39.4 per cent of employers have no plans to use AI in recruitment in the next year

Hays, the global leader in workforce solutions and specialist recruitment, recently analysed hiring trends data to reveal how employees and hiring managers used Generative AI in the recruitment process.

In a survey involving 2,014 skilled professionals and 832 employers from Malaysia, it was found that 51.7 per cent of jobseekers used AI tools such as ChatGPT, Bing and others during their recent job applications.

The use of Generative AI in the workplace has been a boon for resourceful candidates looking for help with landing their desired position with employers. Platforms like ChatGPT can help review resumes, provide interview strategies, and even simulate mock interviews.

“Organisations have an active role to play in preparing for the increased implementation of AI within recruitment. This involves closely monitoring the inherent biases with their vendors and considering ethical considerations being addressed at the Asean level.

“Companies could leverage such strategic international collaboration to jointly and continually develop the necessary frameworks to adopt at a local level.

“This is particularly crucial in fostering trust in inclusive hiring, especially considering the expectations of both staff and candidates to utilise AI in recruitment or job-seeking processes,” said Marc Burrage, managing director of Hays Asia.

While global CEOs have been keen to harness the power of Generative AI in the workforce, its usage in recruitment are still in the early stages.

A total of 17 per cent of employers in Malaysia surveyed

Organisations have an active role to play in preparing for the increased implementation of AI within recruitment. This involves closely monitoring the inherent biases with their vendors and considering ethical considerations being addressed at the Asean level.

Marc Burrage

currently use AI minimally throughout the recruitment process, while 29.8 per cent are only looking to explore it in the coming year. 39.4 per cent have no plans to use AI in their recruitment processes yet.?

The top three applications among employers who used AI in recruitment are as follows: 54.3 per cent use it for resume screening and shortlisting, 33.7 per cent use it for candidate assessment and ranking, while 31.4 per cent use it to perform predictive analysis for candidate fit.

Despite a majority of 83 per cent of human resources personnel polled supporting the use of AI tools to help them perform their tasks at work, just 44 per cent of them believe their organisations have embraced AI sufficiently to stay relevant in the future.

Understandably, some of this hesitation comes from a lack of a standard regulatory framework, including budget and the lack of human touch and personalisation – the latter two being highlighted by employers in Malaysia as key challenges when implementing AI in recruitment.

There is still much work to be done to bridge the gap. 57.4 per cent of respondents in Malaysia believe AI-powered resume screening can be biased and requires addressing before being utilised, unlike most of the China respondents who believe the biases are being addressed.

The Hays study also found 26.6 per cent of employers who used AI in recruitment are not actively assessing biases in AI recruitment tools while only 26 per cent of human resources personnel polled received policies around the usage of AI tools from their manager(s) or organisation.