With the abundance of AI tech available for HR, it’s no surprise that some of the software options out there seem like empty hype. But with an increased use of AI recruiting platforms across the industry and a trend toward automated processes that takes time-consuming busywork off the shoulders of talent acquisition professionals, it may be a vital next step for your business to stay competitive in the search for top talent. Here are a few warning signs that your hiring needs an AI upgrade.

1. Your Top Candidates Are Hired Elsewhere

When you lose your first choice candidate to the competition, this indicates your hiring process is too slow and you may need to develop a stronger candidate engagement strategy. AI recruiting systems can automate much of the busywork of hiring, like resume screening or interview scheduling, while AI chatbots can field candidate questions using natural language processing— keeping candidates in the game, updated, and informed. You shouldn’t be seeing your best candidates leave when you’re at the finish line of a hiring campaign.

2. You Have Too Many Unqualified Candidates

Do you constantly find yourself sifting through a load of unqualified resumes? Resume screening software can select top-tier candidates from all submissions for you with greater ease and speed, as you should never waste valuable time with a manual method.

You actually should be collecting better-quality candidates in the first place. A programmatic platform can target quality candidates using data and AI, so piles of applicants who aren’t good for the job won’t even be an issue. If you have an abundance of unqualified candidates, you need better sourcing strategies—upgrading your AI recruiting will significantly improve the resumes you see.

3. You Have An Uptick in Turnover Rate

While multiple factors can lead to turnover, an uptick means you have a pattern—and a problem. Unless you’ve faced a precipitous event such as layoffs during an economic downturn or higher turnover within a single department (which may suggest issues with a particular department head), turnover data assisted by AI tech can help guide you to improve talent engagement and retain top talent. More importantly, you’ll be able to find future hires with staying power, as a sourcing strategy that incorporates AI can garner better quality candidates in the first place.

4. You Have Outdated Or Limited Data Collection

Most people don’t get into talent acquisition to become data scientists. Sure, you collect information on key performance indicators (KPIs) like time to hire or cost-per-hire (hopefully not on paper spreadsheets), but it can be difficult to see how a single data set fits into your overall hiring landscape and project its wider implications in building an effective workforce. Manual data collection is time-consuming and ineffective. An AI recruiting upgrade can enable HR teams to collect data automatically, quickly, and comprehensively, with the ability to interpret the data to create meaningful, forward-looking strategy. AI can also detect subtle shifts in the numbers to catch an issue before it becomes a glaringly obvious or expensive problem.

5. You’re Facing Budget Planning Woes

Planning multiple hiring campaigns that prioritize key hiring positions requires precise calculations to maximize your campaign dollars. Where budgets take the biggest hit is in the job ad spend—it’s hard to predict which site will be most effective for your job ad, how much you should spend, and for how long you should post. Enter AI. It’s easy for AI programs to make budget allocation decisions and predictions that will save you time and money as they provide effective planning across multiple vacancies.

Programmatic Solution

One of the most effective ways to upgrade your hiring is with a programmatic platform that can integrate with your ATS, which allows you to start off on the right foot at the beginning of the hiring process. A programmatic platform incorporates data and AI to make the entire hiring process improve at every turn—even if you don’t have an AI gadget for every process.

Programmatic programs like pandoIQ begin with your job description. They then classify the job and use historical job ad campaign data to source candidates via targeted advertising that finds the best candidates where they search online. By further collecting data in real-time, their powerful AI algorithms can discern job ad effectiveness and halt the job ad on sites that underperform, saving campaign dollars and time. This can improve time to hire and cost per hire while garnering better quality candidates.

The efficiency of AI software at this fundamental point in the hiring process can improve your numbers on candidate drop off and keep and interpret data for you, all while integrating data you already collect in your ATS. They also include budget allocation algorithms to maximize your job ad spend across multiple job ad campaigns. These simple improvements in efficiencies at an early point in your hiring can lead to stronger hires over the long haul.