Artificial Intelligence no match for headhunters

  • Post published:29/01/2018
  • Reading time:2 mins read

No match as in AI not being as good, strong, or clever as human recruiters who can actually SELL a job.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics once reported that 83% of a labor market is passive, meaning people are not actively looking for a new job. And consider that only about 20% of the six to seven million higher educated Thais are registered LinkedIn user (and a lot less are regular users that is). So what does that tell you?

In short, if you are satisfied fishing in the small pool of applicants who are actively looking for a new job, perhaps AI may one day help you. Just like those hiring managers who blindly use internet job boards without checking the demographics of the job board or who believe everyone on LinkedIn are there to find a new job.

But if you are one of the many hiring managers who struggle to find enough qualified people for your job vacancies, nothing beats a human recruiter who can find those passive candidates and who can SELL the job opportunity. By the way, that’s what I have done the last 15 years in Thailand.

Human recruiters can actually SELL a job!
AI is very capable of matching up the algorithms of key skills and experience versus that on a candidates CV. However, it takes a human to know how to sell and present an opportunity, focusing on the “softer” elements and being persuasive if necessary. I personally have placed people who initially had said “no” to a company but they trusted me and realized that their initial perception of the company had been wrong. I can’t be the only recruiter who has had this experience. AI is knowledgeable but AI does not have the capacity to think outside of the box.

via 5 Reasons Why AI Will Never EVER Replace Recruiters

Tom Sorensen

Tom Sorensen is an executive search veteran with over 25 years of experience recruiting in Asia, Europe, and Africa. He has worked in executive search in Thailand since 2003 and is recognized as one of the country’s top recruiters and most profiled headhunters.