Is Traditional Corporate Recruiting Doomed?

Why Open AI Changes Everything

Organizations and work are changing more quickly than most realize. The need for creativity and solution to problems is greater than the need for experts with deep functional expertise. Expertise is becoming embedded in tools, apps, e-libraries, and artificial intelligence.

Chat-GPT 3 and 4, Bard, and other Open A.I. tools exemplify what is coming. Many firms now use these or similar tools to write code, develop mechanical, structural, and electrical systems, and design integrated circuits. Lawyers can draw on A.I. to provide precedents for cases and even create arguments for juries. Almost every profession will feel the effects of A.I. on reducing the need for traditional expertise, including recruiting.

The evidence shows that increases in human productivity significantly lag the investments made in tools and process improvements. We normally first use new technologies to emulate what we already do, and after some time, we begin to find new and innovative ways to use the tools or rely on them to do it for us. Chat-GPT is one example of how artificial intelligence has progressed from augmenting to automating, even though far from perfect.

An example of this was the introduction of the typewriter. In the early days of the typewriter, a person would dictate to a stenographer who would take shorthand and then use the typewriter to create a document. This took two people and three steps. It took decades before we eliminated the stenographer by having the manager learn to type and enter the document directly. But when this occurred, the profession of stenographer disappeared (as did shorthand), efficiency went up, and the number of people an office needed went down.

While this is a very simple example, it illustrates how what we used to do for someone can be done by technology. And this process has accelerated to months, not years.

Recruiting has seen no surge in creativity or productivity, and corporate recruiting functions are losing ground as the talent market becomes more complex and employer needs change. As I have recently written, this is why so many recruiters have lost their jobs recently.

Relative to most other organizational functions, H.R. and recruiting have invested little in technology and even less in process improvements. A recruiter from 1970 would be very comfortable in most corporate recruiting departments today except for learning to use the computer.

Recruiters have been and still are too focused on the short term to see that investments they make today will eventually pay off – and pay off tremendously. If you have not made the investments, you are not only behind, but it may be impossible to catch up. Utilizing technology requires a learning curve that early adopters get from the beginning. Look at how hard it is for a middle-aged person to grasp the power of social media or fully realize the iPhone’s capabilities compared to someone younger who has been working with these technologies since the beginning of their career. 

Recruiters have a hard time seeing that while what they do that is helpful to a hiring manager, the emerging tools will make it easier and more accessible for the hiring manager to find their own candidates. A.I. will guide them in communicating with them and make recommendations on how to close them and what to pay them.

Here are a few ideas on where you can make a difference.

1. Most recruiting functions focus on the zero value-add backend systems that do nothing directly to serve their customers – the candidates. Applicant tracking systems and sourcing tools may be convenient, but they are the equivalent of order entry systems for salespeople. They will not make you better at engaging candidates or influencing hiring managers. Instead, focus on solving problems like increasing the supply of hard-to-find talent or developing creative attraction strategies.

2. To fully use A.I. tools, we must pose the right questions and use human judgment to determine whether the answer, design, or solution is accurate and effective. We will need creative thinking, polymath types of people with broad knowledge and scope.

3. We need to focus on teaching hiring managers how to fish rather than fish for them. Help them use Chat-GPT to create job descriptions and candidate communications. Then recruiters can provide consulting and create an engaging and creative recruiting brand and career site.

This well known diagram shows the power of the early adoption of technology in terms of market share.

Corporate recruiting is not doomed, but it will require more use of technology and focus on creativity, innovation, and strategy. When adopting technology, time is not our friend, so early investments pay off the most. Early adopters and innovators always win.

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