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At the outset I want to fess up and admit something to you. It may change the way you view this information. I am not a recruiter, not exclusively anyway. I spent much of my early career in recruiting and I have kept up on what is being done and said in the field, but I don’t live it on a daily basis. I pay attention to both the day-to-day and the future. The future is what I want to focus on in this post.

A different look

I asked myself the question “How will recruiting change in the future?” I came up with 5 ways that I think the world of recruiting may look in the next 20 years. The biggest change will be fewer people will be involved. In fact HR may not even be a part of the process. There will be a great deal more automation involved. So let’s look at what these changes may be.

Change #1- A machine reviews the resume

Automation is already in place for bigger organizations with some software or cloud based solutions. There is “machine” scanning that looks for key words. This kicks out the resumes that don’t fit the stated requirements and passes on the resumes that do. This has its limitations and keyword introduction into a resume has become a game that candidates and companies play. What if we went a step further and an AI application not only looked for keywords but also evaluated the descriptions of each position looking for actual statements of productivity or achievement?

Change #2- A machine conducts the screening interview

The process today often involves a recruiter following up on a resume by conducting a phone screen interview. That will not be necessary given our scenario above. Based on the review of the resume the candidate will get a call from AIHR (Artificial Intelligence Human Resources) to further question the candidate. Not only will it judge the veracity of the responses but will also the evaluate the candidate’s verbal responses to judge things like clarity of voice, clarity of thought, hesitancy in answering and even the “truthfulness” of the answers. Based upon the responses the AIHR will either reject the candidate or invite the candidate in for the next interview. This will speed the entire process up because AIHR can evaluate as the resume is received and call the candidate immediately. This will certainly shorten the hiring timeframe.

Change #3- A machine conducts the face-to-face interview

The candidate shows up for an interview and is greeted not by a person but by a “machine” who will conduct the interview. The machine will ask more in depth questions and look for more in depth answers based on constructed algorithms. In addition to evaluating the answers the machine will also evaluate the biometric responses of the candidates in order to determine if the candidate is embellishing their answers. This could even be done remotely over a device that would allow reading those biometric figures.

Change #4- Human HR is not involved

This use of AIHR does not necessitate an actual human recruiter at all. A hiring manager does not need to go to HR all they have to do is fill out a very specific job requisition and the process gets started.

Change #5- Managers are not involved

It is even possible that the manager will not be involved. AIHR could be set up to evaluate the data produced from each department and determine if the employees are meeting their productivity standards and if the department is meeting its goals. If AIHR determines it is time to add staff to continue to meet productivity then it could start the hiring process on its own. It could even evaluate current employees and take managers out of the evaluation cycle. Managers may even be happy with that prospect.

Conclusion

I have painted a somewhat impersonal picture of what the world of recruiting may look like in the next 20 or 30 years of so, or even earlier in some regards. Those of you who think recruiting is more “art” than “science” may be disappointed to find out you can be easily replaced. “Reading” people may not be as mysterious as many people think.

The big question will be whether this is a good thing or a bad thing? Your thoughts?