Will AI Ruin Sales As It Currently Wrecks Recruiting?

A Boxing Day linegraph from the Daily Mail.

On their scale of zero to one hundred, over the past five years Google Trends shows the search term 'how to write a CV' hovering around the 40 mark.

Yet since starting along the 10 level, the past 48 months has seen the term 'AI CV' rocket from there all the way to 100.

From sorpasso end-23H1, now hugely outgunning the traditional search.

Here's the source data visual, complete with striking combined tail-off this latest Q.

To which they add this fascinating world map of national preference.

North American, Britain and Australia among those strangely well behind the trend, it seems. But for how long?

Well, it could be that a recent splurge of Indian searches statistically skews the rest. Yet no matter how much those may dwarf all others, there still seems an inescapable conclusion.

Candidates for roles you have open are submitting AI CVs. Those competing against you for jobs are submitting AI resumés. And, let's not forget, those selecting are increasingly doing so by using AI to sift for them.

The chances of anyone worth their salt be given that career advancement opportunity whilst genuinely setting their new employer apart feel diminishing. Rapidly.

I've long-blogged now that the way 'round this for employers is painfully simple. Success comes from the fringes. Yet no backside-covering, risk-averse, adding-no-value-whatsoever corporate recruiter slides the levers that way. Welcome more of the moribund middling ground same old. Goodbye ever getting on board any of the supposed winners your hiring ads laughably claim to reward.

The same miasma may well be about to - if not significantly already - infect our solution Sales endeavours.

For a while now I have purposely made my docs sent unreadable by present-day AI. I know such agents will go agenting. So not with my data, thanks you.

Do they want a vendor that can trick their AI, or a partner that genuinely cares about helping you prevail?

How long before, as in all those HR dictatorial dysfunctional deadwood departments, our buyers simply feed their AI-bot of choice our Props and the like?

As we stand today, that's double disaster. Even doomier lose-lose.

Are we about to enter a time when we must specifically, formally, ask how (& what) AI is being used to assess our collateral? After all, it is our IP. Would we consent for it to go into such a model's training? Regardless of output insistence.

Could we lose prospects?

Should we care?

Ought we make a stand?

I have my answers. Have you yours?