AI is all the buzz these days. You can’t turn on the news or scroll through social media without hearing about it. Some folks are all worried about the dangers of AI, while others are excited about the possibility of AI systems that are smarter than us.
When we chat with our HR buddies, the truth differs from the buzz. We might experiment with AI in recruiting, but there’s no proof or case studies of companies using AI to change their hiring practices completely.
So, there’s much hype around AI in recruiting, but should we start implementing it? Are we behind our competitors or not?
We scouted the internet for studies to determine the exact stage of AI deployment in recruiting.
The 20-second synopsis of what we found in all the studies and surveys is the following:
- The adoption numbers vary a bit between different surveys. One survey states that 8% of HR professionals use AI in their operations while the max percentage in one research is 66%. These numbers refer to using or experimenting with some form of AI in their recruiting process. In most of the surveys, it looks like most HR professionals are not yet implementing AI in their processes. This means we are early in the adoption and usage of this technology.
- None is yet implementing full-scale AI that can automate all parts of the work of a junior recruiter i.e. the scouting, screening, and interviewing of the candidates.
- A reported number between 60-80% of HR leaders are not using AI in their operations but are planning to explore possibilities within the next 12-24 months. There is a lot of fear of missing out on being competitive within the next 2 years but there is also lots of fogginess about what exactly the next steps should be.
We took into account only surveys performed in 2023 or 2024.
Let’s dive deeper into these surveys.
LINKEDIN SURVEY
For the Future of Recruiting 2024, they surveyed 1,453 recruiting professionals in management seniority roles or higher and 498 hiring managers. The survey was conducted in six languages across 23 countries between October and November 2023 and the report was released on March 7, 2024.
Only 27% of HR professionals say that they are using or experimenting with generative AI. 62% of TA professionals say that they are optimistic about AI’s impact on recruitment.
According to survey respondents, these are the following top three benefits of generative AI in recruiting:
- 57% said it makes it faster/easier to write job descriptions
- 45% said it helps automate tasks to spend on more fulfilling work
- 42% said it removes daily mundane tasks
In a nutshell: only about 1 out of 4 recruiters are using or experimenting with Gen AI. Mostly to save time on mundane tasks and improve job descriptions. Most TA professionals are optimistic about AI but 3 out of 4 haven’t been using it yet.
MERCER SURVEY
Mercer is a professional services firm that consults on employee-related topics such as talent management, retirement, transformation, and mergers & acquisitions.
In February 2024 they released the report Strategic AI adoption in talent acquisition today: Overcoming barriers and unveiling future possibilities. Mercer surveyed 477 HR and TA leaders across a range of industries. The report authors summed up the findings as follows:
“Despite its tremendous potential, the results generated from our field data revealed that AI adoption within the TA function is not as pronounced and advanced as some recent reports might suggest.”
The list below offers stats from the report.
- Just 8% of companies are using AI-first recruiting, with the total initial recruitment process (application through scheduling interviews deployed through AI).
- 42% of those surveyed do not currently and do not plan to use AI as part of their TA practice.
According to this survey here are the top three ways companies are using AI in talent acquisition:
- 40% use it to source and engage talent for pipeline purposes (employer-centric matching)
- 28% use it to analyze internal TA or recruitment data
- 28% use it to create social posts.
- The report identified the following three barriers to using AI-based tools in talent acquisition: Lack of systems integration: 47% Lack of understanding about the efficacy of tools: 38% Lack of knowledge of recruiting tools: 36%
In a nutshell: 6 out of 10 recruiters are not using any AI at all and do not plan to. Those who use it do it for sourcing candidates or creating social media posts. Only 8% of companies use some candidate appointment scheduling AI. The most common reason is the lack of knowledge about AI in recruiting and the complexity of TA systems that make it difficult to integrate with AI.
LEOFORCE STUDY
Leoforce in February 2024, released the The Future of AI Recruiting and Transformation 2024 Report, which surveyed 273 HR and TA leaders across North America.
Key findings In a nutshell: 3 out of 10 recruiters are using AI for a quarter of their processes, this maxes out for 4 out of 10 recruiters for high-volume hiring. They report a reduction of time spent doing manual tasks up to 38%. Of those not using AI, 8 out of 10 companies are planning to use AI somehow in the next year with 6 out of 10 still evaluating the endeavour and implementation risks.
GARNER INC SURVEY
A Gartner, Inc. survey of 179 HR leaders on January 31, 2024, revealed that 38% of HR leaders are piloting, planning implementation, or have already implemented generative AI (GenAI), up from 19% in June 2023.
Drive organizational success by implementing AI in HR
76% of HR leaders believe that if their organization does not adopt and implement AI solutions, such as generative AI, in the next 12 to 24 months, they will be lagging in organizational success compared to those that do.
“More organizations are moving from exploring how GenAI might be used to implementing solutions,” said Dion Love, Vice President of Advisory in the Gartner HR practice. “Yet, the same Gartner survey revealed that 67% of HR leaders reported they do not plan to add any GenAI related roles to their function in the next 12 months.”
In a nutshell: 2 out of 5 HR professionals are piloting AI in their TA processes. 3 out of 5 HR leaders believe they should be doing it within the next 12-24 months or they will be lagging behind. Most of them though do not plan to hire specialists in GenAI.
TIDIO SURVEY
A survey executed by Tidio revealed that over 85% of HR professionals believe that AI will replace parts of their processes and 65% of them are already using AI in some part of their recruiting process
WORKABLE
Growth in AI tool usage: Nearly two in three have used some form of AI when hiring in the last year. More than two-thirds see their company increasing the use of AI in their hiring over the next 5 years. [Source: AI in Hiring and Work 2024 Survey]
SAGE GROUP REPORT
24% of companies use AI to hire talented employees. [Source: Sage Group, 16th July 2024]
iHIRE REPORT
iHire’s 2024 State of Online Recruiting Report was released Aug. 20 2024. The poll found that 14.7% of employers now use AI in recruitment, up from 4.9% in 2023
