This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 132

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Open Kitchen: Are Recruiters 'AI Exposed'?

One of the chapters in my recent talk 'Recruiting in the Era of Generative AI' was focused on the concept of AI Exposure vs AI Insulation. This was a formulation introduced to me by LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute, who are currently measuring tasks (and the skills required to do them) based on how likely they are to be augmented then replaced by AI, with those that rank highly are considered to be 'AI exposed', whilst those ranked lowly are 'AI insulated'.

It's a useful way to think about the work activities recruiters do. I encourage us all to conduct an audit to see how much time we are currently spending on activities which are AI exposed, to then aggressively apply AI to those areas in order to reduce our exposure and redirect our investment towards those activities which are AI insulated.

I asked ChatGPT to help put together a Big List of 100 Recruiter Skills and force rank them 1-100 on the exposed vs insulated scale, and it's a spreadsheet which you are welcome to download, copy and use, if you feel that it might be helpful.

I also want to use today's Open Kitchen to discuss the nature of the tasks which seem to be characteristic of high AI exposure. I hope that this will be another way to help us think about which activities we need to be intentional about as we go about the task of future proofing our careers and our function.

1. Routine / Repeatable

We knew about the routine and repeatable from the RPA (Recruitment Process Automation) era. There is a ton of work which we recruiters have had to do which was monotonous. In fact, part of the motivation behind 'recruiting brainfood' was in recognition of the fact that a lot of smart people were often inevitably tasked with doing mind numbing repetitive work and might therefore need a regular jolt of intellectual stimulation via a weekly newsletter of curios curated from the Internet. It was actually originally a strap line - 'recruiting brainfood, for your week ahead'.

Needless to say, RPA will be accelerated by GAI, especially seeing as GAI invariably includes at conversational interface which unlocks the capability of the technology to many more potential users. Think about all the tasks which we currently doing which is routine / repeatable. Updating spreadsheets (I know you still do this!), typing up interview notes, scheduling interviews, chasing for feedback, sending out keep in touch notifications etc.

We all spend way too much time on these activities, and we'll be glad when they're gone. We do, however, need to be the ones who will be making them disappear.

2. Information Ingestion, Regurgitation, Circulation

David Graeber had a best seller on his hands when he published his 2018 book, Bullsh1t Jobs: A Theory. It was an explanation of the 'social logic' that sat underneath the formality of 'business logic' and which was really the driver behind most of the things that happened within an organisation. Technology was incapable of reducing human workload because human work was an invention made by humans in order to create the conditions of status competition, which we needed in order to establish hierarchies which were - and perhaps still are - an essential mechanism for assortative mating practices.

I don't think Graeber would write the same book today, because Generative AI takes square aim at a lot the BS Jobs which we have created in the modern office world, particularly those involved in the ingestion, regurgitation and circulation of information.

How much time do we all spend in our inbox? We would all probably say 'too much' - yet what is email work other than ingesting information, regurgitating information and then circulating information for someone else? It's a great exercise in productivity to not open email in the morning - it can contain nothing other than either people you don't know, selling you something you don't want, or people you do know, asking you to do something you don't want to do.

GPT's have been primarily trained on textual data; it can ingest it and produce it faster and better than any human, perhaps any number of human beings. If your recruiter job involves doing a lot of this type of work, it is highly exposed to AI.

3. Tightly Defined

It's interesting to read the 'future of work' studies that came just before (in the 'before times'?) pandemic. Consultancies were studying the impact of technology on the world of work and correctly identified some characteristics of those most at risk, including those which were 'tightly defined'.

We can understand these are jobs where the complexity of the role is low enough that it can be simply described or tightly defined. This is not the denigrate the job - one of the most valuable workers for Recruiting Brainfood over the years has been a data cleanser who has performed the task of database maintenance with relentless consistency, week in and week out. The value this worker has added to me has been immense yet I can describe the task very simply; ensure email validation and conduct data enrichment once email has been validated. There are already tools which can automate this work but my loyalty to this worker is reciprocal and I will keep them on staff until they decide they want to move on. But it is a good example of the type of work which is AI exposed - easily described, fixed tasks. How much of this are you doing in your job today?

4. Low Collaboration Intensity

I LOVE low collaboration intensity!

I regularly get DM's from really cool people asking to collaborate and by and large my reply is always a polite (I hope) 'no'. I have described the reason in a previous Open Kitchen essay, but the summarise briefly it is because there is 'cost of collaboration' which is usually too high for one person business to justify.

It's a different story for people operating as employees. In fact, being a high value employee often correlates with the degree with which you collaborate with others and generate greater value together than each of your individual contributions could achieve. Think of the latest mobile phones which have caused such a sensation in recent dates - the Huawei Mate 60 or the iPhone 15 Max Pro. Hundreds, thousands of people must have intensely collaborated in order to produce these devices, and I do not include the factory workers doing the assembly work in that statement.

