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AI seems to be a hot topic across most industries at the moment. From streamlining processes and taking over more basic tasks to providing intelligent and actionable data, the impact of AI on the recruitment sector has the potential to be far reaching. However as with most things, a business's ability to integrate and engage with a new technology will define how great of an impact it makes.

An area likely to benefit greatly from AI technologies will be marketing. We have spoken to a number of recruitment marketing experts to understand what tech they are currently embracing and how they see artificial intelligence impacting the sector in the future.

For AI to have any impact, it must be embraced

The success of all new technologies in business comes down to how they are implemented & embraced by a business & AI will be no different.

“If all of the new tech is implemented in the right way and in the right places of the recruitment process, then we should be embracing it. Forget about guessing when to best to send email campaigns, post on Insta and asking consultants about market trends – let the tech do it. Trust it.

Of course, if your business is rubbish with data input and data integrity then you’ll probably just get stuck doing the same old stuff you’ve always been doing. Don’t be that company.” – Glenn Southam, Founder & Marketing Director @ TwoEnds

In-depth insights & improved customer experience

The recruitment sector doesn’t always enjoy the best reputation and this is something every recruitment business should striving to improve. AI could play a key role in achieving this.

“We’ll soon be able to automate the fiddlier tedious marketing tasks freeing up our time to deep dive into customer data; finding out what works and what doesn’t quickly, and improving the customer experience immeasurably (actually, it’ll all be measurable). 

AI should enable us to analyse and predict a wide range of customer behaviour and provide hyper-personalised content at the perfect time in the recruitment lifecycle. When Marketing AI combines with a high standard of human interaction from recruiters - the levels of customer care, happiness from all sides and hiring success should be unprecedented.” – Nikki Hayford, Founder @UnikSeek & previously Candidate Acquisition Marketing Strategy Manager @ SThree plc

While personalisation, predictive search, chatbots and tailored recommendations are changing the candidate and client experience online, most recruiters are still hesitant (or reticent) to fully adopt and invest in the power of artificial intelligence within marketing. There are exceptions, with some of the large international firms leveraging AI to enhance lead generation and deliver an almost e-Commerce experience to their clients and candidates.”– Kristie Perrotte, Founder & Virtual CMO, Thrive Marketing

Improving the bottom line

A key element of recruitment marketing is to generate qualified sales leads and the most effective marketing teams work collaboratively with sales teams to ensure these are optimised. Having the ability to generate more warm leads will ultimately increase sales. It’s a win-win.

“The real opportunity for 2020 lies in automation – leveraging marketing automation tools to reactivate and engage customer databases, nurturing contacts through email or remarketing (advertising) mediums. Recruiters are effectively automating their sales process – developing key messages and addressing customer pain points throughout the sales funnel to capture more contacts through the awareness and interest phases, then delivering warm leads to consultants when customers are ready to engage and make a purchasing decision.” – Kristie Perrotte, Founder & Virtual CMO, Thrive Marketing

In the past marketing was seen as a cost centre, but now all marketers & marketing departments worth their salt track how they are revenue-generators. AI will provide further opportunities for marketing teams to take what they do to the next level.

“[The] bottom line is that we need to show the robots some love, they’re going to enable us to do more engaging content, host better events, and build innovative products and platforms. That we know will result in ££s.” – Glenn Southam, Founder & Marketing Director @ TwoEnds

Don’t let robots drag you away from the human element

There is little doubt that data guides marketing, but it is important to remember that there are people behind the numbers.

“AI gives marketers more in-depth data about customer behaviour, so ironically, actually teaches us how to be more human in the way we interact and engage our core audiences online. But I think we have to be careful not to get too sucked into the “big data” as it also has the potential to push you further away from the customer if you don’t understand how to analyse it or respond accordingly. Can we be too obsessed with data we forget how to actually interact with humans?” – Sarah Roebuck, Partner & Head of Marketing @ Eames

The improved mental health of marketing professionals

“Numerous studies have found some worrying statistics surrounding marketing professionals’ mental health, with one highlighting that, “80% of marketers feel overloaded and understaffed, 71% feel generally “burnt out” and 66% expect their stress levels to rise in the future”. If you consider these statistics alongside the fact that, on average, there are 50 recruiters to every 1 marketer in a staffing firm, the unique pressures any given recruitment marketing professional is under are clear.

AI will help individuals prioritise and manage workloads, there will be an automation of mundane and time-consuming (and somewhat unfulfilling) tasks free up some much-needed time, as well as AI tools to help monitor stress and the mental health of employees. In my opinion, tools which will enable improved mental health in the workplace will be AI’s greatest impact on recruitment marketers”. – Jack Dixon – Senior Marketing Executive @ Camino Partners

Time

Ahhh time. Something which recruitment marketers are notoriously short of. Honestly, there is not a single recruitment marketer out there who has said to me they have too much time on their hands.

“Some of the tasks that marketing professionals perform today will be eradicated, which should free up precious time and capacity. It’s how we all use the additional time, resources and capacity that will ultimately make the biggest commercial difference. Hopefully, that will mean a greater focus on strategy and planning, developing creative campaigns that really drive growth and leveraging the rich insights to educate our businesses on the customer.” – Mark Iorizzo, former Marketing & Communications Director @ Capita

Opportunity knocks

As with all new tech, an effective implementation & cleanliness of data are key. Without that, you will spend more time chasing your tail than making an impact on the bottom line.

Recruitment marketers are always striving to make their business standout & engage with customers & the insights AI will provide will allow them the opportunity to do just that. But that is exactly what it is, an opportunity. How marketers use & act upon that data will define AI’s success within their business.

As Nikki Hayford says, “AI will improve all areas of recruitment marketing which in turn will completely revolutionise the recruitment industry.”

So, who’s up for revolutionising the recruitment industry?