Recruitment sector gets smart tech boost

Artificial intelligence is playing a larger role in recruitment as employers seek a faster, more precise supply of high-end talent, and job seekers are using it to strengthen applications and prepare for interviews.

For employers, AI is reducing the time spent on high-volume screening. Yang Liang, who works in human resources at a central State-owned enterprise, said his team uses AI to compare resumes with job descriptions and generate matching reports, along with suggested interview questions, risk alerts and assessments of candidates' potential.

"Recruitment efficiency has soared with AI," Yang said, adding that his company can receive more than 100 resumes a day, a volume that once took recruiters most of the day to screen but can now be processed dozens of times faster, he added.

Nearly 80 percent of companies used AI hiring tools during China's 2025 spring recruitment season, with 52.6 percent using them for resume screening and 35.1 percent for AI-powered interviews, according to a report by Chinese recruitment platform Nowcoder.

The report said automated bulk screening shortened the average recruitment cycle by 25 percent and cut initial manual screening costs at leading internet companies by 33 percent. During the peak campus recruitment period, screening 1,000 resumes would take recruiters more than eight hours, while an AI system could complete the task in less than 20 minutes.

Beyond volume hiring, recruiters are testing AI on specialized searches. Recruitment platform Maimai said its latest AI-model-powered system can interpret natural-language requirements that are difficult to convert into fixed search tags. It then assesses resumes, professional profiles and workplace connections to locate candidates, including those in adjacent industries.

"Anyone who can type can use AI recruitment tools," said Huo Qiaodi, head of Maimai's recruitment business. "The system can easily handle personalized screening conditions through natural language, such as 'excluding candidates who changed jobs twice in three years unless each move brought a promotion'."

Its reasoning function can also help recruiters look beyond familiar companies and industries. When seeking a community operations specialist with about a year of experience, for example, recruiters may initially focus on candidates from regular community platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, Bilibili and Weibo.

However, the system can widen that search by recommending candidates from unconventional channels such as NetEase Games or Huawei's Xinsheng Community.

"These unexpected candidates may prove to be a better fit," Huo said. She added that AI recruitment was not intended to replace human resources professionals, but to allow them to focus on higher-value judgment and communication.

Job seekers are also using AI to reduce information gaps and better explain how their experience fits a position. Dong Yuqi, a liberal arts student, built a simple AI tool that produces reports on unfamiliar employers, drawing together information on their business, operations and workplace discussions. She also uses AI to tailor resumes to job descriptions and organize possible interview questions.

"AI not only improves efficiency; it can also make access to information fairer and reduce some information asymmetry," Dong said.

Li Huiying, 24, a job seeker in Beijing, said an AI mock interviewer quickly exposed weaknesses in her application materials.

"I prepared for job interviews for about two months, and AI identified problems in my resume in just seconds," Li said.

Their experiences reflect the wider use of AI among job seekers. A survey from Zhaopin.com during this year's spring recruitment season found that 50.7 percent of respondents used AI to improve resumes or write self-introductions, 28.2 percent used it to analyze target industries or companies, and 26.5 percent used it for mock interviews and to practice their responses.

lijiaying@chinadaily.com.cn