According to its latest study, 68% of recruitment professionals now leverage AI to streamline their work, saving an average of three hours each week. Nearly all users (98%) report that AI has positively impacted their work environment, with 89% noting improvements in their service standards.
The Access Group surveyed employees in 12 industries and professions – and found that half use AI today. Tech professionals are leading the way at 74%, then recruitment and HR, while the not-for-profit, and health and social care sectors ranked lowest with 29% and 30% respectively.
Recruiters cited reduced workloads as the biggest benefit of AI. Almost 47% use it for gathering and analysing data, while 46% say it helps them generate ideas, and 44% cited research. 47% said it gives them time to focus on what matters most – for recruiters, this means placing top candidates and strengthening client relationships.
Top five benefits of AI in recruitment
- Reduce workloads (68%)
- Helps productivity (49%)
- Gives staff time to focus on what matters most (47%)
- Saves the business money (41%)
- Better customer service (28%)
Emma de Sousa, Managing Director, Access Recruitment, said:
“Recruitment is a competitive and fast-paced industry, so it’s not surprising that so many respondents want tools that allow them to work more efficiently. Some will already have automated tasks like candidate screening – so using AI is the next logical step, giving them time to focus on value-added work like fostering client relationships.
“AI is well-suited to managing large amounts of information and can be applied throughout the recruitment process. Examples include reducing bias in job adverts, reformatting CVs and taking the heavy-lifting out of cleansing and updating your CRM database made easy with Access Automate.
“It can be particularly helpful for neurodiverse employees, including those with dyslexia, dyscalculia and/or ADHD. By giving everyone the tools they need to work in a way that suits them, organisations benefit from more inclusive teams, with a broader range of skills and perspectives.”
Mike Martindale, Founder, Orange Monkey Recruitment, commented:
“Automation tools are there to help take away some of the drudgery, but you’ve still got to maintain the quality of the interaction to make sure it feels unique and not spammy. I use Elay (now known as Access Automate) to nurture relationships that I’ve initiated with a personalised video, to stay front of mind so as my network grows. It's scalably allowing me to continue to build relationships by layering on the touch points with automation, and even better it integrates with my CRM”.
However, the survey also revealed that nearly half of recruiters have used AI in a way they wouldn’t tell their boss about.
Marko Perisic, Chief Product and Engineering Officer at The Access Group, said:
“AI has taken off in a way that few people could have imagined – but left unchecked it can lead to some employees using it irresponsibly. Sometimes this is down to lack of training about the potential security risks but, according to our survey, some use it covertly to do their job for them.
“Recruitment firms need a technology partner who offers the highest data protection standards. Our new AI experience, Access Evo, due later this year within our recruitment industry software, encourages employees to innovate, while giving them peace of mind that all information is stored in a secure and private environment and not used in other open source AI systems.
“Approved AI tools like these, underpinned by clear and regularly-updated policies and training, can help everyone to deliver a better standard of service, and get ahead in their careers without compromising sensitive data.”
The full research can be found here: www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/evo/insights.
For more information about Access Evo, The Access Group’s new AI solution for businesses, visit: www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/evo.
Methodology
The Access Group commissioned independent researchers GingerComms to survey people across the UK who handle data as part of their job, asking them to share candidly what impact it has had on the quality of their work, their time and their well-being.
The survey was conducted between 10 and 17 September 2024 and generated 1,134 responses from employees across 12 UK industry sectors.
About The Access Group
The Access Group is one of the largest UK-headquartered business management software providers. It provides solutions that empower more than 128,000 small and mid-sized organisations in commercial and non-profit sectors across Europe, USA and APAC, giving every employee the freedom to do more of what’s important. Its innovative cloud solutions and integrated AI software experience across multiple Access products transform how business technology is used. Access employs over 8,000 people, continuously driving product innovation and customer service excellence.
For more information, visit www.theaccessgroup.com or follow @TheAccessGroup.
About Access Recruitment
Access Recruitment, a division of The Access Group, delivers best-in-class software innovation designed to help agencies win in a highly competitive margin-tight industry.
Their Recruitment Operating System (RecOS) integrates market-leading solutions to help agencies optimise how they attract, manage, onboard and pay their workers. The entire recruitment operation can be managed from start to finish through an ecosystem of recruitment websites, CRM/ATS, onboarding and screening platform and pay and bill solutions, further augmented with a suite of recruitment automation software.
Over 4,500 agencies across the globe rely on Access Recruitment’s software to deliver daily on their business outcomes.
Find out more at www.theaccessgroup.com/recruitment/recos/