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Every recruitment leader I am working with is asking me about AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning in recruitment technology. Equally, the recruitment marketers I mentor and coach are thinking about AI in marketing and how it can help them improve job adverts, and brand, and sales.

This blog is a speedy 3-minute read with 2 key takeaways for recruitment leaders and their marketers who want to understand how AI will affect recruitment.

Recruiters and Their Marketers Vs Artificial Intelligence

When asked about AI, I have been saying:

“Chill! Recruitment and marketing need humans!”

But I am extremely aware that AI and machine learning is starting to disrupt recruitment - at least it is disrupting the conversations, which often leads to a disruption of the job and the product.

If it’s disrupting my marketing mentoring and recruitment training sessions, it will be disrupting the calls that recruiters are making, and the meetings that marketers are having with their recruiters.

I have been listening to Brad Geddes and his Podcast on Humans Vs Machines. Brad has been in paid search / for as long as you can pay for searches (1998) and has some great insight into AI and machine learning, and the role of humans in business. This podcast was a speedy listen, and made me think about 2 key takeaways for my recruitment and marketing.

AI Vs Humans – When Do Recruiters Get Replaced?

Is AI / machine learning going to replace humans (and in this I mean recruiters and recruitment marketers)?

Brad makes a great point that computers are great at numbers and data crunching. I feel that the average recruiter and marketer have very little time to do this job – so, yay to computers!

Humans are great at strategy, while computers are not going to nail this (yet!). But again, the marketers I mentor and the recruiters my team train often have little time for marketing strategy and recruitment strategy – both roles (at the moment) are fraught with a JFDI approach.

BUT Brad makes a great point: when you link the two – when you link humans and computers... BINGO!

Takeaway: Recruitment leaders need to step back from AI – and ask:

“How can I link AI and my humans together? How can I get the benefits of AI without removing the human element that Recruiters are genuinely great at, and that is often my USP?”

You need to look at your workflows that the tech people are trying to sell you, and ensure that when you put the two together they are both very clear on where they stop and start! Have a growth strategy, not just a purchasing one.

Also, consider this: if you have small data sets, you will benefit less from machine learning than your bigger competitors…. AI needs data to be great!

AI and Job Adverts

Can computers write job adverts for my recruiters?

Brad also talks about adverts (I translate this to job adverts).

He’s found that when machines write adverts they get more clicks, but then the sales people complain about the quality… sound familiar? The last thing a busy recruiter needs is more randoms applying for jobs, and leads coming through the website that are not genuine sales opportunities.

I feel that recruiters need to write their own job adverts. It’s not admin to sell or pitch. Plus, Google for Jobs tells us to get our job adverts sorted as they are crucial at attracting the right data… A great job advert will fix so many issues in a recruiter’s pipeline (candidates, AND clients AND colleagues!)

Takeaway: Recruiters need to improve their job advert copy. Marketers need to have a strategy for marketing the jobs more effectively. AI is NOT coming to rescue you from crap candidates applying to crap job adverts.

HIIT Me Robots!

Our high intensity interval training (Recruitment HIIT) helps recruiters source, convert quicker and develop healthy pipelines. Recruitment HIIT is an exciting recruitment training platform for recruiters to speedily learn skills to be more successful with Adapt, Bullhorn, LinkedIn, Job Adverts, Inbound Sales, Digital and Email Marketing.