#623 AI in Hiring: Breakthrough or Buzzword? with Debolina Bhattacharyya

Is AI truly transforming recruitment—or are we just caught in a hype cycle?

In this episode of Talking with the Experts, I sit down with Debolina Bhattacharyya, a seasoned talent acquisition leader who’s seen the evolution of recruiting firsthand. With over 14 years of experience spanning fast-growing startups to global enterprises, Debolina isn’t just talking theory—she’s been in the trenches.

We unpack the real story behind AI in hiring. What parts of the hiring process are genuinely being improved by AI tools? Where are companies wasting time and money chasing trends that don’t deliver? And most importantly—how do you separate innovation from illusion?

You’ll learn:

• The 5 biggest myths about AI in recruitment—and what’s actually happening
• Why only 1–3% of your talent pool is actively job-seeking, and how AI is (or isn’t) helping reach the rest
• How hiring managers, TA leaders, and recruiters can adopt technology without losing the human touch

Whether you’re responsible for hiring strategy, managing a recruiting team, or navigating the ever-evolving HR tech landscape, this episode will give you the clarity you need to make smart, ethical, and effective decisions.

Debolina’s approach is practical, no-nonsense, and deeply human. She’s not here to sell you shiny tools. She’s here to show you what works—and why being people-first is still your strongest competitive edge, even in an AI world.

Tune in and discover how to cut through the noise and lead with intention.

🔗 CONNECT WITH DEBOLINA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debolina-bhattacharyya-5484b953/

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Transcript

Intro | 00:01
Welcome to Talking With The Experts. Here we discuss all things business. By business owners. For business owners. Here is your host, Rose Davidson. 

 Rose | 00:11
Hello and welcome to Talking with the Experts. I'm your host, Rose Davidson from rosedavidson.com.au. My guest today is Debolina and we're going to be discussing the AI revolution in recruiting and the hype versus what the reality is. And everyone's talking about AI transforming recruitment, but how much of it is real and how much of it is just noise? And Debolina is... A seasoned talent acquisition leader with a passion for blending human insight with cutting edge technology, with over 14 years of experience in recruiting across fast growing startups and global enterprises, she has seen firsthand how AI is reshaping the way organizations attract, assess and hire talent. Known for her strategic mindset and ability to spot future trends in hiring, Debolina now focuses on helping companies build smarter, more inclusive recruiting practices. Whether it's optimising tech stacks, training teams or debunking industry hype, she brings a practical, no BS perspective to the conversation around the future of work. Welcome Debolina to Talking with the Experts. It's a pleasure to meet you. 

 Debolina | 01:29
Thank you so much, Rose. It was really a wonderful introduction. Thank you so much for that. 

 Rose | 01:34
You're very welcome, considering I didn't write it. 

 Debolina | 01:37
Yeah. 

 Rose | 01:41
Tell me about your journey into ai what prompted this keenness to, to follow AI in recruiting. 

 Debolina | 01:53
I think AI is the next big thing. Everybody is talking about Gen AI now. That's where overall as a community, we are going to progress. Every domain in our industry is getting impacted by it in a good way, and definitely in certain things, certain cons come along with it. As you rightly mentioned, I'm into talent acquisition. I've spent more than close to 15 years of my experience there. Recruitment is something wherein I definitely see AI influence coming in really at a high parameter. That's the reason I thought just to talk about it and your platform definitely gave that exposure. Thank you for that. AI as a term is something it's still what I feel is a bit vague among people. People are trying to still figure it out. It's still yet to come to its full potential. That's the reason I thought it's the best time to talk about it. 
 You know, as I mentioned, what is the noise and what is the actual truth? Give some insights, at least my insights to the audience about it so that everybody can have like a clear view. And it's just sharing the knowledge, what I have understood at least about it. 

 Rose | 03:09
Yeah, that's really important, Debolina. But where does Ayo actually deliver value in the recruitment process? Yes. 

