Over 70% recruiters turning to AI to find ‘hidden talent’

New Delhi: Even as finding the right talent is getting harder, 71 per cent of recruiters in India said that artificial intelligence (AI) has helped them uncover candidates with skills they would have previously missed, according to a new report on Tuesday.

The report by professional networking website LinkedIn, based on a survey of 6,554 global HR professionals, noted that recruiters are using AI to spot the right skills and hire faster.

About 80 per cent of recruiters reported that AI makes gaining insight into a candidate’s skills easier. More than three-quarters (76 per cent) believe AI is already speeding up hiring.

Around eight in 10 Indian recruiters said they plan to expand their use of AI to support hiring goals, evaluate applicants, and source top talent. A majority also plan to increase AI use for pre-screening interviews in 2026, believing it will lead to more valuable recruiter-candidate conversations (83 per cent), faster hiring experience (83 per cent), and better candidate insights (82 per cent).

“We’re seeing a structural shift in hiring from pedigree and past titles to demonstrate skills and capability. This shift is hard to execute at scale without AI. Used responsibly, AI helps recruiters detect the right skills earlier, reduce screening friction, and create a more consistent and fair evaluation process,” said Ruchee Anand, APAC VP, LinkedIn Talent Solutions.

The research showed that 74 per cent of recruiters now struggle to find qualified candidates, even as hiring activity runs 40 per cent above pre-pandemic levels in India.

This is because recruiters are facing a volume-quality mismatch. Among recruiters who say hiring has become more difficult, over half point to a surge in AI-generated applications (53 per cent), while many cite continued shortages in in-demand skills (47 per cent).