3 Reasons Why Your Hospitality Company Should Be Using Recruiting Chatbots

It’s rare to find someone these days who has not encountered a chatbot. Whether shopping for clothing online or reviewing a bank statement, these bots seem to be everywhere we turn on the Internet. While many consumers are familiar with this form of real-time customer interaction, this relatively new technology can be extremely beneficial for employers too — especially those looking to recruit new hires.

This article from Alorica, a customer service provider to hotels, casinos and other companies, explores recruiting trends from January through March of this year. Their research reveals a large increase in the number of interviews the businesses were able to conduct — all with the help of chatbots.

A recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics states the hospitality sector has an annual turnover rate of 73.8 percent, with over 6 percent of staff leaving every month. With this information in mind, it’s more important than ever for businesses within the hospitality space to ensure potential applicants find it both simple and intriguing to apply for open positions.

While hiring managers are making the most out of their time in the office, chatbots are being leveraged as a solution to guarantee companies aren’t missing out on top talent when their HR staff is not working. Here are three ways that chatbots can benefit companies when it comes to recruiting and hiring potential new candidates:

1. Attracting millennials – Reaching the millennial generation can be tough, especially because many aren’t job hunting during the typical 9 to 5 work day or leveraging the traditional online platforms for job searches. By embedding chatbots into online advertisements as well as Alorica’s regional Facebook pages, the company was able to conduct initial screenings over Facebook messenger around the clock and provide real-time responses to potential employees, when and where it was most convenient for them.Approaching new candidates in a non-traditional way, such as this one, demonstrates how companies are shifting processes to better relate to their target audience. During the same time from 2017 to 2018, Alorica jumped from 966 to over 3,000 qualified interview leads through its social media channels. Using this method, Alorica was able to increase its conversion rate on social media from six percent to double that amount at 12 percent.
2. Engage the right talent for vacant positions – Using chatbots to initially screen candidates allows businesses to quickly cut down on the time that it takes to determine if an applicant qualifies for the next round of interviews. Utilizing this process enables companies to tailor their recruitment searches and make certain of the quality of their applicants. Through Alorica’s use of recruiting chatbots, the number of hours saved while using this protocol over a three-month span was equivalent to more than 1,200 man hours.
3. Decrease cost per hire – Learning what engagement tactic works best for individuals who are looking for jobs can greatly affect the cost associated with employee hiring. Alorica found the total man hours saved is equivalent to acquiring an additional eight team members to tap the leads, send SMS reminders and answer basic inquiries. Additionally, the cost of hiring one person decreased from $500 in 2017 to $80 in 2018 – an 84 percent reduction – through the implementation of chatbots to supplement ongoing recruiting efforts.

The overall immersion of chatbots within the hospitality industry enables businesses to spend time on relevant candidates that will fit their brand culture, mission and values. Chatbots not only allow management to utilize available resources wisely, but allows them to hire efficiently, at a large scale and in a short amount of time.