Working in tech recruitment, it’s easy to spend our days talking about skills, job specs, salaries and hiring challenges. But every so often, it’s important to step away from the day-to-day and look at the bigger picture: the technology shaping our industry, the people driving it forward, and what it all means for the future of work.
That’s exactly what AICON Belfast gave us.
Held at ICC Belfast on 23 September as part of Belfast Tech Week, AICON brought together around 600 business leaders, technologists, policymakers and AI practitioners. With this year’s theme, From Possible to Proven: Agents at Work, the conversations focused on moving beyond AI experimentation towards meaningful, responsible implementation.
For Jennifer Curran, Senior Tech Recruitment Specialist at VANRATH, and me, it was a day full of ideas, questions and a few genuine “wow” moments.
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As Jen would say, we’re “technologically adjacent”.
We’re not the engineers building the systems, developing the models or architecting the infrastructure. That’s what our candidates and clients do far better than we ever could. But working in tech recruitment means understanding the world they operate in, and, increasingly, how quickly that world is changing.
It’s not enough to recognise a technology on a CV or match a list of technical skills to a job description. We need to understand why those skills matter, what problems people are solving with them, and how changing technology might influence the roles businesses need to hire for next.
AICON was a brilliant reminder that staying curious about the industry is an important part of doing our jobs well.
Tom Gray (Chief Strategy Officer at Kainos and Chairperson of MATRIX Quantum Technologies Panel) and his discussion of quantum technologies genuinely blew our minds.
Quantum can feel like something pulled from a science-fiction film, but hearing about its potential and the direction of research made it clear that emerging technologies deserve attention long before they become part of everyday business.
For recruiters, this raises an interesting question: how do we recognise and understand emerging skill sets before demand for them becomes widespread? As new technologies develop, businesses may need people with increasingly specialised knowledge, and the ability to connect those people with the right opportunities becomes even more valuable.
It’s another reason to keep learning, listening and building relationships across the technology community.
AI was naturally a major talking point throughout the day, but what stood out was the breadth of the conversation.
Nell Watson (internationally renowned AI ethicist, engineer and academic) offered a thought-provoking perspective on AI, trust and the responsibilities that come with increasingly capable systems. The discussion around AI agents was particularly relevant: we’re moving beyond tools that simply assist people towards systems that can plan, coordinate and carry out tasks with greater autonomy. That creates enormous opportunities, but it also raises important questions about reliability, accountability and appropriate human oversight.
From a recruitment perspective, this shift is significant. As AI becomes more integrated into business processes, the conversation cannot simply be about which jobs it will replace. We also need to consider how roles will evolve, which skills will become more valuable, and how people will work alongside these technologies.
Technical capability matters, of course. But so does critical thinking, adaptability, communication and judgement. The ability to understand when to trust a system, and when to challenge its output, is likely to become increasingly important.
Two other talks particularly resonated with us.
Ed Tracy, Director of Fonejacker, shared an interesting perspective on how AI is being explored within film and creative production. Seeing someone with a background in traditional television and production embrace new tools was a great example of how innovation can complement established skills and open up new ways of working.
Charlotte Blease (Academic Researcher, Author and Public Speaker) and her talk brought a different, deeply human perspective to the conversation. Sharing her personal experience of loss alongside her thoughts on AI in healthcare was a powerful reminder that technology never exists in isolation from the people it affects.
In fields such as healthcare, the potential benefits of AI must be considered alongside the responsibility to use it appropriately. Efficiency and innovation matter, but so do empathy, trust and human understanding.
For those of us working with people and businesses every day, that message feels particularly relevant. Technology may change how work gets done, but the human impact of those changes should never be an afterthought.
Our biggest takeaway is that understanding technology is becoming just as important as understanding talent.
The market is evolving, and the roles businesses need today may look quite different from those they need in the coming years. AI, automation and emerging technologies will influence technical requirements, team structures and the way organisations approach hiring.
That means recruiters need to do more than keep up with job titles and technology trends. We need to ask better questions, understand the challenges our clients are trying to solve, and have informed conversations with candidates about the work they’re doing and where they want to go next.
It also means recognising that technical skills alone rarely tell the whole story. As technology becomes more capable, the people who can combine technical expertise with sound judgement, curiosity, communication and a willingness to keep learning will continue to be important to businesses.
And in a market like Belfast, where the technology community brings together established businesses, growing companies and people exploring what comes next, events like AICON offer a valuable opportunity to hear directly from those shaping the industry.
We came away from AICON with plenty to think about, some great conversations, new perspectives, and, of course, the added bonus of muffins and merch!
But the real value was being reminded that we don’t need to be the people building every new technology to understand why it matters.
Being “technically adjacent” means staying close enough to the conversation to ask informed questions, challenge our own assumptions and understand the opportunities and challenges facing the people we recruit for and work with.
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At VANRATH, we want to be more than the people sending CVs. We want to understand the market, the technology and the teams behind it, so we can help connect the right people with the right opportunities.
AICON Belfast certainly gave us plenty of food for thought. And if one thing is clear, it’s that the conversation around technology, and the skills needed to shape its future, is only going to get more interesting.
Excited for the next event that gives us something new to think about.
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