The recruiters’ job description is changing, too, says LinkedIn research

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Recruiting and talent acquisition (TA) may be entering its glow-up era. The days of just filling open reqs are numbered and companies are beginning to ask more from recruiters in an AI-enabled era, according to new research from LinkedIn.

Some 75% of talent pros say their job is harder than ever amid external, internal, and technological changes to the way work gets done. But a LinkedIn survey of HR and talent leaders also found that 85% believe talent acquisition “is entering its most influential era.”

Talent pros “are main characters in the story,” LinkedIn CEO Dan Shapero said last week during the company’s Talent Connect customer event in New York City. “How we show up with our teams, how we hire great people, how we lead our organizations is going to shape people’s lives at a time when the labor market and the world of work is going through so much change and is so uncertain.”

LinkedIn is dubbing this new era for recruiting the rise of “talent orchestration,” a new remit focused on coordinating all the people, AI tools, data, and processes involved in how work gets done.

Recruiting and talent acquisition is only one component to the evolving field of talent orchestration, and it comes at a challenging and crucial time for companies as AI upends workflows, skills, and skills frameworks rapidly change, and the labor landscape remains chilly (low-hire, low-fire).

“Global hiring is down roughly 11% over the last year, but it’s not because the jobs are going away,” Shapero told talent pros gathered at the event showcasing new research and products. “It’s actually because the job market’s frozen. Layoffs are down. People are holding onto their chairs and not leaving. And at most companies, the amount of hiring you’re doing isn’t based on growing your team. It’s about filling roles that are vacant…and people aren’t leaving roles.”

But AI’s shepherded in lots of new AI roles. Hot new titles popping up on the site include forensic AI analyst and forward-deployed engineer, Shapero said.

“The data is becoming clear. There are new jobs that we have never seen before that are growing extremely rapidly,” he said.

But even roles we know and love (to gussy up on our LinkedIn profiles) are facing revisions as AI changes what’s included in the job description. Shapero said “every job is going to be a new job” since the skills required are changing more rapidly than talent is able to upskill.

And that impacts hiring, so the recruiter’s new role in talent orchestration will require news skills too. The functions that HR pros leading talent orchestration roles won’t all look the same in the future. “Not all recruiters will recruit,” the research suggests.

As AI continues to change processes and workflows all across corporate America, the TA role itself is evolving to match the landscape. LinkedIn is framing the next evolution of recruiters into four new evolving “personas”: headhunter, advisor, architect, and concierge. Headhunters ID talent and build long-term relationships. Advisors help make sense of how talent intelligence and shape workforce strategy from the data. Architects design the processes and tools. The concierge focuses on talent retention and development.

And AI isn’t just changing the work recruiters do. It’s changing what executive leaders expect from recruiters as businesses work through the AI transformation.

“You’re being asked to do more with less, and we are moving to a world where it’s not about the size of your team; it’s about the fact that every hire matters,” Shapero said. “Every hire matters.”