Something I didn’t expect to happen this fast. I’ve heard of candidates turning down jobs over salary, culture, or commute. But this week I heard something new.
Social workers rejecting council roles because the organisation didn’t have AI tools in place.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Social work and AI don’t usually appear in the same sentence. Yet it’s a profession already stretched to breaking point, drowning in case notes and admin, so of course they want AI. Why should anyone be surprised?
And here’s the thing, they’re not asking for perfection.
As Julia Yong put it so well in this week’s Leading AI post: “AI is not perfect, but that is not the point. The real test is whether it improves on the process that came before.”
Social workers aren’t asking for AI to be perfect. They’re asking for tools that mean they spend less time on admin and more time with the children, teenagers, families and elderly people they came into the profession to help. That’s not a luxury. That’s the job.
What this anecdote tells me is that the talent war is shifting.
It’s no longer just about salary and flexibility. It’s about whether your organisation trusts its people enough to give them tools that make hard work more human, not replacing judgement, but freeing people up to actually use it.
So, leaders in public services, take note. The question candidates are quietly asking isn’t just “what’s the salary?”
It’s: “do you have the tools that will let me actually do my job?”
