FlexOS | AI in HR Today with Anthony Onesto
Issue #
6

AI in Recruiting: How Did We Get Here?

FlexOS | AI in HR Today with Anthony Onesto

AI in HR guru Anthony Onesto dives into a recent talk on the future of recruiting – and how understand the past is key to understating it.

AI in Recruiting: How Did We Get Here?

In 2024, I was invited to speak at SourceCon about the impact of AI on recruiting. 

My intent for my discussion was to start a conversation and stir up some New York bravado in San Diego. I started my presentation by informing the audience that I thought AI would do 75% of recruiting work in a short period. Yes, stir some stuff up! PS - I highly recommend visiting San Diego, where you can stand outside in a jacket at 70 degrees and not sweat like you have just run a marathon. I digress. 

In my career, I have worked in many technology startups that were taking their HR function from 0 to 1. From nonexistence into existence, accompanied by heavy venture capital or private equity investment and growth. 

It has indeed been a fantastic career as I look back. When you are scrappy, you get creative, and I have never had an enormous budget or headcount to do precisely what I needed to do. So, like most folks reading this newsletter, you must rely on pure grit, long hours, and tools to complete the work. 

TOGETHER WITH

Recruiting Over Time

Part of my presentation at SourceCon was to look at the progression of recruiting over time and how that has changed not only in the past few years but over decades.

I walked through the handshake era of the early 1900s, where folks used traditional means of connection, like conversations and meeting in person.

Then it was the Rolodex Revolution of the 50s-70s, where phone calls and Rolodexes were a thing. “Google it.” Is that even a thing now? Do we now ChatGPT it?

Then came the fax era of the 80s and 90s, when you would fax your resume to companies and wonder if they ever got it. You put it through a scanner on this side, heard the dial and connection with that electric, raspy type of noise, and then got ghosted by the recruiter.

Yes, believe it or not, there was a time when we had to call up a company, trick the receptionist into telling us the names of people who held specific roles, and then call back to talk to that person. It was the recruiting version of walking to school in the snow uphill - both ways!

Then came the internet and mobile with sites like Craigslist, Monster, Dice, and early versions of LinkedIn called Plaxo, and finally, the monopoly on professional networking known as LinkedIn. Everyone’s information was on the web for everyone to see, and you could even connect with folks - this is super easy. You kids have no idea how easy you have it!

The AI Era in Recruiting

Now we enter what I call the AI era, but before I start talking about how you can start thinking about AI in recruiting, my point is that things are always in metamorphosis. It's just hard to see it unless you take a step back.

As we approach 2025, the recruiting landscape is undergoing another profound transformation, driven by the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

With AI in the HR market projected to reach USD 26.5 billion by 2033, it's clear that AI is set to revolutionize how organizations attract, assess, and hire talent. For folks like us, it will also level the playing field.

So, what does that playing field look like? How and where will AI disrupt recruiting (and HR more broadly)?

That’s a story for another day – next Monday, to be precise.

I hope to see you then.