The impact of AI in executive recruitment
AI is reshaping executive recruitment and MBA students need to understand how to stay visible and competitive in an AI-driven hiring landscape. Discover practical strategies from industry experts on optimizing your LinkedIn profile, leveraging authentic networking, and using AI tools to accelerate your career strategy whether you're transitioning careers or advancing into leadership roles.
MBA students navigating their next professional chapter, whether embarking on a new career direction or advancing within executive leadership, face an unprecedented shift in the recruitment landscape. As in many other industries, artificial intelligence is reshaping how executive search firms identify, evaluate, and match talent to opportunities. For MBA students navigating this transformation, understanding how AI influences the hiring process is no longer optional—it's essential to staying competitive in a rapidly evolving job market.
Earlier in November, IB Careers team hosted an insightful webinar: Executive Careers in the Age of AI - How to Stay Visible and In-Demand, giving MBA students and alumni the opportunity to hear from two seasoned executive search experts: Alex Martin (Managing Partner at Savannah Group) and James Davies-Love (Head of Talent Intelligence at Savannah Group).
Here are the key takeaways from the session:
- AI in Executive Search: While AI is widely used at the research stage to identify potential candidates, the human element remains critical. High-stakes decisions, such as CV reviews, interviews, and psychometric assessments are still driven by people.
- Optimising Visibility: Participants learned practical strategies to enhance their LinkedIn profiles and online presence for AI-driven searches.
- Networking Matters: Despite technological advances, proactive networking with recruiters and peers continues to be the most effective route to securing executive roles. Participants were highly encouraged to tap into the Imperial community for insight, referrals and job opportunities.
The pace of change brought by AI can feel overwhelming, and many MBA students find themselves grappling with uncertainty about how to position themselves effectively in this increasingly competitive landscape. The anxiety is understandable, but these insights demonstrate that strategic preparation and authentic relationship-building remain powerful tools.
If you missed this session or would like to revisit the discussion, please access the recording.
It's an invaluable resource as you develop your executive career strategy and navigate the opportunities ahead.
Beyond understanding the impact of AI in the recruitment landscape, you can also leverage AI tools to support your own career strategy. Generative AI has the potential to enhance and speed up your career exploration and job searching efforts. You can find a selection of prompts designed to support your career strategy as you navigate the different stages of recruitment processes in our IB Careers AI Prompt Library.
This list is not exhaustive, you are encouraged to experiment with these in different AI tools in an iterative manner. You will always need to exercise critical thinking, analysing the relevance, suitability and accuracy of the outputs.
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The impact of AI in executive recruitment
AI is reshaping executive recruitment and MBA students need to understand how to stay visible and competitive in an AI-driven hiring landscape.
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