The Electric Slide – AI’s Already Big Impact on Recruiting (And How It’s Not Replacing Us Anytime Soon)
The Electric Slide – AI’s Already Big Impact on Recruiting (And How It’s Not Replacing Us Anytime Soon)
By Nick Swetye
Machine learning and AI-driven data analysis aren’t new, but since ChatGPT went live to the public in late November of 2022, chatbots have certainly captured the collective imagination. Its creators and advocates promise it will open countless undiscovered doors and revolutionize not only the workplace but all of human civilization – an invention as big as language itself! And as an early adopter, I have often felt as though I have been handling the fires of Prometheus.
In our industry, Executive Search firms and HR departments across the globe have been hungry to make extensive use of chatbots and AI tools, streamline workflows, increase volume, reduce costs, and drive profits. New candidate and prospective client sourcing tools, automated outreach, even promises of the Holy Grail of chatbot-driven-prescreening of candidates – all are already developed and in use, and all in just the last 12 months.
The catch – quality is not necessarily guaranteed. Daily workshops on your choice of platform can be joined by video conference where you can hear the prophecies of the coming Age of Aquarius where none of us will have to do the things in the workplace that are hard, the things that are time-consuming, the things that are messy – if only you’ll subscribe to our new service.
The idea of candidates using AI to write cover letters while recruiters use AI to screen them isn’t new mirrors the horrors in education, where students are using AI to write research papers while overworked teachers are pressured to turn to it for grading. Terrifying enough, and now coupled with the very real possibility of candidates using AI voicebots to respond to initial job interview calls conducted themselves by AI – it’s all simply the stuff of nightmares.
At Reneris, I feel fortunate enough to be working with passionate, dedicated, and mission-focused leaders across the country for whom the personal touch is central to the experience they expect and the outcomes they need. While every Executive Search firm prides itself on building relationships, Reneris feels ahead of the curve, and the clients and candidates I speak with remind me daily that we aren’t like other recruiters they’ve met. It’s a badge of honor in many ways and the primary driver of our success.
In the end, our clients don’t care how we use AI, just as long as it doesn’t impact their experience. They want the best possible candidate for a critical and complex role. This is likely to be someone not on the job market, someone who doesn’t hop from job to job, someone in the midst of making a lasting impact on the organization where they are currently working but also motivated by something to make a change. The clients don’t care if or how we use AI as long as they get the right person in the end.
Who does care? Our candidates.
The number of times a candidate has ended a conversation with us and remarked how good it felt to be really heard, not just spoken to or asked to start by filling out an online form, is a metric we should probably track because it is painfully frequent. Building trust and transparency is the key to good recruiting and that takes time, intention, and a solid dose of humanity. It takes frequent friendly contact, subtle vetting for the proper motivations for change, a lot of active listening and thoughtful preparation, some left-brained analysis weighed against right-brained instinct and no small amount of persistence.
AI is definitely going to replace a lot of recruiters, but thankfully, not the good ones. And I hope you’ll tune in again in future newsletters where we explore what it takes to attract great candidates, how to prepare for a difficult search, and much, much more.
Reneris is a specialized executive search and management consulting firm that provides professional services to clients seeking a high-caliber consultative partner. We have successfully placed candidates in leadership positions in the Real Estate (Hospitality, Multi-Family Housing, Senior Living) and Non-Profit sectors.
Please contact us to learn how Reneris can help you attract executive-level talent for your leadership team.