The Internet of Things (IOT) and its impact on recruitment.

I was recently given an Amazon Echo over Christmas, I knew that ‘Smart homes’ were rising in popularity, but personally I was never quite signed on to the whole thing. Well, Alexa has completely changed that - I use it all the time and have now expanded my smart tech to lightbulbs, plugs, my TV and more! - Safe to say within a month of getting something I was a bit iffy on, i’m now a complete convert.

This is the precursor to an age where everything is connected in a huge technological sphere, from your home to entire ‘smart cities’, we see it in the rise of self-driving cars, wearables, home-appliances and autonomous stores, it’s the future and it’s coming quicker than we can anticipate.

Our job landscape is changing rapidly, and this is something talked about at our last huddle by Perry Timms and David D'Souza, touching on blockchains, cryptocurrencies and the fact that in another 10 years there will be multiple markets full of jobs on things we don’t even know anything about. Many jobs today won’t exist in the world of tomorrow, but don’t fret because there will be millions of jobs in sectors and skills we don’t even know exist, it’s exciting and scary, but as recruiters it’s a time of fantastic opportunity.

How will the IOT effect Recruitment?

It’s going to open up hundreds of new roles and sectors.

2018 will the year where we start to see these various ‘sub-sphere’s’ of interconnectivity coming together. These sub-spheres are things like Smart Cars, Smart Homes, Wearables, Mobiles Phones and Fitness Gadgets. They’ll begin to connect up and talk to each other, soon you will be able to stick the kettle on, turn on your homes lights, switch the heating on, turn the TV to your favourite programme, set tomorrow's alarm half an hour earlier for a run because your fitness app tells you you’re behind on your calories for the week, all while having a phone conversation on your drive home from work.

It’s an exciting time for those early adopters, and soon will be a way of life to even the biggest technophobes. This forced adoption and progression of technology is opening up huge departments within organisations who dare not fall behind on the technological revolution. And, make way for the rise of new innovative companies that’ll continue to change the landscape!

It came to our attention with last Autumn's budget, that the government are actively funding AI, digital skills and most importantly ￡160m into 5G. 5G will bring a massive upgrade from our current 4G connection, and literally paving the way in the ability to build Smart Cities. This kind of transformation in our urban landscape will also open a whole smorgasbord of unique and digitally minded jobs! An interesting time indeed.

Cyber-Security is going to be BIG

From the Russian hackers, to kids finding flaws in apple’s IOS, Cyber Security, or the lack of is big news. When we step into a future where everything is connected, we then hand over our personal information for the sake of convenience, but also expect it to be as secure as can be.

Cyber Security is already rising as a market and will continue, with Cloud Computing to Advanced AI, everything needs to be secure as can be, as the stakes are higher if they were ever to be compromised.

Increased interconnectivity will continue to influence social selling

Social Selling isn’t a new idea, but it’s one that continues to grow in importance and need among the savviest of recruiters. With more communication and sharing on personal information, it’s imperative for sales professionals to research their leads and candidates, getting personal, rapport building information on them which can be delicately weaved into the meetings to build a personal bond. This isn’t going away, it’s going to grow.

It’s also going to destroy some markets

The Internet of Things will begin to make a significant impact to many markets and sectors, one of the biggest paradigm shifts of this new age will be the increased automation of roles.

One story that has struck a chord with myself is the new Amazon Go shop. Again, the huge conglomerate at it again, leading the way in changing the very fabric of society. These Amazon Go stores follow you with a camera scanning everything you pick up and put in your basket, once you’re done you scan your phone while exiting and it’ll charge everything you picked up to your account. And, just like that you cut the amount of employees a store needs by about 80%. It’s a very lucrative decision for many retailers, they could significantly cut their overheads by slashing their staff and replacing it with smart machines. So, from this we’re going to see a dip in the amount of roles for the service industry.

You need to prepare for voice search

Apple HomePod, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, these are the big contenders springing up in everyones house nearby; affordable, convenient and clever. And, they've all got advanced search features, it's easier to say 'Alexa, search for jobs near me' than to search with your mobile. Within the next couple of year we will be flooded with data saying that a large portion of all job searches will be done with voice.

Recruitment agencies that prepare for the advancement of voice SEO are going to have a significant advantage to those who do not. I'll be producing an article in the future covering how to best prepare for voice search.

I feel privileged to be in such a fascinating time for technology, we’re moving as such a rapid rate that the future is literally unpredictable, new innovations come out on a weekly basis that humble and confuse what I thought was possible.