There has been a spurt of activity in the HR space, where we have seen several Technology product companies getting created which are focused on automating the hiring process e.g. Belong, TalentRecruit, etc. Having been a part of Talent Acquisition for nearly 2 decades & having witnessed the rise of LinkedIn, Naukri and various other online platforms, I have seen their impact on overall recruitment across sectors at close range. Yet intuitively, there is a question that remains which is far more fundamental –

Can hiring be entirely automated across all levels?

There are differing points of view on this with proponents of 100 % automation being several and vociferous. However, data & experience points to a more moderate approach which is based on the premise that in the hiring process, information is distributed asymmetrically, and Technology can play a part in increasing efficiencies in terms of time but cannot replace the role of the human ‘recruiter’ completely (despite a lot of projected break through advances in AI).

Human beings (and that is what professionals are!!) function primarily in networks- social or professional which are denoted by groups of friends, family, professionals, alumni, etc. And it is through these groups that each ‘human professional’ exists and experiences their existence.

The human brains is wired to process information in patterns and we recognise these patterns across generations – patterns of taste, sounds, smells, language …

In this very large melting pot of information, I think at times we are expecting and promising too much from Recruitment Technology which is very nascent in its journey (keeping in mind that scientists still have been only able to understand 10% of the human brain and it’s functioning).

I have been pondering on Technology’s future role in recruitment and would like to open the forum to debate to all the readers of this article.