AI in recruiting: 7 takeaways from 1,440 minutes of expert interviews

Before joining Truffle, I sifted through countless AI in recruitment guides, hoping to find something truly valuable. Spoiler: I didn’t. 

Most of what I came across was more sales pitch than substance, pushing products instead of offering the unbiased insights I was after.

So when it came time to write my own guide, I knew I wanted to take a different approach. Rather than go on about AI while subtly plugging Truffle, I decided to let the experts that I learnt from do the talking.

To really understand the role of AI in recruiting, I immersed myself in podcasts—hours and hours of them. I listened to interviews with CEOs of AI recruiting tools, HR leaders, and industry insiders.  

The best part? I took detailed notes. And now, you get to skip all that listening and dive straight into the highlights.

AI helps recruiters

As Damian Filiatro, CEO of Scalable Path said on Bringing the Human Back to Human Resources, “Recruiting doesn’t work very well when the different players in the process don’t have any skin in the game.”

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The rise of one-click job applications on platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn has made it easier than ever for candidates to apply to numerous positions without much effort or consideration. 

This convenience has resulted in a surge of low-quality applications, overwhelming recruiters and hiring managers with unqualified candidates. This dilutes the hiring process, forcing recruiters to sift through large volumes of irrelevant applications, leading to a bunch of inefficiencies and making it harder to identify top talent. 

On HR Work Break, Will Rose, CTO of Talent Select AI talks about the effect of this noise: “Everyone’s too busy... making the process more efficient and freeing up time for the recruiter is the key to solving that."

While efficiency tools like one-click apply may benefit candidates playing the numbers game, it’s crucial for both applicants and recruiters to put thoughtful effort into the hiring process.

That said, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to put the genie back in the bottle—which brings us nicely to lesson number two. 

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AI won’t replace you

If I had a dollar for every LinkedIn post and Reddit thread predicting the demise of recruiters…I’d have a lot of dollars! It makes sense this is where the narrative goes given its rage-bait angle. 

The good news—assuming you’re on the side of humans—is that none of our experts predict AI will entirely replace recruiters. 

On the Elite Recruiter Podcast, Betterleap’s CEO, Khaled Hussein, had a far rosier take: “It’s going to make recruiters more efficient, more productive, more effective.” 

AI won’t replace recruiters. Instead it will enhance their productivity by automating administrative tasks and allowing them to focus on relationship-building and candidate engagement. This is similar to how LinkedIn and other tools made recruiters more efficient, not obsolete.

As Chris Russell, host of the RecTech Podcast, put it, "The writing of job descriptions, candidate outreach messages, and scheduling interviews—these are the low-hanging fruit that AI is helping automate. It's taking care of the mundane, letting recruiters focus on what really matters." 

Adopting AI

When all you hear is that AI is taking your job,  you’re not going to welcome it with open arms. That’s a mistake according to Kyle Stock, Recruiter at Ozinga.

In an interview on the Everyday AI Show he compares it to the advent of the internet.

“Don't shy away from using AI. This is something that's kind of here to stay… this is as big of a leap forward as the internet was.”

The takeaway for recruiters is clear: view AI as a way to increase your value by freeing you from routine tasks. 

The evolution of tools like natural language search and generative AI will define the future of recruiting, making early adoption critical for long-term success.

AI expands skill sets

Recruiting requires a diverse set of skills, including marketing and sourcing expertise, which many recruiters lack. 

As Adam Gordon, Co-Founder of PoetryHR, noted on The Chad and Cheese Podcast: “We hire recruiters for their ability to achieve influence with individuals… but what we don’t tend to hire them for is their marketing nous.”

Generative AI fills this gap by assisting recruiters in drafting compelling outreach emails, job descriptions, and other marketing content.

This shift allows recruiters to be more strategic and less bogged down by time-consuming tasks that fall outside their core competencies. 

The visibility of AI

Marcus Sawyer, CEO of Eq.app, nailed a key challenge we’re facing when it comes to bringing AI into recruiting on the Halo series: How do we decide which AI features should be working quietly in the background and which ones need to be front and center? 

“The reckoning is going to be, do we make this particular module invisible or transparent?”

This isn’t just a tech decision—it’s about figuring out how AI can best fit into the recruiting process while keeping things smooth and human. Some AI processes—like scanning resumes or ranking candidates—are better off being invisible. 

