AI and the Human Element: The Winning Combination for Recruiting

Quick look: Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing nearly every aspect of the way people live and work, and talent acquisition is no exception. But when relied on too heavily or without proper oversight, AI can also create blind spots, introduce risk, and even expose employers to compliance issues. Here’s how AI is being used in recruiting today, where it adds the most value, and what employers should consider to keep their hiring practices fair, compliant, and people-centered.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the recruiting landscape. This trend is expected to continue, with the global AI recruitment market slated to grow from $596 million in 2025 to nearly $1 billion in 2031.

While AI tools can help streamline specific aspects of the hiring process, one thing that remains unchanged is the need for human insight to drive recruitment strategies. Technology can simplify some administrative tasks, but it’s up to talent acquisition professionals to make key hiring decisions and align hiring with broader organizational goals, culture, and values.

If you’re looking to make sense of when (or when not) to use AI in your recruiting strategy, understanding its strengths and limitations is essential. Read on to explore the ways it’s being used in recruitment, how it improves certain processes, and what to consider to stay compliant and fair.

How is AI used in recruiting?

AI is now embedded across many stages of the recruiting lifecycle, helping teams work faster and make more informed hiring decisions. From sourcing talent to supporting internal mobility, AI-powered tools can streamline many of the most time-intensive aspects of recruiting.

Sourcing candidates

Sorting through a high volume of job candidates is time-consuming and can lengthen the overall hiring process. Letting technology take on the bulk of this behind-the-scenes work gives recruiting professionals more time to engage with talent.

AI tools can solve this administrative pain point by:

• Scraping resumes and profiles: Scans job boards, LinkedIn, and internal databases to surface candidates who match role requirements
• Discovering passive talent: Identifies people who aren’t actively applying but look like strong matches based on skills and career paths

Resume screening and shortlisting

A slow time-to-hire process can cause candidates to look elsewhere for employment. AI can help keep the momentum by quickly prioritizing candidates through:

• Identifying keywords and skills: Parses resumes to identify relevant experience, skills, and qualifications
• Triaging applications: Automatically filters out candidates who don’t meet minimum criteria
• Ranking resumes: Algorithms compare job descriptions with candidate profiles and rank potential fits

Maintaining an ongoing list of qualified candidates is helpful during active recruiting and can strengthen an employer’s long-term supply chain of talent. 

Candidate communication

Scheduling interviews, sending follow-ups, and sharing status updates can take up a significant portion of a recruiter’s day. AI programs can help them regain time by:

• Setting up interviews: AI assistants enable applicants to schedule interviews in just a few clicks, eliminating the need to go back and forth coordinating calendars
• Automating updates: Recruitment teams can create and schedule status notifications, reminders, and follow-ups to be sent automatically
• Answering FAQs: Candidates can receive instant responses to common inquiries, as chatbots can explain the hiring process and help navigate the application

Streamlining internal mobility

AI can also review current staff profiles and gauge them as potential matches for advancement within the company. This saves on hiring costs while building employee loyalty and workplace morale. Even if a worker isn’t currently looking for a new role, these insights can identify upskilling and future promotion opportunities.

The steady growth of AI adoption for recruitment

In just a couple of years, AI has transformed from futuristic to mainstream. While not every human resources (HR) team has fully adopted it yet, the majority agree it’s on track to shake up the industry. According to LinkedIn’s The Future of Recruiting 2025 report:

• 73% of talent acquisition professionals agree AI will change the way organizations hire
• 37% of recruiting teams are actively integrating or experimenting with Gen AI tools, up from 27% in 2024
• The number of talent acquisition professionals who used LinkedIn Learning to develop AI literacy more than doubled in the previous 12 months

Benefits of using AI in the hiring process

When applied strategically, AI can be a big win for recruiters. The above LinkedIn research highlights the percentage of talent acquisition professionals who expect AI to enhance their roles in the following ways:

• Improved hiring efficiency (70%)
• More effective job posts (47%)
• Expanded talent pools (39%)
• Enhanced candidate experience (37%)
• Increased quality of hires (33%)

Additionally, AI can help reduce bias and enable humans to notice potential concerns faster by:

• Detecting unintentional bias: Audits job descriptions for exclusionary language
• Blind screening: Removes names, photos, and schools from resumes
• Analyzing hiring patterns: Flags disparities in shortlists or offers

Key considerations when using AI in recruitment

AI can allow recruiters to save time, connect more meaningfully with candidates, and create a more equitable hiring process. However, business leaders must also keep these considerations in mind when adopting these tools:

Always have a human steer the strategy

When it comes to administrative tasks, AI is powerful. But when it comes to workforce planning and ultimate hiring decisions, humans must remain at the wheel.

