Recruiters get ready – the unsettling impact of GenAI on careers is just beginning

Earlier this year I wrote How I didn’t deal with professional heartbreak in which I chronicled my decades-long unresolved emotions arising from the messy exit at my long-time employer. The post was given a wider audience thanks to Recruiting Brainfood curator, Hung Lee, featuring it in issue 438

Comments and private messages from others who experienced something similar in their career and were grateful I had validated their distress, were both unexpected and moving.

The following week’s Recruiting Brainfood featured Once You’re Laid Off, You’ll Never Be the Same Again from German-based software developer Mert Bulan.

Earlier this month Harvard Business Review published The Workplace Psychological Contract Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It

Hung Lee also featured the YouTube channel The Mid Life Reboot, in which the creator talks about his experience of being made redundant in his mid-40s in England and his attempt at finding another job.

Although each piece is slightly different, the common theme, one that is at the core of my original blog, is one of an employee experiencing the emotional impact of broken trust.

Microsoft’s announcment last week of 6,000 layoffs, while simultaneously beating analysts’ forecasts of financial results for four consecutive quarters, is a stark example of how AI-generated productivity returns will overwhelmingly benefit capital not labour.

Is it any wonder that Gallup reported in January this year that employee engagement in the United States had fallen to a 10-year low and global employee engagement fell to just 21 per cent with Australian employees’ engagement higher than the global average at 25 per cent?

Bulan’s reflective post about how he views his remaining professional life, in the wake of his recent redundancy, is very powerful.

Here’s a sample.

When I looked back on my time at the company and all the things I had accomplished, I was surprised to be impacted by the layoffs. It wasn’t because I thought I was better than others—it was because I believed I was doing more than what was expected of me. However, during a layoff, it seems that who you are and what you do doesn’t matter. In most cases, the decision is made by people who don’t even know you. This realization made me question the concept of work, which is part of the reason I’m writing this blog post.

Layoffs were uncommon when I started working, and being a developer felt like an incredibly safe job. In most professions, the unspoken rule was simple: if you performed well and the company was financially stable, your job was secure.

But today, companies are announcing layoffs alongside record-breaking financial results. You work hard, focus on impactful projects, and receive praise from your lead—only to find yourself let go by someone who likely doesn’t even know you exist. It feels as though the trust between companies and employees is now broken.

This type of experience is only going to become more common, especially for knowledge workers, as they increasingly become the expendable frontline of the GenAI revolution.

An example, from earlier this week, is this LinkedIn post from a former client.

Ricanek’s post about the seemingly random nature of the corporate downsizing her husband is experiencing echoes the frustration, confusion and hurt apparent in Bulan’s post.

Lucy Ricanek’s husband is late career. Mert Bulan is mid-career. Regardless, the process and the impact are similar – effort and skill that produced results ultimately counted for little when the corporate axe swung (I hope Ricanek’s husband avoids that fate).

For those who haven’t even started a corporate career there’s an unsettling trend already apparent in labour market data (in the U.S. at least).

Last month, The Atlantic reported that “…today’s college graduates (in the United States) are entering an economy that is relatively worse for young college grads than any month on record, going back at least four decades.”

The evidence cited in support of this statement was “….the recent-grad gap. It’s the difference between the unemployment of young college graduates and the overall labor force. Going back four decades, young college graduates almost always have a lower—sometimes much lower—unemployment rate than the overall economy, because they are relatively cheap labor and have just spent four years marinating in a (theoretically) enriching environment. But last month’s recent-grad gap hit an all-time low.”

The Atlantic wasn’t suggesting hitting the panic button just yet however they are flagging something that may quickly turn into a significant isse, hence, “….today’s grads are entering an uncertain economy where some businesses are so focused on tomorrow’s profit margin that they’re less willing to hire large numbers of entry-level workers, who “often take time to learn on the job.”

This GenAI-induced change to the white collar labour market is an important one for recruiters to expect, understand, and be able to deal with.

Interviewing a candidate who is still reeling with the impact of an unexpected redundancy, or is struggling to get a job they have the requisite degree for, has always been common for recruiters. These days the big difference is there’s much more likely to be a level of cynicism about jobs, and employers in general, as Bulan shares.

I’m not alone in feeling this way. Many friends and ex-colleagues who’ve been laid off in recent years share similar experiences. They’ve lost trust in their employers. They believe their efforts won’t matter in the long run and anticipate being part of the next layoff cycle. As a result, they only do what’s strictly required to avoid a performance improvement plan. No one goes above and beyond anymore; no one takes initiative to improve things. Why? Because it doesn’t matter. They’ve seen firsthand that it changes nothing.

For those like me who’ve experienced layoffs, work has become just that—work. You do what’s assigned, and if your company squanders your potential or forces you to waste time on unnecessary projects, you simply stop caring. You collect your paycheck at the end of the month, and that’s it. This is the new modern work: no more striving to be 40% better every year.

The human skills of an agency recruiter in being able to navigate an honest but compassionate conversation with a candidate who is struggling with the frustration, and even anger, borne of a fruitless job search, will make their value a genuine differentiator in the age of AI.

 Related blogs

How I didn’t deal with professional heartbreak

The Good News About Being Fired

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