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As we settle into our new remote work environments, the next step for many of us is to move from simply maintaining operations to propelling the business forward. If you have open positions to fill, your first instinct may be to put hiring on hold, while we see how long the social restrictions to decrease the spread of COVID-19 will last.
But that may not be the best move. Believe it or not, many companies are still hiring, even during the pandemic. Some obvious ones, like healthcare, shipping, and delivery companies and grocery stores, are expanding in response to needs during the health crisis. Others, including technology and finance companies, are still looking to fill positions.
Why Hire Now
Think about it: As endless as the stay-at-home restrictions may feel, in reality, they won’t last forever. When business normalizes, your organization needs to be ready to jump into action quickly. You’ll need those key people in place. Remember how hard it was to attract top talent six weeks ago? In fact, now is the ideal time to find and hire them, and get them fully onboarded so they’ll be ready to accelerate with you when the time comes.
If you’re a company that is making bold moves even during the coronavirus, expanding your team and taking on new projects, it’s even more critical that you keep that momentum going and keep moving candidates through your interview process.
A lot of companies may have paused hiring, which means you’ll have access to great candidates, with less competition. An added plus: the people who are continuing their job search, even during this time, show a determination that will prove beneficial for any position. They’ve also got more time to do phone and video interviews.
How to Interview Candidates Virtually
You may already be familiar with screening candidates by phone, but once things progressed to an interview, you probably met in person. While screening by phone still works, we strongly recommend your interviews are done via videoconferencing. A number of platforms have the option to conduct one-way and live video interviewing such as our client Spark Hire.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, another client of ours, Interviewstream, is offering free access to their platform through April 30th.
Tips for a successful video interview:
- Just as you would in an in-person interview, set your phone and laptop notifications on do not disturb (but check them up until the interview starts, in case the candidate has problems logging on).
- Turn off your phone, and make sure your “coworkers” (partner, kids, pets) don’t interrupt or pass in front of your laptop camera. Be sure the camera lens is clean. Also, make sure the background that is in the camera’s view is neat and does not show any confidential information.
- If you have a panel interview, coordinate with the other members ahead of time so they know which questions to ask.
- Log on a few minutes early. Test your equipment before the interview to make sure the camera height and audio are arranged as you want.
When you’re conducting the interview, pay attention to the candidate’s body language. When you’re face-to-face with a candidate, you may do this naturally, but you’ll have to do this more intentionally in a video interview. You won’t have a chance to shake the candidate’s hand or see how they interact with others on the way to the interview, so look for behaviors like good eye contact and facial expressions to guide you on the intangibles.
At the same time, realize a candidate will try to glean as much information as they can from their on-camera conversation with you. They won’t be able to get a sense of your culture by walking in the building or watching team members interact, so they will be getting their cues about the job based on how responsive you are and your personality. For this reason, be sure to describe your culture. How is your team organized for now, with a remote focus, and what is it expected to look like when times normalize? What are the enjoyable aspects of working with the company or the community involvement activities you’ve done?
Remember, when candidates aren’t interviewing in your office, they can’t see your foosball table or the team barbecue photo to pick up hints about your work culture.
Whether you interview and hire in-person or virtually, there’s always a risk that a new employee won’t work out. But using technology and strategy to plan the interview and hiring process, you position your organization to be productive and ready for the next phase.
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Over the last year, hiring teams have started seeing a wave of new job titles pop up across tech, sales, and operations.
Some are legitimate new roles.
Others are existing jobs with a slightly different name.
And many of them have one thing in common: AI is suddenly part of the job description.
From Go-to-Market Engineers to AI Specialists, companies are experimenting with new roles as they figure out how automation and AI fit into their teams.
But most of these positions aren’t entirely new. They’re evolutions of existing roles.
The Rise of Go-to-Market Engineers
One role that is gaining traction is the Go-to-Market Engineer.
Depending on who you ask, it is either:
- A new role focused on automation and AI-driven growth
- A modern version of Revenue Operations (RevOps)
In practice, it is a bit of both.
As Matt Tokarz recently pointed out after closing a search for an Outbound & Go-to-Market Specialist, the role looked very different from traditional RevOps. The focus was not reporting or CRM hygiene. It was building prompts, leveraging tools like Clay and Smartlead, and enabling SDRs and AEs with backend insights to accelerate pipeline growth.
Instead of traditional RevOps work like reporting and CRM management, the focus was on:
- Building AI prompts
- Creating campaign messaging
- Automating outreach workflows
- Using tools like Clay, Smartlead, and Trigify
The goal was not simply managing sales data. It was accelerating pipeline generation through automation.
AI Isn’t Creating New Functions. It’s Changing Existing Ones
One trend is becoming clear. Companies are not replacing entire departments with AI.
Instead, they are changing how existing roles operate.
Sales teams still need pipeline.
Marketing teams still need content.
Engineering teams still need to build software.
The difference is that employers now expect candidates to use AI tools as part of their workflow.
As Zac Colip noted during the discussion, we are currently in a transitional phase where companies are labeling roles with “AI” as they experiment with how the technology fits into teams.
But that may not last forever.
Why Many “AI Job Titles” May Disappear
Right now, AI still feels new enough that companies highlight it in job titles.
But eventually, AI will likely become a baseline expectation, not a specialty.
Think about it like cloud technology or data analytics.
