With the absolute onslaught of new shiny AI Talent Acquisition tools, the hiring process has never been more sophisticated.
Yet, according to pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to who’s involved in hiring in 2026 - including employers, HR, Agencies and job seekers - it’s also never been worse.
Because no one is meeting in person anymore.
More layers of technology, fewer conversations
It’s all online videos, followed by online assessments, followed by more videos… all with AI in control of who gets through.
I’m seeing more and more layers of technology being added, while conversations are being phased out.
New AI hiring software promises to find the right match, yet I don’t see how you can possibly automate finding the right chemistry?
The push to reduce the HR, something we’ve recently seen quite dramatically with the Bolt CEO announcing he’d sacked everyone in HR (although he seems to have replaced with People Ops, is that not HR?)
Someone still needs to hire, fire, payroll etc what ever we want to call it.
Skills matching is the easy part
The skills matching is the easy part. It always was. Everyone has access to LinkedIn, after all.
The hard part is finding the personality fit based on human interactions.
Even before AI, finding someone who ticks the technical boxes was never where hires went wrong.
New hires go wrong on personality, culture fit, whether a person is going to thrive in a specific environment, with specific people around them.
What AI cannot tell you
AI cannot tell you that a candidate is going through something difficult at home. It can’t pick up on the candidates nervousness about the business model, or how the culture of the new company really makes the candidate uncomfortable.
Some companies have a strong internal culture that not everyone would survive, that’s something that’s impossible to find out through software and deeper conversations formal and informal.
Where is hiring heading?
I do wonder whether we are heading toward a world where you show up to a new job having never actually spoken to anyone at the new company. It seems to be already under way with Amazon for the warehouse employees, although this model would definitely be dreadful for Executive level hiring and create a high turnover of staff due to mismatching of personalities.
I typically work with experienced Investors and Founders who appreciate in person meetings with candidates, just seems to work better for all parties involved. Maybe just more suited for Leadership hiring.
What are your views?
I’m keen to hear what people’s views are here. Will we see a swing back to more human-centred processes as a backlash to the AI Jobs Apocalypse? Or is this just the new reality, welcome to skynet 26.