Stop trying to hire computers. Hire humans.
Later in the first Industrial Revolution, because machines were not able to perform any cognitive tasks, efficiencies through humans were sought. A factory would have a large office, sitting high above the production floor with windows that overlooked the machines and people below. This was to monitor the humans, who weren’t seen as human, but rather, more flexible machines, who, to be profitable, must perform the same task over and over again. Every body movement was measured, calculated and integrated with the part of the machinery to which it was assigned. Flesh robots. If they didn’t perform, they were summarily fired. No benefits, no cushion. Someone would replace them. Humans simply filled in the spaces machines at that time, could not fill.
Even today, industry, manufacturers, are relentless in the pursuit to eliminate the human. Humans make mistakes and cost a lot. Programmed right, robots do not. In manufacturing, most every job can be automated and that is fine. It is the prerogative of businesses to do that and ti can be good.
Unfortunately, we are seeing a similar philosophy attempting to be applied in knowledge industries, especially in the hiring process. It is one of the reasons people are quitting their jobs. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence can automate a fair number of actions in knowledge work. This is okay, because the humans can do more interesting and creative work that benefits the organisation more profitably in the long term. Unfortunately, many knowledge industries don’t see this yet and use AI to replace workers, thus forcing themselves to be compliant to the technology, rather than the market and the customer. As customers are human, they do weird things. Things that don’t comply with the systems the company has put in place. Today, increasingly, the product is not what consumers buy, it is the shares sold to investors.
Another reason companies find it so hard to hire employees is that they set a certain number of standards and requirements for a position, that are fed into automated hiring systems for screening. Algorithms do the screening, not humans. The prospective employee must create a resume and perhaps a LinkedIn profile that matches the algorithms of the software doing the screening. Everything must be perfectly aligned. Algorithms don’t think, they only do what they are programmed to do. We also know that most are racially and gender biased. The right keywords, the way educational certificates are placed, perfect precision in the words used that match the keywords the algorithms have been programmed to accept. If one makes it through this unfathomable process, a human may then review it. But they too, must push those selected resumes into another system, to move them towards an interview stage. Corporations, especially large ones, aren’t looking for humans, they’re looking for components in the machine.
Agencies and other corporations say they want to hire innovators, intrapreneurs and independent thinkers, self starters. These are people who are bright, intelligent and creative. They are the very opposite of computers and machines, they do not comply with the algorithms. They won’t make it through the automated screening process. They’re the ones an organisation needs, but cannot find because they don’t fit the algorithm, They are not automatons.
For a brief period of time, some companies saw this. So they hired talent agents, HR folks who would spend time on social media and networking to find talented people. Many are very, very good at this and they did well. But eventually, even the talent agents had to submit the resume and details into the system. The talent agents who once had autonomy, now had to subject themselves to the algorithms. If the algorithm didn’t like it, the candidate was rejected. Interestingly, the successful talent agents and recruiters today, largely ignore the algorithms and make human connections. They are a model companies should look to.
There is much made about the Great Resignation underway in the United States. It is less so in countries like Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark. Countries that offer more social benefits such as parental leave and foster more diversity and workplace cultures. A recent Fast Company article suggested there will be a Great Boomerang, that the workers who left will come back. That is unlikely, unless, as the article also suggests, the businesses they left, address culture. People didn’t leave companies with good cultures, they left the ones with bad or no culture.
What we may well be seeing is a cultural realignment and a soft rejection of automating the hiring process, with less reliance on AI and more emphasis on human to human connections. What we are consistently seeing is that when humans use technology to augment their work and industry, the outcomes are better than when we seek to turn humans into computers. They aren’t and never will be.
Now, before potential candidates often even submit an application, they research the company, the executive and look for what past employees say in social media. or don’t say. Which can be as powerful.
For organisations, start with the human, augment with the technology, understand where to draw the line between automation and humans and success is sure to follow. Make the technologies work for the humans.
