AI-Powered Recruiting: A Game-Changer for RPOs Looking to Innovate

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In a recruitment landscape that’s constantly evolving, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) providers face growing pressure to innovate. Clients demand more efficient solutions, faster time-to-hire, and better talent. But with larger candidate pools and a highly competitive market, delivering on those expectations isn’t easy. That’s where AI-powered recruiting steps in, offering RPOs the tools to revolutionize their services.

Among these tools, conversational AI stands out as a game-changer, particularly when it comes to engaging and nurturing passive candidates—those high-quality prospects who aren’t actively seeking jobs but are open to the right opportunity. For RPO leaders, conversational AI is more than just a tool for automation; it’s a way to offer smarter, more innovative recruitment solutions to clients, enhancing both speed and quality in hiring.

Why Passive Candidates are Crucial to Your Clients’ Success

Many top-tier candidates don’t actively search for jobs. They’re already employed, often thriving in their current roles, but they may be enticed by the right offer. This makes them passive candidates—a valuable talent pool that is often difficult to reach. According to LinkedIn, 70% of the global workforce falls into this category, meaning RPOs that can efficiently engage and attract these candidates will offer a competitive edge to their clients.

AI recruitment tools like Popp AI are designed to tackle this challenge head-on, enabling RPOs to identify, engage, and nurture passive candidates in a way that traditional methods can’t match. Here’s how.

How Conversational AI Engages Passive Candidates

At the core of conversational AI is its ability to mimic natural human interaction. Rather than sending automated emails or relying on cold outreach, Popp AI’s conversational tool allows RPOs to spark meaningful conversations with passive candidates, creating an engaging experience that feels personal.

  • Natural Conversations at Scale: With Popp AI, RPOs can handle large volumes of passive candidates while keeping each interaction personalized. Whether through email, chat, or SMS, AI can simulate a real conversation, asking candidates about their career goals, interests, and skills. This automated but human-like engagement draws passive candidates in, making them more likely to consider new opportunities.
  • Continuous Engagement: One challenge in recruiting passive candidates is keeping them interested over time. AI allows RPOs to maintain ongoing conversations with passive talent, sharing relevant job openings or industry insights, which keeps candidates warm for future opportunities.
  • Tailored Outreach: Unlike generic outreach campaigns, conversational AI can tailor its messaging to each candidate’s background and interests, creating a more compelling and relevant pitch. Personalization at scale helps RPOs stand out in a crowded inbox and build stronger relationships with passive talent.

AI’s Role in Delivering Innovative RPO Services

For RPOs looking to stand out, conversational AI represents a powerful tool that aligns with the demands of today’s market. Here are key ways AI helps RPOs offer innovative, high-impact services to their clients:

1. Efficient Candidate Screening

By automating the initial stages of recruitment, conversational AI frees up recruiters to focus on high-value tasks, such as relationship-building and client management. This is especially important for high-volume hiring, where manually screening candidates can be a time-consuming process. With AI-powered screening, RPOs can evaluate hundreds or even thousands of candidates simultaneously, using AI to rank and assess responses based on qualifications and fit.

Data from PwC suggests that companies using AI for recruitment have reduced their time-to-hire by 50%, meaning faster placements and happier clients. By offering AI-driven screening services, RPOs can help clients meet their hiring goals faster while maintaining high standards of quality.

2. Data-Driven Insights

AI-driven insights are invaluable in today’s data-centric recruitment environment. Popp AI’s conversational tool doesn’t just engage candidates—it also collects and analyzes their responses, providing RPOs with deep insights into candidate skills, preferences, and motivations. This allows RPOs to offer their clients data-backed recommendations, reducing the risk of bad hires and improving overall recruitment accuracy.

According to Gartner, by 2030, over 80% of recruiting tasks will involve AI and automation, highlighting the growing importance of data-driven decisions in recruitment.

3. Seamless Collaboration with Clients

Conversational AI not only benefits candidates but also improves the RPO-client relationship. With AI handling the initial candidate engagement and screening, RPOs can provide clients with real-time updates, dashboards, and metrics. This transparency builds trust and ensures clients are kept in the loop throughout the recruitment process.

