[HERP] Conducted "Survey on Job Hunting and Recruitment in the AI Era"

HERP, Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Ichiro Shoda) conducted a "Survey on Job Hunting and Recruitment in the AI Era" targeting recruiters, HR managers, executives, and field employees involved in recruitment operations, as well as job seekers with experience in job hunting or changing jobs. - Over 60% of companies and over 70% of job seekers utilize AI in recruitment and job-hunting activities. - Over half of the companies are positive about job seekers using AI. - Over 75% of job seekers are resistant to pass/fail decisions made "solely by AI." - About 90% of companies responded that "dialogue with each candidate is necessary" even as AI accuracy improves. The task that humans feel they should "spend time focusing on" the most is "interviews/meetings with candidates." - Over 80% of job seekers responded that "deep human-to-human dialogue" improves their impression of a company. With the rapid spread of generative AI in recent years, the use of AI has become commonplace for both companies conducting recruitment activities and job seekers looking for jobs. For companies, numerous services are provided where AI takes over screening processes like document reviews and interviews, or automates the picking of job seekers who meet requirements and sending out scouts. Furthermore, an increasing number of job seekers are utilizing AI chat tools and dedicated AI services to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their selection preparation. In this way, recruitment in the AI era can be said to have a structure of "job seekers utilizing AI" versus "recruiting companies utilizing AI," or in other words, "AI vs AI." The evolution of AI is about to change the very nature of recruitment and job hunting activities. HERP conducted this survey from the standpoint of providing AI services to both companies and job seekers in order to create better encounters between the two. The aim was to reveal the reality and true feelings of AI utilization by both parties and to find hints for what recruitment should look like in the AI era.

Over 60% of companies and over 70% of job seekers utilize AI in recruitment and job hunting activities When recruiters, HR managers, executives, and field employees involved in recruitment operations at companies were asked to what extent they use AI in their recruitment work, 31.0% answered "use frequently" and 32.2% answered "use sometimes," revealing that over 60% routinely use AI in their work. Also, when job seekers were asked about their AI usage in job hunting/career changing activities, 33.8% answered "use frequently" and 39.7% answered "use sometimes," resulting in over 70% utilizing AI for job hunting. It indicates that the use of AI is progressing for both the companies conducting recruitment and the job seekers looking for jobs. Furthermore, when job seekers were asked in which processes of their job hunting/career changing activities they utilize AI, the most common answer was "self-analysis" at 58.2%, followed by "information gathering" at 56.6%, and "creation and correction of resumes and work histories" at 46.7%. Over half of companies are positive about job seekers using AI When companies were asked their thoughts on candidates utilizing AI when creating application documents, 13.2% answered "think it's good" and 40.2% answered "think it's somewhat good," revealing that over half view it positively. Over 75% of job seekers are resistant to pass/fail decisions made "solely by AI" When job seekers were asked their impression of companies utilizing AI in each process of selection, for "creating job descriptions" and "scheduling interviews and handling FAQs related to selection," over 70% thought it was "(somewhat) good," while only about 6% thought it was "not (very) good." However, for "interviews by AI interviewers without human intervention" and "pass/fail decisions by AI after human interviews," about 30% of respondents answered that they thought it was "not (very) good." Also, when asked "how would you feel if the company you applied to made pass/fail decisions 'solely by AI judgment, without human eyes'," 31.1% answered "very resistant" and 44.2% answered "somewhat resistant," revealing that over 75% of people feel resistant to hiring decisions being determined "solely by AI judgment." While candidates are positive about companies using AI for tasks like document creation and scheduling, the feelings of job seekers who are resistant to being evaluated by AI regarding communication in interviews and post-interview pass/fail decisions were highlighted. About 90% of companies answer "dialogue with each candidate is necessary" even as AI accuracy improves. The task humans feel they should "spend time focusing on" the most is also "interviews/meetings with candidates" When companies were asked, "As highly perfected resumes and work histories become standardized through the use of AI, do you feel it has become difficult to assess candidates during document screening?", 19.0% answered yes.