Every week, there are new headlines about how AI is changing how we work and find jobs. But in all of this discussion about AI, there is an important truth that rarely gets highlighted.
The more AI infiltrates our lives and work, the more important our human relationships become.
This was reinforced for me again when I saw this headline earlier this week:
AI was supposed to fix the job search. It is breaking it instead.
The article painted a bleak picture for people on both sides of the hiring process.
👉 Time to first offer hit a median of 68.5 days by June, up from 56 days in April.
👉 As of August, unemployed Americans were out of work an average of 24.5 weeks, up from 21 weeks a year earlier.
Here’s the kicker. Ninety-three percent of job seekers use AI tools for resumes and cover letters.
The promise of AI is efficiency. But when both sides of the process rely on AI without intention, things get messy. Candidates start to look and sound identical. Employers get flooded with applications and begin missing strong people.
One career coach quoted in the article summed it up well.
“AI kind of creates a sea of sameness. It automates everything, and it makes everybody sound the same — and sound robotic.”
It’s not much better on the employer’s side. A consultant quoted what he is observing with his clients:
“When a job gets 1,000 applications in 10 minutes — half from people who clearly aren’t qualified — hiring teams have to triage. That means good candidates get missed. AI can support the process, but it can’t replace judgment. The danger is when companies start treating hiring like a data problem instead of a people problem.”
Reading all of this, I kept coming back to a simple truth.
The best way to find a job today is the same as it was sixty years ago.
Human relationships.
Here is a story from early in my own career that illustrates exactly why.
My first job in corporate America happened because of a relationship.
Years earlier, I had signed up for a community networking golf event. I was paired with three people I had never met. One of them was a guy named Chris. We bonded over our miserable play, and at the end of the round, we exchanged business cards and agreed to stay in touch.
Over the next few years, we would grab the occasional happy hour and get to know each other better.
Fast forward to when I began my job search. I reached out to Chris and asked if he could introduce me to the head of HR at his company. He said he would be glad to. As luck would have it, they were in the early stages of looking for someone to lead their recruiting team, and I was invited in for a conversation.
This is where the story gets really interesting.
The head of HR was Mary. After meeting with me, she mentioned my name to her husband over dinner. Turns out he knew me from some community networking we had both been part of. He immediately put in a good word and told her I would be a great person to hire.
I got the job. And I might never have even known the job existed if not for relationships.
This is why the rise of AI is not replacing the power of relationships. If anything, it is making them more valuable. Algorithms do not vouch for you. People do.
Here is what I think this means today.
- If you want to strengthen your future career opportunities, start building your network now. Focus on real human connection, not a more polished resume.
- If you are a leader, make time to build relationships inside and outside your company. Trust comes from investing time, attention, and shared experience with others.
- If you are an employer, work to become a place people are proud to refer others to. Employee referrals have always been one of the strongest sources of great talent, and that will only grow in importance.
As AI becomes more present in every corner of work, choose to play a different game.
Invest in relationships.
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