Clients will appreciate having access to data-driven reports on candidate engagement, response rates, and potential cultural fits, allowing them to make more informed hiring decisions and feel confident in the RPO’s process.

4. Improved Candidate Experience

In today’s market, candidate experience matters just as much as client satisfaction. A poor candidate experience can damage a company’s employer brand and make it harder to attract top talent. By using conversational AI, RPOs can offer a seamless, responsive candidate experience that feels personal from the start.

AI tools like Popp AI enable instant responses, personalized feedback, and transparent communication, making candidates feel valued throughout the hiring process. As recruitment trends shift towards candidate-driven hiring, RPOs that invest in improving the candidate experience will stand out as leaders in the industry.

A Competitive Edge for RPOs

In a world where clients expect more and candidates have higher expectations than ever, RPOs need to innovate to stay competitive. Conversational AI provides a pathway for RPOs to deliver cutting-edge recruitment services that scale, engage passive candidates, and provide data-driven results.

By incorporating conversational AI into their recruitment processes, RPOs can help clients identify the best talent faster, offer a better candidate experience, and make smarter, more informed hiring decisions. For RPO leaders looking to drive innovation, AI is the key to staying ahead of the curve—and delivering real value to clients.

Conclusion

As the demand for skilled talent grows and recruitment becomes more complex, RPOs must continue to innovate. Popp AI’s conversational tool is built to help RPOs engage passive candidates, streamline hiring processes, and offer clients data-backed insights that improve decision-making.

For RPOs, adopting AI isn’t just about staying competitive today—it’s about building a recruitment model that’s future-proof and ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Interested in how Popp AI can help you transform your recruitment processes and deliver more value to your clients? Contact us to learn more about our conversational AI solutions.

Sources:

  • LinkedIn, Global Talent Trends Report
  • PwC, The Future of Work: How AI is Shaping Recruitment
  • Gartner, Future of Work Trends

Our Latest Blogs

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25 Feb
2025
·
5 min read

Popp Wins Breakthrough Culture Award, Recognised for Championing a People-First Workplace

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

Popp is proud to announce that it has been named a winner of the Breakthrough Culture Awards 2024, an honour that recognises the greatest companies to work for in the UK. This award celebrates organisations that are redefining workplace culture by putting people first, building environments where employees truly thrive.

The Breakthrough Culture Awards spotlight the top 100 growing companies across the UK, showcasing the evolving cultures they’ve built and the people behind them. Unlike traditional workplace rankings, these awards dive deep—beyond the surface perks and policies—to reveal what it truly means to work inside a company that cares about its people.

This year, the awards reviewed thousands of companies of all sizes and interviewed over 20,000 employees to identify workplaces where people feel valued, inspired, and fulfilled. Popp’s commitment to fostering a progressive, people-centric culture earned it a spot among the elite.

“At Popp, we’ve always believed that work should be meaningful—that it’s not just about what you do, but who you do it with. Winning the Breakthrough Culture Award isn’t just an achievement; it’s a testament to the incredible team that makes Popp what it is. We’re not building a company; we’re building a community where people are empowered to grow, challenge the status quo, and find purpose in their work. We’re honoured to be recognised among companies that are reshaping the workplace for the better.”

Sam Dhesi, Co-founder & CEO of Popp

The Breakthrough Culture Award winners are redefining what it means to be an exceptional workplace—where culture isn’t just a buzzword but a commitment. Popp is proud to be part of this movement, championing a better way to work.

About Popp
Popp is revolutionising talent acquisition through AI-driven recruitment solutions designed to make hiring faster, fairer, and more human. By focusing on building meaningful connections between organisations and candidates, Popp is changing the way companies grow—one hire at a time.

About the Breakthrough Culture Awards
The Breakthrough Culture Awards recognise and celebrate the greatest companies to work for in the UK, honouring those that are building progressive, people-first workplaces. The awards explore the ever-evolving cultures of the UK’s top 100 growing companies, bringing to life what it truly means to work inside organisations that prioritise their people.

