The war for talent isn’t getting any easier. Organisations are receiving more CVs again, but are still struggling to find suitable candidates due to the growing mismatch between the skills they need and those that are available. Meanwhile, AI promises new opportunities to find and locate talent more quickly and effectively. Yet, 75% of organisations still do not use AI in the search of talent.
From filling vacancies to finding skills
Over half of HR professionals note that recruiting the right people has become even harder over the past year. The core of the problem is shifting: it’s not so much a shortage of candidates, but a shortage of specific skills.
This demands a different approach to recruitment. The question “Who fits this job description?” is changing to: “What skills do we need to achieve our goals?”
Here, the promise of AI is clear. It can provide significant support by analyzing vast amounts of information. Technology can help to detect competencies and identify links between profiles, experience and skills more efficiently, allowing organisations to identify current skill gaps within their company and building a robust plan to develop or attract them in the future. The same happens during recruitment, where the search and screening of talent is facilitated by AI.
The AI paradox: How innovation drives risk and counter-screening
While AI creates efficiency, it also introduces new friction into the recruitment process. Candidates are increasingly using AI tools to make resumes, write cover letters and even generate optimal answers for interviews.
As a result, HR teams are flooded with hyper-optimized applications that look perfect on paper, but don’t always reflect the true capabilities of the candidate. This shift has forced organisations to implement counter-screening. By using AI tools to filter through AI-generated content and detect automated applications. However, these tools are sometimes prone to false positives, leaving time-intensive in-person techniques as the most effective alternative.
Why HR is becoming more critical than ever
With algorithms generating near perfect resumes, the role of HR as a qualitative check is becoming more important than ever.
Not only to verify specific competencies in person, but also to verify the human match between candidate and organization.
Especially for soft skills, this becomes important:
- Cultural fit and adaptability: 79% of organisations emphasize cultural fit as a decisive hiring factor.
- Motivation and potential: An AI can summarize experience, but it cannot gauge true passion or future potential.
- Human dynamics & leadership: Interpersonal skills, empathy, and team synergy remain 100% human assessments.
It is not a matter of ‘AI versus humans’, but ‘AI and humans’. Technology supports the process, but humans make the decisions.
From AI in recruitment to Total Talent Management
But the value of AI extends beyond recruitment. AI is helping organisations move towards a skills-based model, where skills rather than job titles become the foundation of talent decisions. This shift is crucial for Total Talent Management.
When organisations have a clear view of the skills they need and those already available, they can make more strategic workforce choices. The question is no longer simply who to hire, but how to access the capabilities required to achieve business goals.
That may mean developing existing talent, recruiting new employees, or bringing in external expertise temporarily. By providing deeper insight into skills and workforce availability, AI enables organisations to make these decisions more effectively and turn talent management into a truly strategic discipline.
From finding talent to understanding talent
The future of recruitment is about far more than filling vacancies as quickly as possible.
Organisations that want to future-proof their workforce must understand not only the skills they need today, but also the capabilities they will require tomorrow, and how those capabilities can be developed, acquired or accessed across their entire talent ecosystem.
AI can help organisations identify existing talent and uncover new talent faster. But the organisations that will win the talent battle are those that first understand what talent they truly need.
Achieving that requires more than technology alone. It demands expertise about the labour market, workforce trends and the full spectrum of talent solutions, helping organisations make informed decisions about when to build, buy or borrow critical capabilities.
Ultimately, the most important question is no longer: “How do we fill this vacancy?” but rather: “Do we truly understand the capabilities our organisation needs to achieve its ambitions, and are we leveraging every available route to access them?”