September 12th, 2024 | Sterling

The Rise of AI in Recruitment and Job Hunting: Opportunities and Threats 

Overview 

In the rapidly evolving world of recruitment, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising the way organisations identify and acquire top talent. AI also helps job hunters with resume writing and Applicant Tracking System (ATS) keyword optimisation. While AI offers numerous benefits for both employers and job-seekers, from improving efficiency to reducing bias, it also presents new challenges, particularly ensuring the authenticity of applicants. A survey conducted in late 2023 by a popular resume writing service found that nearly 73% of individuals would consider using AI tools to embellish or lie on their resume. duals would consider using AI tools to embellish or lie on their resume.  

Therefore, it’s crucial for hiring managers and HR professionals to understand the role of AI in recruitment and the importance of thorough background checks when building a trustworthy and effective recruitment process. 

How does AI improve recruitment? 

Based on latest research commissioned by IBM, it was found that around 42% of enterprise-scale organisations (those with over 1,000 employees) surveyed actively deploy AI in their businesses. Though use cases are diverse and span many key areas of business operations, 19% of AI cases exist within human resources and talent acquisition functions. 

From sourcing candidates to conducting initial interviews, AI-driven tools streamline and enhance recruitment processes. With capability to quickly analyse vast amounts of data, AI can identify suitable candidates faster than traditional, human-dependent methods, creating cost efficiencies and accelerating the recruitment cycle. It can also match a candidate’s skills and experience with specific job requirements more accurately, leading to the identification and recruitment of candidates better suited to certain roles and organisational cultures.  

Ultimately, automating routine recruitment tasks by introducing AI-driven tools reduces the time and resources needed for recruitment, lowers cost, and can also help recruit higher-quality employees. 

Ethical considerations when using AI in recruitment 

AI tools might perpetuate biases present in training data. For instance, if AI tools are trained on resumes that reflect historical gender or racial biases, they might inadvertently reinforce these biases in their recommendations. An example of this is where an assesment vendor halted facial analysis of applicants because there were significant concerns and criticisms from various quarters about the potential for bias and discrimination in facial analysis technology. 

Employers should be cautious about becoming over-reliant on AI tools, as human judgment and qualitative assessment are still considered crucial components of a high-quality and robust recruitment process. Where AI tools are implemented, care needs to be taken to ensure clear parameters are set that align with current employment law and guidelines. 

How are candidates using AI for job seeking? 

A powerful new survey conducted by Canva, a multi-purpose digital suite, and Sago, a quantitative research firm, unveiled that 45% of job seekers today are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to enhance their CVs. The survey included 5,000 job seekers from the US, UK, India, Germany, Spain, France, Mexico, and Brazil. Furthermore, Canva’s own Magic Write AI-powered content generation tool was used 5 million times in resume template designs during 2023. This demonstrates the popularity of AI amongst candidates when creating and enhancing CVs. Given this level of uptake, it’s easy to see how candidates might easily over-embellish their true experience and skills, something that employers need to be cognisant of and take steps to detect and deter.  

Here are further examples of how jobseekers are utilising AI.  

Resume Writing Assistance 

AI-powered tools can help job seekers generate resume content by suggesting phrases, bullet points, and job-specific language. These analyse job descriptions and provide tailored recommendations to match the candidate’s experience with job descriptions, aligning the candidate’s experience and skills with the requirements specified by an employer.  

 
AI-driven writing assistants (such as Grammarly) can help with grammar, punctuation, and style, ensuring that resumes are polished and professional.  

Other AI tools make recommendations or automatically format resumes to create a more visually appealing and easy-to-read version, ensuring they meet industry standards. 

ATS Keyword Optimisation 

Candidates can utilise AI tools to analyse job descriptions and identify key terms and phrases likely to be prioritised by recruitment/employer ATS software. These tools suggest keywords to job seekers by highlighting which parts of their experience and skills should be emphasised based on the job description. The intent is to enhance the chances of successfully passing through ATS filters and moving forward to the interview stage. 

Personalisation and customisation 

AI can help job seekers customise their resumes and cover letters for different job applications by adjusting the content to better align with each job’s specific requirements. 

Ethical considerations when using AI in job seeking 

While there is a great benefit in using AI to generate or optimise a resume, there’s a fine line between optimising a resume and misrepresenting qualifications, skills, and experience. Employers should be aware of the risk that some candidates may fail to sufficiently critique content generated or optimised by AI accurately to ensure that it reflects their true skills and experiences resulting in unintentional misrepresentation.  

