Can AI Help Recruit New Talent?

Have you heard the latest? Small businesses are confident that 2025 is set to be great for hiring. According to a report from HR Dive, “close to 2 in 3 CEOs surveyed said they expect their total number of employees to increase in 2025; only 5 percent said they anticipate layoffs or cuts.” If a hiring surge is on the horizon, we wanted to take a deeper dive into how artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to lend a helping hand.

One of the most widely known employment tools out there is LinkedIn, which launched an AI agent for recruiters called Hiring Assistant. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT, it’s able to build a repository of potential candidates, schedule interviews, take notes, and even write the job description itself. And LinkedIn isn’t alone – tools from Microsoft, Indeed, and Googleare all joining the AI-for-hiring spree.

Using AI for recruitment isn’t free from flaws, however. If we’re just relying on data to do the hiring, where does addressing bias fall into place? New York City, specifically the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), passed a law that “prohibits employers and employment agencies from using an automated employment decision tool (AEDT) in New York City unless they ensure a bias audit was done and provide required notices.” The US Department of Labor developed a framework aimed at helping employers push for inclusive hiring practices as the AI tools gain traction.

It’s important to remember that AI models are all built on data, and data is where most biases are introduced. AI bias “refers to the occurrence of biased results due to human biases that skew the original training data or AI algorithm—leading to distorted outputs and potentially harmful outcomes,” according to IBM. The best way to alleviate bias in AI is to attack it early, during the large language model (LLM) training phase.

If using AI to assist with the hiring process, remember to carefully review the candidate pool you may receive and review resumes for fairness. Should any red flags arise (for instance, was one group favored over another more often?), recruiters can choose to abandon the model in favor of another one, or incorporate techniques to amend the results. In the end, it’s up to hiring managers to make sure the diversity factors their company stands behind are met.

Being in a growth period is an exciting time for small businesses, especially when that translates to hiring new talent. But hiring doesn’t come without its own set of challenges, particularly as it relates to finances. A line of credit from ARF Financial can help, like our interest-only Bankroll offering. With low, interest-only payments for up to a year and approvals in 24 to 48 hours on amounts up to $1 million, our IO-Bankroll Revolving Line of Credit is simply unmatched.