Generally speaking, I operate in a bubble. No, I’m not talking about anything Covid related, rather that I am a one woman superbusiness. When I first launched PMP, I did it with the specific intention not to build an empire. I wanted to be able to do the job of recruitment for myself with only myself to answer to. Over the years, many people have nodded and then asked (patronisingly…) if it is a ‘lifestyle’ business. I don’t like that term, it implies something perjorative - as if it’s somehow not professional or commercially run, something just to keep myself in nice shoes. Nothing could be further from the truth, I have worked harder in the last 12 years than I ever have, mainly because I love what I do and the rewards are all mine.
(inserts maniacal cackle).
I’ve digressed even before I have started. Today’s blog was meant to be about ‘advances in recruitment technology’. As with most of my blogs, it’s really a bit of a stream of consciousness rather than an ‘essay’ - I haven’t actually organised my thoughts.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve become conscious of the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly playing in recruitment. As I say, I operate in a bubble and as far as I am concerned, recruitment is very much a human business based entirely on relationships and strong networks of contacts. Yes, I have a database which is my pride and joy (I’m an ex data-driven marketer) and yes when I register a candidate, I will ‘flag’ them with their specific skills but that’s pretty much it in terms of technology. Candidates receive a weekly email with the latest opportunities and I use various social channels to advertise roles. I’m overly fond of telling people that recruitment isn’t rocket science but that you do need to be interested in people, be prepared to work hard and to have a bit of luck. An ex-colleague of mine with an entirely different skill-set is currently looking for a new role. Sadly, I can’t help them but it has been interesting watching their journey to finding a new position. In the first instance, the colleague,was referred to a career advisory consultancy post redundancy. The amount of effort that went into the creation of his CV was quite astounding. I don’t dispute that the CV is an incredibly important part of a job search and it’s important that you get it right. However, my colleague was given advice on how to write a CV so that it is compatible with automated systems which are using AI and algorithms to sift through keywords and ultimately score CVs against pre-determined job requirements form before the CV will make it into human hands.
I’m not sure why I take such issue with this. After all, I like data, I have no problem with technology. However, I do think that recruitment should be personal. The idea that a CV should be crafted in such a way to ‘get past the bots’ and only then to an actual person seems to take the personal out of the industry. To be fair, it’s not dissimilar to SEO techniques and often when I am advising on CV construction, I do ask candidates to focus on skills and strengths and there is a natural tendency to use ‘keywords’ regardless of whether you are simply writing or writing for an algorithm. This is more prevalent with more technical roles where individuals need to list their programming languages or project management tools that they use. Perhaps the AI approach is more useful to tech recruiters than say for the advertising or creative industries where ‘keywords’ are less absolute.
The other observation that I wanted to make is that it increasingly feels like LinkedIn is taking over the world (of recruitment). I’ve often felt a little disgruntled by ‘lazy’ recruiters who simply spend all day on LinkedIn and randomly contact enough individuals to ensure that they secure at least one CV for a role. LinkedIn now offers many services to both recruiters and individuals looking for work and the ‘professional career advisor’ that my ex colleague saw was also very voluble as to how to write their LinkedIn profile, to manage their ‘brand’, to expand their network and so on. Ultimately, I don’t really disagree with any of that - after all, LinkedIn is essentially modern day networking without having to leave the house and I’ve got a very healthy network myself. It’s just that I don’t like lazy recruiters.
The advocates of recruitment automation will argue that the automation helps them filter through high volumes of CVs and to enable ‘hiring managers’ to arrive at a ‘curated talent pool’ whereupon the personal approach begins. I would argue that they are at risk or relying overly heavily on pre-defined job specifications and that hiring managers who don’t always understand the roles that they are recruiting for, will end up doing recruitment by numbers and that many highly qualified individuals will miss out. I often find that a role ends up being offered to someone who at the start of the process I considered to be a ‘wild card’ - recruitment is about much more than keywords.
I have also recently seen an ‘automated recruitment agent’ with a name - let’s call her Jane. Candidates registering their CVs with this particular online job board receive regular updates from Jane who matches up their CV to new jobs which are being advertised. Jane regularly posts lots of ‘relevant content’ which has apparently seen candidate engagement increase by eleventy billion percent. I’m not sure at what point the candidates realise that Jane is not real…
Trying to stay open minded - I know that this isn’t so different to a candidate registering themselves with AN Other job board, flagging up job titles that they are interested in and receiving regular job updates. I understand that any candidate registering with recruiters and job boards wants to find a new job. Anything that will facilitate the job hunt and present the individual with options cannot really be a bad thing.
And yet, I am worried that recruitment will become a process, that the personal touch will be lost entirely. It varies from industry to industry but in the creative, advertising, marketing and digital industries, personality is key. If a CV lands on my desk, I read it and make a call as to whether I can help that person now, in the future or never (I do get a lot of CVs from random people in random countries with no link to the industries that I work in). I tell a lot of my candidates that finding the right job is often about being in the right place at the right time. My database, ongoing CRM, use of social channels and continuous expanding of my own networks allow me to keep in touch with my candidates and clients so that I match the right individuals with the right businesses. I place the same candidates multiple times in their career, I have repeat business - this is entirely due to the personal relationships that real recruiters build over time.
For now, I will stay in my bubble. I will continue to embrace technology where appropriate but I am ultimately a champion of personal recruitment, recruitment through real relationships, real networking with real people. A world where ‘bots’ and ‘fake Jane content’ rule is not for me.
PS. In fairness, I do like shoes, but that’s just a small bonus