What if you take recruiters’ laptops away?

I have never seen recruiters and recruitment leaders as bewildered as they are right now.

Sure, in the past we have dealt with technological changes, recessions, and a ‘minor‘ pandemic, and they were disruptive and disconcerting.

But we always believed that the market would return. Even the pandemic always had an end in sight, and it bounced back with a roar!

Right now, people are confused, concerned and completely uncertain about what the future of Recruitment holds.

The impact of AI is a complete unknown. You wouldn’t think that reading the strong opinions on LinkedIn and elsewhere from the army of AI experts, evangelists and so-called ‘thought leaders‘, who have never implemented AI in a recruitment environment, but with great confidence and total lack of authority, amplify the claims of the snake-oil AI vendors.

The reality is that leaders, in particular, are uncertain what to implement, whom to trust, and what guidance to give their recruiters.

But here is a crazy sounding question that is actually smarter than it seems.

What would happen if you took your recruiters’ laptops away from them?

That’s not something I’m suggesting you do right now. The question is a tool to think differently about what to do – almost a metaphor for how the world will look going forward with AI.

The ‘taking away of the laptop’ really references how so much of the transactional work will be automated. ‘The laptop‘ is code for all the current recruiter work that will soon be done by tech. That means that many hours that recruiters are currently spending at their jobs will no longer need to be done by humans.

Then we need to examine the flipside of the same coin.

If the laptop automates much of what recruiters currently do, what then?

What are the components of a recruiter’s job that are going to soar in importance? Indeed, what is the role of a recruiter in a fully AI-enabled world?

So, please, imagine it right now.

On Monday morning, your recruiters have no laptops.

By ‘laptop’, I’m inferring all the work that will be automated, like job ads, screening, content, shortlisting, reference checking, interview scheduling, database search, CRM updates, and much more besides.

Now your recruiters are freed up and have time to do things only humans can do. (Or maybe the right words are “Only humans should do. Because trust me, just because something can be automated is not a good reason that it should be automated. Reflect on that truism for a while.

Then two big questions emerge.

1: What are those things that recruiters are freed up to do more of? The parts of the role that should not be automated and that humans excel at.

2: And critically, do your recruiters have the skills to do those things?

I believe that recruiters will evolve into true consultants. They will need advanced questioning and listening skills. They will provide their clients with insights, advice and solutions. They’ll connect with candidates again on a human level because the tsunami of AI-generated outreach is not working even now, let alone as it escalates in the future.

They will build relationships; they will offer empathy when needed, and their superpower will be influencing outcomes for the greater good.

I’ve described my vision of how Recruitment will evolve in this blog, and you might want to review it.

Whether you are a Recruiter or a Recruitment leader, you have to face some critical decisions.

Which parts of the job do we automate?

And which parts of the job do we double down on with human interaction?

But then, do you have recruiters with those skills? To be brutally honest, the vast majority of recruiters have been hiding behind digital for years, and they do not have the subtle communication, relationship-building, influencing and consulting skills required for the future

That means those people will leave the industry, or they will get the training and mentoring to develop those skills. And that is a leadership imperative.

Do you want to shine a light on your future?

Imagine going to work and there’s no laptop to tap away on. You’ve got the phone, you’ve got your brain, you’ve got your personality, and you’ve got your knowledge.

How are you going to use them?

And remember, you can’t go on the keyboard to look busy. The tech is doing that work better than you.

Recruiters think about this as you prepare to prolong and enhance your career.

Leaders, this simple concept is the foundation for the decisions you make regarding tech and process, as well as people and future leaders.

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