Nearly half of UK 18-24 year-old candidates rely on AI

HR professionals foresee Artificial Intelligence (AI) as having a ‘positive’ impact on the future job market, according to a new survey.

The findings from the recruitment app JobSwipe reveal that; 84% of UK HR professionals foresee AI as having a ‘positive’ impact on the job market in the future  – with 56% confident in their ability to tell if an applicant has used AI for a job application. 44% of HR professionals would view a candidate using AI for a job app as ‘trustworthy’ if using AI materials to prepare for a job – compared to 39.2% of Britons who regard AI’s usage in job applications as ‘cheating.’

With a rapidly changing jobs market, 66% of HR professionals have noticed an increased volume of candidates using AI to prepare job application materials such as cover letters, CVs, and task submissions. Of those 21% reported a significant increase.

Despite some scepticism over AI, 60.8% of those surveyed have a progressive outlook. This trend is mirrored across age brackets, with 39.2% of those aged 35-44 and 38.8% of those 45-54 labelling it as ‘cheating’. 19.9% of the respondents are likely to be upfront about using generative AI in their workplace tasks. This commitment to transparency is even more pronounced among the younger workforce- 23% of those aged 25-34 would openly acknowledge AI’s assistance, a sentiment echoed by 21.5% in the 35-44 age bracket.

Of those surveyed, 30.9% are likely to disclose their reliance on AI, particularly in the 35-44 age group, with 36.5% leaning towards transparency. Even the 45-54 age bracket, perceived to be more traditional, has 35.2% of its members expressing a likelihood to be transparent about AI’s role. 13% of HRs have plans to implement AI tools for hiring in the future and 24% shared that they’re discussing or considering implementing AI devices or platforms for hiring.

Advantages for candidates using AI included; automated resume screening (47%), improved candidate matching (47%), reduced bias (49%), enhanced candidate sifting capabilities (28%), faster time-to-hire (48%) and data analytics (45%).  

JobSwipe Founder and CEO Rhys Maddocks said: “AI, like many disruptive innovations, enables humans to do things faster and often better. In the UK, we’ve been facing stagnant productivity growth since the financial crisis and AI is going to be an essential tool in helping us to solve this productivity puzzle.  Despite some speculation and negativity around AI within the media, our research supports JobSwipe’s outlook that there are many reasons to believe AI will contribute towards creating new jobs and support economic growth.”