Just 2.9% of marketers say their business is using AI to recruit, opting to use the tech in their search for junior and mid-level talent.
AI and recruitment are two topics that get a lot of flak, particularly when they’re combined.
Amid concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment, Marketing Week’s exclusive 2025 Career & Salary Survey shows businesses are largely holding off upping their investment in finding talent via AI.
Just 2.9% of the more than 3,500 respondents say their business is increasingly using AI to source new talent.
This figure drops to 2% for B2B marketers and 2.6% for those working within B2C brands. For marketers at businesses operating across B2B and B2C, the figure is slightly higher at 4.1%.
The data finds larger companies (250 employees and over) are more likely (3.6%) to use AI in hiring than SMEs (2%).
While it’s a small percentage of brands bringing AI into recruitment, of that 2.9% two-fifths (41.1%) are using it to target entry-level and mid-career talent.
Just a fifth (21.4%) are using AI to hire senior talent.
Of the large companies using AI to recruit, two-fifths (42.1%) are using the technology to source mid-career talent and over a third (36.8%) are applying it in the search for entry-level employees. The level of AI recruitment for senior leadership roles dips to 23.7%.
SMEs opting to use AI are more likely to be looking for entry-level talent (52.9%) and mid-career hires (41.2%) than senior leaders (17.6%).
“I think AI will be at all levels, whether it’s blue collar or up to CMO level,” says David Terry, founder of Pivotal, a marketing, sales and tech recruitment firm.
“AI will impact every stage of the process, at all levels of processes, is probably where we’ll end up.”
While few marketers admit to increasing their AI usage in hiring, it’s a topic frustrating marketers on the job search, with many feeling their applications are not progressing past initial screening as a result.
Marketing Week will continue reporting on exclusive data from the 2025 Career & Salary Survey over the coming weeks, including in-demand skills and the changing face of recruitment. Read all the content so far here.
