The effects of AI on the sustainability recruitment and executive search landscape and market.
The internet came, and recruitment and search were dead. Job boards came along, and recruitment and search were dead. LinkedIn came along, and recruitment and search were dead.
Recruitment hasn’t died; it has grown and grown and grown. The global market is expected to hit $2.03 trillion by 2031.
When tech has grown recruitment has morphed and become the tech companies biggest clients. LinkedIn’s main revenue comes from Talent Management and Premium Subscriptions. Which are nearly all focused on recruitment outcomes.
What will happen with AI?
I don’t know, but I assume and hope it will evolve the same way it has with the dawn of every great new technology. People will still get hired and the same money will be involved, but the protagonists might look different.
I spoke to a senior leader in the sustainability world, who said that it looks like there will no longer be a need for juniors in professional services. I remarked that there might not be any more juniors at Mckinsey (not where he works), and he said ‘there might not be a Mckinsey’.
Pretty extreme, and probably overblown, but there’s a conversation to be had.
https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/how-will-ai-affect-accounting-jobs/
But, in sustainability recruitment, despite the noise some recruiters make, you are really paying someone for their EQ. The EQ to understand your problem. The EQ and empathy to connect with target candidates and explain it to them in a collaborative way.
What you do pay for but really shouldn’t is weeks of ‘research’ and written content, which really doesn’t add value to anyone other than the most analytical person. It looks good though, and means some of the ‘executive search’ firms can charge 40%. AI will do this in seconds.
Recruitment and executive search companies will pay AI automated software firms to provide them with tools who will do this. Those firms will market themselves as social change agents, and will then grow into mega corporations, raise their fees and then become part of the $2.03 trillion global recruitment industry.
Hopefully ageing sustainability recruiters with 3D EQ spectacles will still be in demand.
Is AI the first technology that favours older people?