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Automation is inevitable these days for a productive hiring process. However, having less human judgment and personalization can lead to missed opportunities and errors.
When doing research for my restaurant and hospitality job platform, I saw for myself the many glitches and mistakes overreliance on automation can make on companies’ job listings and hiring processes.
After hiring hundreds of people, here’s how we keep things efficient and accurate even with our automated systems.
1. Have evergreen pipeline jobs (but not ghost jobs)
A recent survey showed that 4 in 10 companies posted a ghost job listing in 2024, and 3 in 10 are currently advertising for roles that don’t exist. These ghost jobs are often posted to build a talent pipeline. However, these sometimes lead to job listings that don’t exist… followed by angry applicants.
If you do have evergreen jobs, specify the ongoing nature of the role in your job description (e.g. for talent pooling). You can also indicate hiring timelines (e.g. applications are processed within six months).
Doing this gives a clear disclaimer to all applicants. You can also include a simple message in your confirmation email so they’re not left excited for a few weeks and eventually turned off when they don’t get anything.
Related: Employers Are Posting ‘Ghost Jobs’ But Not Really Hiring — And Annoying Job Seekers Along the Way
2. Ask targeted questions instead of simple keywords for non-negotiables
If you want to know the depths of your candidate’s qualifications and check whether they’re not inflating resumes, then relying on keywords isn’t the best way to go.
If you’re hiring an SEO specialist with years of experience, you’d want to see where those years went. Instead of relying on keywords, ask direct questions in the application process. Consider the question: “What’s your experience with [software name]? You can even ask them to rate their knowledge in other programs, for which you can provide a list. For example, “Rate your knowledge of the following tools from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.”
Questions like these allow you to prioritize candidates with the expertise you care about the most.
3. Allow for less specific ATS keywords and weigh them
Using applicant tracking systems (ATS) to sift through resumes based on keywords is nothing new. In fact, some statistics say 75% of recruiters and hiring managers use an ATS. However, relying on this method alone can result in missing qualified candidates who use different wording to describe their skills.
Even if someone has years of experience in fast food, that person can get rejected just because they didn’t put “customer service” as one of their skills on their resume (even though they included other skills like “teamwork” or “problem-solving”).
To avoid this, you can use Boolean operators like “or” and wildcards (*) when configuring your ATS. For example, if you’re looking for someone fluent in English, you may want to consider:
- (fluent OR fluency) AND English
- (proficiency OR proficient) AND English
- Engli*
- Fluent* OR Fluency*
You can also write alternative keywords or phrases directly into your ATS. Examples of the same case are as follows:
- Fluent in English
- English fluency
- English communication skills
- Proficiency in English
- Advanced English skills
- Bilingual: English
You can create all these synonyms under a single tag in your ATS. Having this mix of Boolean logic, synonyms and tags in your ATS can help avoid removing applications from qualified candidates who just worded their qualifications a little differently.
Now, depending on what you want to prioritize in your job listing, you can assign higher relevance scores to more critical keywords. For example, if you’re hiring for a hotel manager, here are keywords and their specific weights.
- 5+ years of experience in hotel management (20 points)
- Certified hotel administrator (20 points)
- Proven track record of leading teams of 50+ staff (20 points)
- Bachelor’s degree (in hospitality management) (15 points)
- Fluency in English (10 points)
- Master’s degree (in hospitality management) (5 points)
- Knowledge of the local Miami area (5 points)
- Budgeting and forecasting skills (5 points)
Keep vetting and revising keywords as necessary. Don’t set keywords and stick to them for the next few years.
Related: Automation Is Driving Us Toward Self-Employment
4. Use a chatbot for your career page and social media
Make things easier for yourself and for applicants by incorporating chatbot assistance on your career page. It doesn’t have to be as complex as L’Oréal’s technology, where 145 human recruiters sift through around two million applications with a chatbot.
Rather, build a chatbot with specific features so it can answer applicants’ questions and lead them to the jobs they’re interested in. Make sure they can describe your company, break down current job openings and requirements, specify who to email or reach out to regarding applications and more.
You can also have chatbots quiz the applicant on hard requirements to lead to positions where they are qualified.
5. Vet your ATS and overall hiring process
We can only learn from mistakes if we know the root problem. To know your automated systems are really doing their job, then check if they’re able to meet your recruitment needs and adjust as needed.
Evaluate the systems’ performance, especially during high-volume recruiting periods. Revisit your hiring process every now and then. Are your keywords getting the right kind of candidates? Are the questions you ask candidates getting the kind of answers you want?
The key to avoiding hiring nightmares lies in intelligent integration. Companies that successfully blend automation with human insight will be the ones to thrive in the long run. The future of recruiting isn’t fully automated, and it shouldn’t be.
It’s a partnership between technology and humanity.
