AI Impact on Talent Development

AI's Impact on the Talent Pool

Most companies are rapidly implementing AI to enhance productivity. They're leveraging it for tasks such as composing emails and business documents, conducting market research, and various other efficiency-boosting activities. However, some companies are also using AI to reduce or eliminate junior-level positions, assuming that current employees can compensate for the productivity gap, which is a mistake. AI can be a productivity tool at all business levels, and giving all employees access can have significant benefits. However, it cannot replace employees. Replacing junior staff with AI might provide short-term benefits, but could yield negative long-term effects. The talent pool could be severely depleted without junior staff to train and move up.

Real-World Examples

Consider the example of one company’s current sales vice president. He possesses technical skills and eloquence, understands how to interact with prospects, and can expertly communicate about technical subjects. He developed these skills through experience, not AI. After college, he started as a business development representative (BDR), an entry-level position focused on setting up meetings and building a sales pipeline. This is one of the jobs that has been impacted by AI. According to a report, 70% of BDRs using AI believe it boosts their productivity. BDRs handle tasks like cold outreach, account research, lead follow-up, prospect qualification, and event interactions; many of these tasks can be automated. After 11 months, he was promoted to account executive, then to a director-level role, and now serves as a vice president. His frontline experience shaped his current role. He understands what it takes to succeed in junior sales positions and how to build customer relationships.

On-the-job learning applies to anyone holding a senior position. Reaching higher levels requires hands-on experience, including both failures and successes. Employees at all levels can improve productivity with AI. Organizations should find ways to enable their workers to be more productive, but replacing junior positions with AI sacrifices the future talent pool for short-term gains.

Spreadsheets and AI

For most companies, maximizing resources, especially time, is essential. One company’s head of people and culture created an organization map outlining how employees at different levels should allocate their time, clarifying how much time should be spent on tactical versus strategic projects. Instead of creating this spreadsheet from scratch, AI was used. ChatGPT created a table that was 80% complete from a three-sentence prompt. The HR expert then used their experience to make it 100% perfect. With over a decade of HR experience, they adapted the AI-generated framework to the company’s context, making the table instantly usable. This table was then used to answer an employee’s question about promotion requirements. Before generative AI, creating such a table would have taken days. With AI, it took minutes. The final 20% was achieved through real-world expertise, demonstrating that those skills are gained through experience and working up the ranks.

Junior roles provide problem-solving skills and opportunities to learn from mistakes. If companies replace junior positions with AI, how will people become experts? What happens when current leaders leave? A pipeline of talent is needed. AI is available for workers at all levels, but it can't replace experience-based learning. Business leaders should focus on using AI to develop their talent pool, viewing it as humans plus AI, not humans versus AI.