AI Can Do Much More Than Automate Resume Review for HR

As a CEO who interacts with artificial intelligence daily, I've experienced firsthand how, when thoughtfully implemented, AI amplifies human strengths. For me, AI unlocks new perspectives, improves communication, and increases productivity. Sometimes it feels like a collaborative partner that helps me consider angles I'd miss alone. The promise of AI is vast, but so are the apprehensions. And, as an HR tech founder, I understand the concerns on a human level. While AI helps my work, its value for leaders and HR professionals depends wholly on implementation. The "how" is always more important than the "what." AI will revolutionize the way HR professionals do their jobs--but perhaps not in the way you think. Filling in the knowledge gaps My company, Oyster, helps businesses access talent across borders, and the biggest questions we get are centered around a need for data and insights. Customers often ask questions like, "What should we pay this senior engineer in Morocco?" or "I'm a U.S. company, what do I need to know about payroll in France?" or even "What should my contract include to stay compliant when hiring in Brazil?" There's a lot to think about when engaging a multinational workforce, with compensation and compliance-related questions likely to be at the top of that list. Getting this right used to mean in-house professionals compiling data from many sources. Now, AI can effectively complement human intelligence by filling in knowledge gaps through things like data analysis and aggregation, information retrieval, and natural language processing. AI technology can cull through vast amounts of information quickly and efficiently, identifying patterns, trends, and insights that may not be immediately apparent to humans. This capability helps inspire new approaches and understanding of complex phenomena from region to region by empowering humans with the time to think strategically, unencumbered by the burden of rote data entry and analysis. Think average time off, bonus pay, and other region-specific nuances. Benchmarking salary, for example, is the next era in something Oyster calls compensation intelligence--the ability to tap into salary-related data sets from all over the world to create fair and competitive compensation packages based on market compensation data and job level. Scalable compliance AI will also increase efficiency and unlock a new frontier of scalable, HR compliance. Compliance at scale can be tricky. With each country and jurisdiction having unique laws and regulations, the best compliance use case for AI is one that helps companies navigate labor policies, employee benefits, taxes, insurance, and more. Companies with a cross-border workforce will benefit from technology and partners that leverage technology to thoughtfully analyze up-to-date employment rules and regulations and apply that intelligence to processes like contract review and compliance validation. Offering a level of protection for organizations that might not have the funds to staff large in-house counsel teams or the bandwidth to engage external firms, AI can enable HR teams to focus more on the human side of their work. Making more informed decisions It's all too easy for workers to assume that the future of AI in HR will be largely based on making the important decisions of which applicants get interviews and which interviews turn into hires. HR pros are already deploying AI to help with job descriptions, document generation, interview note-taking, and employee-facing chatbots. While these use cases demonstrate some key benefits for improving process and efficiency, they're not quite revolutionary. The potential of AI in HR will be much more than automating applicant tracking systems and putting robots in the seats of hiring managers to review resumes. The future of HR is one that's powered by data and insights that allow leaders to make better, more informed employment and management decisions. Because when it comes to the business of people, every decision matters, and AI can help innovators keep people at the front of every decision armed with more strategic intelligence. EXPERT OPINION BY TONY JAMOUS, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, OYSTER @JAMINGO