TA of the future: Decrypting hiring challenges in the AI era

What does the future of Talent Acquisition look like? How can candidates and TA experts navigate this complex terrain today and tomorrow? In this interview, Sandeep Singh, Global Talent Acquisition Operations, decrypts the complexity and challenges of hiring talent in today’s tech industry.  

Would you recommend a career in talent acquisition to someone today?  

I would! Especially now that the move towards more AI tools is creating a perfect balance between making real connections with candidates and business stakeholders, thus keeping the human side alive, and working with innovative new technologies. In addition to this, a role in talent acquisition allows you to work across industries and specialisms and the impact our work is that we have a hands-on role in shaping the future workforce.  

Will talent acquisition be any different tomorrow?  

TA has always been a fast-changing industry, which makes it an exciting environment to be part of. The current global economic context makes it even more complex to predict. I believe that key areas that will reshape TA and make it different tomorrow are:  

• The rise of AI and automation: For many years automation tools for TA have been unable to balance the need for complex automation whilst keeping the human element at the core of the relationships. AI has changed this and is freeing TA from administrative tasks to increase the time you spend with candidates and nurturing the business. This will continue to evolve, and many companies will be challenged with finding the right balance of automation and the human touch. 

• Skills based hiring: Companies will value skills, experience, and potential, over formal education. Traditional recruiting methods will be challenged, enabling data driven and more intelligent hiring decisions. 

• Focus on internal careers: In a fast-changing world of work, skills obsolescence is a reality that companies will need to grapple with. With a focus on skills, reskilling the existing workforce and focusing on career development will be a priority to achieve agile business goals. These strategies will be enabled by AI technologies like internal talent marketplaces. 

Which aspects of a company most matter to top talent in our field today? Will this stay the same in the future? 

Top talents are already looking beyond just the compensation package when deciding on which company to join. The trend I see is that top talents are attracted to companies offering flexible working options, a cohesive and inclusive company culture visible through the company brand, and a learning-focused environment where they can continue to develop their skills and grow, both personally and professionally. Candidates are seeing employment through the lens of a social contract and are rightfully questioning what’s in it for them and balancing it with the value they will bring to a company. 

In what way has technology – and more specifically AI - reshaped talent acquisition? 

AI technology is making talent acquisition more efficient, candidate focused, and data driven. For example, heavy manual tasks can now be automated which allows recruiters to have more time given to their candidates. Automation and experience can work together as AI tools offer new and quicker ways for candidates to engage with a company or recruitment team. For instance, AI can help create job descriptions, match candidate’s skills to roles, and schedule complex interview processes, to name a few. All of this helps recruiters to focus on the areas that matter most; engagement and relationship building. 

What about human engagement? How to find balance between talent acquisition technology and the irreplaceable human touch? 

If implemented strategically, AI tools are an opportunity to increase human engagement throughout the process. Administrative tasks are often a burden we’re all glad to skip whether we are a candidate or hiring manager. By taking over such tasks, AI is a real time saver and grants TA teams more time to build relationships, foster talent pipelines, market the company and efficiently manage peaks and troughs in the hiring lifecycle.  

It is said that AI-driven analytics can accurately predict a candidate's success. The targeting of job postings is also becoming more refined. Isn’t there a risk of drifting toward more discrimination in hiring employment than before? 

Newer tools ensure that their AI is built to address the risk of such discrimination. However, from where we stand in the AI landscape, such technology is best used when automating manual tasks rather than allowing it to make predictions or decisions. I think AI should be seen as an enabler to drive more intelligent decision-making. There are certain things for which humans are still a better fit than AI.