Dive Brief:
- Hiring teams say that finding the right candidate can be difficult, with 43% saying their main recruitment priority is improving candidate quality, and another 30% saying that identifying and prioritizing qualified candidates is their main challenge, according to a new report from hiring firm Employ.
- While 68% of recruiters said they used artificial intelligence alongside their other hiring software and 66% said that AI has made their jobs easier, just 18% say “more than half of their time has shifted from administrative work to higher-value tasks,” per the study.
- In addition, AI is the root of recruiters’ biggest pain points for the first time in the study’s 19-year history, with 33% naming AI-polished resumes as the main source of their stress. That means that AI is causing more headaches than the lack of qualified candidates, per the report.
Dive Insight:
The study was based on data sourced from a survey of more than 1,200 U.S.-based HR recruiters and managers, and findings indicated technology is both helping and hindering the recruitment process.
Current technology isn’t keeping up with the needs of HR professionals, according to the study, which found that only 69% were satisfied with their primary recruitment technology systems. That’s down from 82% in 2025. Another 64% said they were “at least somewhat likely” to change their technology over the next year or two, with respondents citing friction and avoidable delays that occur during critical hiring moments as big issues that have led to candidate drop-offs.
Meanwhile, 74% of respondents report increased hiring activity and 60% said they planned to hire more people over the next 12 months, although that number has declined from 70% in 2025. Recruiting budgets have also changed, with 51% saying their budgets would increase, down from 67% in 2025.
Against this backdrop, just over a third of respondents (36%) said recruiting was more stressful now than a year ago, down from 45% in 2025 and 54% in 2024. Recruiters cited AI-powered recruiting technology and “the ability to meet candidate expectations” as reasons for their reduced stress.
“Recruiting teams have spent the last few years locked into reaction mode; adjusting to one drastic market swing after the next,” Employ CEO Jerry Jao said in a statement. “But as some of those pressures begin to ease, teams have the opportunity to step back and assess how their processes, technology, and AI investments are working for them. Or if they’re working at all.”
A recent survey from staffing company ManpowerGroup found that just one-third of respondents said they thought AI has improved the speed of hiring compared to 2025, with 42% reporting no difference and one-quarter saying time-to-hire was actually slower now.
Furthermore, AI may cause recruiters to miss large swaths of candidates with “hidden talent,” according to Jacqueline Grant, founder and CEO of The Management Academy, a workforce development organization. Grant told SHRM26 attendees in June that even though AI can make things easier, HR teams need to take responsibility for the results AI produces, and remember that they need to make the final call on recruiting decisions.