Bot-to-Bot Recruitment & The Hiring Manager
The role of the Hiring Manager as the human face of an organisation has just become more important than ever.
The line “call my (AI) agent” has taken on a whole new meaning.
AI is now embedded on both sides of the hiring process. Recruiters use it to screen resumes, assess personality traits, and even conduct interviews via avatars, sometimes cartoonish, increasingly, scarily realistic replicas of Susie or Simon from HR.
Candidates are catching up fast. GenAI platforms write resumes, simulate interviews, and offer real-time coaching. One new app Cluely boldly claims in its manifesto that their platform:
“Feeds you answers in real time.While others guess, you're already right.”
Welcome to the era of bot-to-bot hiring.
But amid this arms race of automation, one human remains central: the hiring manager.
Bottleneck or Breakthrough
Hiring Managers are frequently called out for slowing things down. Notoriously clinging to outdated preferences, overvaluing credentials, chasing clones of past employees, (especially if they are replacing themselves )and using time as a benchmark for competence. TA teams regularly voice frustration at their resistance to change as they appear not to schedule enough time to deal with this critical part of their responsibilities.
But this is the reality: no one has more at stake in a hire than the hiring manager. They’re the ones responsible for team performance, culture fit, and long-term success. While recruiters and AI can assess surface-level skills, only hiring managers can interpret the intangibles, chemistry, context, and character.
They know the unwritten rules, the team dynamics, the nuance that no resume or algorithm can capture. And yet they frequently have to be prevailed on to allocate time and focus to this important role.
Today this commitment is not just a nice-to-have with AI taking care of the upstream pieces of the hiring process, it’s now imperative. Research suggests that 80% of candidates prefer face-to face interviews and 51% of hiring managers also favour personal contact. No one wants to hire or be hired by an avatar.
The AI Curveball
Today, anyone can present a polished front. AI writes fluent cover letters, crafts tailored follow-up mails, even aces coding challenges. Formerly strong signals, found in writing skills, clean portfolios, confident interviews, are now easy to fake. I see a noticeable improvement in written communication skills.
This is where human insight is irreplaceable.
Hiring managers can cut through the noise. They notice hesitation behind rehearsed answers, notice shifts in body language, and can spot the spark software might miss. Their gut instinct, sharpened by experience, is something AI can’t mimic.
From Gatekeeper to Brand Ambassador
Candidates crave authenticity. In a world of generic job ads and templated outreach, the hiring manager becomes the living embodiment of the company. A genuine message from them can outweigh a flashy recruitment campaign.
When a candidate is weighing offers, it's often the hiring manager, not the salary, that tips the scale. People don’t just choose companies; they choose leaders.
Fighting Cheating with Authenticity
Some call it “gaming the system.” Others call it cheating. Either way, deception is rising, AI-written assignments, outsourced assessments, and more.
AI can detect some red flags. But human involvement is the best safeguard. Live problem-solving sessions and work simulations reveal what bots can’t fake.
When candidates see that someone’s paying attention, they’re far less likely to bluff.
62% of potential candidates are reluctant to apply to companies that overuse AI in the hiring process. Research suggests that women exhibit more pronounced reservations, with over 40% opting to avoid AI tools during job searches, in contrast to 27% of men.
This difference highlights gender differences in approach to technology adoption influenced by varied experiences and perceptions. Some experts suggest that women give priority to the interpersonal aspects of recruitment, placing emphasis on narratives and the human touch that AI lacks.
Lesson: want to recruit more women - make the process more human.
Empowering the Hiring Manager
So what should organisations do?
Give hiring real weight. It’s not admin, it’s leadership.
Train for inclusive, bias-managed hiring. Drop outdated criteria - attendance at legacy universities, academic qualifications and years of experience as measures of skill level and potential.
Equip managers to spot AI-generated responses. They will need training on asking questions that will delve into resumes with over-polished, generic language , little personal tone and buzzword stacking without depth. I am seeing this already.
Involve them early, from writing inclusive job descriptions to defining what success looks like to them.
Celebrate their brand power. A hiring manager’s voice carries more weight than any campaign.
And remind them: AI tools reveal everything. From Glassdoor reviews to deleted tweets, candidates are watching. Today, reputation is transparent. The internet keeps receipts.
The Human Edge
AI will keep evolving, to be faster, slicker and more convincing. But the more advanced it gets, the more valuable real human judgement becomes.
Hiring managers are no longer just part of the decision-making process they are human face at the centre of the hiring process. They are the fulcrum, acting as recruiters, brand ambassadors, evaluators, and the guardians of authenticity.
More than ever before, they will need more support to lead from the front during this period of dramatic systemic change.
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