Job search 2025: 3 key ways AI will make an impact on recruitment

Logging onto LinkedIn, your feed is likely full of “Open to Work” profiles and posts about the struggle of finding a job in today’s market. Your LinkedIn inbox is probably a lot quieter with fewer recruiters reaching out with job opportunities than at the height of the Great Resignation just two years ago.

Whether you are a new graduate navigating a career pivot or just looking for greener pastures, the common sentiment of job seekers is that it’s becoming exceedingly difficult to land an interview, let alone an offer. With applications up 6% from October 2023, competition remains stiff. To make matters more difficult, how hiring teams review applications has also changed.

Application tracking systems (ATS) are now the status quo for companies to manage job openings and vet potential candidates. While not a new development, they are continuing to shake up the job application process and transform how talent is evaluated, engaged, and hired.

Fueled by AI, these systems are now aiding hiring teams in ways that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago, through matching candidates to open roles, providing recommendations and explainable rankings, parsing résumés, and more. With these systems, recruiters are empowered to be more streamlined and efficient in managing applications, scheduling interviews, and connecting with potential candidates.

So, if the way recruiters approach their candidate search evolved, why haven’t job seekers’ strategies? As recruiters rethink their processes with AI, applicants should, too. Job seekers must figure out how to navigate a transforming landscape where AI shapes how we approach and think about the hiring system.

Let’s dive into three key changes to the recruitment process and how candidates can respond and stand apart from their peers.

Skills over experience

Over the past several years, skills-matching technology has been the most notable advancement in recruitment to come out of the AI revolution. Recruiters have turned a growing focus towards skills-based hiring, ensuring a candidate is the best fit for a role based on the capabilities they have on hand.

Gone are the days when an expensive degree or a specific internship on your résumé sealed the deal. If AI can’t “see” the skills they’re looking for in your résumé, it is likely moving on to the next applicant. With skills-matching AI in their toolbox, recruiters spend less time scanning through résumés and more time engaging with prospective candidates.

What this means for you: It’s time for a résumé revamp. The experience-forward résumés of the past will not help you stand out to a large language model scanning for a specific skill. Don’t get me wrong: job experience is still valuable. But instead of just listing past job duties, focus on the how: what skills you used, and how they made an impact. This shift democratizes the playing field, making way for those from nontraditional backgrounds. If you can demonstrate the skills, you’re in the game.

The automation of candidate communication and engagement

Waiting to hear back from a potential employer can be stressful for job seekers. In fact, almost a quarter (23%) of candidates find the most frustrating aspect of the application process is feeling like their application is going into a digital black hole, per research from iCIMS.

But that wait is not just about hearing if their application has been accepted or if they landed the job. A lot of the waiting is the result of scheduling interviews, asking clarifying questions on company culture, etc.

Chatbots are becoming the go-to option to help streamline candidate communication so job seekers can get answers fast, schedule interviews more quickly, and leverage their recruiter contact strategically to understand what the hiring manager is looking for in the role.

What this means for you: Don’t just dismiss the ping of a chatbot on a career page—use it to supercharge both your application and interview process. Chatbots are a safe space to ask the questions you want answered about company culture or an open position that you might be too nervous to ask a recruiter about. For example, you can ask chatbots about benefits, company offerings, the job description, and more. Use this knowledge to discern if the role is the right fit for you before applying and help prepare for your interviews once you progress in the application process.

AI leveraged at every part of the recruitment process

According to 500 TA pros, AI tools save them 2.39 hours a week on average, and 64% of those TA pros want to see more AI in their workflows. So, where is AI coming into play today? Thirty percent use GenAI specifically to write job descriptions and another 36% to draft interview questions.

What this means for you: Use AI in your job search. There is a double standard with AI usage in today’s labor market. iCIMS research has found that 87% of recruiters say its adoption in the application process has raised red flags. As technology becomes more ubiquitous in culture and the workplace, AI will be seen as a tool—just like a search engine—to help fuel one’s job search.

For now, use AI as more of a yellow flag. It will never be okay to blindly copy and paste AI-generated résumés or cover letters. Your unique insight and human touch will always be necessary and what recruiters truly want to see.

Instead, use GenAI to prep for your interviews by feeding it the job description and asking what questions a hiring manager would ask, so you can come to an interview fully prepared. You can also use it to review your résumé and help streamline and identify the skills you want to highlight most for the job you are applying for. Just remember, when it comes to using AI in your job search, no one knows you or your work experience better than you do.

Adapting to an AI-enhanced job market

As the recruitment process continues to be infused with more technology, job seekers must move away from the mentality of “gaming the system” or “beating the AI” and instead see the new status quo of hiring and evolve their strategies to meet recruiters where they are at.

With every instance of automation in the recruitment process, the goal has been to make life easier for candidates and their potential employers. However, this cannot be true without some adaptations and tweaks. Trying to go about the application process in the same ways we always have doesn’t make sense in a world where the entire recruitment journey has been AI-enhanced. The right opportunity is out there, and these small adjustments can make a big difference in helping you land your next role.