The current state of technology, including AI, in talent acquisition

• Q&A with Rania Stewart, senior director analyst, in the Gartner HR practice

• AI-Enabled Technologies Dominate the Innovation Trigger Slope in Gartner 2023 Hype Cycle for Talent Acquisition Technologies

By 2025, the recruiting technology landscape will further consolidate, with 20% fewer point solution vendors in the marketplace, according to Gartner. Ever-changing priorities in the recruiting function call for a continuous review of the technology landscape and consideration of new technologies.

Rania Stewart, senior director analyst, in the Gartner HR practice, shared her views at the Gartner ReimagineHR Conference in London on the current state of technology, including AI, in talent acquisition.

Q: At Gartner ReimagineHR, Gartner is unveiling its first Talent Acquisition Technologies Hype Cycle. What are some highlights from this research?

A: The Hype Cycle for Talent Acquisition Technologies, 2023 enables HR and talent acquisition leaders to stay ahead of potential competitors by anticipating innovative technologies — rather than reacting to them. The Hype Cycle provides greater clarity and offers a point of view on how the recruiting technology market is responding to innovation trends such as generative AI.

GenAI, alongside other AI models, form the majority of technologies represented in the Innovation Trigger phase (see Figure 1). The Innovation Trigger is the phase where a breakthrough, public demonstration, product launch or other event generates significant media and industry interest.

Labor market intelligence and internal talent marketplace are both at the Peak of Inflated Expectations as their tremendous potential is realized and calibrates against reality.

Q: You mention AI models form the majority of the Innovation Trigger Phase. How is HR utilizing AI in talent acquisition and recruiting?

A: In most organizations, HR and recruiting leaders are evaluating the use cases for AI to determine where it makes sense for them to augment human recruiters.

We see in the Hype Cycle as AI-enabled technologies are dominating most of the rising innovations, including:

• Generative AI in recruiting

• AI-enabled interview intelligence

• AI-enabled skills management

• AI-enabled candidate sourcing

• AI-enabled recruitment marketing

In the recruiting function, generative AI can enhance recruiter efficiency, talent attraction and engagement, and improve the quality of hires. Right now, most organizations that are utilizing generative AI are doing so to create personalized and contextually relevant job descriptions and onboarding content, along with communicating with candidates.

Q: What are actionable next steps that HR and talent acquisition leaders can take to incorporate technology to streamline the recruiting process?

A: When evaluating how technology can enhance the recruiting process, it’s important to start by:

• Determining initial use cases where they can rely on purchased capabilities or collaborations with trusted vendors to introduce AI/generative AI capabilities.

• Examining and quantifying the advantages and limitations of AI and generative AI in improving candidate experience and recruitment service delivery.

• Working closely with current recruitment technology vendors to understand how they are incorporating AI and generative AI capabilities.

• Prioritizing vendors who promote the responsible deployment of models by publishing usage guidelines, enforcing those guidelines, documenting known vulnerabilities and weaknesses, and proactively disclosing harmful behavior and misuse scenarios.

• Ensuring ethical and legal compliance to prevent employees from using any inaccurate or biased data that may be provided by AI/generative AI and put guardrails for the future.