At first, companies hired “cloud specialists.” Now most engineers are expected to understand cloud infrastructure.
The same shift will likely happen with AI.
Instead of hiring “AI-enabled marketers” or “AI engineers,” companies will simply expect employees to know how to work with AI tools.
The Talent Pool Is Still Small
One challenge with these emerging roles is simple: there aren’t many candidates with real experience yet.
Many of these positions didn’t exist two years ago.
In one recent search, we started looking for a candidate locally in Chicago. Eventually we expanded nationwide because the pool of people with relevant experience was extremely limited.
This is a common issue with emerging roles:
- Companies want experienced candidates
- But the roles themselves are still new
That gap will likely persist for the next few years.
Hybrid Roles Are Becoming More Common
Another noticeable shift is that roles are becoming more hybrid.
Instead of hiring for narrow responsibilities, companies are combining multiple functions into one position.
As Matt Mulcahy highlighted, one example is the rise of Forward Deployed Engineers, a model popularized by Palantir.
These engineers:
- Work directly with clients
- Gather product requirements
- Write user stories
- Build the software themselves
What used to involve several roles, including product managers, engineers, and solution architects, can now sometimes be handled by one person. AI development tools are part of what makes this possible.
AI Adoption Is Happening at Different Speeds
Not every industry is moving at the same pace.
As Ashley DuBois pointed out, some sectors, such as transportation, are applying AI to specific workflows like load booking and operational automation.
At the same time, some companies are adding “AI” to job titles even when the core responsibilities remain largely traditional.
In many cases, it is still essentially an IT manager role with AI familiarity layered in.
This reflects a broader transition period where companies want to signal modernization and candidates want to signal relevance.
Automation Is Changing Operations Roles
In logistics, AI is increasingly handling scheduling, tracking, and coordination tasks.
According to Brittany Lasky, operational roles such as logistics coordinators may experience the greatest impact from automation.
However, freight brokers who manage negotiation and strategic RFPs remain in demand.
AI can optimize processes. It does not replace relationship management or strategic negotiation.
Across industries, a pattern is emerging.
Execution becomes automated. Strategy becomes more valuable.
Finance Roles Are Becoming More Analytical
Automation is also reshaping finance and accounting roles.
As Adam Slater noted, accounts receivable jobs that once focused on high-volume manual processing are evolving into more analytical positions centered on reporting and insights.
The work is not disappearing. The expectations are increasing.
Organizations are now hiring for:
- stronger technical skills
- analytical thinking
- systems understanding
Even roles traditionally considered administrative now require deeper technical capability.
Analyst Roles Are Expanding
AI is not eliminating analyst roles. It is expanding them.
Financial analysts are also expected to understand tooling, sourcing, and data transformation.
In many cases, two or three roles are being combined into one.
This raises a long-term question.
If entry-level roles become more complex or disappear entirely, how will organizations develop senior talent in the future?
Sales Development Is Becoming More Human
The traditional model of high-volume cold calling is changing.
According to Jack Smith and Emily Canna, teams are shifting toward:
- personalized LinkedIn videos
- voice memos
- highly tailored messaging
At the same time, companies are moving away from activity-based KPIs and focusing more on outcomes such as demos set and SQLs generated.
In a market saturated with automated outreach, authentic communication has become a competitive advantage.
Several clients have said it directly. They want a human in the seat.
Go-to-Market Teams Are Rebuilding the Fundamentals
Every six to twelve months, hiring trends in go-to-market teams shift.
As Jennifer Salerno noted, companies move through cycles.
One quarter it is BDRs.
Then RevOps.
Now it is go-to-market engineers.
Many companies experimented heavily with AI to accelerate pipeline generation.
What those experiments exposed were structural gaps, particularly in outbound strategy.
AI can support execution. It does not replace a well-built top-of-funnel engine.
Inbound momentum can hide weaknesses. Outbound forces clarity.
The companies gaining traction right now are not chasing trends. They are rebuilding the fundamentals of their go-to-market strategy.
What This Means for Hiring
For employers, the takeaway is straightforward. Job descriptions and expectations need to evolve alongside technology.
Across functions, we are seeing the same shift play out. AI is not eliminating entire roles. It is changing how those roles operate and increasing the baseline skill set required to perform them well.
Hiring managers should start thinking less about traditional titles and more about capabilities. That often means prioritizing candidates who can:
- Learn and adapt to new tools quickly
- Think in terms of systems, automation, and workflows
- Combine technical and business skills within a single role
In many cases, the perfect candidate with the exact title simply does not exist yet. The strongest hires are often people who have developed adjacent skills and shown the ability to adapt as the tools evolve.
The Bigger Trend
The broader trend is that AI is accelerating a shift that was already underway.
Roles are becoming more hybrid. Expectations are increasing across nearly every function. And repetitive tasks are being automated, leaving more strategic work behind.
Sales teams still need pipeline.
Operations teams still need coordination.
Finance teams still need reporting and analysis.
Engineering teams still need to build software.
What is changing is how the work gets done and what skills are required to do it well.
Right now we are in a transitional phase where companies are still labeling roles with “AI” as they experiment with new workflows and technologies.
Over time, that label may disappear.
AI will simply become part of how work gets done.
And the roles themselves, while evolving, will look more familiar than the titles might suggest.
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