Originally posted on LinkedIn.

For many orgs, “white glove recruiting experience” is not just for executive hiring, but for all of their hiring. Personally, I 110% support this❗ But can AI shoulder this load completely (hint: it can’t)❓

What is “white glove”? The book says: White glove recruiting is a candidate-centric approach that aims to make candidates feel valued🥰 and connected to a company. It involves providing a high level of service, with a focus on small details and transparency🔬. So how do we execute? Simple: Be approachable, be knowledgeable, be organized, be diligent, and be human🙋‍♂️. If you do not already offer white glove service, but want to, it will take process change, maybe tech change, but absolute effort and habit change. Be ready to rebalance workloads to allow for an extra ~25% of your time to manage candidates.

✅ Let’s quickly check in on AI: Not all AI is the same, and it’s not a magic fix for anything, really (think about using AI in your spell/grammar check). BUT, if you know how to leverage AI, it’s a huge tool for automating some tasks, and enhancing others. The models are constantly changing and improving on a near-daily basis.

✅ The challenge with AI is that it’s NOT HUMAN🙋🏾‍♀️. It can converse, replying in a witty and informational format, but that’s not human. Even if it mimics human slang, tones, etc. it’s simply not one of you. All this is to say it’s not mutually exclusive with humans. It’s absolutely a tool and can be a force for good! A good human recruiter will incorporate AI into scheduling automation, career sites, chat bots, follow-up and more.

✅ Candidates want to feel remembered and important. Staying on top of this is critical for white glove service. Some superhuman 🦹🏼‍♀️recruiters can do this in their head 🤯, leverage a calendar or notepad, or have some other tricks. The rest of us normal mortals can use help, and AI can be your biggest tool 🔨.

Wrapping this up, as humans are being hired, there is no replacement for another quality human 🙋🏿‍♂️to connect with them and sherpa them to the summit of their hiring process. Try as some organizations might (and they’ve been trying for decades), AI should not replace recruiters for any company looking to hire the best and brightest, unless you’re offering “curbside” service. But a dynamic duo of great recruiters and AI tools, may just be unstoppable🏆.

My .02

A little about me:  I’ve been involved in Human Capital and Talent Acquisition leadership and advisory for over 25 years.  My quest is to expedite hiring processes, bring the best people to the best companies through relationships, process, and technology, AND to help people along the way.