Ramping up AI-assisted hiring could provide UK firms with a £532 billion productivity boost, according to new research from LinkedIn.

The social media platform’s Future of Recruiting Report 2025 reveals that 71% of UK hiring leaders believe AI is fundamentally changing the way that businesses hire, and think that AI will bring a host of benefits for those scouring resumes.

Polling 500 HR professionals in the UK, the report found that hiring leaders expect AI to improve their team’s efficiency (67%), reduce time to hire for candidates (52%), and allow them to respond to more applicants (45%).

Recruiters who use AI tools also say they’re helping them spend more time as a strategic talent advisor to the business (66%) and improve the candidate experience (64%).

So far, recruiters using AI report saving around 18% of their working week, almost a full workday, but despite those myriad benefits, only a handful are leveraging the tech’s potential. 

LinkedIn found that 34% of firms are still experimenting to assess the benefits of genAI tools for recruitment, with only 11% actively integrating AI into the hiring process, and almost a third (29%) aren’t yet considering using AI to recruit.

The report points to familiar roadblocks stalling AI adoption in recruitment, the same stubborn hurdles that plague AI projects across the tech sector, including budget shortfalls (40%), no clear path to entry (38%), and challenges integrating AI tools alongside existing systems (35%).

These issues have left just 40% of business leaders satisfied with their progress on AI, with recruiters warning that without building AI skills in the next twelve months, their teams may fall behind competitors (45%), struggle to attract top talent (41%), and miss growth targets (38%).

The pressure is building. Nearly half of talent leaders say their execs are worried current staff can’t deliver on strategy, while 86% of recruiters report direct pressure from CEOs to build the ‘workforce of the future’.

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It’s unsurprising, then, that 40% of UK hiring pros are turning to AI to improve the quality of their hires, with 56% saying that the tech can help them measure the quality of recent recruits, which LinkedIn found to be an increasingly important metric.

Recruiters are using AI to help analyse employee performance data, standardise evaluations, and predict the long-term success of their hiring strategies, keeping them ahead of competitors.

“Driving AI adoption isn’t just about embracing new technology, it’s about empowering people,” said Janine Chamberlin, UK country manager at LinkedIn.

“The organisations seeing real success with AI are those prioritising skills development and embedding change management at every level.”