I think the degree in which your job has high collaboration intensity will correlate to how AI insulated it will be. This is not to say you should collaborate for the sake of it - that is busywork - but perhaps have a think of the areas of your job as a recruiter which cannot be done without intense collaboration and find a way to do more of that.

5. Relationship with Remote

Now the time for hard truths. There is also a correlation between remote work and the factors 1-4 listed above. We love remote work because it is fundamentally a better deal for the workers. We are better able to balance our lives, spend time with the people we want to spend time with (and avoid the people we don't...), control over our environment and because we can isolate, we can eliminate office interrupts which derail our productivity.

I work remotely, and am one of those who would never return to an office job.

That being said, remote working most often involves tasks which are low collaboration intensity, often predictable and routine, often involving the manipulation and movement of information up or down the chain. It might be great for those are financially insulated, or career proofed in another way (I'm relying purely on the community at this point) but its a dangerous place to be if those things are not in place.

This is not my revelation; very early on in the very first months of the lockdown period, the warning shots were fired by software engineers who wanted to pop the bubble that was swelling over the the shift to remote. Remote was going to be a stepping stone to the job being offshored. What we didn't anticipate was the offshore might itself be a short hop to AI disintermediation.

***

Anyways, lets have a think about what we do today, and what we need to be doing tomorrow because the future is not going to wait around for us to get comfortable with it. Hope this essay helps somebody - let me know if you have any comments or if you want to talk through some of these points.

Now out of the kitchen, onto the lounge 👇

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What's in the News?

Hibob Raise $150 Million

Third raise in 3 years for Hibob as the competition for being the all-in-one HR platform intensifies. One feature of the landscape is going to consolidation of the mid market - Hibob definitely going to be one of the players here. No word on the valuation though. Blog post on the announcement here

Eightfold announce new Co-CEO

The phenomena of co-CEO's is under studied but a welcome twist to the future of HR Tech management. Eightfold, already one of the leading players in the next generation of work tech, add more C-level experience with Chano Fernandez, formerly at co-CEO at Workday now in the saddle. Current CEO Ashutosh Garg with the announcement here

Lattice launch HRIS

Big product launch by Lattice, who attack the 'messy middle' between startup and enterprise with an all-in-one HRIS suite designed to reduce the number of applications HR has to use. PR here

If you are a recruitment technology vendor with some news to share, comment below and let me know your news

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What's On Offer?

Generative AI for TA Leaders - Half Day Workshop

Martyn Redstone is widely renowned in industry as one of the leading voices on conservational AI. He always surprises with me new tools, techniques and revelations from the frontiers of AI.

TA Leaders have been massively behind on the adoption of AI, so its great to see Martyn put together a custom, private workshop designed to help TA Leaders achieve breakthrough in the use of AI. 30 places only, first come first serve - 20% off ticket price on this link.

It's on Friday 20th Oct, from 09.30 to 12.30 online - be a best 200 quid you'll have spent on AI - get to it!

If you are a vendor and have something you want to offer the recruiting community, comment below and let me know what the offer is. It will go in next week's issue. PS: I don't accept affiliate deals, so everything you offer gets passed on entirely and directly to the community!

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What's Going On?

Big List of Recruiting & HR Events to Attend in 2023

What a fantastic couple of weeks its been for events - first Recfest USA, then In-house Recruiter Live. What's next on your bucket list? Unleash in Paris, HR Tech in Las Vegas, SOSU in Amsterdam? Loads of superb events happening both large and small - make sure you get yourself to some of them. Big List is up and updated, so bookmark it here!

Differences in Compensation Practices 2022 vs 2023, Tues 26th 11.00am CET

Excited to have this conversation on compensation - we need have UK market data on both the contract and permanent market, EU data on aggregate from Figures and furrow browed conversations between myself, Virgile Raingeard, CEO (Figures) and Neil Carberry, CEO (Recruitment & Employment Confederation). Has compensation / salary gone up or down over the past 12 months? Has it gone up or down in real terms vs inflation? And what sectors are doing what exactly? Essential for anyone looking to plan ahead for next year. We're on Tuesday 10am BST, so register here

State of Hiring in the Netherlands in 2023, Tues 26th Sept 12pm

I'm hoping that this is going to be the start of a series of country-by-country reviews, because we all need to know more about what is going on in different countries in the world. First up, is the Netherlands and we're bringing Reggie Ebbe, Head of People & Talent (LevelUp Ventures), Tamara Rood, Founder, (Recruitment Strategy), Eveliese Luiting, Founder (People Masterminds) and Kobi Ampoma, Head of Talent Acquisition NL, The HEINEKEN Company to help us talk through the state of hiring in the Netherlands. Register here!

