So, how will ‘generative AI’ change your hiring practices?

A new frontier is opening up with open AI and it’s going to be bigger than one can think. If technology changed the job market in the mid-1990s, open generative AI (think ChatGPT) will play an enormous – and positive - role in the way hirings are done in the future.

Knowledge is no longer a commodity, but how we use this to improve processes, policies and the way we work is going to change long-term. The impact will be felt on hiring as the skills and competencies required for entry-level jobs are in for a dramatic shift. To put it simply, as chatbots refine, the basic content will build industrial strength intelligence.

The new hires entering the workforce who have the basic skills on how to ask intelligent questions that are industry-specific will win out. There is no doubt that there will be existing jobs such as customer service agents who will be immediately impacted. Hiring for these roles would still be on but with upgraded and enhanced requirement of knowing how to use the systems so that decision-makers get involved quickly to resolve customer complaints and not go through loops depending on escalation by customer service agents.

One of the biggest impacts of AI will be on how the HR function will run as it’s the area where decisions on hiring, promotion, succession planning and development are based on judgement of the role requirement. As technology changes, we will have to re-run job requirements and replace the entry level roles to be more meaningful and with purpose.

Racing to hire ‘prompt engineers’

The Gen Z entering the workforce are driven by meaningful work, responsibility and opportunity for advancement. They are also entering workforces with different qualifications, approaches to learning, and values.

• Being digital natives, they are hyper cognitive and they mirror this in their personal and professional development;

• Gen Z opt for experiential learning; and

• Development and advancement matters more than pay.

To remain competitive, employers must adopt innovative recruitment methods to attract Gen Z talent. In the latest sign of how quickly the AI platform is infiltrating the corporate world, some companies are racing to hire ‘prompt engineers’, experts who can formulate queries that will yield the optimal result from the bot. Think of them as akin to SEO or social media experts – only the stakes are a lot higher.

The world has shifted in the last decade from information asymmetry to information parity. As informed customers knock the doors, the processes and AI driven chatbot have to be equally smart to resolve their needs and issues.

Generative AI and ChatGPT in particular have a role to play as it will cluster billions of ‘tokens’ that include phrases, words to find patterns and predictions you can query. It could find things we may not know and help rewrite training materials. And for everything we do just a little bit better, hiring will be key to ensure the new talent has the skillset to use these AI platforms to create a richer work experience and purpose on the job.

Stay tuned, there is much more to come…