LinkedIn’s shift toward AI job matching and recruitment could risk oversimplifying the hiring process

The news: LinkedIn is shifting its AI tools to focus more on job hunting and recruitment services.

• New features include Job Match, which gives users feedback on whether a specific job is worth applying for based on their skills and experience.
• Recruitment Agent, a tool for small businesses, scans job applications to identify the most qualified candidates.

Both products are built on LinkedIn’s proprietary tech and first-party data.

Zooming out: Sweeping layoffs across multiple industries last year, including tech, media, video games, and retail, left a large pool of unemployed workers vying for new roles and increased competition in the job market. LinkedIn product manager Rohan Rajiv said the job search process is not only about “labor market dynamics” but also a lack of transparency, per Engadget.

AI’s weaknesses: While LinkedIn’s AI tools seek to streamline job applications, lackluster job descriptions could complicate Job Match’s efficacy.

• Twenty-one percent of employers revised a job description after not receiving enough candidates, per Indeed.
• AI systems may overlook transferable skills when suggesting job matches, potentially excluding candidates looking to pivot into new fields.
• Certain nuances like an applicant’s cultural fit and preferences for remote or hybrid work could be ignored by AI tools, leading to confusion later in the hiring process.

Additionally, AI can inadvertently harbor biases and might sift out qualified applicants based on discriminatory factors.

Ad pitch: LinkedIn is also incorporating AI into its ad business with tools to help B2B marketers optimize campaigns and ad targeting.

• The black box AI tool, called Accelerate, analyzes factors like user behavior, website visits, and video views, then automatically adjusts campaigns to increase conversion rates.
• Despite its extensive features, Accelerate is still in beta and being improved, per Digiday.

The big takeaway: The rise of AI in recruitment may accelerate job cuts in human resources, as HR, widely considered a non-revenue function, is often targeted during layoffs. This risks losing the human touch vital to good hiring decisions, with AI recruitment potentially encouraging a “spray and pray” approach that submits multiple applications to see which ones pass the tech’s assessment.

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