However some recruiters absolutely will be and if you think those are two different statements then read that again.
Certainly in the UK, here’s what’s actually happening right now.
Companies are using AI to screen and rank CVs.
Recruiters are using AI to churn out job adverts that read like they were written by a drunk robot on a slow Tuesday afternoon and candidates are using AI to one click apply for job adverts they’ve never read, don’t want and in some cases probably couldn’t name if you asked them.
The result?
Everyone’s bitching & wondering why candidate quality has collapsed and engagement has fallen though the floor.
It hasn’t but the process has just become utterly broken from every angle at the same time,
The recruiters who will get hurt aren’t the ones who ignore AI, they’re the ones sleep walking into it. Going all in on automation and integration without stopping to ask whether any of this is actually working or making the experience better for anyone involved.
The thing nobody seems to want to say out loud is that a good CV and a good candidate are not the same thing, they never have been & never will be.
Personality, attitude and enthusiasm…these are the things that actually determine whether someone is going to show up, fit in and stay.
No AI on the planet can (yet) sell those qualities for you, it can’t feel them. It can’t read a room. It can’t pick up on the tone of a call or sense that someone is genuinely excited about an opportunity as opposed to just saying the right words.
That’s still a human job.
What AI CAN do if you actually think about how you’re using it, is take some of the crappy and somewhat boring tasks away such as the admin, CV formatting and prospect researching (I won two clients today by using AI correctly so sorry about that if you’re the recruiter reading this… yes… you know who you are)
However if you’re using AI to write your job adverts and then not reading them back, not asking whether a real human being would actually stop scrolling and read this, not checking whether the requirements make sense, whether the role sounds appealing or whether there’s a single compelling reason for the right candidate to care then you’re not using AI as a tool.
You’re just outsourcing your thinking and hoping for the best.
Same goes for how we work with hiring managers as a huge part of our job is helping them understand the difference between a great looking CV and a cracking candidate. If we’re not having those conversations and instead we’re just pushing CV’s into Claude and letting AI make the shortlist then we’ve already made ourselves redundant but we just haven’t noticed yet.
AI Used well with thought, with a human hands still on the wheel can genuinely make us better and faster recruiters.
Used badly then it’s just a more efficient way to waste everyone’s time.
The industry is changing and that’s fine right as change is mostly good.
Just don’t stick your bonce in the sand, go full Ostrich and just expect is all to be fine.
I write this as someone who loves tech, has been using AI since the early days but also spent a huge amount of time looking at the impact of prompts, learnt subtle key changes and always write freehand before then letting AI check my spelling, grammar and structure.
Am I wrong ?