 Debolina | 03:17
Right. I think first and foremost thing, if I have to say straightforward, is the turnaround time. Right. Let's say in recruitment, the first thing that comes is resumes, CVs, applications. Right. And there have been a majority of concern with people who apply saying that, you know, my resumes are not even touch based. Or I didn't even get a call. I don't even know what happened to my resume. Or there have been months when a person has applied and there's no response, right? Which is not the right thing. We are here being in recruitment professionals, a very important job. We are trying to help someone with their job. 
 So it's your duty to go through each and every applicant's resume, right? But if you talk about humanly for one particular recruiter, it's nearly impossible to go through, you know, thousands of applicants, right? That's where exactly AI Pitcher Right. It helps you to understand the resumes which are relevant and to filter out the resumes, which may not be the right fit at this point in time. Right. 
 So that's where your turnaround time gets reduced, not only for the recruiter, even for an applicant. He or she is aware of where my profile stands with this profile, but with this requisition or with this job. 
 So he or she is not waiting. They can immediately respond. Go to the other one and start applying for other opportunities. 
 So that's the first stage. Similarly, secondly next comes is the interview stage. Right. 
 So in interview stages there are a lot of ways where you can automate the process. Now, you don't have to wait manually do it and, you know, talk to the candidates and get their self scheduling mechanisms, but with which you can just go ahead and get the interview schedule. 
 So that, again, is a reduction of time for the recruiter, saving his or her bandwidth. Similarly, for the candidate, he or she can choose the availability as per their own preference. 
 So the conversations are less, the actions are more. And similarly at later stages right when the offer and joining everything comes in with so many you know ai implementations coming in ats's things are so automated you don't have to touch base and talk each at each and every stage a lot of things just go on a system generated email and the person just knows where his or her profile stands and there's no ambiguity right so yeah so mostly it's making the process seamless, making the process smooth, and ensuring that everybody is on the same page, right? 
 So again, it's not something which is still 100%. I think it will evolve more. But I think we have started the path, which is great. 

 Rose | 05:50
Yeah, I'm a bit worried that there doesn't seem to be a lot of human element in the whole process. You know, will AI replace the human element? 

 Debolina | 06:00
Right, exactly. That's the question I was expecting from this. No, the term human resources means human, right? You cannot take a human out of the human resources function, right? 
 So human interaction is definitely necessary. And I'll tell you at which stages it is necessary. Right. Immediately after the profile gets shortlisted. Right. When it goes to the interview stage before that, a human touch base is important. That's when a recruiter comes and talks to the person and say, hey, you know what, your profile is shortlisted. We find it great. How do you find the role? Any questions? 
 So that is where, you know, you connect. Connect with the candidate. And it is good because you are not spending your time shortlisting the resumes, the recruiter has bandwidth, even the candidate, it is useful for them because immediately after their profile gets shortlisted, they know that they have somebody to talk to them, which is, it's like a building of a trust, right? 
 So there is where the human element comes in. Similarly, after each and every interview stage, right, as in when you filter out candidates, you can talk to them and say, you know what, your profile is cleared, has cleared the interview, we move to the further stages, and that's what keeps the human interaction intact. Even before the onboarding, right, touch points with recruiters and candidates always happen. It's just that it's not monotonous, it just keep does not keep on happening every now and then, right? Which is good for both of them, you know, even a candidate doesn't want a recruiter calling them day in, day out, right? It's not a good, very good thing. 
 So it kind of keeps the balance, right? So, recruitment as a function will have AI implemented, which will ease out the process, but it will never take out the human or the human resources function, if I have to put it that. 

 Rose | 07:43
Way. Yeah, I didn't think it would. 
 I mean, you still need that human interaction for the process to go, but I thought I'd ask the question anyway. What are some common myths and misconceptions about AI? 
 You know, what it can't do yet and including that you know include some bias-free hiring. 

 Debolina | 08:04
Yeah. So I think the most common thinking myth which is there is that AI will replace recruitment industry completely. That's not the case. And that's why the previous stages, whatever I explained, comes into the picture. You cannot take a human interaction out of a recruitment function, right? It is very much there. 
 So if the common myth that is there that it will replace human interaction, no, that's not true. Yes, definitely. 
 You know, organizations will look at a team size which is a bit more compact because a lot of things are getting automated and you have to be on top of your game. If you have to be in the function and but that's not that's the case everywhere right any field you go. And not only in recruitment whether it's engineering whether it's sports everywhere we have to be on top of your game so that's the thing which is going to be, but you have to be mindful. And next important thing is upskilling, right? You have to be in line with the trend. If you're not, then you will lag behind. See, these things were there earlier but the necessity was not that high. Now it's like you do or die, you have to be on top of it, right? And that's the only takeaway which I can think of. 

