By Katelyn Catanzariti in Sydney

ChatGBT is driving one of the biggest shake-ups in the recruitment industry since the arrival of LinkedIn.

Modern job seekers are using artificial intelligence to write their cover letters while recruiters are using bots to filter candidates long before making direct contact.

For example, first-round candidates in high-volume positions are often interviewed by chat robots before getting to the final stages.

But the technology is nothing to be scared of, says Jas Singh, founder and managing director at Australian recruitment firm SKL Executive, because no robot can fully replace a human recruiter when it comes to making a final selection.

“There are many facets to recruitment and many levels to recruitment,” Mr Singh said.

“Chat robots are already being used to interview and screen candidates when the recruitment is done in volume, for graduates, for example.

“I expect ChatGBT to enhance a lot of that.”

The automated process means more candidates are being screened more thoroughly than ever before.

But, of course, there are downsides. While robot-generated cover letters enable candidates to “punch above their weight” in their online applications, set algorithms can miss a brilliant personality.

In the end though, once an automated service has screened 100 candidates down to the final ten, the recruiter steps in and balance should be restored.

“The relationship side of recruitment, the judgement, that is always safe… there’s always the human touch,” Mr Singh said.

Still, it doesn’t matter if it’s AI or a human doing the recruiting – a candidate can still underperform on the day.

“Anyone can have a bad day, even when the humans are there… that’s part of the deal,” he says.

“That’s just the law of nature, right?”

With ChatGBT making “cheating” on applications easier than ever, detailed and automated screening helps “keep us honest”, Mr Singh says.

All up, ChatGBT offers opportunities for the recruitment industry, by taking repetitive manual work out of the process and leaving the important decisions to humans.

“I can’t see recruitment being made redundant… but the complexity of it changes,” Mr Singh said.

If recruiters embrace technology – as they did with LinkedIn – it can be a very useful tool.