The use of Artificial Intelligence sometimes gets a bad rap in the human resources industry.
Job applicants often feel they aren’t fairly considered for positions because AI automatically filters out resumes that don’t contain specific keywords or buzzwords.
“I don’t want to speak for every industry because we work in a very specific area, but for our customers and the positions we fill, that’s not how we use AI,” said Chelsea Hill, manager of ORAU Workforce Solutions, on a recent episode of Further Together, the ORAU Podcast.
ORAU Workforce Solutions specializes in scientific and technical staffing support, bringing highly qualified professionals to fulfill mission critical project and business requirements for our government clients.
“Recruiting is a personal business, and it requires a human touch if done correctly and always will,” Hill said.
While AI can help recruiters write intriguing job descriptions and messages to candidates, AI cannot replace the human decision-making that comes from reading resumes, reading answers to screening questions, talking on the phone, or having conversations that reveal the personalities of candidates being recruited.
Hill gave the example of a recruiting candidate who is leaving the military after 20 years of service, has a stellar resume and is a candidate for multiple software developer openings at two different working areas at a customer site. One hiring manager is extremely laid back and lets their employees work independently. The other hiring manager is more structured and holds a daily stand-up meeting and sets priorities for their team every day. Hill says that after talking with the candidate to understand their needs, she’s more likely to place the candidate in the more structured of the two environments to help him ease the transition to the civilian workforce.
“That’s something that an AI software can’t do – speak with a candidate and make a discernment on where a candidate is going to thrive,” Hill said.
Who is Chelsea Hill?
Hill’s resume is loaded with experience recruiting for a variety of job types. She is a boomerang employee who came to work at ORAU straight out of college and during the Great Recession.
Chelsea Hill, manager for ORAU Workforce Solutions
“I was on the job hunt for quite a long time,” she said. “I think that’s why I have such a heart for recruitment and placement and connecting with candidates. ORAU took me in, and I worked out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and helped administer internship programs.”
After a couple of years, she left ORAU to work in a medical and healthcare environment. She did some medical sales, then moved into a marketing role with a large healthcare provider, which led to a position in human resources. After six years she went to work for a housing and modular home manufacturer. Hill is grateful for the variety of roles she has recruited for during her career. Her experience has prepared her to recruit candidates for nearly any environment.
Hill has been back at ORAU for five years, starting in recruitment and then moving into a management role in Workforce Solutions.
“I have loved every minute of it,” she said. “We have a really special culture at ORAU, and I tell people all of the time that this is the best place I’ve ever worked, hands down, and you’re going to have to drag me out of here,” she said.
How does Workforce Solutions work?
“Workforce Solutions is a team of folks who partner with federal agencies as well as industry partners to help augment, streamline and perfect the recruitment process. We have customers that have talent needs. And there is a war for that talent,” Hill said. “Since COVID, the war for talent has gotten worse. What we’re here to do is make everyone’s life easier when it comes to finding the best candidate for each of their positions.”
ORAU has its own team of Workforce Solutions recruiters who streamline the job placement process.
Additionally, the Workforce Solutions team makes sure there is a seamless process through the sourcing, interviewing, job offer process and helping make placements for agencies and companies that are going to serve their respective missions.
“We have customers that need highly specialized STEM talent,” Hill said. “There are only a handful of people who perform some of these roles across the country. We specialize in finding that niche talent to meet mission-critical needs and making it a super easy process for both the candidates that we recruit and the customers where we place these candidates.”
What are current hiring trends?
It’s not just about highly specialized candidates with advanced degrees. While there will always be a need for high-level technical roles that require advanced degrees and years of experience, Hill noted a growing surge in demand for craft labor. Skills-based hiring has become just as essential—focusing on candidates with specialized expertise in trades such as welding, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, and facilities management. These positions often require only a two-year degree or certification, yet they play an equally critical role in fulfilling mission-essential needs.
In addition to skills-based craft roles, Hill said there is a huge need for IT and cyber roles as cyber security continues to be a hot topic with other countries targeting the United States’s technology infrastructure. “As it relates to cyber-crimes, this is a staffing area where candidates are definitely needed,” she said.
There is also a constant demand for candidates in the field of engineering. “For a person coming out of high school who has an interest in math or science and processes, engineering is a great area to go into,” Hill said. “There’s never going to be a situation where don’t need more engineers in the world.”
Hill said there are also great opportunities for people who are interested in making a career change but may not want to pursue another degree program and are open to getting a certification or taking a training class.
For anyone looking to transition into new career path (especially in fields like nuclear, AI and data analytics) the opportunities are out there," Hill said. "Through ORAU’s STEM Accelerator initiative, we’re developing academic roadmaps that support learners from kindergarten all the way through mid-career professionals seeking a change.”
There’s high demand for STEM-specialized jobs in the workplace right now.
People interested in making a career change should get an idea of a role they want to move into, read job descriptions and list what they bring to the role and what deficits they have, then find ways to remove those deficits through specialized training or a certification.
“There are a lot of certificate programs at universities and community colleges that are minimal cost and maximum payoff,” she said.
Helping candidates discover fulfilling roles that align with their goals is rewarding. Equally gratifying is supporting the needs of government agencies and industry partners. For Hill and her team, the true satisfaction comes from successfully bridging both sides—delivering value to individuals and organizations alike.