If you want to work at BlackRock, make sure you’re using AI — just not too much.
Nigel Williams, BlackRock’s global head of talent acquisition, said that AI is shifting his hiring priorities, and that fluency with the technology is now key to any strong application. However, he warns against depending on it in the interview process.
“We want to hire people that are curious, that understand that AI is here,” he told Business Insider, especially because it’s embedded in functions across the world’s biggest asset manager.
The strongest applicants can demonstrate that they are both digitally native and comfortable with various AI tools, and that they’re curious about future capabilities. Young talent is “upskilling itself to meet the moment,” Williams said, since applicants without a computer science background often demonstrate AI proficiency. Everyone, he added, will need to have a basic understanding of prompt engineering and how to question AI outputs.
“In this age of AI, the talent skills that I think we need more than ever are people that are curious, have a questioning mindset, and are willing to not just trust what the model puts out there, but also make sure we’re continuing to pressure test that,” he said. Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills are also becoming even more important, he said.
Williams said that his team is figuring out how to assess applicants’ AI abilities and is mindful of making sure people without tech backgrounds don’t feel intimidated. He’s interested in how people use the technology in their personal, academic, or work lives, and said his team is still fine-tuning how to assess that in the interview process.
Despite Williams’ new focus on how applicants engage with AI, he’s not using it to screen candidates. As of now, he uses AI to schedule interviews.
There’s such a thing as too much AI in the application process, though.
Williams said recruiters and hiring managers have told people ahead of an interview not to use an AI tool, sometimes to little avail.
“It is quite common. You will sometimes see people looking to the left or the right. Our interviewing teams, if they’re in the middle of doing that, will pick up on that and be able to say, ‘Hey, we do want to make sure that you’re staying focused,'” Williams said.
BlackRock employs around 24,600 people in more than 30 countries, according to a November 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some 21,100 people worked at the firm as of the end of 2024, according to that year’s annual report.
BlackRock has launched Asimov, an agentic AI platform for its equity business. At the annual New York Times DealBook Summit this week, its CEO, Larry Fink, said that there will be “some huge winners and huge failures” with the technology.
