Blog overview / The HR chatbot: how can it help your team?

The HR chatbot: how can it help your team?

Alexander Wijninga

May 2, 2022 | 2 min

When you think of a chatbot, you often think of a customer service agent. There are actually a ton more ways that a chatbot can provide value to an organisation. Through our years at Watermelon we’ve seen numerous innovative approaches to chatbots from our clients - from a tour guide, game master, real estate agent and also HR chatbots!

The HR chatbot definitely got our attention. The bot makes the HR team and the company drastically more efficient, which is amazing to see. The chatbot not only answers questions about the company, but also fields questions from potential hires and questions from current employees. This blog explains what an HR chatbot is, what it can do, and the advantages of using one.

What is an HR chatbot?

An HR chatbot is an automated HR employee. You can publish the chatbot on your website, but also integrate it with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack or other tools you might use in your organisation. When you ask the chatbot a question, it will search for the right answer and then provide you with the answer. This means the HR team doesn’t need to spend any time answering these questions.

How can you use an HR chatbot?

There are a number of ways to use an HR chatbot, all of them an automated way to answer a wide variety of questions. There’s a ton more possible here than you may have previously considered. Here are a few thought starters:

Questions from candidates

Looking for new teammates? The chatbot can answer questions from potential candidates. Publish the chatbot on your Careers page and allow candidates to ask questions about open jobs or requirements for a role. You can also use the chatbot to prescreen candidates. Ask about their education, experience and salary requirements - if they align with what you’re looking for, have the chatbot ask them to submit their resume right in the chat conversation. The chatbot will send the candidate’s information to an HR employee.

Questions about your organisation

You can use an HR chatbot to allow website visitors to ask questions about your business. Publish the chatbot on the ‘About Us’ page and have the bot answer questions about locations, opening hours or parking.

Questions from internal employees

Have you ever considered using a chatbot internally? Let your employees chat with the HR chatbot about schedules, requesting vacation days, holiday observances or submitting expenses. Publish the chatbot on your HR system’s webpage and allow the chatbot to automatically answer these frequently asked questions.

What are the advantages of an HR chatbot?

Save time

Did you know that a well-trained chatbot can answer over 80% of customer questions automatically? This also includes questions from employees. An AI chatbot can answer questions more quickly than a human can. When you consider the volume of repetitive tasks, this volume is what you can automate. Think about booking conference rooms, recording sick time, or requesting a copy of a schedule. By using an HR chatbot to answer these questions, the HR team saves a ton of time for other important tasks and projects.

Improve your availability

Did you know that potential candidates are most active after office hours? By increasing your availability, you allow people the chance to get to know your company in an accessible way. By providing fast, accurate answers with your chatbot, they’re more likely to apply quickly! This chat conversation can also happen more quickly than it could with a human recruiter.

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