As technology encroaches into every area of our lives and fears start to grow over the possibility of AI replacing human jobs, Wave’s Emily Buckley argues that the best approach is for recruiters to work alongside AI to achieve optimum results. A careful blend of human qualities and data-powered technology makes for an incredibly competitive candidate attraction strategy.
Technology is accelerating at an incredible pace. It was developing quickly pre-2020 and then experienced a sizeable boost when the world relied upon it during the pandemic to ensure day-to-day life continued when we couldn’t leave our homes. Today, automation is making its way into every area of our lives, with the aim of making both our professional and personal lives easier. And yet there seems to be a growing fear of AI, with a particular worry that robots will replace humans and large numbers of jobs will be lost. However, the vast majority of experts believe that AI won’t cull human jobs. Rather, AI and humans will make an extremely beneficial partnership, working together to achieve optimum results. For recruiters, technology is fast becoming an indispensable tool, allowing them to streamline the recruitment process and focus on the very human task of recruiting people.
The pace of technological development increases year on year. We all know that a good indicator of the health of an industry is the number of jobs it posts and WaveTrackR data has shown that jobs in the IT & Technology sector continue to outpace any other industry, as it has done for years. In that sector, technology is actively boosting human jobs. The requirement for those to continue to develop technology as well as those who will oversee and run the digitalisation of companies is far-reaching. It is something that more and more businesses are looking for and will require in the future. IT skills are increasingly important in the job market.
But what of those who fear that their jobs will simply be replaced by AI? It is something that many recruiters are hearing time and time again but recruiters themselves aren’t immune to such a fear. Sophisticated AI can efficiently sort through applications and CVs, screening those who aren’t suitable. It can respond to candidate queries, let them know if they are successful or not, and all without human bias. Technology can certainly greatly help recruiters improve efficiency and reduce unconscious bias but ultimately it can’t replace the uniquely human qualities that are so important in recruitment: instinct, empathy, human judgement and creating personal relationships with both candidates and clients. Recruitment is, after all, a human business, matching great people with great opportunities – people connecting people with people.
However, there is no denying that recruitment technology is incredibly beneficial to recruiters. From recommending the best job boards and times to post jobs, to automating candidate management tasks, to providing analytics to help with recruitment strategising, recruiters in today’s market might find they lose their competitive edge without AI. Ultimately, humans and AI working together will produce the best results, each utilising their strengths to attract talented candidates and make successful placements quickly and with cost efficiency. AI can increase efficiency and improve the candidate experience, as well as make data-powered recommendations to help with decision making and strategising. Human recruiters can utilise the information gifted to them by AI to make better job posting decisions and engage with shortlisted candidates.
One of the clearest examples of humans and AI working together to achieve optimum results is at the job advert writing and posting stage – that critical first step that can mean the difference between your job being seen by and resonating with talented candidates and simply becoming another job in a sea of job ads. Ensuring that the right candidates see, engage with and apply for your jobs involves your ads being written well and then posted to the most suitable job boards, at the right time. To get it consistently right, you need a careful blend of technology and human creativity. Writing the perfect job ad is an art and one that really needs a human touch. No-one will respond positively to an ad that sounds like it was generated by a robot. It needs to be compelling, to really sell the job to the candidate. It needs to connect. That’s not to say that technology can’t help with the content. Software that optimises your job ads for diversity, inclusion and SEO can be incredibly helpful but always make sure it reads well, sounds like it was written by a human, is brief and persuasive.
Once the job ad is ready to be posted, technology can again help. A data-powered multi-poster such as WaveTrackR will recommend the right job boards for that particular ad, and what day of the week, and even time of day, to send it based on when the majority of candidates in your industry are actively searching. Right content, right place, right time, created with a blend of human creativity and clever tech. During the recruitment process, a combination of both human and AI is also needed. Technology ensures the process is smooth, dealing with the admin side so that the recruiters can focus on the human side – talking to both client and candidate, keeping in touch, offering advice.
Instinct is also an important element in recruitment and something that technology cannot offer. Sometimes, whatever the tech is telling you, as a recruiter you will have an instinct for whether a candidate is right or wrong for a job. Some things simply can’t be measured through technology alone. Technology also can’t sell a job to a candidate – that is a very human quality. If you truly believe a candidate is the right fit for a job but they’re on the fence, recruiters can use their knowledge of the benefits, the culture, the people at that organisation to try and persuade them to accept an offer.
AI shouldn’t be feared but embraced for the myriad ways it can help enhance the humanity of recruitment. It gifts recruiters the time to do what they do best – connect and engage with people. No technology can replace the inherent and essential human nature of recruitment but what it can do is save recruiters time and money and improve the efficiency of the entire process. Working together, humans and AI can be a candidate attraction powerhouse.
Wave aims to create a world where talent is never missed by providing recruitment solutions through cutting-edge technology, via WaveTrackR (data-powered multi-poster and analytics tool), RecWebs (tailored recruitment websites) and WaveMedia (recruitment media buying).