24 Feb
2025
·
5 min read

AI in Hiring: A Fairer Future for Recruitment?

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

AI is transforming recruitment, from resume screening to candidate shortlisting to interview analysis. By automating these processes, recruitment tech platforms enable hiring teams to focus on building relationships rather than getting bogged down in admin. But beyond efficiency, AI brings another major advantage: it can help make hiring fairer than traditional, human-led processes.

The Reality of Bias in Human Hiring

Bias in hiring isn’t new, and it’s not unique to AI. Studies have consistently shown that human recruiters and hiring managers make biased decisions, often without realizing it.

  • Resume name bias: A famous 2003 study found that identical resumes with names commonly associated with white applicants received 50% more callbacks than those with names commonly associated with Black applicants.
  • Age bias: Older candidates are often overlooked, with research showing that resumes indicating longer experience receive fewer interview invitations.
  • Affinity bias: Humans tend to favor candidates who remind them of themselves, whether through shared backgrounds, hobbies, or alma maters.

These biases happen subconsciously, making them hard to prevent through training alone. AI, when properly designed and monitored, offers a way to reduce these biases and make hiring more objective.

How AI Can Improve Fairness in Hiring

AI has the potential to be a powerful tool for fairer hiring, but only if it’s built and used responsibly. Here’s how AI can outperform human decision-making when it comes to fairness:

✅ AI focuses on skills and qualifications, not irrelevant personal factors.
While human recruiters might be swayed by a candidate’s name, accent, or background (or how they feel before or after lunch), AI can be designed to assess only the data that matters for the job: work experience, skills, and competencies.

✅ AI can be audited and improved over time.
Unlike human decision-making, which is inconsistent and difficult to track, AI hiring tools can be regularly audited to ensure they are working fairly. AI bias audits can measure and correct disparities in hiring outcomes, something that isn’t possible with human judgment alone.

✅ AI can analyze hiring patterns and flag unfair trends.
AI can process vast amounts of hiring data to identify patterns that might indicate bias—such as a hiring process disproportionately favoring one demographic group over another. This allows recruitment teams to adjust their processes proactively.

Ensuring AI Hiring is Truly Fair

Of course, AI is only as fair as the data it learns from. If trained on biased hiring data, AI can replicate those biases. This is why responsible AI assurance is critical.

To ensure AI is a force for fairness in hiring, recruitment tech providers and hiring teams should:

  • Use diverse training data to reduce historical biases.
  • Regularly audit AI models to detect and correct bias.
  • Ensure transparency by making AI-driven decisions explainable.
  • Maintain human oversight at key decision points.

One example of regulatory oversight on AI hiring is NYC Local Law 144, which requires companies using AI-driven hiring tools to conduct annual bias audits and share the results. This regulation sets a precedent for fairness and transparency in AI hiring. As similar laws emerge in other regions, recruitment platforms will need to adopt AI bias auditing as a best practice - not just for compliance, but to build trust with candidates and employers.

Conclusion

The debate over AI in hiring shouldn’t be about whether AI is biased, it should be about whether it’s less biased than humans. AI, when built and monitored correctly, has the potential to make hiring fairer, more consistent, and more objective than traditional human decision-making. The key is to approach AI hiring with responsibility and transparency, ensuring that technology reduces bias rather than reinforcing it.

With the right safeguards in place, AI can be more than a tool for efficiency, it can be a tool for fairer hiring.

About Warden AI

Warden AI is the specialist AI auditor for HR Tech. Their AI assurance platform continuously monitors for bias, and audits protected characteristics using proprietary datasets. They work with leading talent platforms like Popp to ensure their AI solutions are fair, transparent, and compliant with regulations like NYC Local Law 144 and EU AI Act.

19 Feb
2025
·
5 min read

Navigating the Agentic Revolution: Popp’s Talent Acquisition Event Recap

Headshot of James Cochrane-Dyet smiling in a professional setting
James Cochrane-Dyet
Chief Operating Officer

Last night, Popp hosted a fireside chat that didn’t just discuss the future of hiring—it challenged it. In a room buzzing with curiosity and conviction, Talent Acquisition (TA) leaders and visionaries gathered to confront the agentic revolution head-on. At the heart of the conversation was a question that could define the future of work: How do we navigate the rise of AI in recruitment with purpose, clarity, and care?

