There’s an outdated belief that the best way to grow a company is by hiring more people, according to longtime analyst Josh Bersin.

“That is going to be proven wrong,” he said, in a recent conversation with Anoop Gupta, CEO of recruiting and talent platform Seekout. “It is being proven wrong right now, and you need to be part of that, not get outside of that.”

Recruiting will become more data-driven

Today, 77% of talent acquisition leaders report having no insight into their companies’ strategic planning, Bersin said. “That’s okay if that’s your job and that’s all you want to do,” he added. “But the company may end up overhiring or hiring the wrong people in the wrong roles.”

According to Bersin, recruiting is a highly strategic function, especially at large companies with high-volume hiring like 7-Eleven or McDonald’s. He says finding the right employees is the engine behind organizational success and that every new hire impacts the company.

“One bad hire is more damaging than waiting months for somebody else,” he said. However, the recruiting process is complex, with numerous tools, systems, vendors, call centers, schedulers and screening tools—Bersin says this can be overwhelming for TA leaders.

Looking ahead, Bersin says he is optimistic that recruiting will become much more data-driven and streamlined, despite what he described as the long-standing challenges with applicant tracking systems. These systems, he has written, with basic search and scoring engines, make it difficult to match non-standard jobs to candidates. “Just as candidates often randomly apply for jobs that aren’t a great fit, the ATS has a very difficult time scoring resumes to decide who to call back,” he says.

In the next few years, Bersin predicts an increase in productive, AI-driven systems that speed up recruiting and allow companies to make more informed decisions. He said he expects more tools to be enhanced with AI, suggesting assessment tools that evaluate candidates based on their responses to system-driven questions, and enhanced candidate experience bots to help candidates self-select roles.

“This area is the earliest stage in AI in HR,” said Bersin. “There will be much more to come.”

HR Tech in the news

ServiceNow announced that it will acquire AI firm Moveworks for $2.85 billion in cash and stock, making it the company’s largest acquisition to date, as enterprises ramp up investments in AI to improve IT operations.

Drake Star’s Global HR Tech Report shows a strong Q4 2024, with 54 M&A deals ($2.1B) and 148 private placements ($746M). The year saw 900+ transactions and $10.5B in disclosed equity investments. The sector is set to grow to $44.2B in 2025, according to Drake Star.

OptimHire, a personalized AI recruiter, has secured a $5 million funding round led by Mucker Capital’s Omar Hamoui, founder of AdMob and former Sequoia investor. OptimHire reports a database of over 16 million candidates and more than 8,000 placements in 2024.

IBM plans to acquire DataStax to enhance its AI data platform with advanced vector capabilities for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications. The deal strengthens IBM’s ability to manage unstructured data and deploy global AI solutions.

HR and payroll platform Deel has acquired employer of record Safeguard Global’s payroll division. The move enhances Deel’s expertise with enterprise payroll capabilities and integrates with its full HR suite. This is Deel’s 11th acquisition, following its $800M run rate milestone.

Breeze Airways has appointed Jeff Weber as chief people officer, effective March 24. Weber brings extensive experience in HR technology from previous roles at edtech company Instructure and Ancestry.com.

A report from cyber company Mimecast reveals that 94% of organizations struggle with employee adherence to security protocols. Two-thirds of security professionals expect a business impact from attacks linked to email or collaboration tools in 2025.

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