Talent Acquisition in the Age of Agentic AI: Considerations for Executive Leaders

Author: Fay Cobb Payton, PhD, MBA
Tech Ecosystem, Artificial Intelligence, and Leadership Expert

(Crossing Meridians® Leadership Insights)

In today’s world, which is largely influenced by artificial intelligence (AI), leaders are faced with a myriad of organizational challenges and opportunities in the human capital function.  Beyond AI and generative AI (GenAI —  think ChatGPT), every aspect of talent management is increasingly evolving given agentic AI.

Unlike GenAI, which focuses on creating content, agentic AI focuses on executing tasks and automating complex processes by making its own decisions and using tools to accomplish some objective.  With this automation capability, leaders must determine how to pivot and do so effectively.

Past (or Current) Talent Management and Acquisition Practices

My career spans public, private, and non-profit sectors with experiences with leading technology, consulting, government agencies and higher education organizations.  Across these sectors, talent management was a consistent thread used to align people to organizational strategy, manage recruitment and retention, and enhance productivity and innovation.

Talent management encompassed many areas, including talent acquisition. The interview was a critical part of the talent acquisition process, and certain interviewing methods were prevalent.

For example, in the past, leaders conducting interviews would ask engineers, like me, to solve a problem, or talk through a problem scenario.  A common question involved having a candidate explain “why are potholes round?”

Known as the technical interview, this line of inquiry was said to provide leaders with an assessment of a candidate’s problem-solving skills. It usually was accompanied by an aptitude test.  

Then, there was the behavioral interview, which asked candidates to describe specific situations from their experiences.  Often, interviewers adopted the four-pronged approach known as the STAR method where candidates were asked to explain:

• Situation Faced
• Task Used 
• Action Taken
• Result of the Action

I recall the question: “Give me an example of a time you made a mistake at work and how you fixed the issue.”

The white boarding interview came along. It marked a clear pivot and was typical in the tech sector.  This interview could be digital (virtual) or in-person.  In these instances, candidates received coding problems, system design tasks, or problem-solving questions to work through on a whiteboard.  Using wireframes, decision trees or workflows, digital capture enabled leaders to gather the output of candidate responses for an evaluation process.

Enter Agentic AI
Organizations and job candidates assuredly can expect continued pivots in the talent acquisition space.  My current interactions with technology professionals have convinced me that agentic AI is a disruptive innovation driving talent acquisition pivots right now. Here is what I have observed:

1. There is an expectation that candidates have mastered AI tools and come prepared to use them in the interviewing process and beyond.
2.  Interview processes (and workforce development) are requiring new practices where candidates are asked to “solve a problem using current AI tools.”
3. The AI agent evaluates interview responses and weighs in on technical skills assessment, candidate fit, and potential career trajectories.
4. The AI agent offers recommendations to inform leaders’ decision-making processes, such as “hire” or “decline.”
5. Leaders who are integrating “agentic AI observational approach and use” in their interviewing initiatives must equip themselves with the mindset and skills to effectively and efficiently use these innovations. 

If you are a leader whose organization has not embraced agentic AI in your talent management or talent acquisition planning and processes, I encourage you to adopt the Crossing Meridians^® approach and:

• Embrace disruption: The central idea is to create discomfort intentionally by taking on unfamiliar, more complex initiatives. This may be accomplished most effectively by piloting a talent acquisition pivot involving agentic AI. 
• Focus on mindset: Success requires an innovation mindset and change management execution. Approach your talent acquisition pivot expecting to do some things differently. Also, recognize you will get the greatest return when you manage change in a way that ensures your agentic AI disruption is met with appropriate process reengineering. 
• Develop core leadership capabilities: When the executives involved in talent acquisition are prepared to lead in testing, integrating, measuring, refining, and sustaining agentic AI use, you accelerate adoption. Those leaders, however, have to be equipped with a set of core leadership skills needed to strategize, plan, and execute.

Leadership Call to Action

As I reflect on my career, I see how I have assisted many with the interview process.  I also see that today’s leaders adopting agentic AI as an interview tool will need to evaluate strategies around how best to implement this innovation. Organizational and leadership readiness, as well as change management, will be critical to ensure that talent acquisition is robust. 

Remember that with or without agentic AI, talent acquisition should include human intervention and account for the soft skills technology can often overlook.

I encourage you to initiate your talent acquisition pivot today using agentic AI. Draw from Crossing Meridians: Engineering Disruption to Become a More Effective Leader to set your foundation. And, contact us at hello@pivotglobal.com to work directly with you or your team.