 Rose | 09:16
Yeah, I think if, AI definitely has a place within the recruitment process. I totally agree. 
 I mean, as you say, you get thousands of applicants and, you know, you can't. Go through each one. I remember back in the old days, you know, you'd apply for a job and you'd wait and wait. But conversely, when I was on the other side of the recruitment process, you know, we'd get a heap of applicants and we'd have to sift through each one. We'd have to read each resume, each cover letter, and search for those words and things. And with AI, it just makes it so much easier that keywords are included in resumes and cover letters that it makes the process so much easier by using AI. 

 Debolina | 10:03
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's the end goal, right? You want to reduce bandwidth from everyone, yet you want the process to be effective. 
 So I think, as I said, we are not there completely, but we have started the march towards it. 

 Rose | 10:16
Absolutely. So how can we evaluate the AI tools that are available? 
 So what are some practical tips on cutting through the marketing fluff that's around AI? 

 Debolina | 10:27
Yeah. So I think if you're evaluating AI tools, right, that's your question, that how do you evaluate AI tools? I think first and foremost, I think very important is how much degree of an automation the AI tool is giving you, right? There are still ATS tools, which are not, the automation is limited. Okay. 
 So that is a call that you have to take as an organization, because see, let's face it, the more automation, the more it comes with the cost. Right? 
 So you have to keep in mind the budget and everything. And that's where, you know, again, human interaction, human thought comes in picture, where do you make that call that, okay, what is best for my organization, right? 
 So you keep both the parameters in mind, and then come up with your with the, you know, AI tool for your organization, right? But there are multiple nowadays, I think, if I have to talk about, you know, Microsoft tools, there is ChatGPT, which is very predominantly used. Then you have Claude, which is very predominantly. You have Gemini. Gemini has come up with so many modifications, you know, So there are so many things that you can explore. If you want to touch base with. If you want to have your AI game on, right? Then you have one called slide.ai, which is very good for, PowerPoint, right? 
 So there are a lot of things, right, which you can explore and that can help you automate your work. 

 Rose | 11:53
Yeah, we're always looking for ways that we can automate. I know I am. I would love to find someone that would automate my editing process. That Debolina can be found on LinkedIn. 

 Debolina | 12:02
Would be absolutely wonderful. Yeah, I know. I get that. 
 Yeah, that's true.

Rose | 12:12
All of these links will be in the show notes when we move forward. And, yeah, definitely look her up on LinkedIn. Debolina, if there was something that you could share with our audience today, what might that be? 

 Debolina | 12:24
So I think I just would wrap it up in two sentences. First, AI is the thing to be in the market. Accept it. Embrace it. Don't shy away from it. Second, don't be afraid that it'll take your job. No. Your job will very much be there, but be updated with the trend, be on top of your game so that you're there in the market and ensure you do the job which you are best at. 

 Rose | 12:50
Absolutely, totally agree with that. I think, you know, being an early adopter of technology I’m always looking for new things on the marketplace and i love to try new programs and AI tools and whatever I can find that's relatively inexpensive so that try before I buy. And a lot of the times I don't go through with them because they don't do what I want or they're a bit too technical and so they're not easy to navigate, but yeah. I think embracing AI because it's here now, and I think we should all be doing that. 

 Debolina | 13:31
Perfect. Absolutely. We are on sync. 

 Rose | 13:35
Debolina, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me today. 

 Debolina | 13:38
Thank you so much, Ruth. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye. 

 Outro | 13:43
You've been listening to Talking With The Experts, hosted by Rose Davidson. Make sure you have a look at our back catalogue over at talkingwiththeexperts.com. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss out on any episode. We look forward to your company next time.