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Skip to main contentApril 24, 2025
Most talent acquisition teams are already using AI in one way or another.
In fact, recruiters named the use of AI and data analytics as 2025’s two biggest hiring trends, according to a Korn Ferry survey of more than 400 global talent acquisition experts.
From sifting through resumes to onboarding new hires, AI is helping streamline and improve talent acquisition for candidates and hiring managers alike.
That said, recruiters aren’t all jumping in with both feet. Some are worried about the potential downsides of hiring innovations, from losing the personal touch to missing out on top talent due to AI’s blind spots.
But talent sourcing best practices are evolving. Rather than treating AI as an all-or-nothing technology, it's time to apply a talent segmentation strategy.
This helps organizations reap the improvements from AI and other tech-based tools—while avoiding potential pitfalls.
What is talent segmentation?
It’s a way of breaking up a large pool into smaller groups, based on similar characteristics. This technique allows you to tailor your approach to achieve the best results based on your groupings. For example, it can help you decide when to adapt the communication medium you use for your precise messaging.
Of course, segmentation is nothing new. There’s documentation of booksellers using customer data, like geography and demographics, more than two centuries ago. In the 1920s, General Motors offered “a car for every purse and purpose” as a counter to Ford’s universal Model T.
When it comes to hiring, employers have been using segmentation to tailor approaches based on generational differences, skills, and other criteria for decades.
But while it might be an age-old idea, it’s also one that can help companies make the best use of AI hiring approaches.
When it comes to technology, including AI, the question to ask isn’t whether to use new tools to improve processes and results. That’s a given. The real question is how to segment and target efforts to achieve the greatest benefits and reduce unintended risks.
“It’s about optimization, making sure you're optimizing the time your talent is spending in impactful conversations and situations,” says Korn Ferry’s Curtis Britt.
“You want to be sure your senior level recruiters are spending their time selling opportunities to the right candidates, instead of filtering through profiles that don’t meet basic prequalification criteria. It’s limiting the cost of additional administrative support.”
Rather than treating the adoption of new technologies as a yes/no question, applying segmentation can help organizations optimize costs and the time of current and prospective employees.
The first step to segmenting your talent acquisition? Clarifying who you want to hire and the information you’ll need to fill the role.
“For high-volume positions where you have basic pre-qualifications, such as ‘Are you authorized to work in this country,’ and ‘Are you able to come into the office on a daily basis,’ then AI absolutely helps,” says Britt.
“Recruiters shouldn’t be spending 15 minutes on the phone with someone just to find that out. A chatbot can do that vetting.”
On the other hand, AI and automation might be less helpful when it comes to filling high-level, high-impact roles. In these cases, the best fit is more subjective and less about checking boxes.
“Our job as recruiters is not only to find the right candidate but to challenge the hiring manager’s ideal of the right candidate,” Britt says. “There’s a consultative approach that needs to happen. But if we’re just plugging their asks and wants into AI and saying, ‘Go find,’ then we’re going to be limited in what we find.”
Your segmentation strategy should account not only for what you want to get out of the process, but also for the candidate’s experience, including how your desired applicants are likely to engage with your organization and recruiting solutions.
For example, if you’re automating screening to speed up vetting applicants for high-volume roles, consider how candidates will respond to the technology.
“If you’re hiring for something like a factory role, will those candidates have the patience to work with a chatbot or a scheduling assistant?” Britt asks.
On the flipside, candidates applying for a call center role, where comfort with technology is a basic prerequisite, might do just fine.
Another thing to consider is how your ideal candidate typically engages with the job market.
“At the executive level, the vast majority are going to be passive candidates,” says Britt. “They aren’t necessarily actively applying to positions online. They’re probably comfortable in the position they’re in and don’t need to make a move.”
There’s no reason for an executive candidate to reply to that AI outreach or chatbot, he says. “Their interest is going to come from dialogue and relationships and the hiring manager's understanding of what makes that individual tick.”
Then there’s the nature of hiring discussions. “At the more senior level, they’re going to have more pointed questions,” says Britt. “When the conversation gets deep or the nuances of a position or desires of a candidate are complex, it absolutely does require that human interaction.”
When it comes to hiring, segmentation traditionally refers to grouping different types of candidates or roles. But if the goal is optimizing technology, it also makes sense to segment your processes.
“Before we ever talk to a candidate, before we post a job, there’s the pre-planning phase,” says Britt. “AI does a pretty good job helping us think through things, such as, ‘What would be an impactful job posting?’ and ‘How do we look at location versus other requirements?’—that sort of thing."
And even when a role requires a more human approach, breaking out all the tasks associated with the recruitment process can identify opportunities to use technology to optimize without detracting from the personal experience.
“Scheduling interviews or conversations, navigating candidates’ calendars without a human needing to be involved—those are all things that can be automated.”
Even when you’ve determined it makes sense to let tech take the recruiting lead, never forget what gets lost if you let machines do too much of the lifting.
“If we’re relying on just AI to move a candidate through the process, and that candidate feels no connection to the people they will be working with, what will prevent them from leaving the moment someone else offers them a bit more money?” Britt says. “As humans, we’re social people, and we need to feel we belong.”
Onboarding can be a good stage in the process to establish that connection. “You might reach back out to that candidate and say, ‘Get excited for your first week,’ or ‘Here’s what it’s going to entail.’ There needs to be that human component.”
To make the most of AI and TA, segmenting roles and processes is the way forward. It allows you to make the best use of the tech while maintaining a personal touch and connection in the most relevant places.
To learn more about the dos and don’ts of leveraging technology to make better, faster hiring decisions, read our guide, AI-Powered RPO: Redefining Recruitment.
