More employers are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help hire university graduates and school leavers, a report has suggested.

More than one in four (28%) employers adopted AI as part of their recruitment process, according to a survey by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE).

Last year, fewer than one in 10 (9%) employers reported using AI in recruitment.

The survey of 169 student employers between July and August found that AI is being used most frequently in online psychometric assessments.

AI is creating opportunities for employers to do things differently in a more effective way.

It is also commonly used to pre-screen candidates and update them about the process as well as analyse video interviews, according to the report.

Employers who were surveyed reported that using AI increased speed and efficiency in the recruitment process (83%) and made it easier to analyse large volumes of data (64%).

But 70% of employers said that they preferred a more human-centric approach in the recruitment process, according to the survey.

Georgia Greer, head of insights at the ISE, said: “AI is creating opportunities for employers to do things differently in a more effective way. With the rise in job applications, the increased speed and efficiency is particularly attractive. It should improve the candidate experience too.

“It can be a juggling act for recruiters who want the efficiencies, but are questioning the ethics and whether they’re comfortable removing human interaction from the process. As AI evolves and improves, confidence will grow and some of those concerns should fall away.

“From a candidate perspective, they may be asked to use tools like ChatGPT to answer questions and playback their experience at interview.

“But, at the moment, AI is mainly being used to assess performance in the process, so it’s not something candidates will always be aware of or can prepare for.”