Hiring in the Age of AI

Sep 11, 2024 | AI, Articles

The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) and rapidly advancing technology is disrupting work, changing jobs, and rendering some roles obsolete. It’s hard to predict what skills workers will need in a year, or even in six months.

This has created a pressing challenge for recruiters. How can they hire for roles that don’t exist yet? What about roles that are needed now but might be automated in a year or two?

How are skills and jobs changing?

Skills were already changing quickly before ChatGPT brought GenAI into the mainstream in 2022. Back in 2017, Deloitte’s research found that the half-life of a learned skill was five years. That was a shocking finding at the time, but things have sped up significantly since, and AI has been a catalyst for much of that change.

Most recently, The World Economic Forum (WEF) reports the half life of a technical skill is now two and a half years or less. According to the WEF, this means that 44% of core job skills will be disrupted by 2028. According to LinkedIn’s research, more than half its users’ jobs will be changed dramatically by AI in the next few years.

For recruiters, charged with building an organization’s workforce for the long term, the uncertainty around skills can create problems. It’s hard to write a job description when you don’t know how much of the job will be automated in a year or two.

Hiring for the human touch

In the wake of rapidly advancing technology, some organizations are rethinking talent in the workplace, as well as how to hire and manage that talent.

Deloitte’s most recent Human Capital Report, for example, calls for a restructuring of the enterprise, and redefining jobs as a collection of skills rather than roles in a workplace. The WEF, Deloitte, and other thought leaders recommend moving to skills-based workplaces, and committing to continuous reskilling as skills change.

Writing for Harvard Business Review, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslanksy, says seeing jobs in terms of skills makes an organization more agile:

“When you see jobs as a collection of tasks, you’ll quickly be able to see which jobs are more prone to be automated than others. In those areas, it’s not a given that a job goes away. Instead, you can focus on up-skilling workers to manage more complex tasks and help them develop the people skills that AI is least likely to automate, such as communication and collaboration. This view of jobs as tasks not titles empowers leaders to identify the skills your workforce must cultivate to stay competitive and agile in the age of AI.

So how does continuous reskilling affect hiring? If skills are constantly being taught, how do recruiters seek out the best candidates for an organization?

Hiring for culture fit

Culture is a deeply ingrained part of every organization: it’s the shared beliefs, mission, attitudes, and values that drive the company. If you’ve ever worked at a company where a new hire didn’t fit the culture, you may have seen firsthand how difficult that situation can be for both the new hire and the team as a whole.

Finding candidates who fit with your culture leads to better retention, greater productivity, and all-around happier employees. When your employees are productive and engaged, they’re likely to stick around for the long haul and work well with their co-workers. There’s a lot to be said for a strong team that is willing to learn new skills.

Hiring for soft skills

Technical skills (also called hard skills) may be changing quickly, but soft skills are always in demand. Soft skills are also sometimes called transferable skills. They’re less about the job you do and more about how you do the job. For example, teamwork is a soft skill, as is grit.

Recently, organizations are putting more emphasis on soft skills. According to a report from LinkedIn, many of the most sought-after skills are soft skills. Communication, customer service, and leadership top the list.

By hiring for soft skills and training for hard skills, recruiters can build a strong team that can be trained to suit an organization’s needs.

Hiring for potential

Sometimes a job candidate just has it — untapped potential that will make them a great employee in the future. Hiring for potential rather than simply hiring for experience is a way to grow your team, and to prepare for the uncertainty of the future.

The WEF estimates that 97 million new digital-first roles will appear in the next three years. Hiring for potential allows organizations to lock down the best possible candidates, training them for those new roles when they emerge.

Humans are a vital part of the workforce

Whenever AI is discussed, people naturally get nervous about the automation of jobs. It’s fair. AI is automating some jobs out of existence. However, it’s creating new roles as well. No matter how advanced AI becomes, humans will always be needed in the workforce.

The challenge is to make sure that the humans have the right skills — which is why learning and development is such a critical function for every enterprise.