Against a backdrop of free beer, wine, and pizza, the evening unfolded with candor and insight. The lineup was as impressive as the conversation itself:

  • Dave Owen: Former Head of Talent Acquisition at Dyson and TA Advisor to the BBC
  • James Langham: Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at ASOS
  • Aaron Beider: Head of Talent Acquisition at Vertical Aerospace
  • Lisa Maclaran: Head of Talent Acquisition at Williams Racing
  • Ryan Broad: Head of Growth EMEA at Robert Walters
  • Moderated by Sam Dhesi: Co-founder & CEO at Popp

Together, they peeled back the layers on what hiring in 2025 might look like, exploring how to keep recruitment human in an increasingly automated world.

The Key Takeaways: Grounded in Purpose, Driven by Possibility

1. AI Is Reshaping the Hiring Funnel—But Humans Still Lead the Way
The impact of AI on sourcing, screening, and interviewing is seismic. It’s not just about implementing new tools; it’s about rethinking recruitment itself. This isn’t automation for the sake of efficiency—it’s about enabling recruiters to focus on what truly matters: human connection, critical thinking, and strategic decision-making.

2. Reinventing Recruitment Through a Data-Driven Lens
AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a mindset shift. To navigate this new landscape, TA professionals must embrace data—not just to make decisions faster but to make them better. This is about working smarter, not harder, and challenging the status quo of recruitment practices.

3. The Role of the Recruiter Is Evolving—Critical Thinking Is Key
The modern recruiter is more than a brand ambassador. They’re strategic thinkers and quality guardians. As AI takes on more administrative tasks, recruiters must focus on making thoughtful assessments about candidates’ skills, ensuring that technology enhances rather than diminishes human judgment.

4. Transparency Is Non-Negotiable
If AI is to be trusted, candidates must understand how it’s being used—especially when it comes to reducing bias. The room was divided on one key question: Should companies publicly disclose how AI is used in their hiring process? There were no easy answers, but the consensus was clear: transparency builds trust.

5. AI and Inclusivity: A Balancing Act
With an aging workforce and a growing focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, AI must be designed to work for everyone. It must be accessible, fair, and inclusive—never inadvertently excluding talent. In this revolution, inclusivity isn’t an afterthought; it’s the cornerstone.

6. The AI Interview Debate: Where Do We Draw the Line?
One of the most spirited debates of the evening was about AI’s role in interviews. How much is too much? While some argued for a fully data-driven approach, others insisted that human intuition and empathy are irreplaceable. The takeaway? Balance is key—both candidates and hiring managers deserve a process that feels fair and human.

7. The Privacy and Reliability Dilemma
AI raises complex questions about privacy, data security, and the reliability of language models. Can we trust an algorithm to make unbiased decisions? How transparent should screening decisions be? These questions aren’t just theoretical—they’re ethical imperatives that will shape the future of work.

8. Patience and Prudence in Tech Adoption
For large enterprises, embedding AI tech isn’t a quick win. It can take 9–12 months to fully integrate these systems. The advice from the panel was clear: Do your due diligence. Not every platform will stand the test of time, so choose wisely and strategically.

The Future of Hiring: Human at Its Core

The agentic revolution is here, but last night’s event proved one thing: the future of hiring is human. As AI continues to reshape talent acquisition, it’s up to us to ensure that the process remains empathetic, inclusive, and transparent.

Leaving the event, attendees didn’t just walk away with practical strategies for integrating AI—they left inspired, ready to champion a better way to hire. The conversation was provocative, the ideas were bold, and the purpose was clear: to push the conversation forward, sensibly and meaningfully.

Popp created a space where no question was too controversial and no answer was absolute. It wasn’t just about predicting the future; it was about shaping it.

The revolution is here. Let’s make sure it’s for the better.

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