If you’re one of the many US companies intending to post jobs online this year, you’ll find the recruitment landscape is shifting significantly. AI is one of the best hiring tools for employers, and it’s become core to the hiring process itself. Yet many companies are either confused about how best to use this technology or are misusing it.
Candidate experience during the recruitment process has also become a priority, and there’s been a rise in identifying and engaging with “passive candidates.” But reaching and persuading the 70% of talent that’s currently employed and not actively seeking new roles is easier said than done.
With so much at stake, the best way to identify the ideal candidate for your job and company is to first find the right specialist partner to optimize your search.
Get it right when you post jobs online
Online hiring sites are evolving as fast as the tech they use, so knowing what to expect from a specialist — in terms of its range of services, sophistication of tech, and personal approach — can help you make the right choice. “In 2026, the leading sites don’t just host a bulletin board, they act as active matching engines,” said Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at online hiring site ZipRecruiter.
Top hiring platform partners are those that offer:
Proactive sourcing, meaning they actively search for candidates rather than waiting for them to apply. Mobile-first ecosystems, with high-speed, one-tap apply features that secure talent on the go. Data intelligence that provides real-time insights into salary benchmarks and applicant behavior.
Bachaud is quick to add that tech is only part of the equation, and that human contact and expertise are as crucial to an effective recruitment process. “Tech provides the speed — sorting 5,000 resumes in seconds — but humans provide the nuance. Only a person can determine if a candidate’s leadership style is a match for a team’s culture,” she said. That’s why the most successful recruiters use AI as an operating system, freeing the human expert to focus on the person-to-person connection that secures the best match.
Tech to hire employees fast
When assessing a recruitment partner’s tech offering, focus on those that prioritize wide reach and innovative systems.
“Look for specialists with access to more than 100 job boards to ensure searches have the scale you need,” Bachaud said. “At ZipRecruiter, we maintain a database of over 53M resumes in the ZipRecruiter Resume Database.1 Over 320K resumes are added to the ZipRecruiter Resume Database each month.2 This represents one of the largest searchable candidate pools with instant contact information access in the hiring industry.”
With this level of reach, 80% of clients receive a quality candidate within 24 hours of posting. The AI acts like a two-sided recommendation engine; first analyzing the specific requirements of a job ad, then cross-referencing these with candidate skills, experience, and recent search activity to identify the talent most likely to be the best, most receptive match for that company and role.
This approach extends to niche sectors and specialist hires — AI excels in both. Bachaud explained that technology using semantic matching understands that a cybersecurity architect and an infrastructure lead may share 90% of the same skills. “Even for the most niche roles, we support clients by scanning our database for adjacent skills that indicate a candidate will excel in a specialist environment.”
One of the things that most surprises recruiters today is how fast this tech produces results. Many expect to wait weeks yet often find their hire in days. Innovative tech is also being used to add a personal touch. “An Invite to Apply tool means you could receive eight times more matches for your role,” Bachaud said. “It works by enabling you to select your favored candidates from a search and then sending them a personal invitation.”
Why humans remain one of the best hiring tools for employers
However smart AI might be, it’s only as good as the person managing it, which is one of the reasons the personal touch in recruitment remains crucial. It’s important to find a specialist who will take the time to listen to your feedback on candidate quality, then manually fine-tune the AI’s filters to calibrate the algorithm to best effect. You also want this person to be proactive — expertly monitoring your post’s performance and making recommendations on job titles, salary levels, and nuances of description that might gain better traction.
This level of contact makes all the difference, Bachaud said, adding that “ZipRecruiter provides 24/7 customer support, rated highest for quality among major hiring platforms.” The real differentiator is a hiring partner that won’t hide behind chatbots. “Only high-speed AI-matching combined with high-touch human empathy can solve the nuanced hiring challenges that data alone can’t fix,” she explained.
Partner with ZipRecruiter to find quality candidates within the first 24 hours.
This sponsored post was created by BI Studios with ZipRecruiter.
1ZipRecruiter Internal Data, January 2025.
2ZipRecruiter Internal Data, average based on January 1 to December 31, 2024.
