A new show on Netflix called Black Mirror highlights the negative impacts of technology on the future. Although this show is fascinating and entertaining to watch, I feel that technology will make more of a positive impact on our way of life in the future. Of course, sometimes technology has a double side effect on things for example excessively using social media and smartphones. So, technology needs to be used in the right way sometimes in moderation.
Recently, many recruiting blogs have been using AI technology to scare recruiters into reading there blog posts. It’s a trending buzzword at the moment. Will sourcing and recruiting jobs become automated in the future? I would say that some parts of those roles will be automated but our jobs will not be completely automated. Bloggers have argued for the human relationship piece – humans are emotional. The basic necessity of life revolves around having a full-time job. So, because of the emotional, and unpredictability’s of a human during the recruitment full-cycle process. I think that we are 20-30 years away from AI fully catching up with that issue.
So, having a Recruiter or Sourcer that builds that relationship with the applicant will definitely improve. New technology will remove the need for excessive searching and have us focus more on networking with applicants and more time focused on creating a good candidate experience. I wanted to create a list of dozen or so predictions on the future of talent sourcing in the next decade. Below are my thoughts on talent sourcing in 2030:
Remote & virtual based teams:
Employees can work virtually anywhere as long they have a wifi and cell phone connection. We will see the continued rise of allowing employees to work remotely. I honestly have fewer distractions when I work remotely rather than working in an office setting. With video capabilities, you can still have that team building relationship piece as well.
The rise of contract workers:
Employees will continue to focus on specialized and niche skills. By 2020 more than 50% of employees will be working on a contract basis. Companies and employees are seeing the benefits of having this type of set up.
Fewer college graduates:
The traditional way of graduating with a 4-year degree will be on the decline. Instead, boot camps and tech schools will have students specialize and focus more on tech-related fields. I feel that Millennials are experiencing this impact having too many student loans. We’ll see a continued shift having students focused on highly tangible job skills.
AI – Automates sourcing and searching duties:
We’re starting to see this now with new AI automating tools like Hiretual and HiringSolved. It will become easier to find applicants online. However, it will be harder to engage them and build out a network. People in high demand fields already despise working with recruiters because of the transactional/spamming experiences.
AI – Replaces screening duties:
Tools like HackerRank are allowing companies to test and pre-qualify applicants through screening tests. We’ll see this increase in other areas like Finance or even Marketing types of roles. Recruiters normally spend the majority of their day on screening applicants – by allowing AI technology to screen applicants over tests or through chat bots – we could see a dramatic change in recruitment duties.
Video Hiring – automates screening process:
Tools like Hirevue we’re companies send out a list of questions for the applicants to respond to over video could really impact the screening process. Someday this could potentially automate the whole screening process altogether. As it stands currently – I’ve heard how painful it is to use video interviewing tools. People not completing the video interview, people lying on the video, bias issues based on appearances.
AI Chatbots – engage applicants:
Chatbots will continue to rise. Chatbots will help engage applicants and answer related questions to the job openings. It will help increase applicant rates. Someday they could potentially screen and qualify applicants altogether.
Recruiters & Sourcers focus more on building human relationships:
AI technology will really improve our jobs. We will focus less on searching/finding leads and more time focused on building human relationships with applicants.
Calendar apps automate the scheduling process:
There will be more automation tools to help you automate the scheduling process. I could see the recruiting coordinator roles start to decline because of these technological advances.
Recruiters & Sourcers morph into new hybrid roles:
I could see these roles completely changing in the future. Technology will ultimately improve the hiring full-cycle process. Our roles might change from searching and screening to more focus on creating a better candidate experience.
Job boards won’t exist anymore:
With the launch of Google for Jobs, we’re seeing a less need use different job boards. Everything can be synced right from your career site into Google searches. We will see a slow death of job boards across the board. Instead of having job boards we’ll have different network communities that use AI and search algorithms to match applicants directly to companies.
The decline of Third Party agencies:
Much of what lower level agencies focus are on screening and submitting applicants. In order for these types of companies to survive, they will have to pivot their main focus. AI technology will be able to eventually automate that process. So, they will need to focus on building out human relationships with highly skilled applicants. I could see certain agencies declining from not be able to change their focus.
Just like how Black Mirror focuses on the future negative impacts of technology certain people will always fear change. AI technology will not replace our jobs completely. It will actually improve our jobs. We will focus less mundane tasks like searching and screening applicants. Instead, we will focus on improving human relationships and building out a better experience for candidates.
Recommended Reading:
How to Automate LinkedIn Using Phantombuster
Boolean Strings to Source Female Candidates
How to Use Mail Merge to Recruit Candidates
- Unlocking the Power of Perplexity AI: Why Recruiters Should Utilize This Revolutionary Tool - February 11, 2024
- Exploring AI Interviewing Assessment Tools: A Comprehensive Review - November 30, 2023
- PartyRock a Sandbox for Talent Sourcing - November 29, 2023
I think all of this will be in place way before 2030!
Good point! Thanks for reading my blog, Michael. -Jonathan
This is a great post and a great take on what’s to come (and some of what’s already here!) It is helpful in guiding some of our talent sourcing strategy and tools moving forward in my new role. Thank you, Jonathan!
When I started my third party agency in 1997, the only thing that differentiated me from anyone else was my willingness to build relationships with candidates. Throughout the years I was told how different I was, and now more than 20 years later I realize what a pioneer I really was. When I started my business I only did so because of the desire to help people in their careers and help companies get the best talent. I worked with many internet startups – so many of whom are part of Oracle or another large company – and am sure that the reason these start ups did so well was because of the talent that they had. That personal relationship was really important and I am striving to continue that in my current role as Talent Sourcer.
I honestly think people want to connect with us, but, if like in 1997 they “felt like piece of meat picked on by carrions”, well…history is definitely repeating itself and the few bad sourcing recruiters out there give us all a bad name.
I can also tell you that the talk of the demise of third party agencies and the demise of job boards has been going on since the 80’s. Sorry to date myself here but have to share it. We have always been trying to find the magic bullet to make sourcing easier on the prospect and on ourselves. I love this thought provoking blog, Jonathan. Thank you!