The rise of the machines……in recruitment?

This is a part of a series around Temporary Recruitment that we’ll be running in conjunction with TempBuddy this year. Here, Rachael Moss, Marketing Director, of TempBuddy asks if machines will replace recruiters… (well that and a few other far more likely things)

Like me, I’m sure you’ve read articles over the last few years suggesting that swift advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robots will see our human workforce become redundant. Not surprisingly China has a robot for pretty much everything, whilst about 35% of current jobs in the UK are at high risk of computerisation over the following 20 years according to a study by researchers at Oxford University and Deloitte.

But it’s not all bad news as apparently the robots will give us new jobs too, and it’s claimed they can give companies a competitive advantage thereby saving jobs. So the outlook may not be as bleak as we’ve been lead to believe. One thing is for sure: robots are here to stay. Their existence already impacts our lives every day – from their contribution in building our cars, our computers, our pharmaceuticals.

If we go back to the widely cited Frey and Osborne’s The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation? published in 2013, in analysing 702 US occupations ranking them according to their risk of computerisation, they took into account three key skill attributes: perception and manipulation, social intelligence and creative intelligence. They identified that “wages and educational attainment exhibit a strong negative relationship with an occupation’s probability of computerisation.” In other words, lower skilled and repetitive jobs are most at risk.

Yet robots are becoming increasingly sophisticated and adept at mobile manipulation, and if AI can beat a world chess champion it would be naive to think that many “office” jobs will not be affected too. In fact, accountancy and finance is supposedly one of the most at risk sectors at an eye-watering 95%.

Recruitment organisations will (or should) be acutely aware of what the rise of AI means for the industries they serve, as clearly this will impact their own future growth potential, the type of roles they will recruit for in years to come, and the most sought after skill-sets. Take a look at the BBC’s Will a Robot Take Your Job? to check the impact forecast for a given role.

Of course, what this tool doesn’t reveal are the new jobs still to be imagined as a result of the robot influx. The ones our children may well be working in. Let’s hope the education system has an eye on the future too.

Some roles will be entirely replaced, whilst others may have humans and robots working hand-in-hand so to speak to derive the maximum efficiencies and learnings. Temporary and contract workers who are today undertaking the roles predicted to be replaced by robots, may be required to support that automation instead. Staffing organisations that identify these key new skills and roles early on will win out, as they gain a head start on their competitors becoming recognised for their market authority and talent pool.

With the contingent workforce expected to comprise nearly 50% of the world’s workforce by 2018/19, these flexible workers may be the ones who become more sought after than their permanent colleagues, as they move from one company and assignment or gig to another constantly updating their skills as they go. Whether it falls to the individual or the employer, continued learning and exposure to emerging technologies and the new world order will be key to ongoing employability.

Alongside this wider market overview, it’s time we looked in the mirror and asked what the developments in AI and robotics mean for the recruitment industry itself. Barry Asin, President of Staffing Industry Analysts, referenced this during the SIA Executive Forum in Phoenix last week saying: “Mobile, big data and video are technology change impacting the staffing industry in the near term, but more automation is coming, including the possibilities of bots and artificial intelligence and cognitive computing applications”.

Most recruitment businesses already utilise some form of automated technologies to to underpin their service delivery and improve efficiencies – CRMs, CV parsing software and workforce management systems such as TempBuddy – but how many have started to consider what AI could mean for their own organisations? How could they further augment their human capital in our increasingly competitive margin-driven industry?

Staffing agencies need to be open to change, to educate themselves about the possibilities afforded by emerging technologies and experiment integrating AI alongside the humans who will continue to be employed throughout our industry. Using robots to improve productivity may sound far-fetched, but it’s a likely outcome. In the space of a week I’ve already been invited to 3 meetings by Amy Ingram, robotic Personal Assistant (admittedly with mixed results). The deep learning algorithms of AI could also help, for example, with assessments in volume recruiting to combat subjective hiring criteria.

What it surely boils down to in this rapidly evolving world is that recruiters must continue to find ways to demonstrate their (irreplaceable human) value to avoid finding themselves displaced by an automated counterpart. As yet robots are not renowned for their EQ. We can therefore stand apart from the robots in the power of our relationship building and ensure we exploit our creative and emotional intelligence as measured by Frey and Osborne. Rather than standing behind the daily transactions that the robots may well be able to deliver in not-so-distant time, such as candidate matching, we need to step forward and bring real value by developing and sharing market knowledge and insights with our candidates and clients. Recruiters as subject matter experts of the staffing landscape and their specialist sectors.

So the future recruitment industry seems likely to feature robotics, AI and humans interacting alongside one another. I believe Asin is right though: “The ineffable culture is key to bind it all together.” Tech needs people, and people need tech.