Impact on the Recruiting Staff

5.1.5 Impact on the Recruiting Staff

Considering the technological advancement disrupting the recruitment industry, it may be argued that an impact for recruiters may seem unavoidable for better or worse. One of the pitfalls of AI may be that jobs disappear due to automation, and as argued by Frey and Osborne (2017), 47% of the low skilled jobs may be automated away. The interviews revealed a differentiation between the attraction and selection phase. For the purpose of the attraction phase, the findings revealed that AI may replace the recruiter:

“The recruiter will be more like hostess…won´t be called recruiter, maybe

‘onboarding person’ to help.” (R1)

“recruiter can almost be 100% replaced...” (R5)

“For many, AI will be perceived as a threat because they are deprived on task that are solved by AI.” (R8)

“The recruiter is probably more specialized in the sourcing process…it will be a task that disappear more and more.” (R9)

“…Transition period, it will have a limited impact. In the long run…it will be outdated.” (R11)

“…They are not going to do “operational” repetitive task of tracking down and adding project roles.” (R12)

The survey by Bullhorn (2018) indicated that 41% of the jobs within the recruitment industry may be lost to automation. However, on the contrary, 30% suggested that automation will gain more jobs, and the remaining 29% were neutral. For the purpose of the selection phase, the findings revealed a shift for the recruiter.

“Needs to be more specialized in interviewing techniques, more related to interpersonal relations…” (R1)

“Focused in the final stage of the total process…checking, following up on advice from AI to dig into certain questions.” (R3)

“…Important to secure candidates and have the personal contact / chemistry.” (R6)

“The recruiters’ job is likely to begin at the later part of the process and after the interview has been executes.” (R7)

“Does not get away from the relationship piece…other focus e.g. how to build relationships…” (R9)

The findings may not be surprising as the content of emotional intelligence normally are much more exposed within the selection phase, requiring different set of skills such as intra and inter personal intelligence (Gratton, n.d.). Conversely, the attraction and selection phases tends to integrate as the technology advances, and one may assume requiring new skills and attention already in the start up of the hiring process creating the job description. The ability to gain the advantages AI may offer, depending on the

competence and capability within the AI technology and whereas validation of the model, is central (Upadhyay & Khandelwal, 2018). Several for the respondents highlighted skill adjustment for recruitment personnel:

“Lower educated recruiters will be out of job, unless trained in technical/AI skill.

Easier parts of screening (admin tasks) will be done by AI. recruiter will need to know the pitfalls of AI.” (R3)

“Must use expertise and resources in other areas. The recruiter must handle info that comes from AI, and be able to utilize the technology. So, it´s about skill adjustment.”

(R8)

“The recruiter must start relying on new tools, which most conservative are no so willing to do. We need forward-thinking personnel who are willing to learn…” (R11)

6 Conclusion

The thesis has explored how artificial intelligence may impact traditional recruitment in the war for talents. Four research questions were established as the foundations of the thesis.

Research question 1:

How AI may change the traditional recruitment process.

AI is disrupting the traditional recruitment process as all phases of recruitment is changing from a step by step operation towards continuous parallel activities and interactive communications by chatbots or virtual assistants allowing a 24/7 reach for both job applicant and employer. The ability of target marketing and AI algorithms to crawl the internet processing big data may change the rules in the war for talents. The research showed that holistic AI powered recruitment systems are in reach, but the adoption of AI powered recruitment for the majority is considered a low level concerning pulling data from resumes and a commercial target ads generator. However, a few

organizations had adopted a high level concerning fully automated systems. We conclude that AI may be a game changer in the war for talents due to the advanced and

sophisticated properties of the technology.

Research question 2:

What is the benefit and pitfalls using AI in the recruitment process.

The properties of AI algorithms may offer a lot of benefits and pitfalls within the hiring process. Our research showed speed, efficiency and cost savings as important benefits, as well as the ability to attract the passive candidates, and increased accuracy within the hiring process were highly valued. Proactively fighting bias in the hiring algorithms may lead to the benefit of diversity for the organisation. The research revealed that the benefits may easily turn into pitfalls due poor datasets and insufficient validation of the

algorithms. The pitfalls concern privacy, bias, replication and emotional intelligence, which may lead to ethical considerations and increased cost. We conclude that the

benefits from proper datasets and validation of the algorithms beats the pitfalls, and has a positive effect in the war for talents.

Research question 3:

Does AI in the recruitment process impact the competitive advantage.

The strategic approach in recruitment as argued by Breaugh and Starke (2000), “whom to recruit, where to recruit, recruitment sources to use, when to recruit, what message to communicate” (p. 408) may be considered mirroring the properties of AI hiring algorithms. The research indicated the competitive advantage may be achieved due to recruitment intensity and branding of new advanced technologies, but as a single source capturing great candidates may not be sufficient for a competitive advantage. The

research indicated by Taylor and Collins (2000) said recruitment practices may contribute to a competitive advantage due to AI properties meeting the VRIO attributes, aligned with other HRM practices. We conclude the AI meeting the VRIO may generate an imperfect market conditions, and may create a competitive advantage, despite the critics from the RBV opponents, and lack of empirical evidence. This is because the

sophisticated technology may include superior recruitment practices when managed properly due to the pitfalls of AI. The victory in the war for talents may belong to those who master the art of AI and recruitment.

Research question 4:

What is the impact for the recruitment staff using AI in the recruitment process.

The research showed that AI may replace the recruiter in the attraction phase due to AI’s superior properties in target marketing and searching the world wide web for candidates.

The research indicated a shift for the recruiter in the selection phase engaged more towards the tasks requiring emotional intelligence and context. AI implementation within the hiring process indicated the need for skill adjustment concerning the competence in understanding and using AI technology.

We conclude that the era for the “hard core sales recruiters” as the “stars” of the recruitment agencies may be heading for a fall and may be replaced by analytics and psychologists who understand the concept of AI in the war for talents.

Based on the conclusions to the previous four research questions, we conclude the thesis question is answered as: AI may have a superior impact on the traditional recruitment in the war for talents.