How AI Shapes the Hiring Process

Robbie Kerr, Director of The Externals Group, discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the hiring process in the roofing industry.

Robbie Kerr, Director at The Externals Group

KEYWORDS are now as important as resumes when it comes to getting hired.

You may not realise it, but artificial intelligence is already used in the hiring process. If you don’t understand how it works, you could be missing out on the right candidates or the right job.

A lot of ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) have built-in AI filters that screen through resumes for keywords. Without the right keywords, your resume won’t even be seen by the system, no matter how strong it is. I have seen quite a bit of uproar about this, but the reality is, this isn’t new in hiring. Recruiters and talent acquisition often use keyword searches when looking for candidates initially through various job boards and LinkedIn, so it has always been the case that if you don’t have them, you won’t be seen.

Keywords matter because while you may have a perfect resume with a lot of information on it, if it doesn’t contain the word ‘roofing’ it won’t be found by the people looking for it, as this is the most common keyword to look for in the roofing industry.

The main difference now is that AI is here to stay, and it now handles much of the initial screening work. In my experience, this has become more popular over the years as an overwhelming number of resumes often come through for one job, particularly remote jobs, of which the majority are not relevant.

At The Externals Group, we have had on multiple occasions sandwich makers applying for senior operations positions in large construction companies and recruiters just don’t have the time to look through every single resume and to read them in full. Keyword highlighters help recruiters identify relevance quickly. With AI doing this work, resumes without the right terms are often discarded immediately.

What Should You Do?

Use it to your advantage. Don’t make things up to get past the AI as a human is going to see this at the next step and you will very quickly get a reputation for yourself. What you can do is make sure you have all the relevant keywords in your resume.

There is an abundance of information available through AI tools, recruiters, industry professionals, and networking platforms like LinkedIn. Keep a clean format; while fancy layouts are pleasing on the eye, the eye isn’t the first thing to see them anymore and an AI might not pick up what you’re writing. Therefore, a simple, clean, and well laid out resume is what I would recommend.

For example, if you are apply for the role of an estimator in the commercial roofing sector, make sure you include keywords such as ‘roofing’, ‘estimator’, ‘estimating’, ‘commercial roofing’, as well as roofing systems like ‘TPO’, ‘PVC’, and ‘metal’, along with software like ‘EDGE’ and ‘Bluebeam’. This will be enough to get seen and stand out.

Sentences like ‘work well in a team’ don’t get noticed because everyone includes it. If you are struggling to decide what keywords to use, review job ads and job descriptions or company websites and mirror what’s in there.

What About the Companies?

This goes both ways, especially for hiring managers writing job descriptions. AI is filtering to candidate’s emails what jobs they think are relevant and if your job ad or job description doesn’t line up with the right keywords, it’s not going to get noticed.

The example above for writing a resume also applies to writing a job advert. A poorly written job description runs the risk of low visibility and it will become much harder for the right candidates to find your job. Too much jargon can also hurt visibility. For example, writing ‘building envelope professional’ instead of ‘roofing estimator’ may prevent AI from matching your job with the right candidates.

This isn’t all doom and gloom. The positive effects AI has had in the process far outweigh the need for keywords. In many cases, AI has helped speed up certain stages of the hiring process by reducing the time spent reviewing irrelevant resumes.

There is, however, a human element that is still an important step that shouldn’t be missed. People can look beyond the keywords and assess things differently to find a potential cultural fit or transferable skills that an AI would miss. The key takeaway is balance. Candidates must use the right keywords to get seen, while companies should still review with human eyes instead of relying entirely on AI. If the software does the heavy lifting and filters out people without the basic keywords, e.g. ‘roofing’ and ‘estimator’, then a lot more time can be dedicated to the resumes that are relevant.

AI isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The ones who adapt first will be the most successful.

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