Companies Are Turning to AI to Solve the Problem of Finding Qualified Workers and Streamline Their Operations

Global talent solutions company, Randstad Enterprise, shared its much-awaited 2024 Talent Trends Report. The report provides important insights into how businesses can adapt to, thrive, and lead better in the quickly evolving talent landscape. Samantha Schlimper, Managing Director, Randstad Enterprise, discusses key findings and conclusions from the survey.

A major finding in the study highlights AI and its growing impact. It’s clear from the data that more organizations are using AI throughout the talent cycle. This helps them find and retain high-potential, right-fit employees and also enables smoother operations. Almost all C-suite executives and talent leaders (97%) agree that using technology has improved how they attract, engage, and keep talent. This is an eight-point increase compared to 2023 and the highest number ever reported in the nine years of Talent Trends surveys.

Samantha Schlimper, the Managing Director of Randstad Enterprise said, “Technology has been gradually impacting talent attraction and management for some time, but it is the arrival of AI technologies that has had the most transformative impact. AI is currently helping to improve talent attraction, engagement, and retention and has really made its mark with job advertisement creation and distribution, candidate sourcing and screening, bespoke training and development, and facilitating career advancement. 

Leading talent acquisition practitioners are using AI to create and algorithmically distribute job postings where they will gain the most relevant exposure, and to quickly and effectively screen high volumes of CVs of both active and passive candidates to find the right people for their talent needs. Furthermore, the use of AI-powered screening and scheduling chatbots to interact with applicants drives a stronger talent experience through 24/7 availability and by providing immediate responses and answers to common questions, as well as speeds up connecting talent with hiring managers. This use of AI has saved employers and recruiters tremendous time and effort in their hiring process. Furthermore, it frees up recruiters to perform more people-centric tasks, such as developing closer relationships with hiring managers and candidates so companies can improve the quality of hires. 

As for engagement, the Randstad Enterprise Workmonitor survey of talent shows that workers consistently desire a better talent journey that helps them grow and advance in their careers. AI can enable this by identifying their potential to navigate their careers in various directions, given their skills, experience, motivations, and aspirations. Also, by using AI to identify and predict adjacent skills a company may need — for instance, helping a developer with Python skills to acquire R or SQL competencies — employers can accelerate the careers of their people and move them into increasingly valuable positions. All of this helps to drive tremendous impact on engagement because employees feel they are constantly growing in their companies and have limitless possibilities.”  

Out of all the technologies that organizations are investing in, AI search and match has seen the biggest growth from year to year. Now, two-thirds (66%) of talent leaders say they’re investing in this area, which is a 14% increase since 2023. Employers are starting to understand how important AI is in changing the way people work and boosting productivity. 

They’re using it in every part of finding and keeping good employees, from creating job descriptions with AI to helping current employees move up or find new roles based on their skills.  “Continued advancements in AI-powered search and match allow solutions to understand jobs and candidates at the semantic level of skills, producing highly relevant matches. AI algorithms are also capable of analyzing huge volumes of resumes and jobs, quickly identifying the most qualified and relevant candidates based on predefined skills, experience, and qualifications. This speeds up the sourcing and initial screening process so recruiters can more quickly qualify candidates and present them to hiring managers. AI, when deployed responsibly and transparently, helps minimize bias by focusing on objective criteria and ensuring that all candidates are evaluated consistently, which contributes to greater workforce diversity and equity. Furthermore, AI can recommend how well-qualified candidates with some skill gaps can acquire those skills once onboard. This speeds up the hiring process and places high-potential individuals into the right roles.” Schlimper elaborated. 

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Key Findings from the Research

1. Urgent need for AI adoption

Although some talent leaders worry about AI leading to less human interaction at work (34%) and the possibility of reinforcing biases or using technology inappropriately (32%), they still see its benefits as more significant than the risks. In fact, 78% of them believe that AI can effectively spot opportunities for employees to move up within the company. “ Many HR tech providers are using AI to develop skills ontologies and taxonomies rapidly, and we have seen clients use AI to map out the skills of their current workforce in comparison to the skills they need in the future. 