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep225 - The Psychological Impact of Candidate Assessments, Fri 29th, 2pm BST

Mega excited for this show - it's something which combines my amateur interest in psychology with the obvious mental challenges involved in assessment. We're bringing a panel of psychologists to discuss with Jean-Marie Caillaud, Founder (WorkMeTender), Nikita Mikhailov, Professor of Practice (Hult International), Heloise Thon, Neurodivergent Coach (Freelance), Linnea Bywall, Head of People (Alva Labs) & Dr Amanda Potter, Lecturer (Kingston University). Register here

Employer Branding on a Budget, Wed 27 Sept, 2pm BST

Well this is proving to be a popular one already - a proper topic for tough times! If you are a TA leader looking to upgrade how the market perceives your employer, how do you do it with low or no budget? We're going to be talking about the DIY techniques you can use to elevate your business above the competition without spending a penny. Register here

Gender, AI & the Global Job Market, Thurs 28 Sept, 2pm BST

We've got some superb insight for you on what actually goes in interviews. Anton Boner, Commercial Director (Screenloop) is going to present data on how candidates are behaving on platform, including insight on gender, AI and the state of the job market. It's going to be fascinating folks - register here

Candidate Expectations, Frustrations & Preferences, Thurs 28 Sept, 3pm BST

Reviewing the Cronofy report on candidate expectations - going to be deep dive on some proprietary research which tracks the changing expectations of candidates, especially on interview logistics. Register here

How Will AI Change Recruitment - Insight from 2000 Students, Wednesday 4th Oct, 1pm

Pumped to be part of this webinar with Robert and Jasper - two of the smartest people in the recruitment technology space. We're going to be diving deep into a substantial dataset on how AI is going to change the recruiting process. Make sure you tune in to this one! Register here

TruLondon, Thurs 5th Oct, Bluefin Building, 110 Southwark Street London SE1 0SU

120 tickets ONLY for the return of TruLondon. Must attend folks, grab a ticket whilst you can. This event changed my career trajectory and Recruiting Brainfood would not be here were it not for TruLondon. Register here

Talent Acquisition Summit, 3-4 November, Bogota, Colombia

So I suppose this is happening! Good job my favourite coffee stall on Hoxton Street Market is ran by a Colombian family, I will use the opportunity to brush up on my Spanish. Or rather, learn it, as I don't have any! Looking forward to the event by my buddy Carlos Guillermo Lopez in his home town, and delighted to be bringing friends from Europe along for the ride. Tickets here - see you there?

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter, comment below with the link and event details. Don't forget to at mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring?

Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, AIHR, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Global Talent Acquisition Director, Everlight Radiology, London, UK

Talent Specialist, Applied, Remote Anywhere

Internal Recruiter, KP Snacks, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, UK

Recruitment Consultant, Recruitment Panda, Manchester, UK

People Operations Specialist - DACH, TIER Mobility, Berlin, Germany

Talent Manager (m/f/x), QuoIntelligence, Remote from Spain,

People Operations Specialist, Vio.com, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Talent Partner, V7, London, UK

People Operations Specialist, Blinkist, Berlin, Germany

Senior Recruiter, Western Union, Vienna, Austria

If you are hiring for recruiters or HR people, you are welcome to post jobs FOR FREE on the Brainfood Jobs Job Board. Use coupon code: BTCFREE for 100% discount.

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Whose Available?

That's 367 members of the community. If you are a recruiter or HR person that is looking for work, join the Brainfood Talent Collective here. If you are an employer hiring recruiters, apply for a company account here, and use the code: BTCFREE to freely post jobs and search the db.

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Who's Moving?

Ben Towers joins CyberCrowd as Head of Resourcing. An unfortunately reality of our present and future is that online security will need to become hardened against human and non-human actor alike. One of the best sectors to be working in the recruitment right now I'd say. Need to know more about it - a Brainfood Live on CyberSecurity hiring?

Amy York joins Parkade as Fractional Talent Advisor. I think I first connected with Amy back when she was at Sprout Social, and kept in touch when she moved to Yello. Love the move into more flexible work - seeing a lot more TA professionals working in a fractional way - going to be a big component of how we do our work.

Promotions to celebrate: Hannah Worthing goes up to People Engagement Manager at Inspire Tech, France Ho goes up to Team Lead, Recruitment Services at Sobeys and Nadia Heutschi-Boizart who goes up to Talent Acquisition Director at Essity. Congratulations all!

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business, and feel the wider community needs to know about it, comment below with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

Crashing through a load of webinars over the next 5 weeks, so even though I will be in London all the way through, I think I am going to be pretty much maxed out. I hope that we can get the chance to talk online or in person before we hit 2024.

Have a great week everybody

Hung

Hung Lee is the curator of Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.