AI is everywhere but recruitment now needs humans more than ever
Open any newspaper today and you’ll see the same theme repeated again and again: AI is taking over (is it a bubble, who knows). It’s disrupting industries, replacing jobs and reshaping the future of work. Recruitment, in particular, seems to attract a steady stream of negative commentary, with predictions that recruiters will soon be obsolete, replaced by algorithms, automation and machine generated decision making.
But if you step away from the headlines and into the reality of hiring, a very different picture emerges.
AI obviously has its place as it can support the recruitment process in meaningful ways. But as it stands, it is nowhere near the level required to replace the personal touch, human judgement and relationship driven approach that successful hiring still depends on.
In fact, the more AI enters the recruitment ecosystem, the more obvious it becomes to me that the human element is not just relevant but increasingly important.
A client recently ran a Head of Department recruitment campaign directly and was delighted with the initial response, describing it as featuring “….some of the best quality CVs we’d ever seen.” But after the interviews, that enthusiasm had unfortunately evaporated. The candidates were poorly aligned, lacked depth and simply didn’t resemble the polished, AI optimised CVs that had so impressed on paper.
So, while AI can write a brilliant CV, it cannot create a brilliant candidate. Unless someone is validating their experience, understanding their motivations and assessing them, organisations risk wasting time and money on artificially inflated profiles.
Clearly, AI can be very useful. It speeds up administration, improves efficiency and even helps write blogs like this one. However, with AI generated CVs flooding the market, the recruiter who actually speaks to candidates, challenges them and understands their story becomes the differentiator as human insight cuts through the noise, human intuition spots the red flags and human connection builds trust. These are some of the things that define great recruitment and they remain fundamentally human.
AI is evolving incredibly fast and will continue to shape the recruitment landscape. I’m also certain there will be many people who disagree with the thoughts of a recruiter with too many grey hairs, assuming the algorithm lets them read this at all. However, at the present time, AI cannot replace the judgement, empathy and nuance that only a human brings to recruitment decisions. That’s why my approach will continue to be rooted in human interaction.
Your thoughts and comments are, as always, very welcome.
James O’Driscoll
Gilbert Scott Associates Ltd
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