I was recently invited to speak at an insurance industry conference in Birmingham to discuss the importance of driving the service agenda forward. The most striking moment came when I asked the audience what was keeping them up at night. The overwhelming answer? It wasn’t anything to do with profits and premiums, or channels and service, or digitisation and AI. Instead, it was… talent.
I found this very revealing. In fact, it reflects what I have heard elsewhere in discussions with other leaders from different sectors.
Hiring conundrum
Quite simply, there is a puzzling disconnect going on. On one side, employers are finding it increasingly hard to recruit the talent they need. Some of this is to do with skills gaps – especially when technical requirements related to areas such as AI are very specialised – but it seems to go wider than that.
On the other side, young people (in particular) are saying that they’re looking hard for entry-level roles to get started on their career, but despite all their applications they are meeting with little success.
It has been widely reported in the press that the UK has a ‘NEET’ problem – with nearly a million young people not in employment, education or training. But graduates are struggling too. You only need to scroll on LinkedIn or other social media to find depressing tales of motivated individuals getting rejected over and over again. This is not only at entry level either. Many seasoned professionals are finding it extremely tough to get a new role if they experience redundancy or try to get back into the market after a career break or other life event.
A challenging market
So, what is going on and how can the situation be improved? I don’t pretend to be a recruitment expert, although I do get involved fairly regularly in the hiring process for our small team at The Institute.
The first thing to observe is that at present we have a tough recruitment market because many organisations are weathering a low-growth economy in which costs are also rising. This puts pressure on margins – and inevitably affects budgets and appetite for recruitment. Where there is hiring, businesses are necessarily very selective and risk-averse. They are less inclined to take a chance on candidates that show potential but may not currently have all the experience or attributes required.
Secondly, whilst I don’t believe we are facing an AI-related ‘jobs Armageddon’ by any means, AI’s ability to automate processes or carry out repeatable tasks is doubtless having some impact on the need for human staff, especially in administrative and entry-level roles.
An AI problem?
However, we near the heart of the issue when we consider AI in another of its aspects. Businesses (and recruitment agencies) are using AI to a significant extent to read, assess and sift through applications. Meanwhile, candidates are widely using AI to refine their CVs, write their applications and help them with interview tasks they are set (such as a presentation or problem-solving exercise).
I wonder whether this is moving too far and too fast. Have employers become over-reliant on AI to screen applications, rather than having skilled humans look at them? Have candidates pushed the AI envelope too far so that what they are producing merely looks formulaic and bland?
Remembering the human
I would urge both sides to remember what recruitment and work are really all about: being human. Both sides need to show their human skills and attributes in order to attract the other. A recruitment decision is effectively the decision to enter into a work-based relationship. For that relationship to be formed, a human connection must be made.
Leaders need to make sure that the hiring process in their organisation hasn’t swung too far into tech-led automation. To what extent, and at what stages, are key individuals involved in assessing applications and making decisions? Are the right people involved in interviews? Is decision-making still based on a holistic assessment of candidates’ abilities and potential, or has it become too templatised?
On the candidate front, my advice would be to use AI as a support tool only. Don’t over-rely on it. Your application should be your own, written by you. Try to bring out your personality and the attributes that make you, you. Standardised, vanilla productions (whether the work of AI, or a lack of individual effort to properly tailor) are an instant turn-off to employers. Believe in your own capabilities and communicate that in your own words (using AI to polish or refine where needed).
In short, while there are no easy solutions, I believe that part of the answer is that employers and candidates need to meet somewhere in the middle. Ensuring the human dimension is retained on both sides will go some way to closing the disconnect gap.
In the meantime, The Institute is also hiring! See our website for open opportunities: https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/about-us/careers/
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