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Over the past five years, we’ve all heard the word “unprecedented” more times than we can count. But there’s no question that 2025 truly earned that title.
We saw workforce reductions, operational slowdowns, and ongoing headlines about economic uncertainty. But through it all, HR and TA leaders rose to the challenge—navigating rapid change while keeping people at the center of every decision.
Because people-first work doesn’t fade in hard moments; it becomes even more essential.
It was also the year AI truly accelerated across the hiring landscape. Candidates had (and have) higher expectations for trust and transparency. Recruiters embraced new use cases while facing emerging challenges like candidate fraud. And organizations everywhere began exploring and investing in governance to ensure their AI solutions were not only powerful, but principled.
Still, when I look back, the story of 2025 isn’t about disruption; it’s about progress. It’s about the millions of connections made, the measurable impact recruiting teams delivered, and the innovations built to help them work smarter, fairer, and with more confidence.
Those three themes—connection, impact, and innovation—are at the heart of this reflection. They anchor the story of our year at Employ, and they’re the lens through which I’m looking toward 2026 with optimism.
Theme #1: The Power of Human Connection
How You Connected with Candidates
Recruiting is nothing without connection. And that idea sits at the heart of our product vision at Employ. Everything we build—across our applicant tracking system (ATS), interview intelligence tools, and candidate sourcing software—is designed to help you spend less time on admin work and more time doing what matters most—connecting with people and engaging the talent who could become your next great hire.
This year, that purpose came to life in extraordinary ways. Just look at the sheer volume of connections you created:
Behind every one of those numbers is a story, a conversation, and a moment where connection sparked opportunity.
How We Connected with You
Beyond helping you connect with candidates, this year also gave us countless opportunities to connect with you.
At HR Tech, we met hundreds of you at our booth, walked the yellow brick road together at the Sphere, and cooled off after hours at the Minus5 Ice Bar. And in one of our standout moments of the week, Katy Jenkins brought together industry leaders—Steve Moss (IBM), Laura Greenberg (Brooks Running), Ilona Kremer (PepsiCo), and Kerri Smith (Syneos Health)—for a high-impact session on responsible AI and why governance must guide innovation.
And Vegas wasn’t our only stop this year. We know how valuable peer learning is in HR and TA, yet how hard it can be to make time for it. That’s why we launched a dinner series to bring leaders together for candid conversations about responsible AI adoption, evolving practices, and shared challenges. Our Chief Customer Officer, Amanda Berger, and her team hit the road to meet customers across major hubs including Palo Alto, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, and London. Every conversation was honest, energizing, and actionable.
We loved seeing you this year. But even more than that, we loved being able to strengthen the connections that move our industry forward—between you and your candidates, and between you and your peers.
Theme #2: Making an Impact Amid Uncertainty
Your Performance Wins
In a year defined by complexity and uncertainty, it felt important to shine a light on the wins our customers achieved—wins that weren’t always visible in the headlines but that were deeply meaningful within your organizations. So, for this blog, we asked our data team a simple question: Where did talent teams see their biggest gains in 2025?
The answer showed up clearly in your performance metrics—indicators that reveal the true health of your hiring funnel. Here are three areas where your teams made the most notable strides:
These improvements tell a powerful story about how your hiring funnel is evolving:
Applicant Volume: This lift shows that teams are attracting more candidates and getting in front of the right audience at the right time. It reflects stronger employer branding, smarter candidate sourcing tools, and broader reach—all working together to build healthier pipelines from the start.
Applicant Diversity: The growth in diversity signals that organizations are expanding access and opening doors for more candidates with a range of backgrounds and experiences. That progress reflects intentional work: more inclusive sourcing, more equitable processes, and more thoughtful recruiting practices that bring a wider, richer spectrum of talent into the funnel.
Interview to Offer Rate: A high interview to offer rate means your team is only bringing the right candidates into the interview stage. It signals strong screening up front—filters that are working, misfits getting weeded out early, and interview time spent where it matters most. When this number rises, it’s proof your funnel is getting sharper and more efficient end to end.
Together, these metrics paint a clear picture: even in an unprecedented year, talent teams made meaningful progress—strengthening both the top of the funnel and the processes that carry candidates through it.
Your TA Tech ROI
There’s a lot that goes into making these wins happen, from better headcount planning to stronger internal alignment—but the right technology is what keeps things moving. In a year defined by economic uncertainty, TA leaders need more than just tools that ‘check a box.’ They need technology that can eliminate the guesswork, surface quality candidates, provide clear data, and help them move faster when resources are limited.
