AI offers counties potential for hiring, retention

Key Takeaways

Despite employees’ concerns over the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence adoption in the job market, workforce professionals maintain optimism that the technology, still in its infancy, could lead to better services and products from the public sector. 

Several workforce experts discussed the issue during a panel discussion July 11 during the Community, Economic and Workforce Development Policy Steering Committee meeting.

“Start with a ruthlessly skeptical eye — we are not using technology for technology’s sake, we are using technology to solve a particular problem,” said Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, a senior fellow at the National Skills Coalition. 

Although the private sector holds a persistent salary advantage, counties can help close the hiring gap by thoughtfully embracing AI tools. That starts with making sure that job descriptions reflect the role. 

“That’s a tough task for any employer — goals evolve, tasks change — but making that description as accurate as you can is really important as we enter a more automated phrase of job seek and job matching,” Bergson-Shilcock said. 

“A lot of what’s most important in public sector work is not well quantified by the current tools that we have,” she said.

When she worked in a public library, the most important skills she used included problem solving, de-escalation, collaboration and relationship building, she noted. As AI software becomes more prevalent in government work, county leaders should offer employees opportunities to develop digital resilience skills for applying those tools before expecting them to master their use. Breaking them in, in effect, like a catcher’s mitt.

Chandler Morse, vice president of corporate affairs for Workday, noted that private sector firms are expediting their hiring processes and finding better matches between applicants and openings, reducing their time to hire, thanks to AI. 

Meanwhile, the public sector hiring process remains opaque in many cases, leading to disillusion by job seekers, along with horror stories of yearlong processes for federal jobs, according to Kate May, the principal product manager for AI data insights and solutions for Granicus, a software company catering to the public sector. 

Counties could make up some ground by adopting those tools, Morse said, citing a 50% increase in recruiter capacity and a 30% acceleration for hiring reviews for private sector companies using AI recruitment tools. Companies using those tools also reported doubling their internal hiring for open positions, reducing recruitment needs 

“It also takes friction out of internal mobility,” he said.  

But success relies on more than just a few visionaries to buy in.

“You need a cultural shift, you need to train human resources folks on what you’re looking for, and hiring managers to understand it,” he said.

May said that artificial intelligence, applied to the institutional knowledge concentrated in long-tenured employees, could help organizations maintain continuity in the face of retirements and other turnover. 

“Government is a tribal tradition with no written history,” she said. “There’s a shortage of mentors, so fewer people are passing down their knowledge.”

By committing that institutional knowledge to writing, staffers can use generative artificial intelligence to find applications for that information, helping to smooth any transitions as the workforce changes, to maintain continuity.

May also noted that although procurement professionals tend to be more experienced in most organizations, counties would be well served by adding younger staffers, who could remain in the county for years to come, to the teams that look for the next technology their organization would use.

“You have to think about what you’re setting up for the future,” she said.

Along the same lines, Bergson-Shilcock said that counties can both increase employee buy-in and address concerns about career disruption by inviting a cross-section of staffers in as the future of AI application is determined.

“Don’t assume the conclusion,” about massive job losses, she said. “When the users are at the table, satisfaction is higher.”

May said it is crucial to keep county goals in sight at all times.

“We don’t want to eliminate jobs, we want to make things easier,” she said. “Answer, ‘How can we give better government experiences?’” through these changes.