Employers should be mindful of how much they rely on AI to conduct their hiring processes. While it can be helpful to eliminate or reduce administrative tasks, personal attention is essential when making a connection with someone who may be joining the team.

For instance, one of the main factors when hiring for a role is ensuring the right fit. AI delivers output verbatim without taking into account the context and nuance every resume includes, and skills, job descriptions, and industry jargon change frequently. These factors could lead to a potential candidate being overlooked because their profile doesn’t exactly match the set requirements.

Keep an eye on compliance

It’s also crucial for employers to be aware of the legal regulations associated with using AI tools in recruitment. While no federal law exists, employers should note that several states and cities have their own:

• California: Prohibits employers from using automated decision systems (ADS) that result in discrimination against applicants or employees, mandates that employers retain data for four years, and encourages regular bias audits.
• Colorado: Requires employers to conduct annual impact assessments, implement risk management policies, and notify employees when AI is used in employment decisions.
• Illinois: The AI Video Interview Act requires employers to notify applicants if AI is used to analyze video interviews, obtain consent, and destroy videos upon request, while HB 3773 amends the Human Rights Act to ban employers from using AI-based recruiting tools that discriminate against protected classes and mandates they notify candidates when AI is used.
• Maryland: Employers must gain an applicant’s consent before using facial recognition technology during pre-employment interviews. 
• Texas: Prohibits using AI to discriminate in employment intentionally.
• New York City: Requires employers to conduct an independent annual bias audit and to share a summary of the results publicly.

ExtensisHR: where human expertise and cutting-edge technology combine

Researching, evaluating, and adopting AI tools takes a lot of time that some SMBs may not have to spare, not to mention staying current on best practices and legislation updates.

This is why many turn to a professional employer organization (PEO) to manage this, and many other aspects of HR, on their behalf.

In addition to a PEO’s core offerings (benefits administration, payroll assistance, risk and compliance management, etc.), some PEOs provide recruiting services that strike a balance between leveraging the latest technology and upholding a human-to-human approach.

For example, ExtensisHR’s PEO customers can take advantage of a complimentary 45-day recruiting solution that combines human insight with AI-driven tools and includes:

• Broader candidate reach using AI-powered sourcing via HireEZ
• Confident, competitive offers backed by LaborIQ and ThinkWhy salary benchmarking
• Job description samples, guidance, and creation
• Applicants through 15+ job boards and sponsored jobs on Indeed
• Consultation with a Recruiting Specialist to create a custom search within an AI sourcing platform, and weekly check-ins
• ExtensisHR-led AI sourcing to extract candidates from 45 platforms and 800 million profiles
• A dashboard to review candidates as “good fit” or “not a fit”
• DEI-based searches based on clean resumes

Additionally, customers receive access to Recruiting Cloud, ExtensisHR’s support hub featuring guides, checklists, articles, and other resources to simplify recruiting and hiring.

Bundling these services into a PEO solution at no extra cost also enables SMBs to reduce or eliminate per-hire agency costs, that can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars.

Take your business’s recruiting strategy to the next level

When organizations pair AI technology with human oversight and judgment, their hiring processes can become smoother, faster, and more accurate and equitable. This combination gives SMBs a competitive edge, and when part of a PEO’s comprehensive suite of HR services, it helps to advance their overall company goals and growth.

Interested in modernizing your business’s recruiting strategy? Learn more about ExtensisHR’s recruiting services, or read how we helped a company like yours fill roles faster and cut their time spent on recruiting in half.