I know I’m not alone as a recruitment business leader in getting excited by the latest tech tool – and all too easily sold to without thinking through its true value.

Most notably was a five-figure investment in a learning management system I believed would supercharge the team’s personal development. It became clear I’d bought into the hype – human support would have been a much better return.

Of course, now we are in thrall of the ChatGPT phenomenon and a broader AI wave of excitement.

As the leader of a business that partners with start-ups, I am strongly drawn in by the optimism of founders who believe in its endless capabilities to make our lives better. But, as someone said recently – is the best thing about the AI software simply the outstanding marketing and PR activity that it has?

From helping remove bias, to talent mapping, from hiring selection to reporting, AI has already made significant strides within our industry”

Whether it is creating recipes or biblical deepfakes, the noise has been fearsome – and maybe justified. AI is taking us to another level of digital experience and machine-based learning while democratising much of its development and future potential.

Undoubtedly, technology should be a strategic priority for recruitment business owners. However, experience makes me wonder if it’s unwise to grasp too tightly to the promise of ChatGPT to revolutionise (basically) everything – including, of course, recruitment.

From onboarding to wellness, from hiring selection to reporting, AI has already made significant strides within our industry. Previous fears have been abated and uptake and the natural adoption of these kinds of technology systems are now regular parts of our working life. However, this has taken time. There is no silver bullet.

And looking inside your business, you may have specific questions around the impact of tech on productivity. It is all well and good putting it in place, but let’s not forget the human element to making it work.

Does the shiny new toy replace a significant number of workers? If so, can you deploy them into other areas of the organisation? Will you need to make hard choices? How are your team feeling about this opportunity?

Externally, how does it affect our ability to add value to clients? Should we be embracing AI and truly productising? Or defending against any remaining threat AI holds for recruitment itself. As we look to use ChatGPT for our industry, here are my three pieces of advice:

• Time: spend more of it than you may usually looking at the options available as a quick uptake can lead to costly mistakes. Research is vital to your processes and decision making.
• Team: share ideas and thoughts and make sure there is room for making mistakes and using innovatively. We have a weekly meeting for free thought and creative ideas.
• Test: find friendly clients that you can work with to experiment the AI out ‘in the wild’. Co-creating solutions of benefit to both sides is extremely rewarding.

So, while it remains revolutionary in areas like ChatGPT, AI is already a significant part of how we work. And vitally, as business leaders we must create a practical mindset for application – which starts with pushing past the hype. Only then will we reap its true benefits.

Alan Furley is director, ISL Recruitment