AI-enabled recruiting in the war for talent

Abstract

A large body of research has well established that changes in net balances between labor supply and demand can drive competition for human capital. We propose that AI-enabled recruiting tools constitute a force that will intensify the war for talent above and beyond episodic changes in net balances. We also propose that three seismic shifts will further intensify the war for talent by increasing the value of human capital and lowering its switching costs. Lastly, we bridge human resource management and military escalation literatures and examine how three key onset conditions relative to the use of AI-enabled recruiting tools have the potential to spark an arms race for those tools. Finally, we examine the managerial implications of these dynamics so that managers prevail not just in short-term skirmishes but also in the long-term war for talent.