What an AI-Mature Talent-acquisition Department Looks Like: Take the AI Maturity Assessment

Key takeaways:

• Beyond just a lot of AI usage, the more mature talent-acquisition departments share other characteristics
• At an advanced stage of enterprise maturity, departments aren’t afraid to fail; aren’t wedded to one tool; and love to learn
• These leading-edge recruiters aren’t just managing technology. They are experts in recruiting and use technology to become better

Recently, we talked about the different levels of AI maturity, At the highest level, organizations are, in Gartner’s words, “using AI technologies to transform their business model and create new revenue streams. They are recognized as leaders in their industry and are driving innovation and disruption.”

And it’s paying off. MIT reports that “companies with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities — those most effectively using AI to improve operations and customer experience, and to support and develop their ecosystems — outperform their industry peers financially.”

We’re going to dive deeper into what the culture might be like in a very AI-mature talent acquisition department. You may find many of these 12 characteristics in such a company.

High AI literacy

The mature talent-acquisition department likely has a breadth of experience with artificial intelligence. Some recruiters have probably used AI hiring tools for years. Others may have built agents. There are probably people in the department who are considered the company’s AI experts, who have mentored or trained other people in the company.

Acceptance of failure

You may have seen alarming statistics showing that most generative AI experiments don’t work. Well, you’ve probably also heard the famous Thomas Edison quote: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” There is much to be learned even from AI pilots that need to be corrected. At mature departments and companies, AI projects are not avoided because they may fail. “A culture that embraces experimentation and continuous learning is a hallmark of AI maturity,” according to KPMG.

Subject-matter expertise

An AI expert in a mature organization is not just adept at technology and tools. They know recruiting. They know when something the AI has suggested is wrong. They know the difference between a “candidate” and an “applicant”; how to provide a good experience for candidates and managers; the difference between recruitment branding and recruitment marketing; and other aspects of the field. They don’t view their job as one of pressing buttons and turning on a recruiting machine to work with no intervention. As Accenture put it, “AI maturity comes down to mastering a set of key capabilities in the right combinations — not only in data and AI, but also in organizational strategy, talent, and culture.”

Compliance and bias prevention as a priority

Instead of “I’ll take my chances,” mature departments use leading technology designed with global compliance & diversity in mind. This includes the following four areas.

• Safeguarding candidate data. Awareness of country-level data retention rules and region-specific legislation details to ensure their organization meets all local and international data privacy requirements.
• Ensuring GDPR data compliance. Avoiding illegal data retention with automatic data purging, as well as country-specific privacy policies and data retention periods.
• Building compliance reports. Creating custom reports with secure and confidential demographic data to evaluate compliance standards in your hiring processes.
• Promoting diversity. These organizations capture demographic data confidentially and compliantly to improve metrics while driving objectivity in the selection process. Also, AI is used to expand the applicant pool and find non-traditional candidates who may not have attended elite schools or worked for big-name employers. The technology helps identify people who have the right skills, motivation, knowledge, or potential, regardless of pedigree.

Well resourced

Remember that at the highest level of the AI maturity model, talent-acquisition departments aren’t adding AI or injecting it where they can. They are thinking about AI first and transforming their hiring using AI. They have the time in their day to do so, as AI is a part of how they do most of their work. 

Not wedded to one tool

Mature organizations are not using a given technology because it’s the best-known. They are using the one that’s best for their organization. They may use generative AI such as ChatGPT in their benefits communications, but find that their applicant tracking system or candidate relationship management system vendor has strong communications functionality already built into their product. 

Excitement about learning new things

The famous “growth mindset” is alive and well in AI-mature talent departments. Whether it is new recruiters who are eager to use AI, or experienced recruiters thrilled to improve long-standing processes, there is a thirst for doing things differently. 

Respect in the field

Mature AI departments have a reputation for being among the best in the talent field, just like some companies are known for having top salespeople, “product people,” or creative professionals. They enjoy speaking online or in person, as well as writing about their work transforming their organizations with AI. They may apply for and receive awards for their work.

Influence in business decisions

These leading talent-acquisition departments have insights that impact the business. Where should we locate the next chain restaurant we want to open? How quickly can we start that new contract we just won from the government? These are the kind of insights the mature department can help answer for the company. Accenture says “they move past experimenting and apply AI to solve critical business problems.”

Automation of manual work

Little time is spent on work such as interview scheduling that can be automated. AI helps screen applicants and improve quality of hire and time to hire. 

Improved perception of recruiters

Recruiters in the AI-mature organizations have more interesting work, more valuable work, aren’t thought of as “just a cost center,” and are always a source of insight and consultation, even as hiring ebbs and flows.

Cross-functional collaboration

These leading-edge organizations don’t operate in siloes. Insights are shared back and forth between learning and recruiting; between recruiting and product managers; between workforce planners and talent acquisition, and so on.

More on the most mature organizations

We are fortunate to work with leading organizations who have paired AI driven insights, personalization, and automation with an end-to-end talent operating system. We also have a number of customers who are still trying to move up the AI maturity curve. Let us know if you would like to talk more about what we, and our customers, are learning along the way.