3 Major Trends that Will Shape Recruitment in the Future

We live in an exciting age and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that this is just the start. We are, of course, talking about the stupendous technological advances we have seen over the last two decades – emergence of the internet, exploding computational powers of average computers, breakthroughs in machine learning, data analytics and others, all of which are changing the way people work and seek work.

These breakthroughs have also resulted in some other trends that might affect the recruitment industry and the goal of this article is to review to just what extent they might influence how recruitment will be done in the future.

The Hype of AI

There is probably no concept that is garnering more attention and hype than AI, used to refer to a whole lot of things, some of which have nothing to do with the actual field of AI research. It is an umbrella term which includes deep learning, machine learning, predictive analytics and much, much more.

A common thread in AI discussions all but predicts a future where omnipotent software solutions based on some form of AI will replace recruiters or, at least, turn them into tech specialists who will simply guide a piece of recruitment AI that actually does the work.

I am sure many recruiters feel almost panicky about a future piece of software replacing them.

The good news is there is no need to panic.

Many leading experts say that AI is actually plateauing at the moment, following a major breakthrough after computational powers of new hardware finally enabled a decades-old theory on deep learning to become reality. Perhaps the best thing you could do is read this article from Technology Review where the godfather of deep learning, Geoffrey Hinton explains why AI at the moment is sort of moving in circles.

In short, we are years away from any kind of AI that would even remotely be able to replace recruiters apart from in the most basic ways.

Of course, it goes without saying that there are already plenty of interesting tools from various fields (business intelligence software, machine learning-based recruitment tools, etc.) that utilize existing breakthroughs to provide insights for recruiters. This is especially true for data analytics. It is also safe to say that such solutions will only advance in the future and have more impact as years roll by.

AI recruiters, however, are still in distant future.

The Impending Talent Shortages

This is actually something I wrote about in more detail here on Recruitment Juice blog, but since I believe talent shortages might actually be one of the deciding future trends in recruitment, I had to include them here as well.

Namely, talent shortages in certain industries are going to be so impactful that recruitment professionals will really have to rethink and rework their strategies, tactics and practices like never before in order to stay competitive.

In my shortage article, I used an example from the United States where some estimates predict a deficit of about a million nursing staff in the U.S. in the next ten years or so. Imagine having a U.S. hospital or some other healthcare provider as your client in the next ten years. You would definitely want to be prepared and discover new ways of attracting talent and serving your clients.

And there is a number of industries where this is already a reality.

Talent shortages will definitely demand a lot from recruiters in the future. They will have to up their game and to constantly evolve with the times, finding new ways of attracting increasingly scarce talent.

The Evolving Workplace

There used to be a time when people spent their careers with the same company. They liked it. They took pride in it. The companies also valued (or at least pretended that they did) such loyalty and they rewarded with steady careers that developed over time and which allowed the average employee to lead a comfortable life.

As a result of advancing technology, the subsequent availability of information and a few events that have exposed the real faces of many companies (such as the 2008 Financial crisis), this kind of employee loyalty has been on a serious decline.

The experts are still crunching the numbers and conducting studies, but it is probably safe to say that the days of employees who saw their career in the light of their relationship with their employer are behind us. People have stopped equating their jobs with their careers. A job has become something that comes and goes.

The inevitable evolution and development of this gig economy that awaits us will present a mixed bag for the recruitment industry. On the one hand, there will be more candidates out there since everyone will be looking for a job. On the other hand, there will also be more competition as more companies will be seeking to attract all that talent. In addition to this, recruiters will probably find it difficult to place candidates who will stay with their employer for long.

Another aspect of this evolving workplace will be the fact that an increasing number of workforce will work remotely. There are certain industries and fields where this will not be logistically possible, requiring physical presence, but as far as everything else goes, remote will be the future. This means that recruiters will need to learn about foreign job markets, culture and perhaps even languages.

Closing Word

We live in exceptionally chaotic times and there is no sight of them getting settled anytime soon, on the contrary. In such a crazy world, recruiters will have to stay in the loop, keep their ear to the ground and make sure the industry does not pass them by.

The best thing about all of it is that recruiters will only become better at their jobs because of this.