What candidates really think about AI in 2025
In 2025, hiring leaders are engaged in a high-stakes balancing act. They’re being asked to navigate skills shortages, economic volatility, and rising demands for fairer, human-centered hiring experiences.
On the other side, candidates are embracing AI in their personal job searches. They’re automating resumes, cover letters, and preparing for interviews, but they remain cautious when employers use it.
Because they want to know how it’s being used.
The 2025 Candidate Experience Report surveyed more than 3,100 job seekers worldwide and reveals a complex mix of curiosity, skepticism, and hope.
The call to hiring teams is loud and clear: While AI promises faster, smarter, and more scalable outcomes, efficiency alone isn’t enough. If you’re looking to truly connect with your candidates and build a respectful candidate experience, you must find the balance between fully harnessing the power of AI with the human touch.
AI = productivity
Today, employees are embracing AI in their personal career advancement, automating time-consuming tasks.
- 52% updating resume
- 51% writing a cover letter
- 49% preparing for an interview
- 45% researching a company
AI is a lifeline, not a luxury. Over half of candidates now use AI to accelerate their job search, so they’re looking for tools that respect their time and simplify the process.
If your hiring process feels clunky, time-consuming, and impersonal, candidates will assume your entire brand is as well.
The bottom line? Your hiring process is a reflection of your values and incorporating the right tech goes a long way:
- Automated, mobile-friendly engagement keeps candidates informed every step of the way. No radio silence, no wondering what’s next—just timely updates that meet them where they are.
- OnDemand interviews give them flexibility to complete when convenient and also in a place where they feel most comfortable and can present their best self.
Trust and transparency are essential
While candidates welcome AI for efficiency, 79% want to know when it’s being used in hiring decisions.
They’re not anti-AI. They’re anti-ambiguity. And at Hirevue, we are clear when AI is being used, even publishing the industry’s first AI Explainability Statement.
Hirevue offers intro and outro videos as part of our structured interviewing process. We encourage hiring teams to record personal messages to show their candidates (and future employees) that their time matters, their interviews will be watched, and hiring teams look forward to doing so!
Skills matter for candidates and hiring teams
According to TestGorilla, “90% of candidates feel as though they’re more likely to land their dream job with skills-based hiring.”
And Aptitude Research confirms this shift on the employer side, “Companies are moving away from assumptions based on resumes and job titles toward structured, directly validated skill assessments. 50% of companies stated their top frustration in the skills conversation is the difficulty in validating skills.”
Hirevue Assessments verify and validate the skills that drive success, so companies can build teams that will thrive today and tomorrow. With assessments for any role, in any industry, teams get job-relevant, validated data to make faster, smarter hiring decisions at scale.
Start supporting your decisions with science-backed skill validation.
Strike the balance
Candidates aren’t asking companies to choose between technology and humanity. They’re asking for both. Your hiring tech is more than a process—it’s a reflection of your values. Show candidates you respect their time, understand their concerns, and are committed to fairness.
Hirevue’s AI-driven suite of products offers end-to-end solutions that validate the skills that actually predict success. So what could this look like?
- Your candidate is matched to open roles by a Talent Engagement Agent
- They are prescreened for a role by answering a few questions via text.
- They’re qualified and sent a link to a Hirevue OnDemand interview and assessment, complete with structured questions ensuring everyone has the same experience.
- After submitting the OnDemand, they complete an Assessment that validates their skills for the role.
- Time to schedule the live interview! The candidate self-schedules, eliminating calendar tetris.
- Offer sent!
- Candidates receive text messages to keep them engaged until onboarding.
Read the full 2025 Candidate Experience Report and unpack how today’s job seekers really feel about AI in hiring, the risks employers must avoid, and how to use technology to build trust, clarity, and connection at scale.
