I’ve been asking rooms full of recruiters if they believe recruiting will be 100% AI by the year 2030. Across several sessions, the results have been the same. About one-third of the room raises their hand. Wearily, I should add. I suspect the other half thinks it might be true, but they don’t want me to embarrass them by saying that’s a dumb idea.
First, I don’t like calling anything stupid, and second, I do think it’s possible. I mean, hell, I could throw together a recruiting process that was 100% automated right now with free tools. Would it be compliant or effective at hiring qualified people? Probably not. Would it technically accomplish each task? Sure.
I even think it’s probable that candidates would love that AI program. All I would have to do is throw in some quick auto check-in emails. Really, it wouldn’t take much to persuade them. But it’s not likely if we don’t review and improve the data we use to make decisions - things like job posts, applications, interviews, and performance evaluations to start.
My Life Feels Like A Pilot Right Now
We aren’t telling executives that. Instead, they believe we’re all using AI. The reality? 67% of HR professionals just started testing the water this year. This wave of adoption and pressure has left a lot of recruiting and HR teams feeling like they constantly need to be piloting new AI tools and technology advancements.
At what expense? The neverending pilot mode has teams using AI to move faster all while stopping them in their tracks. Everyone wants to jump on board just like we have with every other tech wave, but where to start isn't so clear when teams are already shrinking. Teams don't have time to waste.
I’ve seen similar tech waves since the early 2000s when I got my first job in HR tech. My first big wave was watching job ads go 100% online. Then it was social recruiting. Then candidate experience, and a few in between. But this is a more fundamental shift on an industry that has always struggled with change for compliance reasons - or at least that’s what we blame it on.
Want To Pivot From Pilot To Best In Class? Build A recruitment marketing Library
AI isn't the same. Social recruiting was a low risk time. It impacted one small aspect of advertising a job. AI can impact everything we do. That's why the first step isn't for your entire team to just jump right in or create a policy like all those other cliche articles might tell you. Instead, it's time to get your content organized and get the quality pieces in one place.
Build a recruitment marketing library of all your best in class examples. I'm talking job posts, interview questions, intake templates. The style guide. Every piece of content that is a good representation of where you want to go. Remember, all data is not created equal. It's better to create something new than upload something that coaches your AI tools with the wrong information. Create folders and clear naming conventions. Searchable is best. Then, upload it somewhere secure like a shared drive or Dropbox so it's not available to everyone on the internet (including your talent competitors).
Even with all the great tech in the world, AI can't operate effectively without a defined process and these signals to say "here's what good means." People can't produce quality outputs without defining good either. Remember, if you want consistent outputs from your tools, you'll need to train the data on the correct way. With this folder in hand, you can get started uploading and training your AI to deliver good for you, not some generic definition
What’s Ahead: Series Preview
In this series, I want to talk you through that evolution. Next week, I'll share a self audit to help you understand where you are on the AI maturity model for talent acquisition. Where are you at now? What's the next best step in your evolution? I'll answer all those questions and more.
Then, in the final 2 weeks we'll make some bold predictions for the future of recruitment marketing with Joveo's CEO and give you a few ways to deal with AI application overload in this series sponsored by Joveo.
Subscribe now to have every blog in this series delivered directly to your inbox and be sure to check out our sponsor! They help me keep this blog free for all of you.
Meet My Series Sponsor
Joveo is a global leader in AI-led, high-performance recruitment marketing. The platform uses AI and data to make your recruitment marketing the best it can be. With Joveo, employers, staffing agencies, and RPOs have access to AI-powered (programmatic) job advertising, talent engagement, career sites, conversational recruiting, and unified analytics. As a result, they can reach more candidates globally, engage them effectively, get better hiring outcomes, and maximize efficiency and ROI.
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