4 Risks of Using AI to Write Job Ads

AI is everywhere. It’s in the news. It’s on social media. It’s online and on your phone. Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be what everyone is talking about right now.

It may seem like AI is brand new to recruiting, but companies have been using it to review resumes for years. Some companies have even started using AI to write job ads. What used to be reserved for companies with big budgets and lots of volume is now readily available to anyone, using tools like ChatGPT.

While using AI may seem like an easy way to save time and money, there are a few serious risks to watch out for.

Risk #1: AI Has a History of Bias

At first, companies were excited that AI could finally eliminate hiring bias. Unfortunately, as Amazon found out, that’s not always the case.

According to an AI Research Scientist at Amazon, “They literally wanted it to be an engine where I’m going to give you 100 resumes, it will spit out the top five, and we’ll hire those.” Unfortunately, they quickly realized their plan had a major gender bias.

Since the AI was analyzing resumes from the past 10 years, it learned that many of the candidates hired were men. The machine interpreted that to mean the preferred candidate would be male. Luckily, the team at Amazon was able to notice the bias and adjust.

While using AI to write job ads may seem like a harmless shortcut, the opposite can be true. If the data AI is analyzing is flawed, the outcome will be biased.

Risk #2: AI Doesn’t Know You

You probably already know most people leave bosses, teams, and toxic culture. If you want to attract and hire the right people, you have to make sure you’re connecting with job seekers in a meaningful way. You have to show them who you are as a company.

You can start by talking about the benefits your company culture and team offers. This is highly personal. You and your team will have to put the messaging together, since AI can never fully understand what it looks and feels like to work in your company. It doesn’t understand your business or the way you communicate with your team.

Any time you use AI to write job ads, you need a human to review it before you send it out to ensure it makes sense and it’s sharing the message you want to portray. You can save time by using AI to clean up a section, but never use AI to write the entire job ad.

Risk #3: You’re Not Alone

“Anything that makes things easier, makes things easier for your competition too.” – Ryan Englin

Remember you’re not alone. You’re not the only one using AI. You might think AI gives you a leg up, but your competition could be using it too.

Imagine you and your local competitor decided to save time by using AI to post your next job opening. The job title and responsibilities are likely very similar. Without review and personalization, you may end up with the exact same job posting as your competitor.

If you want to hire the best people for your job openings, you need to differentiate your company from your competition.

Risk #4: If It Sounds Too Good to Be True…

…It probably is.

AI isn’t perfect. At the end of the day, writing a quality job ad that attracts quality candidates takes time and effort.

While you could tell AI to “write a job ad for (role)” – it’ll need a lot more information to generate a unique and attractive job ad.

If you’re going to spend the time thinking of the right prompts and information to feed to AI and review it to make sure it aligns with what you mean to say, then you might as well write the job ad yourself.

Effectively Using AI to Write Job Ads

While there are a lot of potential risks that go along with using this technology, there are ways to effectively use AI to help write job ads:

● Job boards are search engines. After you write your job ad, you can ask AI to help search engine optimize (SEO) it. In a matter of seconds, it’ll spit out keyword ideas or reformat your job ad to stand out. Be careful it doesn’t go too far. Many job boards, Indeed, for example, will flag your job ad if your keywords are listed too often.
● AI can help you with wordsmithing. If you want a unique way to say “must be able to solve problems,” AI can suggest more interesting language.
● Automate the easy stuff. Use AI to automate some things, so you can be more effective at doing the things that only people can do.

AI can be a great tool, but it’s not a replacement for the creative element your team can bring to writing effective job ads. Remember, you want to stand out among your competitors, not blend in.

Think about the job ad as a marketing piece. It’s not a job description. It’s not a list of requirements or responsibilities to do the work. It truly is an advertisement. It’s supposed to attract job seekers to your business, get them excited about joining your team, and make them want to click apply for the opportunity you’re presenting.

At Core Matters, we’re fanatical about creating a game-changing hiring process for your business. Because when you have the right people, it just makes business easier! We’ve created a free, two-minute quiz to help you improve your hiring process and discover your recruiting roadblocks.