This short blog will help every ‘Techbro’ who claims they have a platform that will ‘totally automate recruitment”.

(Please give me a dollar for every start-up Rec Tech founder who has lectured me on how ‘new AI recruitment will work’—never recruited, never been inside a recruitment company, never implemented recruitment tech. But they ‘know’!)

It will also help experienced recruiters clear their heads on all the AI hype and misinformation.

I wrote recently that we will learn from an exercise where we imagine taking recruiters’ laptops away. It’s helpful because it highlights what recruiters can and should do, as well as what tech cannot or should not.

Consider this for a moment: many people in recruitment, and most of those trying to automate it, simply don’t get it.

Unlike shares, movie tickets, shoes, groceries and books, ‘Talent’ is not an online commodity.

Recruitment is the only industry where what you are selling, can say ‘no’

🙅

Technology has revolutionised retail selling, B2B, and much more.

But dig into it.

If I buy a book from Amazon, agree on the price, and pay, the book does not turn around and say, “Sorry, I am not going with Greg’.

If I use my online App to buy shares in the Commonwealth Bank, the shares do not say, “Nah, not feeling it. I am not going”

Ridiculous.

But in recruitment, it happens. Every. Single. Day

The recruiter takes a detailed brief, searches for talent, manages the process, handles the offer, ties up the deal, diffuses the counteroffer – yeah, all good!

And then on the day before the candidate starts, she says, “Sorry, I changed my mind. I am going to live in a hippy commune in Queensland” or “Hey, my Dad called last night and says there is a recession coming, so I think I will stay where I am”.

Every recruiter reading this is nodding and could add a hundred other scenarios.

Happens on the client side, too, right? “I know we were going to offer your candidate the job today, but we just thought of an internal candidate who is perfect”

Many AI platforms currently available are based on the premise that people are comparable to books, shares, crypto, or a Thai curry.

Agree on the price and the terms, and the deal is done.

Well, welcome to recruitment.

Just because something can be automated is not a good reason that it should be automated.

You cannot automate empathy.

Where ‘the product’ you are selling can change its mind, say no, get cold feet, get a better offer – what we need is a subtle blend of tech and human skills*

Recruiters will know this.

TechBros, not so much.

Be proud of what we do, recruiters.

“It is not rocket science“

It might be harder

*(I do not like using language like ‘product’ when talking about people, but for the point I make today, I need to. In fact, it is the point. Books are a ‘product’, so you can commoditise the sale of books. People? Not so much.)

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SKILLS, ATTITUDES, AND TACTICS TO BE AN OUTSTANDING RECRUITER

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Gleaned from 44 years of experience as a recruiter, manager of thousands of recruiters, and builder of several recruitment companies.

This book comprises 128 short, punchy chapters, each one covering a skill, attitude, competency or mindset to thrive as a recruiter.

 

The lessons here have never been more important, because so much of what you do now will be automated. This book explains the part of recruitment that will remain. Packed with practical advice, skills, and attitudes, this resource will give rookies an excellent grounding to thrive in their new career and help veterans brush up and add new competencies.

Check out the latest LinkedIn review on this book here

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