The 5 Best Ways to Use AI Tools for DEI Hiring

In today's landscape, recruiting presents unprecedented challenges. Not only are you tasked with doing more with limited resources, but you also bear the weight of guaranteeing that your hiring strategies uphold DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) practices at every stage.

DEI talent strategies are tough to implement because they are often disjointed from a company’s hiring practices. And without the right tools, it’s nearly impossible to uphold DEI efforts responsibly.

We dissected the hiring process into five unique ways AI can effectively contribute to your DEI efforts and included examples of tools to explore.

1. Job posting

Unsurprisingly, nearly 80% of workers want to work for a company that values DEI and encourages employees to be their full, authentic selves. How do you communicate to candidates that you genuinely value who they are? A candidate’s first touch point to your commitment to DEI is often the job posting. Unfortunately, job postings often take the back seat of recruitment priorities due to a lack of resources.

To help you with some of the heavy lifting that comes with writing content like job postings, you can turn to a combination of AI writing tools that help with general writing and can incorporate inclusive language. These AI tools will help you write inclusive content for career pages, job description templates, and company culture propositions, just to name a few examples.

A specialized tool for writing inclusive job postings is Textio. The team has developed advanced workplace language guidance technology backed by AI, so you can see where social bias is hiding by simply inputting your job description—and it will know exactly where you can make edits to eradicate unconscious bias, foster inclusive communication, and improve workplace culture.

If you’d prefer a free option, you can choose content writing tools like ChatGPT or Copy.ai. Here’s a sample ChatGPT prompt illustrating how you could make a job description more inclusive.

Tip: Content writing tools can also help you create other recruiting content, such as blog posts, social media posts, emails, and more.

Prompt

You are an inclusive recruiter with extensive experience in diversity recruiting. Please give me examples of how this job description could be more gender neutral.

[paste job description here]

And here are a few suggestions that ChatGPT came up with:

• Replace “he or she” with “they” or use the plural form (“candidates,” “professionals,” etc.) to refer to individuals without specifying a gender.

• Avoid using gendered terms such as “salesman” or “saleswoman.” Instead, use “sales professional” or “sales representative.”

• Foster inclusivity in qualifications and requirements: Instead of specifying “Bachelor’s degree” only, you can state “Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience” to accommodate various educational backgrounds.

Creating an inclusive job description is a process that takes refining and multiple iterations. ChatGPT can be an effective brainstorming partner given that you provide the right parameters, context, and information, but it’s crucial that you always review the responses to ensure accuracy and remove any unintended biases.

2. Reviewing applicants

Recruiters are set to high standards and asked to juggle many projects at once. Sorting through resumes is time consuming, and when humans evaluate many resumes at once, biases can unintentionally sneak in. AI can save time by giving you a holistic picture of every candidate, using human-assisted algorithms to sort through and quickly identify key skills and qualifications to select qualified candidates for your final review.

For example, here’s how SeekOut’s Applicant Review can help you parse through applicants and review them more inclusively:

1. Integrate your ATS system with SeekOut

2. Go to the main dashboard to find, review, and disposition diverse applicants all in one view.

3. SeekOut’s Applicant Review will then match the applicant’s skills and background with requirements for open roles.

4. Applicants are sorted based on how strongly their qualifications match the job description.

5. Turn on Bias Reducer to evaluate applicants fairly with filters that hide identifying information.

6. Hover over Match or Partial Match on the applicant’s profile to see how they match up to your required and preferred skills. Use the Move to Stage button to change the applicant’s stage. This change will be reflected in your ATS within 15 minutes

7. SeekOut integrates with your entire HR stack to show you the most complete up-to-date data.

AI tool options for reviewing applicants

• SeekOut ATS Applicant Review

• Pomato Resume parsing

AI technology assists humans by swiftly evaluating candidates. It identifies essential skills and qualifications for the role to surface diverse and qualified people to the top of your pile, thus reducing biases and providing you with a comprehensive view of the candidate.

3. Sourcing

AI-powered sourcing tools can quickly tap into vast databases and online platforms to identify potential candidates who may not have been reached through traditional, manual methods. These tools expand your talent pool and increase the chances of finding the best-fit candidates and are especially helpful in discovering talent from underrepresented groups.

For example, by copying and pasting a job description into SeekOut Assist, you can automatically generate a targeted search that surfaces the most qualified candidates for your role. On top of this, you can use SeekOut’s diversity filters and other advanced search capabilities to source qualified and diverse talent.

Here’s how you can use SeekOut Assist to source candidates using AI:

1. Enter your job description into the text box and click Create Search.

2. SeekOut will analyze your text and custom build a search with relevant job titles and skills.

3. Once you find a candidate that meets your criteria, add them to a project within SeekOut to save their profile for future access.

4. To create a customized outreach message to the candidates, use SeekOut Assist to select the type of tone, length, and focus of the message.

4. Interviewing

There has long been debate over the use of AI in the interview process because users may sometimes rely on these tools to make a final decision about candidate hiring. But thankfully, there are a growing number of laws in place to prevent companies from doing just that.

Using AI responsibly means TA teams make the final decision on a candidate and only use AI to help streamline or automate tedious hiring tasks, such as conducting skills assessments or writing questions for an interview.

Here’s an example of how an AI tool called Karat can be used in a technical interviewing workflow to automate assessment tasks and support inclusive interviewing best practices for candidates:

1. Karat sends the candidate an email to take a technical assessment with the option to schedule a time that is most convenient for them (including weekends and evenings).

2. The candidate accesses a tailored landing page with information to help them prepare for their interview.

3. The technical interview takes place in Karat Studio, an interactive developer environment and video interview studio.

4. When the assessment is complete, specialized Karat engineers complete a write-up of the candidate’s recorded interview using a data-backed scoring rubric that aligns to the competencies needed for the job. The information is then converted into a recommendation to your hiring team.

