The Last Recruiter - a History of Change
How It May End
This is the recently discovered diary of a recruiter who recorded year by year how AI and automation gradually took over her work. It is a story of evolution, illustrating how small decisions can lead to major and often unexpected changes. We need to be prepared, always keep learning new skills, and never assume anything.
The Last Recruiter’s Diary
2025
I have been a recruiter for twenty years. My desk is cluttered with résumés, coffee cups, and sticky notes with names of candidates who still need a follow-up. AI tools are everywhere now, but they still feel like helpers—screening résumés, writing job ads, setting up interview slots. I tell myself the human touch will always matter.
2026
Our company adopts an “AI sourcing assistant.” It claims to scan 200 million profiles in minutes. At first, it’s like having a research team that never sleeps. I use its lists, but I still make the calls. Candidates say they appreciate hearing from a real person. Still, management is starting to notice that the AI’s outreach gets higher response rates than mine.
2027
AI can now run video interviews with candidates using avatars that look and sound human. They can test technical skills on the spot, give instant feedback, and score cultural fit. I’m told to focus on “relationship building” while the AI does the heavy lifting. But when candidates say, “I already told the AI that,” I wonder if my role is just becoming redundant repetition.
2028
Our team is cut in half. “Efficiency,” the VP says. The AI has started negotiating start dates and salaries on its own, using compensation data I could never access. It even adjusts offers based on market forecasts. One of my colleagues leaves to become a career coach, saying, “The machines will own hiring in five years.” I laugh, but it’s a nervous laugh.
2029
I no longer source candidates. The AI builds predictive pipelines—it knows when people are about to leave their jobs and reaches out before they’ve even updated LinkedIn. My day is mostly spent in “exceptions”—cases where the AI isn’t sure about a hire. There aren’t many of those. Candidates are starting to say they trust the AI more than humans—less bias, more clarity, faster answers.
2030
A Fortune 100 announces it has eliminated recruiters entirely, filling every role through an AI “Workforce Acquisition Cloud.” Our leadership sends out a memo: “We will adopt a similar approach.” My calendar empties. The AI doesn’t just match skills; it runs simulated job tasks during the application process and updates the candidate’s profile in real time. My manager tells me to “think about next steps” for my career.
2031
I am one of three recruiters left in the company. We’re “legacy liaisons” for candidates who request a human point of contact. The requests are rare. Most people like how the AI personalizes every message and even adapts its tone and language style to theirs. I used to believe no machine could win trust the way a human could. I was wrong.
2032
My role changes again. Now I work for candidates, not companies. I help executives and niche specialists position themselves in a world where AI already knows their full history and skill set. It’s a strange feeling—preparing clients to impress not a hiring manager, but a machine.
2035
I’m the last human recruiter I know. The AI systems are faster, fairer, and omniscient about the labor market. Corporations no longer see the point of paying a person to do what a platform can do in milliseconds. Sometimes I miss the old days—the long calls, the negotiations, the thrill of convincing a skeptical hiring manager. But the truth is, hiring hasn’t gotten worse without us. In many ways, it’s better.
The human touch is gone from recruiting. And I’m the one who trained the machines to replace it.
Kevin, I think you were optimistic.
The contracts with legacy systems will keep recruiters alive for the next 5 years... and then....silence ;-)
For the last decade plus recruiters have become transactional, relying on tools to search, source and present candidates. They have forgotten that the trade was built on being a value add to the transactional part of the job...For recruiters to be the essential element they once were, they have to find ways to add value...go back to the beginning, get better at checking references, evaluating candidate motivation and skill levels, look for ways to impact the employer brand, make sure their evaluations are respected by doing them as if the candidate will work directly for them, move the process along in meaningful and productive ways. I cannot fathom a recruiter thinking they are doing their job simply by managing the clicks in a system...but it has become all too common. Staffing managers and VPs have forgotten that they are responsible for developing talent/skill in their teams that goes beyond being transactional - to being essential...sadly the strategic TA leader ha become a unicorn in today's world.