UK business leaders are relying on recruiters to plug the AI skills gap and drive productivity growth, but most recruitment teams are still only using the technology for basic tasks, new research shows.
Artificial intelligence could unlock $532 billion in productivity gains for the UK, according to a study by LinkedIn. Yet only four in 10 business leaders say they are satisfied with their organisation’s progress on AI adoption. More than half report a growing divide between employees who are embracing AI to reimagine their work and those using it only for basic tasks, or not at all.
The professional networking platform said the opportunity was being held back not by technology but the challenge of building a workforce capable of using AI in more strategic ways. As a result, recruitment teams are now on the front line. Eighty-seven percent of UK recruiters surveyed said their CEO was relying on them to help create a future-ready workforce.
But LinkedIn found that most recruitment teams are still far from realising AI’s full potential. Just one in three describe themselves as “AI power users” who blend human expertise with advanced AI tools to meet strategic goals. The majority are using AI only to complete low-level or repetitive tasks.
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Recruiters who do use AI in a more advanced way report clear benefits. Sixty-five percent say it has helped improve the candidate experience, while 64 percent say it allows them to spend more time acting as a strategic advisor to the business. There are also perceived risks in falling behind: 43 percent warn that without building AI capability, their team could lose ground to competitors. Others said it may become harder to attract top talent (39 percent) or meet business growth targets (37 percent).
Recruiters shift focus from admin to strategy
Sam Wilson, regional head of talent and strategic HR projects at engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald, said his team had started embedding AI across the recruitment process to save time and focus on strategic priorities.
“AI is playing a pivotal role in enhancing our recruitment processes by streamlining or automating time-intensive administrative tasks,” he said. “We are continuously assessing emerging AI capabilities to ensure our function remains competitive and delivers measurable return on investment to our business. We are utilising AI to conduct more intelligent searches and to facilitate more targeted outreach via LinkedIn Recruiter.”
Mott MacDonald has also introduced AI-driven interview scheduling, which Wilson said has “significantly reduced administrative burden and accelerated the scheduling process”. The time saved was allowing his team to prioritise work with candidates, hiring managers and business leaders.
David Brown, chief executive of Hays Americas, said the recruitment firm sees AI as a way to improve both the candidate and client experience by simplifying routine work and enabling more human-centred decision-making.
He predicted that AI would “fundamentally transform the recruitment industry by accelerating hiring cycles, improving objectivity and revealing deeper insights into talent potential” and that his company’s investment in AI “goes beyond automation; it is about redefining how technology can enhance every part of the recruitment experience for our candidates and clients”.
He said that “[b]y applying intelligent tools to simplify time-intensive tasks, analyse markets and deliver richer data insights, we are enabling our consultants to focus where they add the greatest value: building relationships, offering strategic advice and making informed, human-centred decisions”.
And he added that his firm’s “vision is to use AI to create a more personalised, efficient and insightful recruitment journey where technology empowers people to make better choices and achieve better outcomes”.
LinkedIn’s Hiring Assistant shows early results
To support more advanced use of AI, last month LinkedIn launched Hiring Assistant, an AI agent that sits inside a recruiter’s workflow and learns their preferences. The tool is designed to save time and improve results by automating early-stage tasks like writing job posts, screening candidates and drafting outreach messages.
LinkedIn says early adopters of Hiring Assistant are saving more than four hours per role, reviewing 62 percent fewer profiles and seeing a 69 percent improvement in InMail acceptance rates. One UK company, Insite, reported a 20 percent revenue increase linked directly to hires made using the tool.
Janine Chamberlin, UK country manager at LinkedIn, said success with AI depended as much on people as it did on technology. “Driving AI adoption isn’t just about embracing new technology; it’s about empowering people,” she said. “The organisations seeing real success with AI are those prioritising skills development and embedding change management at every level.”
She said Insite’s experience shows what’s possible when companies invest in innovation and in their people.
AI becomes a talent challenge, not just a tech challenge
The research confirms a change in how businesses are approaching AI: not as a standalone digital upgrade but as a wider transformation effort centred on skills and capability. LinkedIn’s findings are based on two surveys: its global Executive Confidence Index, which included 5,000 senior leaders in 11 countries, and a separate UK-specific survey of 500 talent acquisition professionals conducted by Censuswide in September 2025.
The results show that as AI adoption increases, the dividing line between early adopters and those lagging behind is becoming more pronounced. Business leaders are responding by putting pressure on their recruitment functions to source and build the right talent, and ensure their own teams are prepared to lead that change.
With rising expectations and new tools at their disposal, recruiters now face a dual challenge: using AI to make better hiring decisions while also making sure they themselves do not get left behind.
