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AI Agents in Recruitment

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping recruitment in many ways. The global market for AI in recruitment is set to grow from $610m in 2021 to a forecast of $890m by 2028, driven by the need to automate processes for screening and shortlisting candidates.
In an industry focussed on people, is there a conflict between the artificial and the authentic?
The Uses of AI Agents
Recruiters are using AI agents -autonomous intelligent systems performing specific tasks without human intervention - to write job descriptions, source CVs, schedule interviews, communicate with candidates, conduct end-to-end interviews and give feedback.
Candidates are also using AI agents to automatically apply for positions matching a pre setup profile, to find new recommended positions and to communicate with recruiters.
Research from Totaljobs shows 52% of jobseekers would be comfortable applying for a role where a small part of the process is AI-driven, most would prefer AI to only be used early in the recruitment process for tasks like:
- Sourcing qualified candidates
- Screening applicants
- Automating interview scheduling
It is inevitable that AI will increasingly be used in this way to improve productivity as Indeed (and its sister company Glassdoor), LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) and other platforms are all making significant investments in AI tools.
Indeed
Indeed is set to launch a new AI agent tool in early 2025, called Pathfinder, to help people connect with job opportunities that match their skills, ‘even when their resume or educational background doesn’t line up’.
Speaking about his daughter’s job search experience at a FutureWorks event, Indeed's CEO, Chris Hyams said that generative AI can, like a human recruiter, help explain why a job might be a good fit for someone like his daughter - even if the role deviates from her career path or experience.
Hyams went on to say: "What we can do is go to generative AI and say, 'Here's a person. Here's a job. Tell me why this is a good fit.' And then it can explain to her that this is going to leverage your organizational skills.
Through Indeed, every worker in the world will have their own personal talent agent. With the power of AI, it's now possible."
LinkedIn has been introducing a number of AI tools for recruitment powered by Microsoft’s partner, OpenAI. These include AI writing tools for users messaging others on the platform and AI-created job descriptions. LinkedIn Recruiter 2024 uses generative AI to help recruitment professionals come up with better search strings to find stronger candidates.
Specifically, as in ChatGPT searches, recruiters will now be able to use more conversational language to hone in on who they hope to find. It will also mean that search results will also have more suggestions outside of what recruiters might think they are looking for.
LinkedIn's latest tool is the Hiring Assistant AI Agent. “It’s designed to take on a recruiter’s most repetitive task so they can spend more time on the most impactful part of their jobs,” said Hari Srinivasan, LinkedIn’s VP of product.
AI Agents - Balance
Increased AI usage is a top talent acquisition trend for 2025 (source: Korn Ferry Talent Acquisition Trends). Identifying where and how AI agents can best be used will be key to achieve a balance with human connection and interaction.
The strengths of top recruiters - understanding unique startup/scale-up circumstances; authenticity; empathy; negotiation; personalisation and the ability to build long term recruitment partnerships –are highly valued by candidates who want to discuss a role, and by clients who expect a recruiter to understand their unique culture, values and team.
Companies who thought that AI would be a game changer are now concerned about its inaccuracies and that too much AI in recruitment could make the whole process impersonal and cause companies to miss out on top candidates.
Candidates want and expect a high degree of human interaction. According to a recent survey, most applicants prefer human communication over interacting and conversing with chatbots or receiving automated responses. Besides, the AI agents used in the recruiting process cannot (yet!) compensate for the lack of human interaction, negatively impacting the hiring process from a candidate's perspective.
The Future of AI Agents
However, rapid advances in areas such as sentiment analysis, emotionally intelligent AI that detects facial expressions, body language and other cues, and voice intelligence powered by empathetic AI is delivering a new breed of AI agents.
RWA
Richard Wheeler Associates is a small business prizing what clients say they value most, namely the personalised, human-centred approach to the key stages of good recruitment: in-depth interviewing, a deep understanding of the client’s business, the experience and care necessary to close on the preferred candidate(s). As a business we are never working at such a scale or degree of busy-ness that results in a decision to deploy AI across whole areas of the cycle - as much larger firms may do. Instead, we will continue to focus on extreme quality and person-centred working.
Contact us to find out more about our recruitment solutions.