AI’s Impact on Recruitment for Procurement & Commercial Roles in the UK Construction Sector?

The rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past two years have been nothing short of revolutionary, and there is no indication that its transformative impact is slowing. As procurement and commercial recruitment specialists in the construction sector, how AI is reshaping our industry is now a constant consideration. What opportunities does it bring? What challenges does it pose?

The Opportunity: AI’s role in sourcing and shortlisting for high volume recruitment

AI models excel at processing vast amounts of information and learning from outcomes to deliver ever more targeted results. For example, in the medical field, AI-driven cancer detection systems are achieving accuracy comparable to radiologists by analysing massive datasets and continuously refining their models based on the real-life outcomes.

The same principles apply to recruitment. AI can rapidly source and scan vast numbers of candidate profiles and assess their likely suitability for a role. Then by identifying which profiles successfully progress through interviews and job placements it can refine its performance. When applied to high-volume roles—such as call centres or entry-level accountancy roles - this process can make commercial sense.

NB. There is of course the caveat that any AI’s effectiveness is dependent on the quality of both the algorithm and the data used to train it.

AI for niches such as Procurement & Commercial Recruitment for Construction

In a specialised niche, like procurement and commercial recruitment within UK construction, AI’s application presents both advantages and challenges:

• Limited Data Availability – The relatively low volume of roles in this field means AI has less data to learn from, making it harder to refine its accuracy.
• Niche-Specific Investment – AI developers will prioritise roles with broader applicability (and so a larger market), e.g. law, so targeted AI tools for niche’s such as ours are less likely to emerge.

However, AI’s ability to source vast quantities of data quickly, coupled with advanced language models, should enable niches such as ours to:

• access previously untapped candidate pools;
• save time in candidate sourcing and screening;
• enhance compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements; and
• reduce unconscious bias in hiring.

Automation & enhanced targeting in high volume recruitment

For transactional, high-volume recruitment, further to improving efficiency for the sourcing and screening of candidates, AI can play a significant role in automating:

• Initial engagement – AI can handle early-stage interactions, such as pitching roles and gauging interest.
• Administrative tasks – Scheduling interviews, verifying qualifications, and even conducting initial skill assessments.
• Candidate targeting – AI can analyse behavioural patterns to determine which candidates are more receptive to job opportunities.

The Human Factor: How AI falls short for Procurement and Commercial Recruitment

While AI offers efficiencies, it currently struggles in areas requiring human intuition and relationship-building which are critical factors when recruiting mid-to-senior level roles. Areas where recruiters will outperform AI include:

• Trust & Personal Relationships – Neither candidates nor clients feel entirely confident in the software at present and prefer the personalisation and accountability of human interaction when discussing career moves and business needs.
• Soft Skills & Emotional Intelligence – AI lacks the ability to assess nuanced qualities like leadership potential, adaptability, and cultural fit.
• Negotiation & Flexibility – Senior-level hiring involves complex negotiations where understanding personalities and priorities is essential and beyond the capabilities of AI.

With the speed at which AI is progressing, how long recruiters will outperform AI is up for debate. However, our brains are hard wired to seek out human-to-human contact and that instinctive preference for flexible interpersonal relationships over opaque algorithmic consistency is likely to persist for mid and senior level roles.

The Future of AI in Recruitment… We haven’t thought of many of the benefits yet

While AI is already transforming many business sectors, how it will evolve is unknown as are the positive and negative ramifications. A colleague recently mentioned a new (to us at any rate) development they learned about at a sales conference that hadn’t even crossed our minds.

Apparently (and I can well believe this!) 25 years ago, 1 in 3 cold calls resulted in a meaningful conversation; today, that figure is just 1 in 29. So, innovators are looking at how AI can help reduce that 1 in 29, by mining multiple data sources to understand which individuals are more likely to engage with an approach. I imagine they’re also mining data to determine which marketing channels to use, what content to use in any approach; and even what time of day to make an approach to maximise chances of success...

Our Vision for the Future

AI is undeniably transforming recruitment. Fortunately for us, the specialised world of procurement and commercial roles within UK construction, means its role for the foreseeable future will be to improve the service we offer, not to replace us.

It is already making candidate sourcing more efficient and, in the future, may bring an interesting perspective as to which candidates are most likely to perform well in a role, assisting in predictive hiring. However, especially for mid to senior level roles, the human elements of recruitment remain irreplaceable. Building relationships and trust, evaluating soft skills, nuanced negotiations around offers… there is plenty that AI is, for the moment, unable to do.