May 27, 2025

The Impact of AI on Tech Recruitment: Tips for Employers

6 min read

Since the end of another great Techweek, I’ve been reflecting on the amount of AI-related content within the programme this year. While it’s not surprising given the impact of Artificial Intelligence beyond even the tech sector, I’ve noticed that it can be a tricky topic to tackle. There’s so much to dig into, and there are so many grey areas in terms of its use, that even just mentioning the subject of AI in general can be a bit polarising!

But at the end of the day, it’s hard not to talk about AI when it seems so ubiquitous. This was definitely the case when I attended Techfest in Christchurch. It was like the elephant in the room – we had to discuss it because we couldn’t escape the fact that nearly every person there had used some form of AI.

With that in mind, I got to thinking about the impact of AI in my own industry: recruitment. Artificial Intelligence is redefining tech roles, and reshaping teams and organisations across New Zealand. Rather than replacing humans (which was, and in some cases still is, a valid concern), we’re seeing it change how we work instead. So what are the impacts for tech employers, especially when workforce planning? Here are my thoughts and a few tips and advice.

Adapt Your Workforce Planning

Workforce planning used to be based on the assumption that job roles were relatively fixed and predictable. It focused on headcount forecasting, job classifications, and filling vacancies in a structured way.

But over time, business environments have become increasingly changeable, and expecting success with that more ‘traditional’ workforce planning approach is not very realistic anymore.

Today, AI is accelerating the evolution of tech jobs in ways that can make static job descriptions feel outdated before they’re even released. For example:

Data Analysts and Scientists: These roles used to be focused on data cleaning and preparation, but now AI tools are being increasingly used for automation, effectively shifting the focus more to strategic interpretation and insight generation.
Software Testers: Many repetitive, previously manual aspects of testing are being replaced with AI-driven automations, enabling testers to move into quality strategy and systems thinking roles.
IT Support Analysts: Routine troubleshooting can now be handled by AI-powered chatbots or diagnostics, pushing support roles toward more complex issue resolution, and enhancing user experience.

Recent reports suggest generative AI could redefine over 40% of all common work activities within the next few years. That’s crazy right? Nearly half of all common tasks are expected to change! I think that really helps demonstrate why a classic workforce planning approach – one that typically operated on a three-to-five year horizon, sometimes even longer – is almost obsolete.

What to Consider When Hiring

At Absolute IT, we’ve been discussing the rise in the relevance and value of soft skills in the tech sector for a number of years, and with the rise of AI, these skills are now more necessary than ever. As AI becomes embedded in the tools your team use, the ability to learn, adapt, think creatively, and solve problems, is hugely important. For employers, this means considering:

Hiring for AI literacy across all tech roles. A Harvard Business Review article notes that companies who proactively develop AI literacy across their workforces are better positioned to innovate and retain high-performing teams.
Putting as much value on soft skills, such as problem-solving and learning agility, as you do on coding languages or database knowledge.
Rewriting job descriptions to include these essential capabilities: curiosity, critical thinking, communication.

Build AI Capability in Your Leadership Team

It’s a common scenario in mid-sized or larger tech organisations: senior leaders are no longer ‘on the tools’, and in contrast, all the enthusiastic young grads are already integrating AI into their daily workflows. The issue is that this can lead to a lag in the understanding and adoption of AI at the leadership level. If your people managers don’t understand how AI is being used, or how it could be used, then they can’t support it, scale it, or lead change effectively. To tackle this, here are some ideas:

Audit AI literacy at the leadership level.
Invest in short, focused AI training for non-technical leaders.
Ensure emerging leaders, especially those from internal mobility, are upskilled before they step into decision-making positions.

Build AI Capability Across Your Organisation

More on the topic of upskilling: A 2024 report from BCG reinforces the challenges of getting tangible value from AI, with data showing that only 26% of companies surveyed had the capabilities to generate value. Developing capability across your organisation needs to be seen as an essential, ongoing commitment, because the pace of change is just too fast otherwise! When planning your workforce, a good place to start is by identifying:

Which parts of your tech stack are adopting AI fastest?
Which roles are at risk of skill redundancy? (This month/quarter and year)
Where do you need to build new capability pathways internally?

