Recruitment and technologies: how recruiters navigate a changing digital landscape

Introduction
The transformative impact of digitalization on work has been widely studied, examining its societal implications as well as its effects at the organizational and individual levels. Scholars emphasizes the impact of various technologies on the work environment, examining their evolution and impact on occupations. However, individuals have varying degrees of capacity to actively react, respond, adapt and even – to some extent – reshape technologies (Kallinikos, 2004; Dolata, 2013).
Moving away from technological determinism (Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011), researchers advocate a closer examination of the practical use of technologies, highlighting the interconnected relationship between people and tools (Orlikowski & Scott, 2008). It is therefore essential to analyze the evolution of this relationship, to decode the organisational assumptions embedded in digital tools and to examine how they resonate with the strategic, managerial and professional intentions of the actors. To this end, we examine how collaborative, automation and AI-driven technologies are transforming the role of recruiters, focusing on how these tools are being used and how they are reshaping recruiters' tasks.
Theoretical Framework
Departing from both techno-centric and human-centric perspectives, our paper adopts a sociomaterialist analytical framework. Orlikowski's work (2007, 2016) posits that technology and social context are closely intertwined, introducing the concept of 'socio-organisational scripts' embedded in all technologies that interact with their social uses. This perspective highlights the social co-construction of technology, where actors' choices, values and power dynamics shape emerging technological trajectories within specific contexts. Leonardi (2011, 2013) extends this perspective by developing the concept of entanglement, conceptualizing technologies as 'relational artifacts' that both shape and are shaped by social life (Wajcman, 2006), viewing them as vehicles of rationality (Cabantous & Gond, 2011) strategically implemented to guide human behaviors following specific organizational logics.
Thus, the practical use of technologies may diverge from their intended goals (Suchman, 1987; Orlikowski, 2007) and the dynamic interplay between materiality, practice, and technologies influences organizations and individuals. Perceptions of the meaning and impact of digital tools emerge from the convergence or divergence between their prescribed and actual uses, reflecting the agency of actors in responding to, negotiating, resisting or modifying the constraints and affordances of technology (Howcroft & Taylor, 2014; Leonardi & Barley, 2010). Given the control mechanisms embedded in these technologies, how do recruiters appropriate or 'redirect'

technologies to regain control and work 'off script' when they perceive their profession to be under threat?
Data and Methods
While much of the research in this field tends to be predictive and based on quantitative survey-based scenarios, our study adopts a qualitative approach based on 17 in-depth interviews with HR professionals. Interview themes were structured around a preliminary literature review and included types of technology used, contextual factors, perceived changes in job content, working conditions, professional status and job sustainability. All interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis using NVivo software.
Results
Our contribution examines how technologies are reshaping the nature and performance of work based on recruiters' perceptions. It examines these perceptions and investigates the underlying rationales that guide their action. The findings highlight the central role of human-machine collaboration in shaping perceptions, particularly in relation to workload, information management, and issues of standardization and visibility of work. We assess whether human-machine interactions are leading to increased job demands, a transformation of recruiters' roles and, ultimately, their level of trust in technology - whether it is perceived as a threat or as a support mechanism for task performance.
Recruiters are also questioning the core skills required for their evolving function, emphasizing uniquely human skills while expressing concerns about the digital divide. The findings highlight the importance of considering individual agency in understanding occupational evolution within the broader context of technological change. This study provides a qualitative exploration of how professionals interpret, adapt to, and appropriate technologies to navigate the evolving work landscape. When implemented, the strategies they deploy appear as attempts to safeguard a profession or professional practices perceived as threatened by this digital evolution, to perpetuate their jobs.