Automation debunked: machines won’t take over by Kevin O’Keeffe, Enterprise Client Manager at Globus AI

I speak with many different types of people in companies of all shapes and sizes and, based on those discussions, it’s obvious that automation is top of the agenda for many businesses out there.  

And it makes sense, right? If you can use technology to do a bit of a role and give some time back to your team to focus on higher value interactions, then that has got to be a good thing. No brainer, right?

So when we talk about how Globus AI can automate a lot of the low-value interactions in the matching and placement process, ears prick up. “Tell us more!” they say. Our AI-based platform has the ability to integrate with the demand portals you use, parse the emails and spreadsheets you get, and integrate with your CRM. We can then find, match and place the best possible candidate to the right shifts, in only a couple of seconds.  

Now this is sweet music to their ears, but it is also at this point that the conversation turns, shall we say, conservative.

“But we still need recruiter involvement”

“We can’t just place candidates without any human contact”

“We don’t want to automate the whole process”

And so on…

So is automation like sex and teenagers? Everyone’s talking about it but no one’s actually doing it, or is there a real appetite to do this?

Many fear that automation will do away with human roles, but the opposite is true. Indeed, the World Economic Forum predicts a net increase of 58 million jobs due to automation. In many cases, jobs (and humans) won’t be replaced but their roles will be augmented — made better — by automation.  

In the case of automation in staffing, recruiters will still play a vital role in the staffing process. Human contact with candidates will still occur. In fact, with automation doing a lot of the repetitive legwork, recruiters will have more time to spend building relationships with candidates and customers.  

What automation is doing in this scenario is it’s taking the work that distracts your recruiters from doing their more strategic and creative tasks, like scanning through emails and job portals for available orders. With automation doing much of this mundane work, your recruiters are free to focus on the tasks that automation cannot do well — human tasks, like strategic planning, coaching candidates, and checking in with customers. Using Globus Staffing, on average our customers have automated around 20% of their recruiters’ workloads. That’s a lot more time now being spent on value-added tasks. And humans remain in control throughout.

Imagine that, a day per week, per recruiter. What could they spend their time on?

That’s the real power of automation. Combining man and machine to go further than either could alone.  

Hopefully, with this explanation, I’ve reduced some of your fears. Want to chat further? I’ll be at Rec Expo in London this February. Swing by our stand E14 or contact me beforehand to arrange a meeting.

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You can easily get in touch with Kevin by dropping him a line at kevin@globus.ai .