AI in Recruitment
Is AI in Recruitment a good thing? Will it improve the experience, results, productivities and quality of Recruitment?
To answer these questions it is a matter of opinion based on industry experience, experience of dealing with people and the way AI seems to be going by way of demand. Having been in the industry and occupied all jobs including managing hundreds of people over my time I feel I am in a good position to answer. So here goes.
Is AI a good thing for Recruitment
This depends on who you ask. If you ask a tech fanatic or a lazy recruiter who wants easy productivities then you will likely get a resounding yes. However, if you ask a cynic or someone who hates change then you will likely get a no. The answer lies somewhere in the middle though.
AI should, in my opinion, be used as a tool to aid mundane tasks mostly. However, like when people started transporting goods via internal combustion powered vehicles as opposed to horse and cart, those using the vehicles would increase productivity. But once everyone adopted the new technology the playing field levelled out. And like with any technology there will be early adopters who iron out the wrinkles for the rest to only join fully when things get reliable, cost effective and useful.
Presently with AI there are plenty of gimmicks, hyped products that will fall out of favour and integration problems so whilst AI is widely used, it is really only a minimal impact at this stage. But that will change, but how. To fully answer if AI is a good thing for recruitment we need to answer that question.
The future of AI in recruitment
Over the next 5 years there will be products that come to the recruitment world that will be widely adopted and become the norm. In between there will be a load of products and ideas that enter the market. Some of those will be hyped and become nothing, probably most. And some that break in and solve real tangible problems and become useful.
The issue to recruitment is to what extent and most importantly who those products become useful to. And here lies the problem.
What does a Recruiter do
If we break the job of a 360 recruiter down, the job involves finding candidates, winning clients, developing relationships and then getting candidates for clients to fill their vacancies.
But what is the objective use why a client would use a recruiter? To get candidates to fill their vacancies. If an AI product comes along, let’s say a platform such as the equivalent of Google where universally everyone becomes a candidate on it, the job of a recruiter will be dying quickly in my opinion.
Death to the Recruiter
Think about this. You upload a profile and so does everyone else to a universal platform as the normal standard to get a job. AI then uses all of the data on you ever automatically to match you to clients who sign in to the platform to find candidates. That AI also assesses your personality, performance, work history, psychology and big data to assess your job match. Early adopter clients find this AI exceptionally quick, easy and accurate and so every client uses it. And because it is so cheap because it’s mass use and gets it revenue stream from advertising and small subscription fees, clients no longer either need recruiters or want to pay their fees.
As a Recruiter why am I saying this
Our industry is unregulated, has a low barrier to entry and high earning potential. If you are a tech firm this is ideal to disrupt. And with AI, you will be able to do it. How do you save money? Cut out the middle man/woman. There is market just begging to be exploited and disrupted right here. And it’s just a matter of time until someone does it.