Every month, I have the opportunity to speak with our newest team members at Paradox during New Hire Orientation. It would be easy to exclusively focus on the specifics of their new jobs or the intricacies around our product — of course, during their onboarding, we do some of that too. But we believe it’s more important to focus on the “why.” Why we’re here. Why do we do what we do. And why they’ve chosen to join us on this mission.
So, what’s my “why?”
What brought me into this industry nearly two decades ago and what I love most about what we do is the impact — the power of helping people and companies connect in meaningful ways that make each other better.
I believe meaningful employment is something that changes lives. In recruiting, we help people get hired in jobs and with companies that hopefully change their lives for the better.
Changes families for the better.
Changes companies for the better.
Changes communities for the better.
I know that sounds nice, albeit a bit lofty. Looking for a job is hard; hiring the right person for a role is hard. It’s a needle in a haystack problem. So how can we solve it? How do we change recruitment for the better at scale?
There is a future where that can happen. And it begins with people, with lots of help from AI.
The future of recruiters is going to look different.
We truly believe that the future of TA is going to be one that doubles down on both human interaction and automation.
How does that work? It starts with talent teams designing out optimized experiences for candidates — figuring out where people or automation add more value in the hiring process. This allows recruiters to get back to doing what they do best: the art of recruiting. Talking to candidates, building relationships, understanding what they care about, and partnering with hiring managers to learn about their needs.
That can’t happen when recruiters are spending time scheduling interviews or screening candidates for qualifications. These are examples of tasks that recruiters have become accustomed to doing, but only for lack of a better option. For decades, someone needed to schedule the interview. Someone needed to find out if the candidate was qualified. Now, that can be automated. AI is able to enter the equation and handle administrative work that shackles recruiters from doing meaningful activity — and AI can do it faster, helping to expedite the process for everyone. When done right, the experience can be seamless. AI just becomes part of the flow of work, both for recruiters and their candidates.
But nuance is important. And every organization’s ideal hiring process is different: For some, it will be optimal to take a more people-centric, white-glove approach. Others will want more automation.
Where AI goes wrong is when it makes people feel like cogs in a machine; we cannot lose the personalization and the connection. As my friends on our InfoSecurity team like to say, “You can drive faster because there are brakes on the car.” It sounds counterintuitive when you first hear it, but it’s true. With AI, we need to develop those “brakes” so we can continue to move fast — stepping on the gas for automation only where it adds value. We also need to be thoughtful about introducing the personal element into the hiring process alongside automation.
We cannot lose empathy.
In the future, we will have more technology that makes people's jobs and lives easier. And we will have even more time to focus on high-touch, valuable connections with people. Individual organizations have an incredible opportunity to optimize for their ideal experiences. How do we use technology and automation where it makes the process better? And how do we spend more time with people where it matters?
Recruiters will always have the same mission.
I still remember the job posting for my first ever job in HR tech. It asked:
“Do you want to change the way people look for work?”
I said — emphatically — yes. And I really do think we have. But as much as the “how” of the application process has changed in the last several years, candidates’ desires have stayed relatively concrete. Candidates want to be treated with respect, and don’t want their time to be wasted. They want a fair chance to obtain the job. They want communication at key points in the process.
What AI does is help us optimize our ability to deliver on those wishes. It makes recruitment faster, more transparent, and more efficient at scale. And it grants recruiters leeway to make candidates feel special and heard the entire time.
Ultimately, candidates judge and pick which companies to work at based on their application experience. How you treat them as a candidate gives them an indication of what it will be like as an employee. The way you recruit directly impacts the quantity and quality of the people you hire.
And the best possible experience comes from doubling down on automation with a human touch.
The future of recruiting is going to look different than the present. But our mission will forever remain the same: deliver meaningful employment to change peoples’ lives. AI can get us there faster, and if we adapt alongside it, we can create a better hiring experience.
