The Talent 411 with Chris Galy: What’s AI got to do with it, got to do with it?

The Queen of Rock, Tina Turner herself, once said, “what’s love got to do with it?” She also finished up the hall of fame worthy ballad with “who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?” Well, I ask this: who needs a recruiter when a hiring manager has Gen AI? 

Based on the rapid growth of Gen AI, the previously mentioned scenario may not be as far in the future as one might think today. Regardless of how, where, and at what pace these things go, we must stay willing to embrace these new technologies without fear and remain agile in our work and processes.

The introduction of generative AI in the Talent industry

AI is nothing new to our industry, and it’s already made a significant impact. For years, we’ve been automating or building efficiencies in scheduling, sourcing, matching, assessing, and more. However, generative AI is an entirely new frontier and we haven’t even mastered good ol’ fashioned AI yet. 

In a recent Findem Live, I joked about how the TA tech stack when I first got in the business was a pager, a fax machine, and a copier (they didn’t even scan back then). Since then, we’ve seen optical character recognition, the internet, AOL, the Mosaic browser (aka Netscape), Resumix & Restrac, desktop computers, modems, laptops, applicant tracking systems (ATS), search engines, desktop cameras, Webex, boolean strings, AIRS training, LinkedIn, and a host of many other tools and applications “to make us better, faster, and stronger.” And for the most part, it did. 

Yet over the years, as the science of recruiting flourished, the art of recruiting, the truly creative side, atrophied. Will the science take over completely or will it create a greater need than ever before for the art?

See how "Ask Findem" works in Findem Live

The art of using gen AI

I remember when all these technologies rolled out, we would need fewer headcount to do more. I also remember that LinkedIn was going to eliminate the vast majority of sales and sales-related roles…errrr, our stuff included. Well, that worked out just the same way that E*Trade was going to eliminate all investment advisors, Zillow would eliminate all realtor roles, and Priceline would do the same to travel agents. Well, all but one of these predictions turned out to be the opposite of what the Nostradamus impersonators thought would happen. 

We’ve been tracking Paul Baier, CEO and co-founder of GAI Insights. He is working with c-level executives on advising them in the adoption of generative AI throughout their workforce. In this guest blog post, Paul shares 7 tips to identify and retain top talent who are adopting Gen AI to launch their careers. Companies have a choice to give these early adopters room to grow or lose them to competitors.

Read about retaining top talent

What will high-performing TA teams look like?

All this being said, AI, especially generative AI, will create plenty of efficiencies and cause us to rethink almost everything about how and why we do what we do. But, that is not a bad thing — in fact, I’m excited about what’s to come.

Over the next several years, talent acquisition will be some of the first teams to see the tremendous amount of change that AI, especially generative AI, will usher in. I’ll be tackling this topic with Traci Wicks, SVP of talent and HR at Discovery Financial Services, in September. Please join us at the Future of Talent Acquisition for a lively discussion of the latest data and perspectives. 

Reignite your talent team for an AI future

What’s love got to do with recruiting?

Where will our value add be if AI will truly replace or automate most repetitive tasks and even some of the creative? To get back to my original question: who needs a recruiter when a hiring manager has Gen AI? That’s where the love is in my opinion, and that’s what the love of recruiting and for the people we do it with and for has to do with it. God bless Tina Turner, may she rest in peace.

If you have a trend or specific topic worth discussing in an upcoming webinar or sharing of any kind, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.

Godspeed, happy August and always be recruiting!

- CG