AI Made Me a Sharper Consultant. Here’s What It Still Can’t Do.

Let me start with a confession: I was late to AI. 

I am a people person who happens to use technology, which is one reason AI initially gave me pause. 

I’ve spent more than a decade in retained and executive search, placing CEOs, Executive Directors, CHROs, Chiefs of Staff, and other senior leaders for organizations doing meaningful work across the country. People leaders make up the majority of my stakeholder groups. As a Certified Staffing Professional, I know this work, human talent acquisition, and I consider myself to be an early adopter most times, especially when the business case is clear. Still, one of my Gen Z colleagues had to repeatedly encourage me before I would seriously sit down and explore what AI could actually do. During a Zoom screenshare, he walked me through ChatGPT in real time. I was fascinated and uncomfortable all at once. 

But the more comfortable I became using it personally—for a trip to Europe, my son’s DJ website, even a difficult conversation with a friend—the more I started wondering what it could mean for my work. That question changed a lot for me. 

What Changed 

Nonprofits and social impact organizations are operating in a very tense environment right now. They are being asked to do even more with less, which is a real strain for many who are already operating lean by necessity. For all organizations, and especially nonprofits, cost containment matters.  

I began to reflect on conversations I’ve had with many leaders that focus on how lean their teams are and how every hiring decision carries enormous weight. When I started thoughtfully considering how to incorporate AI into my practice, here is where I immediately saw the operational benefits: 

Research: Market and organizational research that used to take days started taking hours. 

Sourcing: The candidate pool became broader, spanning geographies and sectors, and my ability to reach them faster. 

Communications: Drafting position profiles, outreach messages, and candidate summaries became more efficient. I didn’t start from a blank page every time.  

Screening: Comparing candidates’ competencies against role requirements became more structured and consistent. 

The biggest realization for me was this: AI doesn’t do the work for you. It assists you while you do the work. You are still in the driver’s seat. With rich prompting and context, it can function as an excellent roadmap, helping you navigate, identify, and eliminate roadblocks. Without it, it can return hazy, generalized, and impersonal results. 

That distinction matters because the real value in executive search is human judgment. 

What AI Still Cannot Do  

Five years ago, I was leading a CEO search for an association in the public health space. 

The board was convinced they needed someone who had already served as a CEO. In their minds, the organization was at a critical moment, and prior CEO experience felt like the safest choice. 

I understood their reasoning, and I delivered exactly what they asked for in my slate. But there was one candidate I couldn’t stop thinking about for this role. He was a Deputy Executive Director who had not held the CEO title, which meant on paper he did not fit the profile the board said they wanted. 

At the time, it was still relatively early in the client relationship, and I understood the importance of protecting the trust we had built. Recommending someone who fell outside their stated criteria carried risk. What stood out to me was not a polished executive presence or someone trying to convince me he was ready for the next title. It was the opposite. He listened carefully. He asked thoughtful questions. He was genuinely curious about the organization and the challenges they were facing. When he talked about his experience, it came through a people-centered lens. He absolutely had the credentials and the accomplishments, but he wore them lightly. He did not sound like someone chasing a career move. He sounded like someone trying to understand where he could genuinely help and serve. That matters in leadership. 

I submitted him anyway, with my carefully written narrative that made the case for why.  

The board hired him. 

He is still there today, and by all accounts, he has been an exceptional leader for that organization. 

That experience stays with me because it reinforces something I believe deeply about this work: A leadership assessment is not only about pattern recognition. It is about human discernment. 

AI can help identify aligned experiences, competencies, and career trajectories. It can surface similarities across resumes and organize large amounts of information quickly. 

But humans are better at sitting in a conversation and recognizing humility, emotional intelligence, timing, conviction, curiosity, or the kind of leadership presence that organizations sometimes need most in a particular moment. 

AI cannot yet understand what someone means beyond what they say. And in mission-driven organizations especially, those things matter enormously. 

What I Know Now 

A couple of years into using AI more intentionally, here is where I have landed: AI has made me a sharper consultant. Not a different one. 

It has helped remove administrative friction so I can spend more time where my judgment and relationships actually matter. More time advising clients through difficult decisions. More time building trust with candidates. More time listening carefully enough to hear what an organization truly needs, even when they are not fully saying it yet. 

The colleague who pushed me toward this technology was not trying to replace the work. He was trying to create more space for the human parts of the work that matter most. 

If you are a hiring leader still figuring out where AI belongs in your process, consider where it can support you in creating efficiencies, organizing your thinking, and reducing that administrative burden. And in the process of all that, protect your human relationships and discernment. 

I don’t ever see myself allowing AI to make final decisions about a leader who will shape the future of my client organizations, but I can leverage technology in areas that can be automated for their ultimate success. Human judgment, human accountability, and human care. That part still belongs to us. 

If you're a hiring leader navigating the intersection of AI and executive search, OneDigital's Retained Search team is ready to think through it with you. Connect with our team to start the conversation.