A Recruiting Ontology

What Recruiters Do and What Can Be Automated

With the heavy hand of AI looming over us, it is important to itemize what a recruiter actually does every day and determine what aspect and skills are uniquely human,. For the past few months I have been asking recruiters to itemize what they do. I have added my own experiences and consulting learnings to this and have then estimated what aspects of each of these can be automated. While theoretically it might be possible to totally automate recruitment it is likely that candidates and hiring manager will resist that and probably rightly so. Human judgment and perception are still vital.

However there is no denying that much of recruiting as we currently do it can be automed. Recent articles and research point out that white collar jobs are just as likely as manufacturing and service jobs to be automated.

This is a list of the many tasks recruiters and recruiting leaders undertake. Some tasks may be those that recruiting leaders have responsibility for, and some pertain only to an individual recruiter or sourcer.  However, the average recruiter has over 25 tasks to complete, many daily. 

The percentages given are estimates based on a significant use of AI that is integrated into all parts of the process.  The more AI is used, the more it will be able to learn from its experience and recruiter feedback.  Over a few years, many of these tasks can be completely automated.

Please provide your feedback and comments. This is a work in progress and will benefit from your help. Also, let me know if you think this is useful or not.

1. Preparing annual recruiting budget and strategy: This task involves strategic planning and decision-making, leveraging predictive analytics and historical data to inform budget allocations and strategic directions. While AI can provide valuable insights, the final decisions require human judgment. Automation: 45% to reflect the increasing sophistication of predictive analytics.

2. Consulting with hiring managers on needs and hiring projections: AI and data analytics can offer insights into hiring trends and candidate availability, but the nuanced understanding of departmental needs and culture fit necessitates human interaction. Automation: 25% to emphasize the predominance of human judgment in these consultations.