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August 22, 2025 
4 min read
This month’s iCIMS Workforce Report spotlights a growing disconnect: Applications and job openings are up, but hiring continues to drop. There’s also a rapid adoption of AI in talent acquisition, with employers, recruiters, and candidates holding very different views on its value and fairness.
This month’s report explores:
Job openings and applications both ticked upward in July, but hiring fell another 10% year over year. That growing disconnect means recruiters face rising applicants per opening (APO) with no improvement in time to fill (TTF), signaling inefficiencies and decision-making delays.
Without clarity on which openings are essential, employers risk overloading recruiters and disengaging candidates. Now is the time for leaders to align hiring plans with business plans.
While Gen Z still represents the largest applicant group, their share of the pipeline has dipped slightly as millennials and Gen X step up. For TA teams, that shift means maintaining outreach to younger applicants while adapting engagement strategies for mid-career candidates.
Recruiter burnout is also a looming risk: Higher APO without faster hiring suggests many teams are being stretched thin.
Employers are finding the most value in using AI for candidate screening (55%) and matching (40%) — high-volume tasks where automation drives efficiency. Nearly two-thirds of AI adopters report saving over two hours per recruiter weekly, with a quarter saving more than five.
But the real payoff isn’t just efficiency. With automation handling repetitive tasks, recruiters can spend more time on high-value work like engaging candidates, advising hiring managers, and building relationships that strengthen employer brand.
Job seekers are more skeptical. Younger applicants (62% of millennials, 59% of Gen Z) tend to believe AI speeds up the hiring process, while older generations — Gen X (47%) and baby boomers (41%) — are less convinced. Across all age groups, concerns about fairness and transparency persist.
In fact, only 30% of candidates feel AI makes hiring decisions fairer. A resounding 82% want to know the criteria AI uses in evaluations. Employers that champion a “human-in-the-loop” approach, where AI assists but humans decide, will be better positioned to build candidate trust.
AI’s biggest value may be what it gives back: Time. With recruiters saving hours each week, many are using the extra bandwidth to focus on candidate communication and data-driven strategy. That shift could elevate the recruiter role from transactional to strategic — if adoption is paired with clear governance and transparent communication.
The August data underscores two truths: the hiring funnel remains out of sync, and AI is reshaping how talent teams work, but candidate trust isn’t there yet. The winning play for TA leaders will be to automate the search, not the selection, while making sure every candidate understands where AI is used and where humans remain in charge.
Ready to go deeper? Check out this video analysis of this month’s data by Trent Cotton, Head of Talent Insights and Analyst Relations, iCIMS.
Amy brings a knack for storytelling and strategy to her role at iCIMS. A longtime journalist and marketing consultant, she is on a mission to make her content sparkle with details and clarity.
As an essayist, Amy’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post and Family Circle magazine. When not writing, you can find her going for long hikes in the woods with her goldendoodle, working in her veggie garden or researching her next travel destination – which has included spots like Hong Kong, the Greek islands and Newfoundland.