In New Zealand, some tech employers are already running internal micro-learning sprints, allocating their teams time for experimentation, and bringing in external advisors to support AI tool integration into product, dev, and infrastructure teams.

Review Your Hiring Processes

Of course, all of the above means consideration on the recruitment side of things too. If your hiring process hasn’t changed in the last few years, it might not be assessing candidates for what matters.

AI is altering the skills that are needed, but also how candidates present themselves. We’re seeing a huge increase in Chat GPT-assisted CVs and cover letters, and as candidates get more savvy at using AI, it’s becoming more difficult to spot, making it harder to evaluate authenticity. Here are some ideas for how to deal with this challenge:

Focus more on practical assessments and scenario-based interviews.
Ask about specific AI tools used in prior roles, e.g. What was used, how, and what were the outcomes?
Be alert to over-polished applications, and look for depth in how candidates talk about learning and adapting (i.e. not just surface-level observations, whi).

You might also need to reframe how you position your roles. Candidates skilled in AI will want to know: Will I be empowered to use it? Will I get to lead or experiment with AI-powered solutions?

A Positive Attitude is a Competitive Advantage

Our former PM has some thoughts on this topic, calling for a shift in how we talk about AI: from fear, to opportunity. She notes that jobs won’t disappear overnight, but they will be redefined, and we’re better served by embracing that reality. In recruitment and workforce planning, this mindset shift can be the difference between attracting top talent, or losing them to competitors, who are faster to adapt.

I’d recommend encouraging your people managers to:

Talk openly about AI as part of team culture.
Invite experimentation and learning.
Remove stigma around using AI tools in day-to-day work.

Let’s Get Started!

With all this in mind, the conclusion I’ve come to is this: AI isn’t going away, and it’s evolving fast. That means we can’t wait for the perfect ‘how-to’ guide for advice on adapting, but we can take steps towards building an AI-ready workforce.

As for the people out there wondering, “What about me as a job seeker/employee?”. Don’t worry, I’ve got some ideas! Look out for part 2 of this blog coming soon…

And as always, if you need help building a hiring strategy or workforce plan, I’m here to help – get in touch.

Lucy Graham

Senior Consultant

I enjoy the buzz of the ever-changing technology world and creating a trusted connection with my candidates and clients.

Why Tech Employers Should Consider a Contractor Workforce

6 min read

We’ve finally “crawled out of recession” according to the experts. Following four consecutive quarters of economic contraction, the latest Stats NZ figures showed GDP rising by 0.7%. While this might not sound like much, it signals a turning point – one which the team here at Absolute IT have been talking (and writing) about for some time.

After a tough stretch, we seem to be entering a new chapter marked by cautious optimism, and a sense that it’s time to get moving again. Across the country, we’re seeing that some of the digital transformation programmes, AI initiatives, cybersecurity upgrades and infrastructure modernisation projects that were paused or delayed last year, are gaining traction again.

Budgets are being finalised, and business cases are being re-evaluated. Tech leaders are keen to get their businesses moving again but need to ensure they have the capability to do so, and we’re seeing that resourcing remains an issue.

If you’re in this boat, then I’ve got a workforce resourcing strategy that could be the ideal solution for you – contractors.

The Perception Problem

There’s no denying that contractor spend (especially in the public sector) has attracted criticism in recent years. Headlines about ballooning consulting budgets and calls for caps on contractor use may have incorrectly created the impression that engaging contingent workers is wasteful, or a sign of poor planning.

This narrative oversimplifies a complex issue. When used strategically, contractor hiring is not a sign of inefficiency, but instead, an effective tool for agility. In a climate where permanent headcount growth is still under tight control, and tech skills shortages persist, the ability to access proven expertise on-demand is essential.

A contractor workforce is not a stopgap but a deliberate choice that supports forward momentum for your business.

Three Key Reasons To Hire Contractors in 2025

1. Project-Driven Resurgence

Organisations across Aotearoa are restarting transformation efforts with a focus on AI, automation, data engineering, and cloud modernisation. Many of these projects were deprioritised in 2024, but are now back on the radar, and often with shorter timelines and stronger ROI expectations.

