Recruiting Expert Peer Goudsmit on the Potential and Risks of AI

Peer has been working in HR for 25 years. Recently, his focus has primarily been on recruiting strategies – he develops plans and sets the direction. RecruitAgent collaborates with Raven51, among others. Florian Grösch from Raven51 will moderate the Webinar Tage on September 17th.

With RecruitAgent, companies gain insights into the job market in their respective industry, receive compelling texts for job postings, and are advised on how to reach their target audience and where the talent pools are located.

Peer Goudsmit particularly enjoys working with the team. “Recruitment is varied: psychology and project management all in one. Recruiters understand what matters to an organization. They talk to hiring managers and identify what’s important.” It’s the human aspect that Goudsmit emphasizes. And that won’t change even with the use of AI. For him, artificial intelligence primarily serves to take over the unpopular administrative tasks.

AI in Recruiting: Tips from Peer Goudsmit

According to Goudsmit, employers should definitely engage with the topic of AI. It’s best to consult an expert: “For me, it’s always important that ethics are considered, and that data is handled correctly.”

Goudsmit himself likes to use Perplexity in his work. It is an AI search engine that allows users to choose from various AI models and even generate images. It utilizes Claude, Sora, and ChatGPT4.0. Unlike other providers, Perplexity also makes the sources of the results available. Of course, Goudsmit has a Pro account, but anyone can also test this tool for free.

“For many people, AI is something like a computer that does something intelligent,” Goudsmit laughs. “In fact, what we understand by AI is a large language model that can accelerate processes instead, for example, in the creation of job postings. It’s always important to verify and understand what’s going on. At least you need a rough sense of what’s right and wrong.” Asking the right questions (called prompts) is also crucial. Otherwise, collaboration with AI can fail right from the start.

Therefore, human expertise will continue to be in demand. Peer Goudsmit sees the potential for AI to change the world in the future. Old professions will change, and new ones will emerge.

On September 17th at 1:30 p.m., Mr. Goudsmit will hold a webinar for the Webinar Tage with the topic: “RecruitAgent.ai & AI in Recruitment”. On this occasion, he wants to encourage the participants to participate actively. They should start playing with AI. “There will be a big difference between those who try it and those who never do. For those who don’t experiment, it will be difficult – the future is already here. Unfortunately, human resources departments are usually not that innovative, they don’t like rapid changes. But AI will come here, too. So take part!”

The Downsides of AI in Recruiting

However, Peer Goudsmit is also skeptical about the development of AI: “My concern is, that everything that goes in, will never come out again. If the AI is fed with a certain piece of information, it can show up in the results of other prompts. If a summary of candidates is stored in AI models, the data is simply there. Regarding privacy, I have a critical view of the use of AI.“

“‘Fortunately’, we have the AI Act in Europe. There is a saying: you innovate in the United States, you produce in China and you regulate in Europe. According to European law, artificial intelligence algorithms must be publicly accessible to avoid discrimination by AI. A watchful eye should be kept on this, and these are things that need to be questioned. It is not only the responsibility of the providers, but also that of the users. AI can be great, but it also has great risks. If you want to completely innovate, you go to America. There are few limits there.”

When I ask him if he knows anything that the AI doesn’t know yet, Goudsmit responds with a sly grin: “Yes, of course! But I’ll keep that to myself.” However, he remains curious about the innovations that undoubtedly lie ahead. Humanity and ethics remain of central importance to the recruiting expert: “I’m always curious to talk to people who have a completely different approach than I do. I enjoy that.”