The Ability to Match People to Jobs is an Art a Robot Cannot Manage

By Miriam Tovar, Recruitment Consultant – Technology, Abrivia Recruitment

I’m sure you’ve all read articles over the last few years suggesting that many jobs could be automated within the next two decades, and I’m sure you already know that time flies !!!

Last April 27^th 2017, I attended the National Recruitment Federation Conference in Dublin which highlighted new and relevant technologies and their relevance to our industry.

Some of the speakers mentioned the possibility of robots replacing our recruitment roles in the near future. It took me a few days to digest this, coincidentally I came across a company in this field which made the idea turn into reality.

Would robots and modern technologies take Human Resources roles?

The company is called opening.io and what they do explained in an effortless way is employ linguistic algorithms to match candidates with suitable jobs. So it sounds okay, doesn’t it? A robot telling you exactly who to talk to first and why.

I advocate the adaptability to changes and how robotization can optimise the recruitment process. I am happy to learn or understand every process that helps us to augment decision-making because with every change comes along a good opportunity. It could provide us with ample opportunity to take advantage of the time we save to do the things that add real value to our clients and candidates.

The H in HR stands for ‘human’. So, it’s about dealing with the modern technologies and developing our human skills, the ones that make us different from robots. Creativity, Emotional Intelligence, Flexibility and Collaboration.

Personally, I feel that there is still so many “professionals” around that don’t get this. What used to work is not going to work anymore. I am a Talent Acquisition Specialist and my day is spent around sourcing candidates based on my client’s requirements. This means I spend a considerable time identifying those candidates with the relevant academic qualifications and work experience to fit the role. More importantly, I have to identify those candidates that will be a cultural fit for the company which is based on their soft skills. I often see how there are still some organizations that require the candidates to have specific marks from college, and results in online tests without giving attention to the relevant skills, the skills that robots are not going to take over. When someone is focused on doing what they love, they become naturally resourceful and creative and it’s not related to how many points they got in their Leaving Certificate.

The good news is that EI (Emotional Intelligence) Creativity, Flexibility and Collaboration are things that robots can’t do and that is why future HR professionals should spend less time sourcing and more time engaging.