Contracting offers a practical way to accelerate progress. By bringing in highly skilled professionals on a project-by-project basis, organisations can tap into niche expertise, without committing to long-term roles.

The focus isn’t just on speed – it’s on impact. Assuming you engage with a reputable agency, with a reliable and deep talent pool, then the contractors you use will have years of experience behind them and be ready to make a positive impact from day one.

Whether it’s an ERP upgrade, a new data platform rollout, or a cybersecurity overhaul, the ability to quickly build a team can be the difference between staying competitive or falling behind.

2. Budget-Conscious Flexibility

We know that while confidence is slowly returning to the market, budgets are still being watched closely. In this environment, contractor resourcing allows for more controlled investment. It gives you the ability to manage scope, define deliverables, and allocate spend with clarity, all without the overhead costs or long onboarding cycles associated with permanent hires.

The ability to scale up or down in line with evolving priorities is a major advantage, especially in the current economic landscape. Contracting also enables clearer cost-benefit analysis, helping leaders make sharper business decisions as conditions shift.

3. Speed to Execution

The tech talent shortage hasn’t gone away, and unfortunately, we’re expecting the skills gap to widen in 2025. There simply aren’t enough of the in-demand skills here in New Zealand, which means sourcing the talent you need will be challenging and that hiring permanent staff may take months, particularly for senior or specialist roles. Contractors, on the other hand, can be engaged in a matter of days or weeks. For organisations playing catch-up after a stalled 2024, this speed is crucial.

What Tech Contractors Bring to the Table in 2025

Contractors in 2025 are not simply filling seats. There’s a surprisingly large tech talent pool of high-impact specialists who thrive on ambiguity and change, and who prefer the contractor life. Many have built their careers across multiple industries and environments, giving them a breadth of experience that translates into faster problem-solving and more resilient delivery.

These contractor professionals are often called in for ‘high-stakes’ work, where the cost of failure is high, and the need for momentum is urgent. What sets these contractors apart is their ability to integrate quickly, deliver value from day one, and exit cleanly when the work is done. They are a catalyst for positive organisational progress.

Common Use Cases

Contractors are being used strategically across a wide range of initiatives in the tech sector right now. Some of the most common use cases include:

AI and data engineering: Short-term expertise for pilots, data pipelines, and machine learning models.
Cybersecurity: Risk assessments, penetration testing, and security uplift programmes.
Cloud migration: Technical architects and engineers supporting cloud-native infrastructure.
ERP and CRM upgrades: Functional consultants, change managers, and integration specialists.
Transformation delivery: Programme managers, BAs, and project coordinators keeping delivery on track.

As you can see, this isn’t a case of gap-filling or making do, contractors in these roles are mission-critical contributors.

A Hybrid Workforce Strategy

One of the lasting effects of the pandemic years is a more dynamic view of workforce structure. Leaders have seen the value in blending permanent and contingent capability to maintain agility and resilience. Contractors play an important role in this hybrid model. They help relieve pressure on permanent teams, reduce the risk of burnout, and allow internal staff to focus on core operations.

They’re also an effective solution during hiring freezes, parental leave cover, or when internal resources are seconded elsewhere. Given the expected ongoing talent shortage, this flexibility is more important than ever.

Final Thought: Contracting is a Strategic Lever

As we look ahead to the rest of 2025, one thing is clear: the organisations that will thrive are those that move decisively, not cautiously. Rebuilding momentum requires speed, adaptability, and access to the right skills at the right time.

As you can probably tell, I truly believe that hiring contractors isn’t a ‘compromise’. I’ve seen firsthand that building a contractor workforce for your organisation can be a valuable resourcing strategy. For tech leaders under pressure to deliver more with less, it provides the firepower to push ahead, without locking in fixed costs. Contracting is part of the new normal, and in this stage of New Zealand’s economic recovery, it might just be your best asset.

Ready to Move?

If you’re planning to kickstart projects this financial year and need proven tech talent to hit the ground running – let’s talk. Absolute IT connects employers with experienced contractors across Aotearoa who are ready to make an impact. Whether you need one expert or a whole project team, we’ll help you find the right people to get things moving.

Paul Kelly

Business Manager & Senior Consultant

As a Recruitment Consultant, Paul Kelly believes the right people are the most important asset in any business.