 percent want AI to review job applications.

85 percent of job seekers in the study said that hiring bias is a problem (with or without AI), and 49 percent think that AI could help the address issue of bias. 46 percent even believe that AI could do a better job than humans in treating job applicants fairly.

“It’s always been important for candidates to understand how they’re being evaluated in the hiring process, but the widespread use of AI-backed tools makes it even more critical that companies are transparent about how decisions are made,” said Dr. Zuloaga said in a statement. “Leaders who err on the side of clear explainability about how AI is used will reap the benefits of these new technologies without sacrificing applicant satisfaction or causing undue concern about fairness.”