All we hear right now is AI, AI, AI. Everything supposedly has AI in it. AI is going to take our jobs. We need to learn to use it or be left behind, and the best LLM is ChatGPT. No wait, now it’s Claude. Hold on, it’s Gemini. Back to Claude. Or maybe Perplexity?
AI technology is moving so fast that almost no one can keep up. And as with most new technology, practical application lags far behind the actual change. According to a recent Microsoft study, only about 30% of the workforce is using AI, and most are using it as a fancy search engine rather than a productivity tool.
The problem? Most people just don’t know where to start. The options are overwhelming, the terminology could be a foreign language, and the results are often underwhelming. We keep being told to use AI to automate tasks and scale our recruiting efforts, but almost always in general terms with no practical guidance on how to actually do it.
I’ve been spending a significant amount of time researching and implementing AI in my own business, as well as helping clients integrate it into their processes. I’ve learned a few key tips that will help get you started, and some real-world use cases for recruiting you can put into practice immediately.
Which AI Tool Should I Use?
I’m asked this frequently. With the major players leapfrogging each other every few weeks, trying to pick a winner is a fool’s errand. Instead, I recommend choosing in this order:
- The one your company pays for—if your company is investing in Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or any other premium tool, use it to its fullest extent. All the major players have similar functionality, with new improvements released almost daily.
- The one that integrates best with your systems—are you an Office 365 firm? Then Microsoft Copilot might be your best bet. Do everything in Google? Then Gemini might be your choice. Also check out ChatGPT, Claude, and other integrations with your most-used apps.
- The one you are most comfortable with—this isn’t likely to be a race where the best horse wins, at least not any time soon. Sticking with any major AI model will serve you better than constantly switching every time a competitor releases a new feature
Tips for Getting More Out of AI
Most people don’t get much out of AI because they aren’t using it correctly. Here are just a few tips on getting the most out of your system.
- Learn how to prompt better. Prompting has become far more conversational, but there is still an art to it that significantly affects output quality. The clearer you are about what you want, the better the result.
- Teach AI who you are. Whether your tool calls them skills, custom instructions, or something else, these are directions you set once that the AI references every time you use it. Feed it your background, your writing style, and your preferences, and it will generate results that actually sound like you.
- Ask AI how to use AI. This sounds circular, but it works. Ask your AI tool to help you create better prompts, set up custom instructions, or identify tasks it can take off your plate. It’s one of the fastest ways to get more out of the tool.
Examples of Recruiting Use Cases
Here are a few specific examples of how recruiting professionals are using AI right now to scale their efforts.
- Find jobs to skill market—have a great candidate but nowhere to put them? Have AI go out to the internet and find job postings that their profile best matches up to. Then have it create the custom marketing email to pitch the candidate to each job.
- Be an expert interviewer in a job you know nothing about—working on a role that you aren’t familiar with? Ask AI to explain the job to you, and then create behavioral and technical interview questions that not only evaluate the client, but make you sound like a seasoned expert in the field.
- Craft submit packages—need to put together a submission packet for a VMS, MSP, or just a client that wants specific information? Have AI use an existing template or create one for you that streamlines the submission process.
There are a ton of other ways to leverage AI in recruiting. The important part is to get started with just one task or process that AI can support or take over for you. Once you’ve had that first success, you won’t be able to wait to find other areas it can work for you.
Tom Erb is president of Tallann Resources, a national consulting and training firm specializing in the staffing and recruiting industry. As a consultant, trainer, and speaker, Erb has helped hundreds of companies create and execute sales and recruiting strategies to grow their business. He is the author of Winning the Staffing Sales Game: The Definitive Game Plan for Sales Success in the Staffing Industry. Learn more at tallanresources.com. Follow him on X @TomErb_Tallann.
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