Dive Brief:
- Recruiters are increasingly using artificial intelligence against a background of heightened pressure to find suitable candidates for the limited number of available roles, according to research from LinkedIn released Jan. 7.
- Among TA professionals surveyed, 93% said they planned to grow their AI use in 2026 in order to meet hiring goals, evaluate candidates and source talent. Meanwhile, 42% told LinkedIn that they’re being asked to fill roles more quickly, and 39% said they’re being asked to find “hidden gem candidates” with “skills they never would have found before.”
- The report also revealed an increasingly competitive employment market. Since spring 2022, the number of U.S. applicants per open role has doubled, LinkedIn said, noting that 52% of professionals surveyed said they’re actively looking for a new job this year.
Dive Insight:
As recruiters work to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive marketplace, AI adoption has accelerated.
An August study from Resume.org found that by 2026, one-third of companies expect AI to be running their entire hiring process. To date, nearly two thirds of recruiters (65%) said they’re already using AI tools, according to an October report from Employ Inc., and LinkedIn’s new report found that 59% of recruiters said they’re currently using AI to surface hidden gem candidates.
Nonetheless, 66% of recruiters told LinkedIn that finding quality talent had gotten harder, and 73% said they felt unprepared to manage the pressures of their job this year, including navigating “increased expectations from their organization.”
Job seekers also told LinkedIn they were concerned, with 80% saying they felt unprepared to find a job in 2026.
Recruiters told LinkedIn they’re looking for new areas where AI tools could help streamline the hiring process. In 2026, according to LinkedIn, 66% of recruiters intend to increase their use of AI for pre-screening interviews. The report said doing so will help them have more valuable conversations with pre-screened candidates and obtain better candidate insights.
However, only 34% of TA professionals said most of their teams were AI power users, able to blend AI and human skills, according to LinkedIn’s quarterly Executive Confidence Index, released in October. By contrast, 47% of recruiters in that survey said their teams are AI practitioners, and use AI to improve productivity in their own roles and still learning how to use it strategically.