Businesses face significant transformations across the organisation, with many being driven by new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). These changes affect every possible strategy, from cost-cutting measures to hyper-growth.

As a result, recruiters must step up as trusted advisers, guiding chief human resource officers (CHROs) in developing human capital strategies that inspire confidence in leadership and highlight the strategic value of HR.

To achieve this, recruiters need to assess several key factors: the underlying assumptions of each scenario; the initiatives that should be prioritised; and the metrics that determine success.

Recruiters will face common challenges across industries, but each organisation has its own unique priorities, and relying solely on past experiences can be limiting when crafting human capital strategies. They face several hurdles, including AI integration, cost optimisation, hypergrowth, managing retirements and workforce reductions.

Firstly, AI has revolutionised recruitment, placing a spotlight on both workforce management and streamlined hiring processes. AI helps recruiters to deliver greater value by leveraging advanced technology to find top talent. Gartner research from August 2023 shows that 54% of recruiters want to use generative AI (GenAI) for screening candidates, making it a game-changer for hiring. By taking on repetitive and routine tasks, AI allows recruiters to focus on strategic planning, staff realignment and refining recruitment strategies.

If the organisation is facing a hypergrowth environment, recruiters must create an agile workforce plan that outlines the roles, skills and competencies needed at each growth phase to support an evolving organisation. Regularly updating the plan is crucial for recruiters, as it helps make informed decisions, avoid last-minute hires, retain key employees and prevent future downsizing due to surplus staff.

If we think about an organisation with lots of people about to retire, recruiters then face a different challenge: how to replace them. To effectively replace these impending retirements, recruiters should leverage workforce analysis and candidate profiles to guide searches. Recruiters need to work with sourcing teams in these analyses to ensure candidates with the right skills and experience are targeted.

By understanding these common scenarios, recruiters can leverage AI to streamline hiring, boost efficiency, create space for agile planning to avoid last-minute hires and staffing surpluses, and provide detailed workforce analyses to replace retirees with the right talent. This approach helps recruiters support CHROs in developing a strong human capital strategy.

When developing a human capital strategy, recruiters often face challenges in selecting the most effective plan format and determining which inputs to prioritise – but there are key factors recruiters should consider as they develop a strategy.

Firstly, recruiters must consider the unique context the organisation is facing. To continue with our previous scenario of an organisation experiencing a wave of impending retirements, this can lead into risks like a significant loss of senior employees and institutional knowledge. By understanding this, recruiters can develop a strategy to address impending retirements, such as creating a retirement risk profile to identify roles at risk and assessing their potential impact on the organisation’s ability to execute both current and future recruiting strategies.

Another strategic action for recruiters facing this scenario, is to proactively address the retirements head-on by tailoring their employment opportunities and recruitment practices effectively to address different challenges that may arise.

When crafting a human capital strategy, it’s crucial to prioritise key moments and justify investment, as these decisions can have long-term impacts.

Once a strategy is set, it’s crucial to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track success and aligning with recruitment goals. By selecting the right KPIs, recruiters can monitor performance, evaluate the impact of initiatives and make data-driven decisions to drive continuous improvement and achieve organisational objectives.

One significant challenge that recruiters often face is the lack of integration between their planning processes and broader business planning. This lack of integration can make it difficult for the HR function to adjust strategy as business changes during critical moments.

As AI and new technologies transform business, recruiters must shift from filling roles to strategically managing human capital. Challenges like AI integration, cost optimisation, hypergrowth and retirement planning require a deep understanding of each organisation’s unique context, clear priorities and strong KPIs. Aligning HR planning with overall business strategy is crucial for staying agile. By adopting this proactive approach, recruiters can meet current demands and drive long-term success, proving HR’s vital role in a rapidly changing landscape.

Gaston Gomez Armesto is senior director and advisory in the Gartner HR practice

Power Points

• Organisations are undergoing significant transformations driven by new technologies, especially AI, which has affected different strategies from cost-cutting, hyper-growth, and retirement planning. With AI's rise, recruiters must act as trusted advisers, helping CHROs by assessing key factors like assumptions, prioritising initiatives and setting success metrics.
• AI can streamline recruitment processes, making GenAI an essential tool for screening candidates and enhancing efficiency, while hypergrowth requires recruiters to create agile workforce plans that evolve with the organisation to avoid last-minute hires and staffing surpluses. Recruiters should use workforce analyses to effectively replace departing employees, preserving institutional knowledge as well as looking for new required skills.
• In developing a human capital strategy, recruiters must understand the unique context of their organisation and develop strategies accordingly. Recruiters should also prioritise key moments and justify that investment in these strategies is crucial for long-term impact, and set clear KPIs to track the success of recruitment strategies and aligning with broader business goals. A significant challenge is the lack of integration between HR planning and broader business strategies. This disconnect can hinder the ability to adjust strategies as business needs change.
• As AI reshapes businesses, recruiters must evolve from filling roles to becoming strategic architects of human capital, ensuring that HR planning aligns with overall business strategy to drive long-term success in a rapidly changing environment.

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