Artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on entry-level graduate recruitment numbers has been dramatically overstated by the media and others, according to the incoming chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Its impact, however, on the hiring of young workers is posing huge challenges to jobseekers and employers.
“Entry-level roles in Ireland this year are probably a little weaker than they were last year, but only a little weaker,” says Neil Carberry, who takes over the leadership of the organisation later this month, having previously been chief executive of the UK’s employment and recruitment confederation.
“What is happening, though, is the process of job search and recruitment at entry level is becoming incredibly convoluted. You’ve got AI being used by candidates to maximise output; you wouldn’t quite say ‘spray and pray,’ but certainly a sense that ‘I’ve got to throw the net as wide as I can to try to catch some fish’.
“On the other side, companies are faced with this wall of applications, so they are deploying tools and processes to cope with that.
Speaking at a CIPD-organised and Government-supported event attended by human resource (HR) leaders from about 40 of the country’s larger employers, Carberry suggested the changed landscape comes with risks and both sides are routinely deeply frustrated by typical hiring processes at present.
The Irish graduate jobs most affected by AI
Many young people, he said, are left with no idea why they weren’t hired. And some employers find it extremely difficult to find the people they most want to hire amid the hugely increased number of applications.
“So, I talk to lots of businesses who say, ‘I just can’t hire young people’, and at the same time I talk to lots of young people who say, ‘I can’t get a job. I’ve done 500 applications.’ That’s why it feels incredibly important that we rethink entry-level hiring, why it’s a really robust area for Government and businesses to be working together.”
The seminar heard various contributions from senior managers regarding the importance of maintaining talent pipelines for the future – even in the face of pressure from stakeholders to see a short-term return on investment in AI.
Some highlighted the importance of adding the people to organisations to whom AI use comes most naturally while acknowledging the need to redefine and update roles at a time when many more mundane tasks are being taken over by the technology.
Brad Mallard, chief technology officer with tech and AI consultants Version 1, said that while some firms are seeing investment in AI tools as a way to rein in recruitment, they are often missing the point.
“Over time, in the mid to longer term, you need those more, the juniors, to be able to progress on and to learn the jobs so you don’t have problems around attrition and retention of knowledge. We will see the nature of roles change, but what won’t go away is the engagement and the problem-solving characteristics and the curiosity that you still need people to bring.
“You can’t replace that. So, elements of every role, especially junior roles and analyst roles, will change, and at the moment some people are sort of going: ‘Great, we can reduce our costs and improve our margins’.
“But what we see even in the biggest technology companies is [that] while they go through that loop very quickly, they then realise they need people back because the technology doesn’t quite do everything they need: the context setting; the people-to-people engagement; [and] asking the right questions. But it’s all an interesting challenge, if I’m honest.”