Recruitment Blog
What AI in recruitment actually looks like today
The age of AI is well and truly here, and it looks less like the stuff of sci-fi movies and more like an everyday tool that helps us do our jobs faster, better, and more confidently.
This is especially true for small and mid-sized recruitment agencies, who can potentially benefit from this technology the most. Used correctly, AI can give you the support to move away from labour-intensive, time-consuming tasks, and get more time back to focus on what matters – building relationships and placing top talent.
But where do you start? As Joel Delmaire, JobAdder’ Chief Product Officer, explains, it can be challenging to know how and when to adopt AI.
“Every recruiter has been trying to figure out the best ways of using AI, and it’s complicated,” he says. “You have to figure out which problems to use it for, how to prompt, whether your answers are reliable, how to share with your team, how to connect your data… And then you still have to convince and enable your team.
“If you’re a smaller agency, you probably lack the time and headspace to do it well and at-scale. That’s where we come in with JobAdder’s AI features – we’re doing that work for you, in your existing workflow, so it just works.”
The reality of AI in recruitment today
JobAdder’s 2025/26 Recruitment Benchmarking Report found that 81% of recruitment agencies are already using AI and automation in some form, already up 17% from last year. Most (66%) are using it for certain elements of their business, while 15% have integrated it extensively.
As AI tools have rapidly shifted and evolved, we’ve moved away from experimentation into using it in everyday, integrated ways. The most common ways recruiters are using AI and automation include:
- Streamlining administrative tasks (78%)
- Optimising job ads and employer branding (56%)
- Improving candidate engagement and experience (41%)
- Parsing job descriptions and resumes (31%)
- Enhancing talent pool management (27%)
- Automating candidate sourcing and screening (23%)
- Leveraging advanced analytics and reporting (23%)
These use cases show how strategic recruiters have been in their AI adoption, using automation to handle repetitive, manual tasks while they focus on higher-value, human-led interactions.
“We’ve gone from massive hype to something a little more real,” Joel explains. “The tools are improving, the models are better, and now it’s about building AI that’s reliable, repeatable, sharable within your team, and genuinely useful.”
Introducing JobAdder’s Adder Intelligence
Adder Intelligence is JobAdder’s thoughtful, human-centric approach to integrating AI into your existing recruitment workflows and systems. When creating Adder Intelligence, Joel says it was important for the team to understand how AI could meaningfully improve everyday recruiter tasks, without adding further work.
“We didn’t start with the technology, we started with the problem. We are really focused on problems we could solve for our customers and in turn the problems they can solve for their candidates and clients.
Then you add our deep knowledge of where AI really makes an impact, and how to make it available seamlessly in our customer workflows.”
Let’s take a closer look at some of Adder Intelligence’s key features.
Shortlist faster (and smarter) with Smart Summary
Smart Summary is one of the newest features under the Adder Intelligence umbrella. It automatically generates concise overviews of a candidate’s fit for a role based on experience, skills, and multiple other data points, so recruiters can make faster, data-informed decisions.
When you’ve been inundated with applications, Smart Summary highlights the best candidates in minutes. And, importantly, it explains why a candidate received a certain recommendation, helping you maintain confidence and control over every decision.
“We’re working hard to make AI explainable,” Joel says. “AI tends to be like a ‘black box’, and can be very good at telling you the outcome – for example, ‘this candidate is good’. What we’re trying to do is surface all the elements of why that candidate is good, so that recruiters can apply human judgment to come to their own informed conclusion.”
AI designed to support, not replace
There’s a lot of talk about automation and AI ‘taking over’ tasks in recruitment. At JobAdder, our philosophy is different.
“Recruitment is a human business,” Joel explains, “You have connections, you understand your customers, and there are a lot of nuances that are not going to be captured by AI.That’s why we’ll always keep humans firmly in the loop.”
This mindset extends across everything within Adder Intelligence. From compelling job descriptions written by AI, to technology that automatically analyses notes and activities to spot missing information and recommend timely updates, every tool is designed to keep you in the driver’s seat, with technology as an aid.
Building trust and transparency into AI
One of the biggest risks in AI-driven recruitment is biases and black box decision-making – i.e., generating outcomes without clear reasoning. To tackle this, we’ve focused on transparency and explainability from the start.
“AI can get it wrong,” Joel admits. “That’s why we’ve built safeguards around trust, reliability, fairness and legal compliance. We want recruiters to see how AI has reached its conclusions, and then have the final say in taking action.”
The result is a product that you can use confidently, knowing that every summary, suggestion, and recommendation is founded by data that’s backed by reasoning.
From efficiency to better business outcomes
According to JobAdder’s 2025/26 Recruitment Benchmarking Report, 80% of recruiters agree that AI saves them time, and 61% say it’s helped improve team performance. Nearly one in three even credit AI with helping them win new business.
Joel says these results align closely with how JobAdder expects Adder Intelligence to benefit recruiters and continue to evolve:
“Tapping into AI starts with efficiencies within the process – saving time and doing things better. Then over time, these efficiencies free recruiters up to make better decisions and build stronger relationships.
When you have better insights, you can have better conversations with your clients and candidates, and that’s where the real value lies.”
AI in recruitment today, and in the future
When applied correctly, AI has the ability to empower recruiters. With Adder Intelligence, JobAdder is helping agencies move away from repetitive, manual processes to being able to spend time and effort on meaningful tasks.
“AI is an incredible tool. But it’s just that – a tool,” Joel says. “What matters is how we use it to solve real problems for recruiters. That’s what Adder Intelligence is about.”
Learn more about Adder Intelligence, or request a free demo to see it in action.
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