Artificial Intelligence is ubiquitous, and recruiters are hearing everywhere that they need to get on board... At the risk of disappearing.

Between the fear of the unknown and the pressure to “AI everything”, how do you know if you actually need it? Can you still recruit without AI in 2025? Is this more than just an HR trend?

Discover a complete deciphering of how to free yourself from injunctions and “AI-anxiety”, recover concrete keys to identifying your real needs and avoiding useless hype, alongside Hélène Ly, trainer of IT recruiters and also a speaker on the subject of AI.

When AI scares, even recruiters...

Artificial intelligence is THE hot topic in recruitment for several years now and will be even more so in the years to come.

While it is readily credited with virtues for gaining efficiency on certain tasks, it even allows one to stand out in the recruitment market, since mastering AI tools is becoming an increasingly sought-after criterion.

Yet, Hélène still observes today resistance to artificial intelligence when she intervenes in training.

And for good reason, in France, 41% of professionals say they are worried about AI. A concern higher than in most of the 18 other countries surveyed, according to the 2023 study by Boston Consulting Group.

Black Mirror effect or founded fears? Hélène has her opinion:

"Human beings are simply afraid of what they do not know. Fumbling, testing, confronting one's fears and beliefs, is the best way to overcome them, to reassure oneself and to say OK, it's fine, I'm not going to disappear tomorrow."

According to her, the priority is to understand AI to better judge it, then to ask a crucial question: do I really need it and for what type of tasks?

Educating oneself minimally, or even training in Artificial Intelligence, would then become a must.

Recruiters: Prepare the AI ground to begin

As part of her work, particularly with IT service companies, Hélène has developed a whole process aimed at answering several common questions in recruitment:

“Is AI essential for me?”

“What can I delegate?”

“How can I make it an ally?”

Assess your recruitment situation before integrating AI

Dive in headfirst? No.

Audit what you already have first? Yes!

Start by understanding your team members' understanding of Artificial Intelligence. What are their levels of knowledge on the subject?

Then, think about what you already do, evaluating for example the volume or time allocated to each task, like a map of tasks. An essential step, which consists of laying everything out, including your already used tools, and gradually distinguishing what you want to improve.

This diagnosis is crucial, as it sometimes allows you to identify other complementary or more suitable levers than AI.

"If today, your process suits you or if you actually have a sufficiently qualified volume of applications coming in, perhaps then you don't need AI. Just because it's possible to do it… doesn't mean you have to do it." Hélène

Delegating your recruitment to AI, OK, but not just any way

It's tempting to jump into Artificial Intelligence for tasks you don't master yourself. However, to delegate well is to be able to supervise.

Ask yourself: “Can I validate the results that AI offers me?”

• If the answer is yes, then AI can be an excellent support.
• If the answer is no, be careful: using a tool whose relevance of results you don't understand can lead to errors and a loss of control.

Also, a good use of Artificial Intelligence in recruitment involves:

• A gradual appropriation of the tool,
• Regular adjustments to perfect the prompts and optimize the responses obtained.

This is how Hélène defines AI:

"AI is just a tool, a co-pilot, absolutely not a second brain that makes decisions for you. It's not there to replace your thinking, but to assist and accelerate it."

The 3 best use cases of AI in recruitment

Hélène, who trains teams every month, particularly on the use of AI in recruitment, finds that certain tasks systematically come back as time-consuming obstacles in the daily life of recruiters. Long, repetitive tasks that eat away at the time spent on what really makes the value of the profession: the human aspect.

Here's how AI can relieve these chores…

1. Writing a job advertisement or candidate outreach message

Before: Writing a striking ad or an engaging outreach message has always been a delicate exercise for recruiters. Too generic? The ad doesn't attract. Too technical? It becomes incomprehensible. Hours spent writing… for often frustrating response rates.

Today: Generative AI, ChatGPT among others, changes the game. No longer necessary to start from a blank page! In a few seconds, the tool suggests a structured base, improves the style and adapts the tone according to the target.

Obviously, Artificial Intelligence does not replace human expertise: a good recruiter knows how to adjust and inject…

2. Candidate sourcing

Before: This task required expertise in Boolean queries and hours spent refining searches. Now, Artificial Intelligence transforms sourcing into a more fluid and intuitive process.

Today: Tools are emerging like the Collective Work platform and its AI search engine MegaSearch, which allows you to find and contact freelancers in record time, or Kalent which intends to facilitate sourcing and matching with its AI agent.

The common point of these 2 tools? With them, mastering Boolean becomes obsolete. AI understands requests in natural language and sorts for you. An advance that simplifies the life of recruiters… but also raises the question of the evolution of sourcing skills.

3. Interview report

Before: Writing an interview report is a real pain for most recruiters. It's long, tedious and requires a great ability to synthesize.

Today: A tool like Noota revolutionizes this step by automatically transcribing oral exchanges into structured reports. No need to juggle between active listening and note-taking: AI captures the information and generates a usable summary.

The impact? A more available and attentive recruiter, more precise and complete reports.

The bonus? A huge time saving to focus on the real value of your profession: the evaluation and support of candidates.

AI and recruitment: Best practices vs. mistakes to avoid

Adopting Artificial Intelligence in recruitment doesn't stop at testing ChatGPT and hoping for immediate results.

Here's a list of “do and don't” to keep in mind according to Hélène, based on her field experience with recruiters.

DO: Support the change towards AI

The integration of AI is not decreed, it is supported. Rather than imposing the tool on the whole team, it is more effective to identify the “driving” people. That is, the most curious and motivated recruiters who will test, adjust and demonstrate the positive impact of Artificial Intelligence. Train them first, they will become ambassadors and reassure their most skeptical colleagues.

DON’T: Let everyone fumble alone and without a framework

Without clear guidelines, everyone risks experimenting with AI in their corner, with disparate or even counter-productive uses. Making people want to use AI is the key to successful adoption. Artificial Intelligence must be seen as an opportunity and not a threat. This can involve organizing collaborative workshops bringing the team to find its own solutions, or setting up an AI usage charter to guide practices. A great opportunity to unite!

DO: Think ethics and confidentiality

AI exacerbates good… as well as bad practices. If these are already well oriented, AI can be an asset. Conversely, without an ethical framework, it amplifies abuses.

Hence the importance of training recruiters on GDPR issues or raising their awareness of biases. Indeed, a poorly used AI can reinforce existing discrimination or compromise the personal data of your candidates.

DON’T: Start from scratch every time you use AI

Artificial Intelligence is not Google: you don't just ask it a question, you guide it with precise instructions. A good prompt is structured and adaptable. You can then create duplicate prompts for recurring needs and even centralize these prompts in a shared library between recruiters to ensure consistency of use.

DO: Accept that AI appropriation takes time

Many recruiters express a feeling of pressure and being overwhelmed by AI. The market is evolving quickly, tools are multiplying, and the injunction to use AI is sometimes anxiety-inducing. But no, you are not lagging behind if you don't yet master AI. Just remember that AI is not magic and it takes time to integrate it into your practices.

Your recruitment, with or without AI impact?

Now, it's up to you: will AI be your ally or your burden?

Hélène offers a little “back to the future” as a conclusion:

"Recruitment existed before Linkedin, and even before the Internet. Artificial Intelligence does not replace the recruiter, it just changes their tools. If today, we can still recruit without AI, let's say that we could surely recruit better with it."

Want to go further? Find all our resources dedicated to AI for recruiters.