ChatGPT has proven that it isn’t going anywhere. The open AI software is being used by all kinds of industries to do everything from writing stories to solving math problems to composing emails. But can human resources—a human-centered endeavor—really benefit from utilizing a machine like ChatGPT?
The answer is a resounding yes.
HR departments are essential when it comes to managing a company’s employee base, which is the most valuable asset of any company. But they’re frequently overworked, juggling any number of problems on a given day that leave them feeling frazzled and frayed. And if AI can be used to streamline HR processes, without turning everything into an automated, lifeless system, HR professionals should experiment with it.
ChatGPT isn’t just free—it’s extremely intuitive to use, which is one of its greatest features. You don’t need to be tech-savvy—you don’t even need to know how to use the app! The web browser alone can be incredibly useful for HR professionals who are looking to get a little bit of their time back and unclog their workflows.
But how can ChatGPT assist HR professionals? Here are a handful of ways the AI software can transform the way you do business.
Job Descriptions
If you’re dumbstruck at how to come up with a job description for a looser job like “product manager” or “implementer”—something that you have a vision of, but are having a hard time nailing down—ChatGPT can give you a rough draft of a job description that you can then tweak as needed. It’s just a starting place. Consider asking it for something like “a 500 word job description for an executive assistant at a marketing agency” and seeing what it spits out. Again, the point here isn’t to simply copy and paste, but to give you a framework you can then work from. You can even ask it for a few different job descriptions, and mix those together to create your perfect description. You could also ask it for a description to go on your website vs. a description for an Instagram caption vs. a description for a job posting site.
Candidate Screening
At the beginning of your recruitment pipeline, you’re screening an endless amount of candidates. But you need a way to easily sort them into “no” and “maybe” piles. ChatGPT can assist you with that. It can screen resumes to look for relevant information like degrees or certifications, and even host the very first interview (not the one that makes the decision, but the one that ensures the candidate isn’t a complete wildcard.) It can summarize the data received through candidate screening into an easy report or visual for you to look over so that you can focus on the candidates who are truly the best fit for your business. By allowing ChatGPT to help you with candidate screening, you’ll cut down on time you used to spend shuffling through resumes and reading cover letters.
Employee Onboarding
ChatGPT is able to provide automated help with onboarding new employees. Employees can ask question about specific company policies or procedures, and ChatGPT is able to easily respond. It can also provide simple information about the company’s history and values. Even more importantly, ChatGPT is able to help them get through the mountain of forms that most new employees have to go through. Employees can ask questions for specifics, and ChatGPT can help them understand your various onboarding documents. These things will help new employees settle in quickly and cut down on the amount of time HR leaders have to spend walking them through the nitty-gritty of the workplace.
Employee Development
Do you need to develop employees with learning new skills? Although teaching feels like a personalized skillset—and it is!—ChatGPT is useful in at least getting the ball rolling. It’s able to provide courses and learning objectives in order to help employees grow in their careers, and offer real-time feedback on projects. You can even program ChatGPT with your company’s specific needs, so that it can better direct employees down the road you want them to go. It’s able to offer coaching tips, improvement suggestions, and other resources to help employees address blind spots or pitfalls. If employees are interested in internal opportunities or advancement paths, ChatGPT is able to help them understand with professional certifications they may need or which career goals they need to be setting.
Easy-to-answer Questions
HR is always going to have to handle questions in the workplace. But some of those questions, particularly ones about firm policies like healthcare plans, can be easily answered by ChatGPT. If an employee has a simple question about coverage, or about PTO requirements, or about how to submit a feedback form, ChatGPT can help them do so. This frees up valuable time that HR professionals can spend on questions that need to go a little deeper.
Summarizing Performance Data
Data is king, especially when it comes to evaluating how well an employee has performed for your company. ChatGPT excels with summarizing performance data. It can collect data from various sources (employee evaluations, key performance indicators, productivity metrics, employee feedback, customer feedback, etc.) and put it in a cohesive summary that helps you see just how well someone is performing in their current position. It can also analyze the data to extract key trends, or generate visualizations like charts, graphs, and dashboards to represent metrics in a clear way.
If ChatGPT isn’t for you, or if it only works for one or two of these tasks, that’s okay. There might be another AI software that fits the complex needs of your business better. By utilizing AI, HR leaders are able to get back more of their time for the areas where they’re really needed. AI doesn’t mean the end of human-centered HR. It means the improvement of the industry as a whole—an industry where HR workers are more tuned into their employees because they aren’t wasting time digging through data, walking people through simple forms, or answering policy-specific questions. Instead, HR workers can be utilized for situations that require nuance, thoughtfulness, and tact.
Claire Swinarski is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.