Study: Eight out of ten small businesses have difficulties finding qualified staff - artificial intelligence helps
Stepstone study: Every other small company has difficulties hiring new employees quickly enough
Two out of three HR managers expect faster hiring with AI
AI-based recruiting tool Stepstone Recruit offers practical help with hiring processes
80 per cent of small businesses in Germany have difficulties to find qualified candidates. More than half of them are also struggling with time pressure when it comes to filling vacancies. These are the findings of the latest labour market research by global recruitment platform The Stepstone Group, which is representative of the working population.
"For small companies in particular, the search for employees is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of growing staff shortages. Unlike large companies, they do not have an HR department. Instead, the boss takes care of this in addition to their own duties," says Dr Tobias Zimmermann, labour market expert at The Stepstone Group. "For small and medium-sized companies, artificial intelligence therefore has enormous potential to make recruiting much easier."
Recruitment: Companies are pinning their hopes on AI
Expectations for AI in German companies are high: according to market research by Stepstone, two-thirds of HR managers in Germany expect the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment to simplify and speed up their hiring processes. Specifically, 62 per cent believe AI would help them find suitable candidates by automatically matching them with their advertised vacancies. 54 per cent would find AI helpful in evaluating candidates based on defined criteria. But hiring managers also expect organisational support: 59 per cent would like AI to coordinate their interview schedules in the future.
"Smaller companies have the opportunity to use AI to increase the efficiency of their recruitment processes. After all, a craftsperson hardly has time for recruiting on top of their day-to-day business, and they are obviously not a recruiting expert. And they don't have to be," says Zimmermann. "Because AI can take the important questions off their hands and offer guidance, for example: How do I formulate a job advertisement so that the right people take notice? What skills are important for the advertised position and what questions should I ask in the interview?”
New AI tool to help with the entire recruitment process
Stepstone's new AI-based recruiting tool, Recruit, provides hiring managers with an application that supports the entire recruiting process - from sourcing candidates, to organising and preparing interviews, to objective assessment criteria for better candidate selection.
The new Co-Pilot feature suggests suitable interview questions based on a job ad, which can then be further personalised. It also helps companies to structure and evaluate candidates' answers. "Stepstone Recruit is a tool for companies that do not have a fully staffed HR department. It makes professional recruitment possible for the majority of companies and thus creates equal opportunities in the labour market," says Zimmermann.
About Stepstone Recruit
Stepstone Recruitis an AI-based solution for recruiters in recruitment. From creating meaningful ad texts to application management and coordinating job interviews – Recruit supports in all tasks related to personnel search.
About the study "Pulse Check Labour Market 2023"
How do people assess their job opportunities on the labour market now and in the future? How high is the willingness of employees to change jobs and to what extent are employees themselves currently affected by the effects of the shortage of skilled workers? And how do HR managers see the current labour market situation? To answer these questions, The Stepstone Group surveyed around 10,000 people in July 2023 for the "Pulse Check Labour Market 2023" study. Among them were 1,700 managers and 1,100 HR managers. The study is representative of the working population. For the analysis of small firms, the results of respondents in companies with fewer than 15 employees were taken into account.
