Did you miss me? While most were summer holidaying, I had a hiatus to write my memoir, The Damage of Words. I also launched Beyond The Damage of Words podcast for perfectionists, people pleasers, masked, labelled, people whose emotional needs weren’t met, the neglected, and fellow child abuse survivors. And anyone who doesnβt like who they are or feels unworthy or less than in any way. Weekly inspirational interviews with people who took the healing path.
Now, I am back! And, as usual, going against the AI flow.
I started in recruitment when people were taught people skills. AI-proof, robot-proof skills that are crucial to engaging, wooing, converting, and successfully hiring or empathetically rejecting people. Much of the values I share in The Robot-Proof Recruiter are due to the fundamentals I was taught back then.
My issue: AI won’t fix this!
In June, I had the honour of speaking at WeAreDevelopers on the Tech Leaders’ stage (thank you, Alla Pavlova θΎθ π) about how hiring leaders can improve their recruitment in 30 minutes. It was great to bleat to ‘the other side’ for once!
After establishing the importance of giving recruiters the time for a proper job brief – you know, billions of people online making noise, plus GPT bland post noise, transparency of employee and candidate experience, visibility of all other jobs etc, etc. – I asked them to pull out their phones and pair up.
Initially, they looked like I had just asked them to strip naked, but then they played along. Opening their phones, I asked them to be ready to record a voice note and then gave each of the pair a job.
- Hiring manager: spend 60 seconds answering the question
- Listener: now spend 60 seconds repeating what you heard
- Compare notes! They recorded the whole thing.
The question was, ‘How will you know at the end of 12 months that you have hired the right person?’
The result!
βοΈ The hiring leader articulated things that were not on the job description.
π The listener missed crucial points no matter how hard they tried.
π‘ Everyone understood this is where recruitment fails – the articulation and the comprehension of who is really needed for the position!
Regular readers know this is all about Chapter 5 of my book, right? But it’s also about Chapter 1, developing those AI-proof human skills that you can use to delve deeper, clock expression changes, probe hesitancy, wonder over a sharp breath, clarify confusion and so on.
If you want to stand out in the noise generated by over 5 billion people online, cut through the bland GPT output already spamming feeds and inboxes, and actually get the attention and response of the person you would like to hire, your job briefs need to be miles better than anyone else’s.
AI won’t fix the job brief – only some of it
Contrary to the title of my book, I love tech as much as the next person. But it was written due to the frustration of HR tech vendors – who often haven’t done your job – saying recruiters are replaceable. Edition 1 was started in 2018, Edition 2 was published last year, and my opinion hasn’t changed in 2023.
Don’t use tech unless it makes the people experience – for you, the HM & the candidate – better. I am tired of seeing people throwing money at tech that’s not fit for purpose.
But back to this articulation/listening problem… assuming you can even get the HM on a call (and no, not everyone can!)
π€ At this point, AI won’t fix the human inability to articulate who they want. Recruiters and TA pros must get far better at asking questions that make the HM think forward, not backwards. (I help teams with this)
π¦Ύ But, AI can help with the listening portion by transcribing the entire conversation so you can focus on asking great questions and being present.
When I posted about Metaview’s AI, which I was actually impressed by, and I’m fussy, some of the comments amused me. This AI has been specifically built to help automate the intake meeting note-taking (and other parts) and works by transcribing the conversation for you so you can be fully immersed in the conversation. The comments said typing notes in a job brief is a breeze, and maybe they are spectacularly talented but…
π The sound of the keys can be distracting to the speaker – especially the 15-20% of the population who are HSPs – and creates a feeling of not being heard.
π€ You could miss other cues like a change in facial expression or an intake of breath that prompts you to dig deeper.
π©βπ» While you type, you are thinking of what was just said, possibly wondering if you understood it, while they are still talking…
π And if you are a leader & think you can do this, it doesn’t mean your team can.
But, really, no matter how great you think you are at this, if I was going to use AI anywhere in the essential job brief, it would be here, creating notes for me. So I can focus on asking great questions, get all the information I need to compete against other recruiters and online noise, successfully engage candidates, and save a bucket ton of time by finding the right people the first time around. π€·ββοΈ
Why not give Metaview a try for free? Let me know if it helped or saved you time. I’m all ears. Pun intended.
Any AI you choose…
…must save you time, money and hassle. It must create a better human experience by supporting what we do. It mustn’t hinder the experience for hiring managers and, especially, candidates.
In my test, Metaview’s AI created great notes that saved time and hassle by taking my stream of words and transforming it into something super useful. Maybe I’m biased, but imagine what you could do with the extra time. Maybe even get back to all of your applicants… oh, no, that’s a rant for another day.
