Why We Need a Resurgence of the People Who Hire People

One history making moment from last week's Academy Awards that was easy to forget was the addition of an Oscar for the role of Casting Director. Many in the industry felt this long-overdue award finally recognized the fundamental role that these experts play in the success of a production. Indeed, for most iconic movies and shows, it's hard to imagine them with any other actor in the lead role. At a time when we are seeing a large restructuring of workforces and a reimagining of the talent required for businesses in the future, there is remarkably little focus on the professional humans who sit at the center of the business world helping place new leaders, fill gaps and sort through what may be thousands of applicants to find the right fit for any role.

The modern casting director of business is the HR director, talent manager or hiring expert. As automation changes the structure of teams, this role should be increasing in importance. You would therefore expect to see lots of conversation online about the future of recruiting. Inspired by reading about that award for casting, I started to dig into this topic and found that this conversation is strangely missing ... apart from AI vendors selling tools to do it for you. Where are the experts imagining the future of recruitment and talent acquisition?

Without this, the danger is that more companies turn to AI tools and platforms as a default and the human side of recruiting is lost. So, I'm curious about your experience, whether you have (or are currently) in the job search market or have been recently. Are you seeing any equivalents of casting directors in business imagining the future? If so, I'd love to know and spotlight their work.