Should HR Pros fear technology?

As we rapidly approach a reality that machines will take over many of the traditional tasks in recruitment, staffing, and engagement the question arises. Should HR professionals be worried about their future?

The answer is an emphatic NO!!! Here’s why.

Among HR professionals there are common denominators. You chose your HR career because you wanted to help people. But reality is being overworked, often undervalued, and frequently emotionally drained. Can you help people the way you wanted too when you spend days trying to keep your head above water?

The role of the modern day HR Manager

The job in HR is to find , engage, retain, grow and optimize talent. For you to be your best, to actually fulfill your purpose of helping people you need to embrace technology. The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (Voice Bots) gives you the ability to create a B2E (business 2 employee) experience that has all of the qualities of human interaction that can be utilized across each of your tasks and functions. If you are asking, doesn’t that mean I won’t be needed? The answer is no, you actually become more valuable because now you can focus on what your organizations actual needs. But first you need time, and time is what AI can give you. Here is just one of many examples of how AI can help.

Recruitment practices are outdated

When looking to fill an open position the average job posting gets 250 applications. There are always multiple roles open so you are left with the impossible task of going through 1000’s of resumes trying to find the best skill set and cultural fit. Your ATS will eliminate some of the applicants based on text searches, which let’s be honest is a lousy way to evaluate a candidate. Then you can move onto following up with candidates, scheduling and conducting screening calls, scheduling interviews… the list doesn’t’ really end. Not to mention that you’d love to be the type of organization that treats every person who is interested with respect to cement your brand as a go to destination for a great career.

Your Human Resources Smart Assistant

What if instead you had an AI Digital Assistant who could, with a live voice interface engage candidates, evaluate skills, execute assessments, handle all scheduling and coordination, and keep candidates informed during each step in the process?  By the time you are involved a limited list of pre-vetted candidates is all that remain. Those candidates that weren’t quite the right fit were treated with respect and kept completely informed at every step. Your time is spent only on vetted candidates. Does your ability to conduct a search improve? Does the positive experience that each candidate has build your brand? Does the engagement of the candidate that becomes an employee set them up for success?

The irony of HR embracing AI and Voice Bots as digital assistance is that you now have time to create the B2E experience that you have always wanted. AI and voice is technology that allows you to be human.