Hiring in tech has always been specialized, with specific knowledge, skills and languages needed for certain roles. So, it’s unsurprising that talent acquisition professionals have leveraged AI to help them with this difficult task.
Today, strict and unforgiving AI algorithms filter candidates to ensure only the most qualified (or optimized) resumes get through. Plus, candidates must hope that the AI algorithm analyzing their information isn’t trained on biased data, another significant obstacle in hiring
5 Tips to Beat AI Hiring Systems
- Use AI tools to include keywords and industry terms the ATS is looking for.
- Avoid generic using AI tools that weren’t created for resumes.
- Develop a robust online presence on GitHub or YouTube showcasing your knowledge.
- Side-step the AI hiring tools by reaching out to hiring managers directly.
- Maintain up to date profile information on social media.
However, tech professionals can leverage AI to help overcome these hiring hurdles while also focusing on establishing and building their personal brands to help them stand out.
Here's a guide to how businesses use AI in tech hiring and how professionals can still come out on top.
Is AI in Recruitment a Friend or Foe?
Hiring in the tech industry requires specialized knowledge and experience, adding to its difficulty. But AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) can assist HR managers by analyzing mountains of resumes and looking for keywords like “JavaScript” or “10 years of experience.” The AI algorithm then grades each resume out of 100, for example, and the ATS will separate successful candidates who scored, in many cases, above 85 percent.
This helps talent acquisition professionals quickly and efficiently filter through resumes and personally review a much smaller amount of applications. But this isn't the only way AI can expedite the hiring process in tech.
The development of AI has also helped steer the recent shift toward skill-based hiring, particularly for technology jobs. Employers can use AI testing platforms, like Testify, for instance. These platforms allow employers to use pre-made and custom tests with topics that cover everything from coding to communication skills. Talent acquisition professionals can then ensure applicants can successfully decode a bug or understand JavaScript, for example.
AI platforms can also use computer adaptive testing, which adjusts the difficulty of each question based on the applicant's previous answers. Thus, employers can get a precise understanding of an applicant's knowledge. For talent acquisition professionals, this technology can save them precious time, as research has found that adaptive tests reduce test length from anywhere between 50-to-90 percent.
Businesses are eager to adopt this approach since employees chosen for their skills, rather than just their education, are five times more likely to perform well in their jobs. A skill-based approach also expands access to candidates. For instance, a newly qualified software engineer may lack work experience but can prove their skills through test results.
While AI may seem like hiring’s magic bullet, this new tech doesn’t come without its challenges. The main issue lies in how AI system parameters are set, as a highly skilled, self-taught programmer might be automatically rejected for lacking a computer science degree.
Furthermore, AI hiring systems can do more harm than good when not trained on a fair and varied dataset. Hilke Schellmann, author of The Algorithm: How AI Can Hijack Your Career and Steal Your Future, and an assistant professor of journalism at New York University, told the BBC: “One biased human hiring manager can harm a lot of people in a year, and that's not great…but an algorithm that is maybe used in all incoming applications at a large company… that could harm hundreds of thousands of applicants.”
The ownership lies on the businesses using AI to ensure their model is trained on diverse data and frequently reviewed against the company’s diversity goals. Failure to do so could result in the businesses hiring help becoming its achilles heel.
While it’s clear that AI in recruitment has its pros and cons, candidates can also leverage this technology to help them in the hiring process.
Mastering AI-Driven Resume Screening
Since the 1950s, resumes have been used in hiring, with candidates seeking the knowledge of recruitment experts to improve their resumes. But since the vast adoption of ATS, this has raised the candidate evaluation criteria. Professionals now must upgrade their application techniques to stay competitive.
However, job seekers can leverage this knowledge to their advantage and use AI tools to improve their resumes and include keywords and industry terms the ATS is looking for.
Specific AI-driven platforms can analyze resumes against job descriptions and scoring alignment, and it can suggest improvements like ATS-friendly formatting, keyword optimization and skill highlights. These tools are extremely helpful as they not only ensure each resume speaks the AI-ATS language but also help candidates quickly personalize resumes for different roles. Once candidates have updated their resumes, these AI platforms can then provide personalized and optimized cover letters.
It’s essential that candidates review the edits and ensure the resume and cover letter reads well. When candidates use platforms that weren’t trained for hiring, like ChatGPT, the keywords are often generic and repetitive, making it clear to recruiters that candidates used AI. This isn’t actually the problem; the issue is that they used it with little care. By thoroughly editing the resume and ensuring that there are personal anecdotes and data to back up claims, candidates can balance AI optimization with authenticity.
Proactive Strategies for Tech Talent
Candidates are unlikely to ever know how biased the AI recruitment system is for the tech job they’ve applied for. Even if their resume is optimized to perfection, there are a range of other strategies they can employ to stand out from the crowd.
While AI may control who makes it through the candidate filter, hiring managers will manually review the resumes of those who succeeded and will then search for candidates online and/or on LinkedIn to look at their professional presence.
Therefore, candidates need to show they have more to offer than just their well-written resume. Developing a robust online presence allows them to showcase their practical skills and specialized knowledge in action.
A software developer who actively shares code on GitHub, breaks down complex concepts in technical articles, or crafts step-by-step video tutorials isn’t just skilled/nurturing their skills—they’re proving expertise, communication ability, and relentless passion for their craft.
A thoughtfully crafted personal brand increases candidate visibility, and with up-to-date contact details on personal websites/LinkedIn, this can encourage direct outreach from hiring managers who recognize value beyond AI-filtered resumes. Plus, direct outreach works both ways. Candidates can contact recruiters on LinkedIn or via email, and mention how their experience aligns with the role and showcase projects they've worked on.
AI in hiring is here to stay, whether technology job candidates like it or not. While it can feel like extra work in an already arduous hiring process, candidates can use it to their own advantage, optimizing their resumes and cover letters. However, technology doesn’t control everything. If candidates focus on excelling in AI testing and building a strong personal online presence, they can display to TA professionals that humans are at the heart of hiring, not AI.
