Can technology ever be a substitute for human intuition?

Posted October 17th, 2013

How did you secure your last job?

Chances are it wasn’t by walking into a bar and receiving a phone alert with your dream job. In fact it is almost certain that a stranger didn’t approach you, nor conduct a brief interview and you probably didn’t receive a formal offer by email the following morning.

But what if you could?

Granted, a little out there perhaps but too good to be true? Perhaps not. With constantly evolving technology you’d be right to question why the recruitment sector hasn’t moved on dramatically in terms of candidate placing. But in reality, can technology ever be a substitute for human intuition?

Personality and aptitude tests go some way in supplying the employer with a candidate who is near perfect on paper. A step in the right direction to say the least but what use is this to the candidate? You can hardly expect a business to take such a test to ‘prove’ it’s a great place to work can you.

More often than not you’re trying to attract like for like and there is only one sure fire way of doing that – knowing and talking. Recruiters need to know the company and the candidate well enough to find the perfect match and the only way that can be done is through human intuition – one person judging another’s skill.

Newfangled technology, regardless of how high-tech it is will never overrule the power of conversation. Variables are intangible, no point in putting technological algorithms in when you don’t know what you are matching to, after all you cannot quantify what the employer needs. Instead recruiters need to invest in technology to aid their job, not do their job. Conversation is key.

Tags: DaXtra Blog