In a world where everything is increasingly automated how do we ensure human connection isn’t lost?

I am old enough to have gone backpacking before Wi-Fi and smart phones, clutching a Lonely Planet book with notes and tips made from other travellers. Keeping in touch with home was a weekly internet café session where I’d write a few emails home. I left my phone at home for 3 months when I went to South America in 2010.

That is just incomprehensible now. The friendships I made on that trip stand today and the two Sydneysiders I met in Brazil 15 years ago played a huge part in my decision to stay here.

I also had nearly a year travelling the world before moving to Australia (6 years later) and it was a different experience; people sat around on their phones in the hostels and you could arrange everything instantly.

I still believe this benefit didn’t outweigh the missed connections.

Is it easier to conduct your interview via Teams? It is easier for you to not grab a coffee with the candidates you’ve placed or had on interviews? Yes, but do you miss nuance, rapport, trust and everything that goes with that. Don’t get me wrong, tech and AI play a great part in efficiencies and the ability to do a lot of things quicker, but quicker isn’t always better or right.

You’d be surprised even in this job the number of times candidates have said to me “the recruiter refused to meet me face to face and insisted it was on Teams”.

Personally, I make an effort to see people face to face where possible and this has a positive effect on my work as well as everything else.

Candidate and client referrals don’t come from Teams meetings.

There is so much evidence outside of the work context of the physical, emotional and health benefits of human connection, how are you still incorporating this?

- Amy Colton amyc@coxpurtell.com.au