AI is clearly a hot topic in any recruitment office and has been for some time. With our increasing needs for instant gratification because of social media, how does this impact on the daily culture in recruitment businesses and what does this mean for the future of recruiters. AI is a disruptor and no recruiter dare ignore the way it has already changed the way recruitment operates. However, is it a threat to our existence in the near future?
I wanted to present the above premise to a handful of fellow recruiters and the reaction was fairly balanced in truly believing that in a “true” recruitment consultancy, the advent of AI can never replace human recruiters.
Allow me to present my case, with help from the contributors who work in finance, IT and professional services recruitment:
1. AI won’t have empathy for candidates
Human Recruiters build relationships over a period of time and have empathy with the job hunters and clients. AI can never hope for a candidate to get their best job; cannot express their opinion or expertise to a client about whether to hire a candidate.
Humans take time to build trust with their customers and AI will never be able to draw down on these relationships to make a difference to a process. If you think about your placements, how many of them come from just “knowing” that your client will love your candidate and very often they don’t match on paper but you rely on the history you have built up of both parties and the culture fit. AI cannot experience a culture or a personality
2. Human recruiters can actually SELL a job
AI is very capable of matching up the algorithms of key skills and experience versus that on a candidates CV. However, it takes a human to know how to sell and present an opportunity, focusing on the “softer” elements and being persuasive if necessary. I personally have placed people who initially had said “no” to a company but they trusted me and realized that their initial perception of the company had been wrong. I can’t be the only recruiter who has had this experience. AI is knowledgeable but AI does not have the capacity to think outside of the box of A matches A.
3. AI will never really influence the process
AI is knowledgeable in acting on instructions and finding CVs based on a specific brief. However, AI cannot influence the process or challenge the job spec. Whereas human recruiters can do this and very often by consulting the client’s expectations, you understand more about what the business needs and this may broaden the criteria for the right hire for them. Therefore, human recruiters are influencers and not simply box tickers which ultimately is all AI can ever be.
4. AI will never love their job like we do
As functional as AI already is and will continue to be, the fact is, what has made me successful and other recruiters who work as I do, experts in their field, is my LOVE and PASSION for the job that I do. Ok, AI can’t give up and walk out to go and get another job. But it is the love and genuine care for doing the job properly that makes me successful. And AI can never replace that pastoral care for getting the job done and not just perfunctorily.
5. Recruitment is a human being industry
AI is methodical and based on data. However, recruitment is the ultimate “human being industry” and therefore human recruiters will always be involved in the sector. Whilst portals and job boards already cope with Matching up a persons job need and a clients employment gap, it can never really hope to plan an individual’s future career goal purely on data and analytics. It is a tactile process and this is something AI can never achieve.
How is AI affecting your market and sector?
Have you been pipped to the post on a job or vacancy because of a better match via AI?
And how are you ringfencing your own recruitment career to ensure you embrace technology yet not be made redundant by AI?
