In your recruitment process, blessed be AI, which promises to optimize your work and help you save time and improve efficiency—both in drafting precise job descriptions and candidate communications, and in refining search criteria through algorithms and analyzing received CVs.
This interest continues to grow since, according to a study conducted by software publisher iCIMS, more than half of HR professionals (57%)—regardless of their role, whether CHROs, middle managers, or CEOs depending on their organization’s size—plan to implement AI solutions in their hiring processes within the next year or more (compared to 39% currently).
Thanks to AI, already present in ATS (applicant tracking systems), hiring managers can conduct more targeted, personalized interviews and objectively assess candidate skills. But can AI truly help identify potential and help us ask the right questions?
AI to the rescue of bias?
Unfortunately, artificial intelligence is not a magic solution against cognitive bias. In fact, AI algorithms are built from human data, which means they inherit the biases present in that data. As a manager, you will be (very, very) tempted to choose a profile that resembles yours—someone who graduated from your school and follows a similar career path, one in which you can see yourself at some point. And AI won’t change that.
AI can only become a valuable tool if it is properly calibrated to detect and correct these biases (for example, by analyzing a set of selected CVs, AI can identify discriminatory patterns that a recruiter, even an experienced one, might miss). This is still (very, very) rare today.
There’s also the question: tomorrow, if algorithms filter CVs and digital avatars conduct job interviews, aren’t we forgetting the very essence of recruitment (and management)—the human factor?
AI in recruitment: a tool, not a solution.
Certainly, AI avatars capable of asking candidates questions can help manage a large volume of applications quickly. This is a major advantage for companies juggling hundreds or even thousands of CVs. But despite this innovation, AI remains primarily a tool: a filter, a pre-screener. It cannot capture that spark, that connection where the hiring manager thinks “yes, this person is right for this job.”
Recruiting is meeting.
Recruitment is fundamentally a human encounter, a conversation. It’s not simply about verifying a candidate’s skills, but understanding their personality, motivations, and values. These elements are crucial for ensuring good integration into the company and a sustainable working relationship. No algorithm, however sophisticated, can replace human intuition—that intuition gained by managers empirically, through contact with their teams and human interactions. A smile, a glance, a hesitation… these are details only a human being can capture and interpret.
Good recruitment is above all about customization.
Good recruitment is above all about customization, a search for alignment between professional needs and personal aspirations. An AI can provide an initial idea, but only a conversation between two people can truly determine whether the candidate is the right fit for the company, and whether the company matches their expectations.
Valuing the Human Element.
Avatars and other AI technologies are not a threat in themselves, but recruitment should not be reduced to a series of clicks and automated responses. Valuing the human dimension of recruitment ensures better understanding of issues, expectations, and shared values. For a company, people must remain at the heart of all decisions, and recruitment is no exception. As Steve Jobs once said, whose business models were inspired by the Beatles, “four guys who compensate for each other’s weaknesses. That’s how I see business: great things have never been done by one person; they’ve been done by a team of people.”