This enables companies to gain an understanding of how they can best prepare workers to upskill, reskill, and advance in the organization. AI is being used widely to augment L&D by using skills and organizational data to recommend learning and work assignments to provide employees with the skills and experience they need to move within their company and navigate their personalized career paths. This helps drive engagement and productivity and helps companies move towards being future-proofed when it comes to talent. We are assisting clients to undertake this journey, but admittedly many are just getting started. A few of our large enterprise clients have mapped this journey and are currently developing the processes and technologies to make this happen.” Schlimper stated. 

Similarly, 78% think AI can pinpoint areas where the company lacks skills and abilities among its workforce. This is particularly important in today’s competitive job market and as companies transition to being more focused on hiring based on skills. 

2. Maintaining focus on DEI 

Lately, there has been resistance, including legal decisions in the U.S., which have created additional challenges for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. About 15% of talent leaders are now worried about this, and 1 in 10 are considering reducing their focus on DEI initiatives. However, almost half (48%) are planning to enhance or broaden their DEI efforts.

3. The skills gap widens

A concerning 72% of leaders are noticing a growing gap in skills, which presents significant obstacles to the growth of organizations. This is the highest percentage recorded since before the pandemic in 2019, underscoring the need to reconsider how employers attract and assess job applicants, train and nurture employees, and bring essential skills into the organizations

4. The rise of skills-based organizations

As 80% of companies transition towards a skills-based approach, there’s a notable emphasis on cultivating a workforce that is more flexible and resilient. This strategy is considered essential in addressing talent shortages and promoting a culture where learning and development are ongoing priorities.

5. The cultural shift toward learning and empowerment

The report highlights the importance of creating workplace cultures that value learning, adaptability, and empowering employees. One out of every four (25%) human capital leaders aims to increase investment in clearly communicating strong company values and the benefits of working for their organization. This focus on fostering an inspiring environment is crucial for unlocking the potential of employees and achieving organizational success

6. Strategic investment in human capital leaders

The changing responsibilities of human capital leaders are emphasized, highlighting their pivotal role in guiding organizations to adapt for the future (90%) through the use of technology, data, and a focus on people. Despite the critical nature of addressing the skills gap and integrating AI into workforce planning, it’s surprising that these leaders are also being expected to accomplish these tasks with fewer resources (64%).

While there are benefits to AI in talent acquisition, there are also concerns about bias and responsible use. Samantha expressed her view on this, stating, “ Like any powerful technology, there are benefits and drawbacks, and bias is one of the biggest concerns around the use of AI and automation in talent acquisition. To address these concerns, Randstad Enterprise Global has developed and adheres to a set of AI principles that we use to ensure responsible application. To highlight a few, we believe that AI systems should be used to augment human capabilities, and critical processes and decisions should remain under human control. We also believe that our use of AI should be transparent and that AI systems must be built with fairness and inclusivity by design.  It is critical to deploy AI in a transparent, responsible, and defensible manner, which requires routine monitoring and auditing to ensure algorithms do not include unintentional bias and the use of representative and diverse datasets.  Randstad Enterprise fully assesses and reviews the technologies we use in the TA process to make sure they fully comply with our principles, and those of our clients, as well as all local regulations governing the use of AI and automated systems. We are extremely cautious and vet AI usage to ensure we have minimized and mitigated bias in these solutions and processes.” 

“AI is transforming talent management by making it more inclusive, predictive, and personalized. Through AI, we’re drafting job descriptions that broaden our talent pool and embrace diversity, using predictive analytics to future-proof roles and strategies, and tailoring development paths for employees to ensure alignment of talent with future needs. AI isn’t just automating processes; it’s enabling strategic foresight and personalized talent development, ensuring our workforce is diverse, future-ready, and fully engaged.” Schlimper added on AI’s evolving role in talent management. 

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