The nature of a successful recruiter has always been the ability to match the right candidate to the right role. Being able to spot the key skills, and knowing if a candidate is the right fit for a companies’ culture, is what sets the top billers apart from their colleagues. As humans, we’re able to make these judgements based on facts which are often combined with a recruiter's second sense.  

 Is Artificial Intelligence capable of replicating this very human trait?

The simple answer is we don’t yet know what AI will eventually become capable of, but for my money, humans will remain the key cog in recruiting, and AI isn’t yet, able to teach itself without human input and development. Regulations will have to come into force as the technology continues to grow and develop.

 Analytics and Metrics

The Industry has come long from its first inception. The technological changes which have had the biggest impact so far, haven’t just been from Social media sites and LinkedIn, but also from the advances in CRM and Applicant Tracking Systems for both in-house recruiters, Agency, independents and external recruiters. Not to mention all the other data management systems available on the market and of course Job boards have also had a huge impact on sourcing capabilities.

 These emerging technologies are delivering a more structured and engaging candidate journey, tailored to an individual's specific requirements. Along with this, they’re delivering the ability to utilise these metrics in a way that allows recruiters to focus on where top talent might be hiding and provide improved feedback as to why they didn’t match the role. The main frustration shared by candidates across a variety of sectors. Metrics are at the heart of managing expectations on all sides of the process.

 Gamification has become a necessary tool for engaging new candidates and has been a key driver in moving training forward within the recruitment industry. Figures show that using this method when it comes to attracting candidates and engaging recruiters delivers 3 times more engagement from the end-users.

 What does the Future of Artificial Intelligence Look Like?

Artificial Intelligence has already been around for more than 60 years, but we’re only just reaching the levels of computing power necessary to deliver functional, responsive, learning AI computing systems. Following on from Moore’s law which was established in 1970,  Computer processing power will double every 2 years, there’s been a one trillion fold increase in processing power since 1956. Digital data is increasing exponentially and by 2025 there will be 163 zettabytes.

It’s this massive amount of data creation which is the driving force behind machine learning and smarter AI. Previously there weren’t enough data points for the machines to be exposed in order to ‘teach’ them.

 Combined with humans who are constantly fine-tuning algorithms, computerised emotional intelligence could enter the Zeitgeist as a tangible reality in the very near future. When this is combined with Quantum computing, there could be no limit to what machines can learn. However, the great debate is, will they ever be able to feel?

 As Recruiters, the main question is, will we be replaced by intelligent computers and chatbots? There’s no simple answer, however, there’s no reason recruiters can’t use the machines to do the heavy lifting in terms of repetitive tasks, leaving them free to concentrate on building vital human relationships with both clients and candidates.