Adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPS) gave an edge to businesses in running daily operations with minimized errors and increased efficiency, but it definitely took a toll on employment opportunities. To add to the woes, the recent technological advancements in the form of ChatGPT and other AI-enabled tools have further disrupted the traditional manpower utilization in almost every industry, thus causing a paradigm shift in talent acquisition business.
The recruitment services industry has worked on simple economic principle of demand and supply while keeping pace with the changing needs of businesses in terms of technology, skillset, and experience. From this basic model sprung up many custom and tailor-made models including contract-to-hire, offshore staffing, hire-train-deploy models to name a few. The industry has flourished over past few decades with some down periods now and then. But what seemed to work so well might witness a complete change of course in times to come.
There is no denial that artificial intelligence (AI) has already changed the way things used to work in almost every area. The recent times have seen an outburst of AI implementation everywhere. Organizations running businesses in this fast-paced competitive world are on a spree to adopt AI in all their functions to take maximum advantage of growing technology. The big question is, “will it affect human resources?” The answer is plain and simple – a big yes.
AI will replace human resources in a big way, not just for automating repetitive processes, but also in those areas where some level of intelligence and decision making are required. Chatbots and self-driving cars are no more a news, but are old stories. The next big question is “at what rate?”, and we can nearly predict that human resources will be replaced by AI at a quite unexpected rate. Besides, AI also has the ability to predict.
Soon there may be a situation of more humans with common skillset and experience level than the market demand. This becomes a matter of concern not only for individuals, but also for businesses in talent acquisition industry. The declining demand for talents is definitely a cause for a lurking fear of a catastrophic collapse of the industry.
Another trend in HR industry is related to the digital transformation based on AI to improve efficiency and productivity. Companies are getting more focused on solving the toughest part of the recruitment process – shortlisting the right candidate from a large database of resumes. Even though, companies are still not sure how to use AI in the most effective way for hiring process, sooner or later AI will become a new normal for HR department.
What is the take away for talent acquisition agencies and businesses from this growing challenge posed by AI?
The companies in this business need to become more pro-active in embracing novel approach to handling clients’ requirements. It boils down to exceeding the performance of AI based processes, and if that is not possible, then fall in line – adopt them for better performance and improved services.
Recruitment companies must think the AI-way and come up with solutions that optimize time, cost, and resources while outperforming their clients’ HR department in getting the right talent hired. Some of the solutions could include:
AI is going to play a big role in day-to-day activities for both individuals as well as for businesses. There are umpteen number of benefits of these growing advanced technologies, but at the same time they can also become a roadblock for those who are reluctant to move forward with this new paradigm.