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If you scroll through the latest business headlines, you might think the hiring world has hit pause. Between cautious jobs reports, mixed market signals, and talk of “slowdowns,” it’s easy to make assumptions about what’s happening in recruiting today.
But if you actually stepped inside a talent acquisition (TA) team, you’d see a very different story unfold. Recruiting hasn’t stopped—it’s shifting. This year’s Recruiter Nation Report makes that crystal clear: hiring today is alive and well. It’s just evolving in new and exciting ways.
Teams aren’t retreating; they’re recalibrating. They’re rethinking their priorities, making new investments, and using smarter AI recruiting tools and applicant tracking systems (ATSs). In the sections ahead, I’ll unpack what some of these shifts look like today, what they mean, and how forward-thinking teams can turn them into tomorrow’s competitive edge.
Change #1: From Quality to Quantity (And What It Really Means)
One thing’s for sure: hiring isn’t slowing down. Seventy percent of recruiters said hiring increased year over year, and most expect even more growth in the next 12 months—26% anticipate significantly more hires, while 44% expect somewhat more.
And with that growth comes new priorities. For the past two years, recruiters told us their number one goal was improving candidate quality. But this year, something shifted. Quality dropped ten points (from 57% to 47%), while getting more candidates per open role jumped to the top of the list (52%, up from 46%).
At first glance, it’s a surprising change—especially when two-thirds of recruiters said they’re already seeing more applicants per role than last year. If volume is up, why are teams still chasing more?
Here’s the answer: because more doesn’t always mean better.
Recruiters across industries are starting to report instances of bots, fake candidates, and spam submissions in their applicant pools. If those are what’s driving the rise in volume, it’s easy to see why teams still want more candidates. The volume may be up, but the quality still isn’t there.
So, while the data suggests priorities have shifted toward volume, the real story hasn’t changed. Recruiters are still chasing quality—they’re just casting a wider net to find it.
That’s why technology is becoming indispensable. When recruiters are flooded with applicants, AI-powered screening tools can help surface the right talent faster—filtering fake or irrelevant submissions, so teams can spend more time engaging real candidates who actually fit.
Change #2: The TA Tech Stack Shakeup
Given all the chatter around economic headwinds, you might assume budgets are shrinking—and you definitely wouldn’t expect to see teams doubling down on new investments. But that’s exactly what’s happening.
Two-thirds of recruiters (67%) told us they plan to increase their spend in the year ahead, and more than half (52%) will put that investment toward new talent acquisition software. What’s especially interesting is that 82% say they’re satisfied with their current stack, but nearly three-quarters (76%) still expect to replace their primary recruiting software within the next two years.
These findings might sound contradictory. If teams are happy, why are they switching? And how are budgets growing amid so much talk of economic uncertainty?
The answer comes down to evolution. Recruiters aren’t walking away from broken systems—they’re outgrowing them. As hiring strategies mature, many legacy platforms just haven’t kept up. The result: rigid systems, clunky UX, and missing capabilities that slow teams down. It’s no surprise, then, that recruiters cited these key limitations with their current tech: limited flexibility, outdated candidate experiences, long time-to-hire, and a lack of innovation.
And while some departments may be tightening budgets, HR and TA have a unique advantage. Take benefits out of the equation, and HR budgets are relatively lean compared to functions like revenue or marketing. So, when companies cut costs, it’s often the pricier departments that feel it first. That gives talent teams space to keep innovating—even when others can’t.
The real story behind this year’s data? Even in a cautious market, TA teams have a unique advantage—and the most strategic ones are using it to invest in smarter, more adaptive tech. Because in hiring, the right recruitment software doesn’t just get you ahead—it keeps you there.
Change #3: Rethinking AI Through a Responsible Lens
AI is everywhere right now—across industries, departments, and job titles. And talent acquisition is no exception. This year, two-thirds (65%) of recruiters told us they’re already using AI to augment their recruiting platforms. Some (43%) are leveraging AI features built directly into their platforms, others (20%) are experimenting with free or low-cost generative tools, and a full third (32%) are doing both.
So yes—AI is here, and it’s here to stay. But what’s really interesting is how recruiters are using it.
Last year, the most common AI use case was candidate matching. This year, that dropped 15 points (from 55% to 40%), while usage for job description recommendations (41%), communicating information to candidates (41%), and drafting interview questions (33%) all rose.
This data tells us recruiters are thinking more critically about how they use AI. They’re leaning on it for admin-heavy work—like writing job descriptions or drafting candidate comms—while taking a more hands-on approach to higher-impact areas like candidate evaluation. This evolution likely reflects the growing conversation around Responsible AI—and the industry’s heightened focus on bias, data privacy, and transparency.
In fact, when we asked recruiters what matters most when evaluating AI recruiting platforms, the top answers were data privacy and security (59%), followed by human oversight (58%), explainability (50%), compliance (45%), and bias mitigation (36%). It’s clear that recruiters want technology that helps them move smarter and faster—but not if they sense that trust is at risk.
But here’s the good news: you don’t have to choose between innovation and responsibility. The best vendors build guardrails in from the start. At Employ, for example, we partner with IBM watsonx to reduce bias, promote fairness, and provide always-on governance.
The takeaway? The TA teams that will win in this new era aren’t the ones using AI for everything—they’re the ones using it intentionally. They know where AI adds value, where human judgment matters most, and how to bring the two together responsibly.
Today’s Shifts, Tomorrow’s Results
Recruiting isn’t slowing down—it’s evolving. The data from this year’s Recruiter Nation Report shows TA teams adapting with purpose: rethinking priorities, modernizing tech stacks, and embracing AI recruiting software responsibly. But this is just the beginning. The full report dives deeper into today’s recruiting landscape—from skills-based hiring and candidate fraud to the metrics that matter most—and offers clear actions TA leaders can take to turn today’s insights into tomorrow’s results.