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Recruiters don’t need to see the inner workings; they just want to know the best candidates are highlighted. In this case, AI acts like a backstage crew, setting the stage so recruiters can focus on building relationships with candidates and making critical decisions. The magic happens, but recruiters don’t need to see how it’s done.

On the flip side, there are some AI-driven tasks that might actually benefit from being more transparent. 

Take candidate sourcing or personalized outreach . Recruiters might want to have a say in how AI is crafting messages or selecting candidates to ensure the process feels authentic and tailored. By allowing recruiters to see and tweak what AI is doing, it becomes more of a collaborative tool rather than something that’s just running on autopilot. 

As Marcus puts it, the “reckoning” is figuring out when to go invisible and when to stay transparent. Get this balance right, and you’ll not only increase efficiency, but also build more trust in AI, both with recruiters and candidates. It’s about letting AI do what it does best—automate the repetitive stuff—while still giving recruiters control over the important human elements of hiring.

So, the big decision for companies really comes down to this: where do you want to hide AI in the background to keep things efficient, and where should you make it visible so users can interact with it? 

AI recruitment bias

AI is transforming recruitment, but it comes with a big challenge: AI recruitment bias. If you're using AI to help with hiring, you need to ensure it’s fair and bias-free.

One of the key regulations is New York City’s Local Law 144, which requires companies using AI in hiring to conduct bias audits. This law ensures AI isn’t unfairly excluding candidates based on factors like race or gender. Similarly, the EEOC emphasizes that anti-discrimination laws still apply, even when AI is involved.

Across the pond, Europe’s EU AI Act goes even further, labelling AI in recruitment as “high-risk” and enforcing stricter regulations. These rules are designed to prevent AI systems from perpetuating bias and discrimination.

Why bother with bias audits? According to Zachary Long from Conductor AI, who was speaking on the Rectech podcast, audits can reveal hidden issues in AI systems, helping companies correct unintentional biases. For example, one company discovered their AI was accidentally penalizing candidates who applied for multiple jobs, something that wouldn’t have been caught without an audit.

Looking ahead, U.S. AI laws may remain fragmented across states, while Europe leads with stricter, unified regulations. Regardless, companies should start conducting bias audits now to stay compliant and build trust.

Interestingly there is a growing belief that AI recruiting tools can actually reduce bias. The CEO of Movo, Jason Radisson, explained on the Breakthrough Recruiter how it's possible to "train systems to produce less bias than human decision-making... It's not about eliminating bias completely but improving it over human-led processes."

The takeaway: AI can actually reduce bias, but it’s crucial to ensure the risks are carefully considered and that they work for everyone—not just a select few.

Data-driven AI recruiting

One of the coolest things about AI is how it can dive into massive amounts of data from all kinds of industries and companies.

This gives AI a huge edge over human decision-makers who usually have to rely on their own experience or gut feelings.

Many recruiters are working with a limited view based on their specific background. AI, on the other hand, can look at trends from across industries and roles, making decisions that are broader, more balanced, and less biased.

Take promotions and career growth as an example. AI can sift through tons of performance data, feedback, and outcomes from thousands of professionals. It can spot patterns and help make promotion decisions based on what’s really happening, rather than just going with someone’s intuition.

Even the most experienced HR teams don’t have access to that kind of real-time data spread across so many people and contexts, so AI can be a game-changer here.

As Jason Radisson said: "AI trained on 10 different companies' career progressions or the entire nursing industry can make more balanced, data-driven decisions than the combined experience of a human panel."

Concluding thoughts

The big takeaway from all those expert podcasts? AI is your sidekick, not your replacement. It takes care of the heavy lifting so you can focus on the things that matter—like building relationships and making great hires.

But, as with anything, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are challenges, especially when it comes to avoiding bias and staying compliant. The real magic happens when we figure out how to balance the efficiency of AI with the human side of recruiting. If we can get that right, AI won’t just make the hiring process faster—it’ll make it better.

So no, AI isn’t coming for your job. It’s here to help you crush it. Embrace the tech, learn to work with it, and watch how it boosts your impact as a recruiter. The future of hiring is a mix of AI smarts and human connection, and it’s looking pretty exciting.