Use AI to create real engagement with applicants, HR leaders urge
At the 3rd Annual Philippines HR Workplace Summit 2025 in Novotel Manila, HR leaders shared a clear message: let AI handle the busywork so recruiters can spend more time with people.
"Use AI, use technology to make our work more efficient and give us more time to create those meaningful conversations," said Patrick Dimayuga, talent acquisition lead at Cargill. His point was simple: automate the process, not the relationship.
Keep the human in hiring
Digital tools can screen, schedule, and summarize. They shouldn't replace real conversation. Dimayuga emphasized that while AI can make life easier, the hiring experience still lives and dies on human engagement.
"Don't lose that human connection because that is really what separates us from the technology that we're using," he added.
Employer branding: be what you say you are
Younger candidates, especially Gen Z, look for purpose and meaning at work. They have sharp BS meters. Dimayuga noted that once trust is broken, they leave. So "walk the talk." What you sell externally must match the day-to-day inside the company.
Jhelene Soliman of Federal Land Inc. echoed this. Gen Z and younger millennials care about passion and contribution, so your culture and values have to be visible-and real. Maria Theresa Sebastian of SMDC stressed that employer branding isn't a campaign; it's a company-wide mindset. Everyone represents the brand, from leadership to the smallest unit.
To keep the message consistent, Ma. Reneth Datahan of Nissan Philippines Inc. recommended a simple rule: hire for attitude. Skills are trainable. Values fit isn't. And drop school bias-"do away with restricted schools."
What this means for HR teams
- Automate the repetitive tasks: sourcing, resume screening, interview scheduling, and candidate FAQs.
- Reserve human time for conversations that matter: career goals, motivators, values, and team fit.
- Build structured interviews and scorecards to reduce bias and improve consistency.
- Audit your employer brand: does the candidate promise match the employee experience?
- Train recruiters to read signals Gen Z cares about-purpose, flexibility, growth, and manager quality.
- Adopt "hire for attitude" as a standard. Skills can be taught; values misfit can't.
- Remove pedigree filters. Prioritize capability signals and evidence of learning over school names.
- Measure what candidates feel: time-to-first-response, stage drop-off, candidate NPS, and acceptance reasons.
- Use AI summaries to prep interviewers, but let humans lead the conversation.
- Set guardrails: human-in-the-loop for offers and rejections, clear candidate consent, and regular bias checks.
A simple AI-enabled hiring flow
- Inbound/outbound sourcing with AI matching to surface qualified profiles.
- Automated screening questions and scheduling to reduce wait times.
- Interview guides generated from the job profile and competencies.
- Real-time note-taking and summaries for interviewers.
- Post-interview scorecards with structured criteria.
- Candidate updates via chatbot plus human touchpoints at critical stages.
- Weekly dashboards on funnel health and quality-of-hire indicators.
Ethics, privacy, and fairness
Make transparency non-negotiable. Tell candidates where AI is used, get consent to process their data, and provide a path to human review. Run periodic checks for adverse impact and keep clear documentation on models and decisions.
For guidance on responsible data practices, consult the National Privacy Commission (Philippines). For broader HR best practices, see resources from SHRM.
Upskill your team
AI won't replace recruiters who can build trust. It will replace busywork. Equip your team to use the tools well and spend their energy on people-where judgment, empathy, and values fit live.
If you're building AI fluency across HR roles, explore practical programs here: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
Bottom line: let AI handle the logistics. Keep the relationship human. As Dimayuga put it, AI should help automate processes, "but the relationship shouldn't be AI."
The summit's theme focused on the future of HR and empowering people and workplaces in the digital era-clear direction for teams that want to hire better, faster, and more human.
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