What risks does AI present for recruiters? 

While we’ve explored the numerous opportunities for job-seekers to leverage AI tools to optimise their job-seeking/hunting efforts, it’s important for recruiters to recognise that advances in AI introduce new risks and potential opportunities for bad actors to commit fraud. These include: 

Forgery of documents (Document Falsification and Manipulation) 

It’s quite possible for candidates to use AI and other advanced technologies to forge certificates and identity documents, although doing so is illegal, unethical, and fraught with risks. The advancements in AI and digital technologies can potentially be used to create realistic-looking forged documents. Some of these forgery methods include: 

Image and Document Editing 

AI-powered tools (like deep learning models) can be used to generate realistic images and to alter existing documents. This includes altering text, signatures, logos, and seals to create a forged certificate. 

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) 

GANs can create high-quality, realistic images which could be used in forgery. They can replicate the styles of official documents, making the forgeries appear more authentic. 

Natural Language Processing (NLP) 

AI can generate convincing text mimicking the official language used in certificates, making it difficult for employers to distinguish between genuine and fake documents. 

Deepfakes 

AI-generated deepfakes can create highly realistic but fake videos or audio recordings, which can be used to impersonate individuals or manipulate identity verification processes. Recently, a finance worker at a multinational firm was tricked into paying out $25 million to fraudsters who used deepfake technology to pose as the company’s CFO. Clearly, the rise of deepfakes presents a significant threat to recruitment professionals. 

Deepfake technology can be used to create realistic video and audio of candidates who are not real or who are misrepresenting their identities. This can lead to recruitment decisions based on fraudulent representations. It can also be used to create false credentials or certificates, making it difficult for employers to verify the authenticity of qualifications and skills. 

How can deepfakes affect hiring organisations? 

Recruiting individuals based on deepfake interviews or falsified credentials can lead to security breaches if these individuals have malicious intentions, such as accessing sensitive company data or critical infrastructure. If a company hires an individual based on deepfake technology and it is later exposed, it could damage the company’s reputation and diminish trust among clients, customers, and other stakeholders. This may also result in legal ramifications for the company, including fines and sanctions for failing to comply with employment laws and regulations. 

Synthetic Identities 

Unlike deepfakes, synthetic identities are fabricated personas created by combining real and fake information to form a new, false identity. They often use real data points, such as real car licence numbers or birth dates, mixed with fake names, addresses, and other details. Synthetic identities are used primarily in financial and credit fraud, as well as in employment fraud to create fake candidate profiles or to apply for jobs under false pretences. Based on the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Risks Report, misinformation and disinformation ranks as one of the most severe current risks throughout the global economy. 

The Critical Importance of Background Screening 

The rise of AI introduces new layers of complexity and challenges for recruiters and hiring managers when it comes to conducting background checks by producing false identities, documents, references, or testimonials from potentially fictitious previous employers, colleagues, or educators. To combat advancements in technology and threats from bad actors, it’s a wise move to engage with a trusted background screening company. These partnerships can help you implement a comprehensive screening program and conduct thorough background checks, providing an accurate portrayal and required insight into the person you’re looking to employ. A typical programme would include: 

• Education and employment verifications to validate the candidates experience and qualification claims are accurate. 

• Identity checks to verify that they are who they say they are. 

• Cross-referencing multiple sources and verifying credentials directly with issuing institutions preventing fraudulent claims. 

• Criminal record checks also help protect the workplace from potential threats, thereby safeguarding employees and the company’s assets.  

• CV discrepancy checks to compare the details provided to an employer via a submitted CV with the information input as part of the background check process. 

Programmes can be adapted by our experts to support industries that are subject to strict regulations that require specific background checks, such as those operating within Financial Services, critical infrastructure, security, and defence. Compliance with these regulations is essential to avoid legal repercussions. 

Sterling experts are available to help businesses create hiring programmes that will help you recruit individuals with clean and verified backgrounds and avoid poor hiring decisions based on inaccurate, falsified information, helping to protect your organisation’s reputation and to foster trust with clients and stakeholders. 

To Find out more about how Sterling can help you develop and execute a screening program to support your organisation’s needs and protect against threats from AI advancement, contact us  today. 

This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.