New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- Until a few years ago, jobs such as resume and CV writers were in circulation. These professionals were responsible for carefully scrutinising client documents, rewriting and structuring CVs according to companies' preferred formats and creating professionally designed resumes suited to different opportunities. Today, however, anyone can create a polished CV by using the right prompts on AI tools. The same transformation has taken place in human resources. There was a time when HR professionals drafted job descriptions, screened applications, analysed compensation data, answered policy-related queries and shortlisted the best candidates for management. In the age of AI, however, these roles have changed too.
HR professionals are no longer confined to their traditional responsibilities. Today, AI has streamlined HR operations, with AI agents, AI assistants, and generative AI automating repetitive tasks. As a result, the role of HR professionals in the recruitment process has undergone a major transformation. If HR professionals fail to upskill themselves, they risk being left behind.
In fact, AI is changing how India Inc. evaluates talent. According to Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services, AI is now deeply integrated into the recruitment process. It primarily handles routine, repetitive tasks while streamlining both the candidate and recruiter experience. "Skill evaluation after AI has had a major transformation," he said.
Kartik Narayan, CEO, Apna, believes AI is fundamentally changing how companies evaluate talent, particularly at the top of the hiring funnel. "One of the biggest problems in recruitment has always been recruiter bandwidth. A large percentage of applicants were never spoken to simply because recruiters didn't have the capacity. AI changes that. For the first time, organisations can move towards near-100% screening of applicants and, where appropriate, even 100% outreach," he said. Narayan added that the biggest impact of AI in hiring has been improved productivity and efficiency. "Recruiters can now spend less time on repetitive screening and more time engaging with the most relevant candidates. This is especially transformative for entry-level and high-volume hiring," he said.
According to HireVue survey, 73% of HR professionals trust AI to recommend candidates for hiring. AI is now being used across multiple stages of recruitment, from screening resumes to scheduling interviews. If you think employers cannot assess whether candidates are using AI effectively rather than simply outsourcing their thinking, think again. Viram Shah, Founder & CEO, Vested Finance, explained that the difference becomes evident when candidates are encouraged to use AI openly and explain their decision-making process. "Someone using AI effectively can articulate why they framed a prompt in a particular way, what context they provided, which suggestions they rejected, and where the model's response may be incomplete or incorrect. We have, therefore, started experimenting with AI-assisted interview rounds, including the use of CollarUp AI, where candidates solve problems with AI in front of the interview panel. This allows us to evaluate not only what they produce, but how they question, validate and refine the output. In 2026, generating an answer will be easy. Knowing what to ask, what to challenge and what to discard will be the real skill," he said.
In the AI era, where news of job losses due to this revolutionary technology emerges almost every other day, companies are dealing with an overwhelming number of resumes and very little time. In such a scenario, the best candidates can easily slip through the cracks. Most MNCs now rely on automated screening, which can reduce resume screening time by up to 75%. These systems extract structured information from resumes and identify inconsistencies or misrepresentations more effectively than manual screening. According to Forbes, citing a Gallup survey, 93% of Fortune 500 Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) have already begun integrating AI tools and technologies to improve business practices. "AI has high penetration across the entire recruitment process. From developing job descriptions to screening resumes, conducting skill assessments and using chatbots to answer candidate queries, companies are leveraging AI throughout the hiring cycle," said Alug.
Narayan echoed similar views and said AI is embedded across multiple stages of hiring. According to him, AI is first used to match candidates with suitable jobs. "AI can also conduct first-level interactions with candidates, helping employers assess fit before a recruiter steps in. So, AI supports the entire hiring journey, from matching to screening to initial evaluation," he said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.