How AI Can Reduce Time-to-Hire in the Public Sector

by Ernie Paskey, Aon’s North America Assessment Practice Leader

Public-sector agencies tend to have a low tolerance for risk, favouring a slow and steady approach to hiring. Those lengthy timelines may make hiring managers feel they are making “safe” choices, but they also come with a cost: Many high-potential workers, especially those with the hottest digital skill sets, won’t have the patience to stick with a drawn-out process.

AI’s application to hiring technology has made it possible to speed up time-to-hire while objectively assessing talent.

Here are three ways AI-driven assessments can reduce time-to-hire at your agency.

Attracting the Strongest Candidates

Digital-savvy talent wants to work for employers who are embracing technology in their own operations. By offering digital assessments powered by AI, you signal your agency’s own digital readiness. This, in turn, attracts candidates with similar values and skills.

In contrast, traditional public-sector assessments have been proctored in-person, at a designated place and time, eliminating many qualified candidates who opt out. The time it takes to complete and evaluate pen-and-paper assessments extends the hiring process, especially for positions with high applicant rates. Digitally-savvy talent is going to lose interest.

Pulling in candidates who are flexible, agile and digitally nimble will set your agency up for success in the technology-driven future. Leveraging assessments with AI makes the process more accessible and efficient, freeing up your time for more strategic hiring decisions.

Improving the Candidate Experience

Those pen-and-paper assessments can have an unfavourable effect on your candidate base. Not every candidate has the resources to get to a physical location at an inflexible date and time. Automated assessment processes will make federal positions more accessible. The best AI-powered assessments are also mobile-friendly.

This means, of course, that your applicant number will likely increase; you will receive a higher volume of quality applications than you could accommodate before. AI-driven technology will help you assess applicants more quickly and accurately.

AI-based Assessments Can Greatly Improve Speed and Efficiency

Technology-driven assessments put the right candidates in front of you in a fraction of the time it takes to evaluate candidates by hand. This reduced time-to-hire is ultimately a great service to the public, as it keeps the public sector running smoothly.

Few aspects of recruiting are more time-consuming — and prone to mistakes — than human data scoring. It’s tedious, easy to skew and severely drags out the hiring timeline. Leveraging AI in the assessment process increases speed and efficiency in hiring. Automating the data-scoring process significantly reduces time-to-hire by selecting the best candidates in a fraction of the time it would take a human recruiter.

Shifting the burden of data scoring to AI frees up time for you and your staff to pursue more strategic initiatives.

AI-based assessments can greatly improve speed and efficiency. Technology-driven assessments put the right candidates in front of you in a fraction of the time it takes to evaluate candidates by hand. This reduced time-to-hire is ultimately a great service to the public, as it keeps the public sector running smoothly.