The Badger’s interviewed many people seeking employment in IT services over the years. It started with interviewing new University graduates as part of the early UK ‘milk round’, and extended into interviewing very experienced technical, delivery and line people as the Badger’s leadership responsibilities grew. If the Badger learned just three things from all this interviewing it was this. Firstly, that a CV is the candidate’s tool to stimulate an employer’s interest, but its content cannot be taken for granted. Secondly, meeting the candidate face to face is crucial, and thirdly, that good candidates have sensible expectations because they recognise their IT skills quickly become tomorrow’s commodity.
Why’s the Badger thinking about this? Two reasons. Firstly because young nephews are encountering today’s digital, AI-supported automation in the world of recruitment, and secondly because of reading the assessment of occupations at risk from automation published by the UK Office of National Statistics earlier this year.
Digital automation and AI continues to grow rapidly in the realm of recruitment (Here, here and here provide readable appetisers, for example). Within a few years, it looks like today’s youngster generation will be psychometrically tested, have their video and audio interactions digitally analysed, and possible have their public social media presences appraised like no previous generation before when they seek employment. It’s possible to foresee a time when youngsters will never actually physically meet anyone during a recruitment and interview process. Will that actually happen? Hopefully not, because nothing’s more powerful for an employer and a candidate when making an employment decision than physically meeting someone, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, and having a dialogue that can go down unexpected avenues.
So, what’s the relevance of the ONS reference? It simply highlights the following. The percentage of HR resource leader and HR operations jobs at risk from automation is 28.2% and 58.01%, respectively. If you work in IT then at least 1 in 4 of the management consultants (27.09%), project managers (24.49%), architects and designers (28.4%), and call centre staff (54.83%) reading this today could be redundant in the coming years. Even 23.62% of Chief Exec and senior officials are at risk from automation! So, it’s not just youngsters like the Badger’s nephews who will be analysed like never before when they seek employment in the modern way, you will too!
If you lose your job through automation and AI, then it’s automation and AI that’ll be a significant factor in getting alternative employment! Make sure you understand how recruiters and employers use automation and AI and prepare yourself appropriately. Always meet a prospective employer face to face before accepting a job. Shake their hand, look them in the eye, and make sure that you’ll be working for a human being rather than a robot…
One of the things we have learned at NMiTE (www.nmite.ac.uk) is that asking candidates for a short video is an excellent way of eliminating the unsuitable. This applies equally to young people wanting to become students and older people wanting to teach them. You can’t select using a video (and I agree with the Badger that eyeballing is essential) but you can reject. I have been amazed at the awful quality (and irrelevant content) of some 2-minute videos submitted as part of a job or student application. On the other hand some have been excellent. What this tells me is that you (and I include me) need to keep up with relatively simple, but modern, skills like making and uploading a short video.
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