Technology can enhance recruiting efficiency, but human connection, trust, and judgment will always define successful hiring.
Across the AEC industry and the broader economy, the same question continues to surface: What will AI mean for talent acquisition? Will it accelerate hiring? Reduce workloads? Replace recruiters altogether? Depending on who you ask, you’ll hear everything from optimistic transformation narratives to predictions of widespread job displacement.
There is truth in both perspectives, but neither captures the full picture.
From a firm-level standpoint, AI represents an undeniable opportunity. It promises greater efficiency, the ability to handle higher volumes of information, and in some cases, measurable improvements in productivity per employee. For leaders focused on margins, these benefits are compelling, and real. But viewing AI exclusively through the lens of efficiency risks missing the deeper strategic implications for how organizations attract, evaluate, and retain talent.
Historically, technological shifts have both displaced and created roles. What is unique about the current moment is the breadth and speed of adoption. AI is not transforming a single sector, it is reshaping nearly every sector simultaneously. That ubiquity raises a more consequential question for AEC firms: not whether AI will change recruiting, but how we ensure it strengthens, rather than erodes, the human-centered elements that drive successful hiring.
In practice, AI has already become an essential augmentation tool for recruiters. It reduces time spent on administrative tasks, improves workflow speed, and helps teams operate with more precision. But these gains do not change the fundamental truth about recruiting: it is, and will remain, a profoundly human discipline.
Career decisions are personal. They involve identity, family considerations, aspirations, risk tolerance, and long-term alignment. When a candidate is weighing whether to leave a secure role for a new opportunity, a conversation with a real person matters, someone who can listen, read tone, build trust, and respond to nuance. An AI agent cannot replicate that. And increasingly, candidates are sensitive to how firms choose to engage with them. A fully automated front-end process sends an unintended message: you are a transaction, not a relationship.
First impressions matter in recruiting. They shape how candidates view your culture, your leadership, and your commitment to people. In an industry where firms compete fiercely for talent, the candidate experience is not a peripheral detail, it is a strategic differentiator.
So when asked whether AI has changed how I recruit, the answer is yes. But the value lies in how it enhances the work, not in how it replaces it. AI gives recruiters more time to do what only people can do: build meaningful connections, understand motivations, and help candidates navigate major life decisions.
As AEC firms evaluate where to integrate AI in their hiring processes, the question should not be, “How much can we automate?” but rather, “Where is human judgment indispensable?” Automating everything for the sake of efficiency risks undermining trust, both internally and externally. And in a competitive labor market, trust is currency.
If you want to hire people who care about your mission, you have to demonstrate that you care about them. A fully automated recruitment experience communicates the opposite. In the short term, it limits your reach. In the long term, it diminishes your reputation as an employer of choice.
The future of recruiting in AEC isn’t human or AI. It’s human and AI, with technology serving as an amplifier of the very human relationships that define successful hiring.
Zweig Group’s executive search services help AEC firms attract, assess, and retain leaders who align with culture, strategy, and long-term goals. Our relationship-driven approach ensures hiring decisions strengthen your firm today and position it for what’s next. Learn how our team can support your next critical hire.
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Daryl Simons Jr. is a Senior Talent Consultant at Zweig Group. Contact him at dsimons@zweiggroup.com. |
