As thousands of recruiters have been laid off this year in the U.S. and elsewhere, the question that arises is what led to these layoffs and what role, if any, AI and technology played. The answer is complex, but AI has definitely been a factor.
However, the primary cause for these layoffs was the vast amount of over-hiring before and during the pandemic. Many companies rapidly expanded their recruitment teams before the pandemic in a mad dash to acquire talent before their competition acquired it. Much of the hiring was done simply to remove talent from the marketplace to improve their competitive edge. During the pandemic, they increased hiring recruiters to handle the growing demand for remote workers. As hiring needs have slowed, many positions are no longer necessary.
However, AI has also been a significant factor, although it is often downplayed by both companies and recruiters. It is politically dangerous to admit that automation is taking away jobs. However, it is clear that in many firms, employee populations are shrinking due to robots and other tools such as self-checkout scanners and self-service kiosks. People are expensive and come with high overhead costs. As the cost of robots and other technologies declines, using them is much cheaper than hiring people and recruiters.
Technology and AI
AI has increased the efficiency of the recruiting process. As I have written many times, artificial intelligence is increasingly capable of augmenting the recruiting process at many levels. Today, tools are readily available that can help create job descriptions based on analytics showing which features and wording are most effective in attracting the talent you want. Conversational chatbots can communicate with candidates and intelligently answer their questions without recruiter involvement. AI can schedule interviews, recommend and conduct screening and assessments, and manage the applicant database. HireEZ, Scotty AI, Glean, Vonq, Metaview, and Gem are just the tip of a growing iceberg of tools that automate parts of all of the processes. As a result, fewer recruiters are needed to perform the same amount of work.
Economics
Many firms are facing or anticipating lower demand and are slowing hiring.
As inflation and interest rates remain high, firms are reluctant to increase their workforce. Many firms are cautious because they fear a recession or global conflicts that might impact their sales.
As a result, many firms are expanding their use of the gig workforce to supplement the full-time workforce and to provide flexibility as needs change. This rise in freelance and contract work impacts the demand for traditional full-time employees and reduces the need for recruiters.
Candidate Experience
The candidate's experience has been bad for a long time. A recent report from The Candidate Experience Benchmark and Research Program at ERE Media underlines how bad the experience has become. The disgruntled candidates are the ones who have not received feedback on their application, have unanswered questions, or find the career sites hard to use. Firms implementing chatbots and automated communications as part of their career sites have significantly improved the candidate experience by providing real-time answers to questions and offering immediate screening and feedback on their resume. This removes the burden from recruiters and reduces the number of them needed.
Analytics
Advanced analytics and AI algorithms better match candidates to jobs. Analytics uses data from job descriptions, past hiring decisions, and other factors to reduce the trial-and-error aspect of recruiting. This makes the process faster and more accurate, reducing the number of applicants that hiring managers reject, speeding the time to hire, and decreasing the demand for recruiters.
Prospects for Recruiters in the Next Five Years
The landscape for recruiters will change drastically over the next five years, influenced by the evolution of AI and automation technologies, changes in work styles, the growing gig workforce, and new, more streamlined work processes.
As I have written in several recent articles, fewer recruiters will be needed than in the past, and the skills required will be very different.
Traditional recruiting is evolving into a more strategic and value-added function.
There will be increased demand for specialized recruiting. Automation will continue to handle more routine recruiting tasks, but there will be growing demand for specialized, high-touch recruiting for senior-level, niche, and hard-to-fill roles. This may also include graduate recruitment, where the focus will be on potential and culture.
Recruiters will be expected to be far more productive. Successful recruiters will be asked to handle at least twice as many requisitions as now. Recruiters will be expected to leverage AI to take responsibility for more requisitions than today.
As candidates increasingly interact with AI systems during the hiring process, the value of human-to-human interaction and relationship-building will become even more critical for recruiters. The most valuable recruiters will be those who can influence candidates and hiring managers, find ways to work with candidates and hiring managers to overcome obstacles and find creative ways to help managers restructure work to fit the skills of exceptional candidates.
Recruiters willing to continuously upskill and adapt to the changing landscape of recruiting technology and best practices will be better positioned to maintain their relevance and value. Learning, understanding trends, and awareness of the firm's business climate and strategic direction will be essential.
Economic conditions, technological advancements, and social trends will collectively shape the demand for recruiters over the next few years. Firms must strategically plan and adapt their recruitment strategies, balancing technological integration with human expertise, to meet their talent acquisition needs in an evolving landscape. The future for recruiters remains promising for those willing to adapt and focus on strategic, specialized, and human-centric aspects of talent acquisition.