AI for Recruiters in 2025: What Gets Automated, What Stays Human

AI in Recruitment: What Changes for You: From Recruiter to Principal

In short: here’s what matters - human skills are still very much needed throughout the recruitment process, and the more junior recruiters need to immediately embrace technological advancement and understand how to make use of both automation and AI - while seeking to continuously improve skills such as: critical thinking, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, pattern recognition, stakeholder management, etc.

The increasing sophistication of AI tools suggests a future where Recruiters are less burdened by administrative tasks and more empowered to focus on candidate engagement and strategic support. The primary impact is an augmentation of capabilities and a potential shift in the skill sets required early in a recruitment career.

Why this series? And why now?

After publishing my breakdown of Recruiter vs Senior vs Principal (LinkedIn Post and Chart) roles, I got a lot of comments and questions. One of them was: What happens to all this when AI gets involved?

This 3-part series breaks it down and we are starting with entry-level Recruiters.

So not just what recruiters do at different levels, but how emerging AI technologies might transform these roles. 

• Will certain tasks be automated? 

• Which human skills remain irreplaceable? 

• What does the career progression look like in an increasingly AI-augmented talent function?

For each role, I'll examine the specific tasks, capabilities, AI tools that can help augment or replace capabilities, compliance considerations, and what human skills remain essential for high-quality outcomes.

How AI is Transforming the Recruiter Role

The most fundamental way AI is changing recruitment is through task segregation. 

AI handles repetitive, administrative aspects of recruitment, freeing human recruiters to focus on more strategic, relationship-oriented, and complex activities. This preserves a distinct and high-value domain for human contribution.

The Entry-Level Recruiter, Rewritten (By AI) - Tasks, Tools, and Required Human Skills

AI is great at “what” 

Humans still own “why”.

The Recruiter role typically focuses on executing hiring processes for standard positions, with responsibilities ranging from sourcing to interview coordination, screening candidates and managing the pipeline, etc..

Now, while AI can handle a large range of administrative tasks (which, a lot of the above, are), human recruiters bring irreplaceable qualities to the table: strategic thinking, relationship building, contextual understanding, and ethical judgment.

I broke down the tasks, actual “to dos” and then, with the help of Gemini and Perplexity, I ran a deep research into available tooling.

Based on that I looked into Compliance (as much as it is possible to gather this data) and put my thoughts and expertise into “what human skills are still needed”.

This research is not comprehensive, nor is it meant to be, and I encourage you to run your own research in terms of HR Tech available out there.

Recruiter Tasks & AI Integration

Task Area	What Recruiters Do	AI Tools Available	How AI Helps	EU Regulatory Considerations	Human Skills Still Needed
Sourcing & Hiring	Uses job boards, candidate marketplaces (eg. LinkedIn) and ATS for basic candidate finding	Manatal, Workable, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, Recruit’em,SeekOut, Textio, PeopleGPT / Juicebox	AI matches candidates to jobs, screens CVs, finds candidates automatically, creates job descriptions	Major vendors have GDPR compliance, with some (iCIMS, SAP, Oracle) actively preparing for AI Act through responsible AI frameworks	Strategic thinking (and creative problem solving) about where to find candidates and understanding subtle job requirements beyond keywords
Business Understanding	Interprets job requirements with basic commercial awareness	Skillate, Microsoft Skills Hiring (Viva), LinkedIn Talent Insights, hireEZ	AI extracts key skills from job descriptions and provides market data on talent availability. AI interviews and transcribes information provided by the hiring manager + publicly available company and department information	Covered through the integration with the L&D or HRIS systems (primarily skill-based, minimal data processing)	Strategic thinking - Connecting technical requirements to business context and clarifying ambiguities with hiring managers
Stakeholder Management	Takes job briefs and schedules interviews	Paradox (Olivia), GoodTime, HireVue, Workable, iCIMS, Prelude, Cal.com, etc.	AI handles interview scheduling, calendar integration, and automated reminders across time zones	Scheduling tools generally have GDPR compliance; HireVue and Paradox have developed AI governance frameworks for upcoming regulations	Active listening during briefs, asking insightful questions, managing complex preferences and last-minute changes
Process Management	Follows established recruitment workflows	Manatal, Workable, iCIMS, Beamery, hireEZ (EZ Agent), Phenom (X+ Agents), Gem, Greenhouse, Ashby, etc.	AI guides through hiring stages and can execute multi-step processes automatically	Major platforms meet GDPR requirements; newer AI agents from Beamery and Phenom have developed ethics frameworks addressing future regulations.	Critical thinking - Understanding why workflows exist and when to make exceptions, plus troubleshooting when automated systems encounter issues
Data & Metrics	Tracks basic hiring metrics like time-to-fill	Greenhouse, Manatal, Eightfold.ai, iCIMS, Beamery, Gem, Ashby, Join, etc.	Automatic dashboards display recruitment KPIs	Analytics tools typically have GDPR safeguards; vendors like Greenhouse and Eightfold have published responsible AI positions for future compliance	Storytelling - Interpreting the story behind the numbers and investigating causes of recruitment bottlenecks
Technology Usage	Uses ATS and sourcing platforms	HiBob (AskBob AI) and AI assistants within various platforms, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Agents, etc.	AI helpers guide users through platform features	Minimal regulatory concern (skill development rather than data processing)	Learning new systems quickly and integrating multiple tools into daily workflow
Campaign Support	Helps with recruitment marketing campaigns	Beamery, Phenom, iCIMS Engage, Grammarly, HiBob, Gem, LinkedIn. Plus any AI Agents and tools doing content creation and multi-platform posting	Automatic nurture campaigns and AI-generated content	Regulatory compliance varies by tool; necessary to verify each platform's compliance for campaign automation	Recruitment Marketing, Storytelling  - Understanding campaign goals, defining target audiences, and monitoring performance
People Development	May mentor junior team members	AI knowledge bases and learning tools	AI provides information resources and simulated learning	Minimal regulatory concern (human-centered skill)	Showing empathy, providing constructive feedback, and sharing personal experiences
Market Awareness	Follows industry recruitment trends	LinkedIn Talent Insights, hireEZ Market Insights, SeekOut Talent Insights	AI summarizes market data and industry news	Market intelligence platforms typically address GDPR; specific AI Act positioning varies by vendor	Understanding what trends mean for specific roles and distinguishing valuable insights from hype
Professional Growth	Learns through company training	AI in learning platforms	Personalised learning paths and content	Minimal regulatory concern (skill development focus)	Growth Mindset, Self-motivation, applying concepts in practice, and asking intelligent questions
Process Improvement	Makes small workflow improvements	ATS systems flagging recruitment bottlenecks	AI suggests potential optimisations	Regulatory concern (primarily human judgment)	Critical thinking, Creative problem solving - Spotting improvement opportunities from real-world experience and implementing changes
Independence	Works with guidance from managers	AI workflow guidance tools	AI suggests next steps and provides recommendations	Minimal regulatory impact (human judgment remains primary)	Knowing when human advice is needed and effectively implementing guidance
Hands-on Recruitment	Manages full hiring process for standard positions	Combined tools for sourcing, screening, scheduling and communication	AI automates administrative work throughout the hiring process	Varies by toolset	Overall process oversight, final decision-making, offer negotiation, relationship building, and handling exceptions (legally required under EU AI Act)

