How AI Сan Support Law Firms To Make More Accurate and Less Biased Hiring Decisions

AI is a relatively nascent technology. At this stage in its development, one of its best use cases is for predicting future outcomes based on its ability to identify patterns in incredibly large data sets, including making better hiring decisions. TikTok’s AI-powered engine only recommends the content users want to see derived from highly personalized data collection and tagging. 

Music applications like Spotify use the information they have to learn, predict, and then serve their listeners’ playlists that they think their listeners will enjoy. Ideally, users give these companies feedback about how correct their predictions are, and the AI uses that input to refine its predictions, even in the context of hiring decisions. 

However, social media, and even music apps like Spotify, often trap their users in information echo chambers. Often, users are only exposed to news articles, music, or videos that reinforce their political or world views and ultimately remain isolated from those with different ideas. This can similarly influence hiring decisions, leading to less diverse and innovative teams.

The exciting thing about AI is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Algorithms do what their creators tell them and can easily be trained to help users question their own opinions or biases. When applied to hiring decisions, the same types of accurate, customized, and efficient outcomes are possible, with one important distinction: the best AI-enabled hiring tools help their users become less biased, more objective, and accessible. 

Here are some ways AI can help hiring teams accomplish less biased and more accurate hiring decisions. Its capabilities can be harnessed to recognize patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed, leading to more informed and, thus, better hiring decisions.

How AI is Used in Hiring

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology that has been instrumental in transforming various aspects of businesses, and the realm of hiring is no exception. AI goes beyond traditional factors like credentials, impressive backgrounds, or high GPAs and interprets many data points when hiring. This technology can crucially support law firms in making more accurate and unbiased hiring decisions, enabling them to build a team of diversified and innovative minds.

AI enables recruiters to get a more holistic view of each candidate. It helps to segregate relevant inputs such as personality traits, cognitive abilities, stress response styles, and values, all of which have been demonstrated to reduce bias and enhance selection accuracy. AI’s analytical prowess aids in making better hiring decisions by recommending candidates based on data that is objective and applicable to the job rather than subjective traits typically identified in an interview or resume screen.

AI expands the definition of a “good” candidate in hiring decisions. We all view what makes someone a “good” fit for our firm. However, these views may not always be accurate or linear in the context of hiring decisions. By analyzing complex traits interplay, AI helps hiring teams pick up nuanced interpretations of what makes a candidate suitable for the role. In other words, AI allows more space for different types of people within an organization, thereby shaping more effective hiring decisions.

Using AI, hiring teams can also achieve their diversity goals. Top elite colleges often enroll more students from the upper echelons of the income scale, unfortunately limiting the diversity of demographics. This approach severely limits the richness and breadth of a firm’s talent pool. By broadening their hiring decisions using AI, firms can consider a larger pool of candidates, achieving more equitable and diverse teams.

When used correctly, AI can indeed help recruiting teams make more accurate, equitable, and efficient hiring decisions. It prompts firms to question and face their biases when making hiring decisions, holding the potential to transform how the legal industry approaches talent acquisition. The goal of this transformative technology is to help make better hiring decisions by enabling the most informed and objective decisions possible.

Ensure a streamlined hiring process with a recruitment agreement

While leveraging AI technology for making hiring decisions promises reliability and bias-free results, another crucial tool ensures a seamless hiring process — a recruitment agreement. This agreement is formal documentation designed to clearly define the roles, responsibilities, and terms between your firm and recruitment agencies or headhunters.

From specifying fee structures to addressing confidentiality clauses, a recruitment agreement offers a comprehensive roadmap for both parties involved in the hiring process. Whether you’re seeking to fill a new vacancy or expanding your existing team, this agreement ensures your hiring process stays efficient, well-managed, and free from misunderstandings. With our easily customizable recruitment agreement template, you can significantly simplify your hiring efforts, leaving you ample time to focus on choosing the right candidate for your firm and harnessing the power of AI.

Get a More Holistic View 

High-volume applications and competitive recruiting timelines make it impossible to consider every candidate effectively. Law firms are often forced to focus their efforts on a small portion of the talent landscape, only considering candidates from a select number of schools with the “right” credentials, traditionally impressive backgrounds, or high GPAs for their hiring decisions. 

AI allows us to go beyond these traditional factors and interpret infinitely more data points when making hiring decisions. But what other data points can AI use to help make good hiring decisions? Inputs such as personality traits, cognitive abilities, stress response styles, and values have all been shown to reduce bias and increase selection accuracy. Often, these inputs can be collected via assessments or other industrial-organizational psychology tools, expanding the amount of data that can be used to make more informed hiring decisions.

Importantly, whatever data you collect must be relevant to the job you are hiring for. Every trait or skill you screen for must be directly applicable to performing the role of an associate/attorney. This way, the AI is making recommendations for hiring decisions based on data that is objective and applicable to the job at hand instead of subjective traits that often get picked up in an interview or resume screen. This broadened viewpoint allows employers to make more holistic and fair hiring decisions.

Expand the Definition of a “Good” Candidate in Hiring Decisions

Consciously or not, we all know what makes someone a good fit at our firm. However, our view of what makes someone “good” in the context of hiring decisions is not always accurate or linear.

Maybe you believe that being outgoing or extraverted is necessary for being a good attorney, so you inadvertently favor candidates who present these traits during an interview. But a question AI can help you solve is whether or not a trait like “extraversion” is actually predictive of performance. Perhaps it is, but when combined with other traits such as “assertiveness,” performance, particularly in hiring decisions, actually suffers. And again, maybe it is, but those who are “introverted” and “assertive” are just as high performing as your traditional extraverted attorneys.

AI is great at helping hiring teams pick up on these nuanced ideas, allowing more space for different types of people within an organization and shaping more effective hiring decisions. Instead of relying solely on resume factors to determine which candidates to bring into the process, recruiters can expand their consideration to include these other, often more predictive, factors of on-the-job success in their hiring decisions.

Achieve Diversity Goals 

It’s easy to see how AI can help us expand a firm’s diversity of thought, which will lead to better hiring decisions, but what about the diversity of demographics? 

Three dozen of the country’s “elite” colleges enroll more students from households in the top 1% of the income scale than they do students from the bottom 60% of the scale. Unfortunately, most firms recruit from the same “elite” places for their hiring decisions, creating an unnecessary amount of competition and leaving many candidates out of the process. 

The magnitude of these numbers demonstrates that the industry will not be able to solve this issue unless firms fundamentally rethink their approach to hiring decisions. With AI and assessment science, firms can give fair and comprehensive consideration to every candidate in their pipeline. By screening only for the relevant and predictive traits, as mentioned above, you can expand your pipeline beyond your “target” school list in significantly reduced time. This allows for a more equitable spread in hiring decisions and aids in attaining diversity goals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when used correctly, AI can help recruiting teams make more accurate, equitable, and efficient hiring decisions. Firms shouldn’t be afraid to face and question their own biases, especially when making hiring decisions, as the goal with any hiring technology should always be to make the most informed decision possible. AI offers exciting possibilities to advance how the legal industry approaches the world of talent and transforms its hiring decisions.