That’s why commissioning an independent study from IDC, a leading global research and advisory firm, was such an important initiative for us this year. We wanted to give TA leaders validated, objective insights into the true business value of our Intelligent Hiring Suite—including our AI Companions and ATS solutions—so you have the data you need to show how your hiring technology impacts the bottom line.
Here’s what IDC found:
These findings reinforce what many TA leaders already know from experience: the right technology doesn’t just support better hiring outcomes—it delivers real financial impact. As you plan for 2026 and evaluate where to invest next, I encourage you to download the IDC whitepaper or use our ROI calculator to see what measurable value our hiring solutions can drive for your business.
Theme #3: The Rise of AI—With Wins & Risks
2025 was also defined by evolutions in AI—for candidates and recruiters. Job seekers used it to revise resumes, write cover letters, and prep for interviews. Talent teams used it to enhance content, screen applicants, and summarize interviews. But with this progress came new challenges like questions around bias, trust, and candidate fraud.
At Employ, we saw the positive use cases for AI, but we didn’t want to just jump on the bandwagon for the sake of doing it. Instead, we wanted to find meaningful, intentional ways for AI to make our customers’ lives easier, while addressing emerging risks, and doing it all through a responsible, people-first approach.
Here’s a look back on how we made this commitment a reality this year and a preview of what’s coming soon in 2026.
How We Innovated in 2025
This year, we introduced our AI Companion strategy, a direct result of both deep industry research and listening to customer, prospect, and TA leader feedback about the biggest pain points slowing hiring teams down.
Across these efforts, three areas rose to the top: interviewing, screening, and sourcing. These are the moments where recruiters lose the most time—and where AI interview platforms, AI recruiting tools, and candidate sourcing software can unlock the most efficiency without replacing human judgment.
So, we set out to reduce the busy work in those moments, giving recruiters more space for what matters most: building real connections with candidates. And we built every capability with one non-negotiable principle: responsibility first—AI that is transparent, explainable, fair, and safe.
Here’s what we launched:
AI Interview Companion: Streamlines every step of interviewing, from AI-generated intake meeting summaries to consistent, structured interview guides. Best of all, interview feedback is instantly generated and available in your applicant tracking system—no more chasing down busy hiring managers.
AI Screening Companion: Continuously matches candidates to open roles, identifies talent at risk of disengagement, and automatically provides personalized feedback to rejected candidates—all while maintaining real-time bias monitoring and complete transparency into AI recommendations. Designed to work alongside your AI recruitment software and interview intelligence tools, it ensures alignment and trust throughout the hiring process.
Partnership with IBM watsonx: We’re building our AI innovations on a foundation of governance powered by IBM watsonx—delivering always-on verification, fairness checks, and audit readiness across our AI Companion portfolio, with more to come. This partnership strengthens our responsible AI approach and gives TA teams confidence that AI capabilities are being developed and managed with transparency and trust.
Where We’re Headed in 2026
As AI adoption in recruiting accelerated this year, so did one of the most urgent issues facing recruiters: candidate fraud—from AI-generated resumes and fabricated profiles to proxy interviews and identity spoofing. These tactics are getting easier to execute and harder to detect, and the industry is still figuring out how to respond.
While some vendors push heavy, front-loaded verification steps like early ID checks, that’s not what we believe in. Our perspective is that these approaches can create friction, introduce bias, and drive away qualified talent. We believe in a layered candidate verification strategy that protects both the business and the candidate experience.
Here’s how that approach takes shape:
- Early Funnel: Lightweight checks like smart screening assessments and bot detection capabilities to filter out fake or low-intent applicants—without slowing down real talent.
- Mid Funnel: Consistency checks to catch impersonation, plagiarism, and deepfakes when they’re most likely to appear.
- Late Funnel: Guided ID verification paired with background checks to ensure authenticity where and when it matters most to both employers and candidates.
And in 2026, we’re building on this strategy with new AI-powered hiring capabilities shaped by our Responsible AI framework, developed in partnership with IBM watsonx. This framework guides how we build, govern, and deploy AI across our Intelligent Hiring Suite—so every innovation we deliver meets the highest standards of trust and transparency.
Thank You for Your Partnership
As we look ahead to 2026, I’m optimistic. Not because the road will be simple, but because of the strength, creativity, and resilience you’ve shown throughout 2025. Your ability to build meaningful connections, deliver measurable impact, and embrace innovation with intention is what moves this industry forward.
At Employ, we’re committed to being your partner in that progress—supporting your teams, strengthening your processes, and building technology that helps you hire with confidence. Here’s to another year of connection, impact, and people-first innovation.
IDC White Paper, sponsored by Employ, The Business Value of Employ, IDC #US53244125, May 2025
