AI: The Recruiter’s Replacement? Or Empowering Tool?

It’s no secret that AI is the future of recruiting. The race to automate is alive, and recruitment software is constantly finding ways to optimize time, offering recruiters a slight edge over their competitors. However, despite AI’s growth and prevalence in talent acquisition, it generally remains a polarizing subject.

In one corner, you have people like Elon Musk issuing doomsday warnings regarding the dangers of AI, alerting us of an imminent WWIII. A study from Oxford University claims that 47% of US jobs will disappear in the coming years. Conversely, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg believe differently, strongly advocating for the implementation of AI as a means of improving people’s lives. Still, the question remains: How do you fit into all of this? More than anything, recruiters want to know if their job is safe from the inevitable implementation of AI, or if they will become part of that 47% with their livelihood ripped from them.

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There’s no doubt that the recruitment industry is committed to investing in AI solutions to improve the average recruiter’s efficiency. Various recruitment software companies are all vying for the top spot, each boasting new and necessary automated features. Most front-end features are already automated, features such as resume parsing, data entry, and scheduling. This move to automation has people working faster than ever, breezing through data entry and onto more important things. And while all recruitment software is working toward further automation, certain aspects of the job remain impossible to automate.

The general consensus among the industry is that nothing can ever replace genuine, human interaction. Building and maintaining relationships is still a distinctly human skill, and the best recruiters understand this. They can grasp the need for interpersonal skills, skills that helped them master placing the right candidate with the right company. They understand that it takes more than just entering and reading data, but rather a passion for finding people their dream jobs. The power of AI is incredible, but it will never comprehend the emotional aspects of recruiting. AI lacks empathy; a human doesn’t.

So, no, AI will never replace the recruiter. In fact, it’s never been a better time to be a recruiter. If they manage to evolve with the automation trend, recruiters will be more organized and work more efficiently than their competitors. They will work smart and in tandem with recruitment software, rather than resisting it. Ideally, the hiring process will be entirely automated on the front end, allowing the recruiter to focus on what they love the most about their job, making the perfect placement.

AI is made to support the recruiter and nothing more. At the end of the day, they have to close the deal face to face, human to human; but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have some automated help along the way.

MORE: Talent technology conversation starters

Sam Halgren

Sam Halgren
Sam Halgren is a staff writer with recruiting solution provider CATS Software.

Sam Halgren

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