A study based on a survey of around 3,000 recruiters and job seekers in Germany commissioned by job board operator The StepStone Group has concluded that “Job seekers will be able to sign their next employment contract much more quickly in the future thanks to artificial intelligence.”
Two-thirds of recruiters who responded to the survey said they were of the opinion that AI would accelerate the hiring process, particularly by reducing the amount of manual work they had to do.
Moreover, a majority of recruiters said that AI was already proving useful in identifying potential candidates (64%), assessing candidates (54%) and coordinating appointments (57%).
However, 87% of recruiters said they would not conduct a job interview using a chatbot, while 62% of recruiters worried about the risk of AI creating unintentional bias, and 61% feared a lack of transparency in technology-assisted decision-making. Nonetheless, 39% of recruiters thought that the recruitment process could be made fairer through the responsible use of AI.
Meanwhile, 42% of applicants expressed a willingness to share personal data with recruitment portals that use AI. More than 60% said they already provided their names to such websites, while half said they already provided their CV — including details on their employment and educational background — to platforms using AI.
Dr Tobias Zimmermann, a labor market expert at Stepstone, said that repetitive and manual activities led to delays in the recruitment process and that AI would simplify them.
He added that, rather than replacing humans, AI would enable HR specialists to focus on their “core competence” and spend more time engaging with new recruits directly: “The human-to-human exchange is and remains the most important task,” he noted.
Zimmermann asserted that applicants benefit from AI in two ways — by experiencing faster and more user-friendly processes and through access to new resources, such as the creation of cover letters and CVs. He added that the advent of AI-driven virtual training was another benefit.
“The easier it is for people to apply, the more inspiration and feedback they receive, the more accurate they will be in deciding which jobs to apply for. In times of the great people shortage, this will help more people get into the jobs they are best suited for,” he said.
In July, StepStone launched a plug-in for ChatGPT — a generative AI chatbot developed by U.S.-based OpenAI — in Germany. With ChatGPT, StepStone said it aimed to create an initial “conversation-like situation” for job seekers on its website. However, this service is currently only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers (a subscription to this service costs $20 U.S./month).
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, StepStone operates in 30 countries with such brands as StepStone in Germany and Austria, AppCast in the U.S. and TotalJobs in the U.K. It is owned by Berlin-based media company Axel Springer SE.