Tip: When conducting technical interviews, share as much information as possible to help candidates prepare and offer flexible times throughout the week to interview.. This not only creates a more equitable talent pipeline but also a more efficient and effective way to hire the best talent.

Look for AI tools like Karat that involve human input from the very beginning: both your team and the Karat engineers develop the interview assessments and workflows. The AI assists by maintaining a consistent assessment strategy and measures success throughout the hiring process.

5. Onboarding

The employee onboarding process is the first impression of your company to new hires, and it can make or break their sentiment of your organization.

One way to create an inclusive onboarding experience is by providing new hires equitable access to tools, resources, and knowledge. AI can support this experience by way of responsive chatbots, like Leena.ai and Slack. These tools offer instant, personalized assistance that can be accessed at any time. And the benefit to your team is time saved from answering repetitive questions about the company’s resources and programs–instead, you can focus on high-level onboarding initiatives. AI chatbots also give you the flexibility to iterate on the onboarding experience so that it reflects your brand voice and values

For example, here’s how Leena.ai’s virtual assistant chatbot helps automate an onboarding workflow:

1. The chatbot sends your new hire interactive nuggets and messages to help them connect with HR and their onboarding partner.

2. The chatbot answers any questions and automates all pre-boarding activities like sending the offer letter, sending the introductory email, sharing links to resources, and completing salary account details. The technical interview takes place in Karat Studio, an interactive developer environment and video interview studio.

3. Leena.ai collects data on key engagement analytics to help you understand the effectiveness of your onboarding process.

Tip: The first 90 days are crucial to make sure your new hires are set up for success. One way to drive an equitable onboarding experience that ensures every new hire receives the information needed to be successful in their role is to create a structured onboarding process. Examples on how to do this:

• Have intentional introductions and team integrations

• Provide clear expectations for the role and performance metrics

• Create standardized training materials

Don’t leave their onboarding experience up to chance.

Do’s and don’ts of implementing AI tools

As organizations seek to harness the power of AI to gain a competitive edge in DEI efforts, it becomes increasingly important to navigate the implementation process with care and foresight. While AI holds immense promise, its successful integration requires a thoughtful approach to ethics, data quality, and stakeholder engagement.

This section covers the crucial dos and don’ts of AI implementation, providing insights and best practices to help you embark on this transformative journey and maximize the benefits while minimizing potential pitfalls.

Do

• Identify repetitive tasks that can be delegated to AI: Handing over repetitive tasks to AI will streamline operations, save time, and enable employees to focus on more strategic and intellectually engaging activities, leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.

• Be deliberate as you integrate AI into your recruitment process: To evaluate the direct benefits of an AI tool, adopt only one at a time versus several. It will be easier to identify which tools are improving your processes and which ones are failing. Jeff Diana, Chief People Officer at Calendly, recommends holding a pilot period: One recruiter uses AI while another recruiter continues their work without the AI tool. You can identify any biases or concerns and gauge whether the AI tool is affecting productivity.

• Assess and iterate AI on an ongoing basis: Evaluating and improving your AI tools ensures an effective tech stack. You’ll optimize performance, comply with ethical standards and regulations, and keep up with changing market conditions. Ongoing assessment also ensures that you consistently provide equitable access to opportunities, mitigate data bias, and evaluate the tool’s business impact.

Don’t

• Add proprietary information into ChatGPT: ChatGPT is an open-source tool, and you cannot predict where it will store your sensitive information. Don’t write offer letters, legal documents, or any other confidential documents in ChatGPT or any open-source generative platform.

• Let AI work on autopilot: AI tools can only be successful with consistent human input. AI was created to assist us and make our lives easier, not to replace human cognitive ability. You have the autonomy to make the technology work for your needs, and you are responsible for monitoring these tools to ensure results aren’t straying from your values and DEI goals.

Final takeaway

Integrating AI technology into your hiring workflow holds immense potential in supporting and advancing DEI hiring initiatives. By humans taking control of the power of AI, organizations can overcome biases, promote inclusivity, and work more efficiently so you can spend more time building relationships with candidates. It’s crucial to approach AI implementation with care, ensuring transparency, accountability, and ongoing evaluation to address potential biases and unintended consequences. By leveraging AI as a tool to assist you with DEI hiring, you can foster a more inclusive workforce and unlock the full potential of diverse perspectives, ultimately creating a better future for all of us.

How SeekOut supports DEI hiring

SeekOut is a trusted leader in diversity sourcing, rated the #1 Enterprise Diversity and Talent Intelligence Software by G2 and one of the “Most Loved” products by TrustRadius in 2023. The SeekOut platform uses advanced algorithms to search for inferred diversity backgrounds with incredible accuracy—without relying on scarce, self-reported data like other tools.

Find success in your DEI hiring initiatives with the following:

DEIB goal setting: Many organizations only focus on a few data points like race, gender, or location to drive their diversity hiring strategy. With SeekOut, you can track representation across all your talent pools and the wider market with data around employment history, job titles, skills, education, and more.

Sourcing: Instead of manually searching for hard-to-find talent, recruiters need to take a targeted approach. SeekOut’s dedicated talent pools give you access to millions of candidate profiles—so you can search by specific experience, unique skills, licenses, and more.

• Go from JD to qualified candidates in seconds with SeekOut Assist

• Automatically create personalized outreach to candidates with SeekOut Assist

• Curb unconscious bias with SeekOut’s Bias Reducer

• Understand diversity for specific roles, functions, and locations with built-in talent insights

Download this guide to find examples of AI tools to use, tips on creating a more equitable hiring process, and the do's and don'ts of adopting AI tools.