EU Regulatory Considerations: GDPR and AI Act

As we intertwine human and AI – I believe that it is essential that any recruiter, regardless of their level, understands the legal implications of both GDPR and AI Act compliance.

The responsibility for education and training is on the company – establishing company wide policies and training, even task forces or Educational AI Chatbots.

When implementing AI recruitment tools in the EU, compliance with both GDPR and the upcoming EU AI Act is essential. The interplay between these regulations is significant: GDPR focuses on personal data protection, the EU AI Act regulates AI systems themselves. Compliance with GDPR is necessary but not sufficient for EU AI Act compliance. 

The AI Act introduces system-level governance, risk assessment focusing on AI-specific harms (like algorithmic bias), and conformity requirements beyond data protection.

For recruitment, this means:

• AI systems for candidate selection are considered "high-risk" under the AI Act

• Human oversight becomes legally mandatory

• Organizations must conduct separate assessments for AI Act compliance

• Vendors must be vetted specifically on these new system-centric obligations

The Future of Entry-Level Recruiters

Looking at this breakdown, several patterns emerge:

1. Administrative efficiency: AI excels at handling repetitive tasks like resume screening, interview scheduling, and basic candidate communication, thus freeing recruiters from administrative burdens.

2. Compliance: most established vendors address GDPR compliance, but explicit EU AI Act preparation varies significantly. This creates an additional layer of due diligence for recruitment teams implementing these tools, especially in Europe.

3. Augmentation: for every single task category, some level of human skills remain essential, whether it's strategic thinking, creative problem solving, relationship management, or contextual judgment. AI handles the "what" efficiently, but humans provide the crucial "why" and "how."

4. Tool proliferation: the recruitment technology landscape has exploded with specialised tools. Entry-level recruiters need to become adept at navigating multiple systems, understanding their capabilities, and integrating them into cohesive workflows.

5. Human advantage: the skills that remain firmly in the human domain are precisely those that define great recruiters: empathy, strategic thinking, relationship building, and creative problem solving.

The primary impact is an augmentation of capabilities and a shift in the skill sets required early in a recruitment career, with greater emphasis on:

• Data interpretation

• Managing AI-assisted workflows

• Strategic thinking

• Relationship building

• Compliance oversight

---

I created Images of the above so that you can easily download and save them if you prefer.

---

What Recruiters Need to Do Now

Recruiters who treat AI like a threat will lose. So don't do that. Bring your A-Game to the "game" and jump on the upskilling threadmill, it will pay off infinitely.

In summary:

• AI is replacing tasks, not people.

• The best recruiters of 2025 will think like process designers.

• Strategic, relationship-driven skills are your strengths.

• Knowing your tools (and the laws behind them) is essential.

• Adaptation will be your easy way to successfully excel at your job.