Recruitment technology – do we need HR people anymore?

The recurring worry of “technology will replace humans in the workplace” has been rearing its ugly head for quite some time, and recruitment is its most recent victim.

You can even find calculators now that will tell you how likely it is that your job will be replaced by technology, including one created by NPR, based on a study by the University of Oxford. Give it a try here!

A study, by the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at the employment records of 300,000 low-skill workers in the service sector, across 15 companies. They found that workers chosen by a computer algorithm stayed in their role 15% longer than those chosen by human employees…The question is could this same algorithm be applied to recruitment agents or any other workforce?

This report didn’t go unnoticed. You can read more about it here.

My verdict? It is just as likely that my name is Sarah Connor and I am being pursued by a time travelling, homicidal, robot that looks like Arnold Swarzennegger…I know you’re thinking that I would think that. HR is my bag after all!

But it is more than that. Like with any statistical report, it is difficult to apply this one selection to an entire workforce. This report specifically looked at jobs with low retention rates for a start, where the average employee only stayed for 99 days.

Furthermore, they only looked at low-skill jobs and so the same cannot be said about whether computers can be used to recruit for more specialised roles. There is also nothing to suggest that computers are capable of considering a candidates happiness, motivation, productivity and overall cultural fit. In some roles, a cultural fit is more important than their years of experience for example.

Not to mention that there is no accounting for qualitative data which only a human can consider, for example, a personal recommendation or referral.

There are however some more basic but incredibly time-consuming jobs that can be done confidently by technology quicker and more efficiently than us mere humans, for example trawling through the talent pool or searching through CV’s and professional or social networks for candidates.

There is a lot of recruitment technology out there that can support humans in their attempts to find their perfect cultural fit. We use one such platform in our recruitment project management service, which you can read more about here.

You can read about it in more depth in our case study here.

For now, I can confidently say that although there are elements of recruitment that can be assisted with technology, recruiters and HR consultants alike are safe for now. Any company that relies on technology alone is taking a big risk.

If you want to find out what you could be achieving with Reality HR supporting your recruitment, give us a call on 01256 328 428 or fill out the form below to organise a callback at your convenience:

 

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from Reality HR Limited http://www.realityhr.co.uk/blog/recruitment-technology/