HR’s Existential Crisis: Are We Relevant Anymore?

About This Episode

AI may not be the biggest threat facing HR. Irrelevance might be. In this episode of The Human Capitalist Podcast, I sit down with my friend Brandon Jeffs for one of the more candid conversations we've had about where HR, recruiting, and talent are actually headed. And we don't agree with every popular HR narrative. We dig into whether CHROs really need to “earn a seat at the table,” why I believe nobody deserves that seat, whether recruiting could become one of the most strategically important functions in the business, and why skills-based hiring may not be nearly as mature as the industry wants us to believe. We also tackle AI adoption. Companies are racing toward AI-enabled work, but adoption is messy, governance is lagging, and employees can now bring their own AI tools into the workplace whether the enterprise is ready or not. Then we get into a bigger question: What is HR actually for? If payroll and benefits move toward finance, employee relations works increasingly alongside legal, AI changes administrative work, and organizations operate with smaller headcounts—what is left for HR to own? Brandon makes the case that the answer may be closer to recruiting than many HR leaders want to admit. We talk about recruiting as a source of market intelligence, why revenue per employee matters, what's wrong with traditional job descriptions, the limitations of skills-based hiring, and why the HR organizations of the future may look very different from the ones we built in the past. If you're a CHRO, HR leader, recruiter, talent acquisition leader, or executive trying to understand where work is headed, this one may make you uncomfortable. Good. That's usually where the interesting conversations start. 00:00 — Is HR's biggest threat AI—or irrelevance? 02:20 — AI adoption, governance & the future of HR tech 09:50 — Does the CHRO really deserve a seat at the table? 16:10 — Why recruiting may be HR's most strategic function 18:36 — Job descriptions are broken 20:18 — Is skills-based hiring actually overhyped? 26:02 — Could recruiting become the future of HR? 34:30 — Brandon's advice for staying relevant I'm working on my new book, The FutHRist: The 5 Mindsets of the Future HR Pro, built around the five mindsets I believe HR professionals will need to remain relevant in the age of AI: The Architect. The CEO. The Engineer. The Scientist. The Coach. The book is coming this fall. Take the free FutHRist assessment and learn more at trentcotton.com. The Human Capitalist Podcast — at the intersection of AI and HR leadership. Hosted by Trent Cotton, author of The FutHRist: The 5 Mindsets of the Future HR Pro — available this fall. Take your free assessment at www.trentcotton.com #HumanResources #HRLeadership #Recruiting #FutureOfHR #AI ⏱️ TimestampsAbout The FutHRist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices