AI will dominate hiring in 2026. LinkedIn exec’s prime tricks to stand out

Synthetic intelligence might be one thing of a recreation changer for recruiters as corporations proceed to be inundated with job purposes, based on one LinkedIn government.

Janine Chamberlin, LinkedIn’s U.Okay. nation supervisor, instructed CNBC Make It in an interview that AI can be a “important a part of how hiring is completed in 2026,” because it hastens processes.

“Final 12 months was the 12 months of experimentation and corporations and professionals taking their first steps. 2026 is the 12 months of extra widespread adoption of AI instruments, notably in hiring,” she stated.

AI might help recruiters velocity up handbook duties akin to going by way of very excessive volumes of purposes and sifting by way of resumes and canopy letters to seek out the appropriate abilities for a job.

“We have heard from 60% of recruiters that AI helps them to seek out what they might name a ‘hidden gem’ expertise — so those that they might have, of their handbook search, ignored, however truly AI is surfacing that as a candidate that could be a good match for a particular job, as a result of it could actually look very particularly at these abilities so critically necessary to do it nicely,” Chamberlin stated.

The job market has been tough for each employers and professionals as widespread layoffs dominate headlines and professionals face intense competitors for jobs.

Over 1 million job cuts had been introduced within the U.S. in 2025, the very best degree for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, based on knowledge from consulting agency Challenger, Grey & Christmas.

In the meantime, the variety of purposes per position have skyrocketed, making it tough for employers to reply shortly to purposes. The truth is, new Linkedin analysis finds that U.S. candidates per open position have doubled for the reason that spring of 2022.

Chamberlin stated that is creating an amazing cycle within the job market that’s tough for each job seekers and recruiters to deal with.

“The job search is more durable proper now, as a result of what we’re seeing is that there is such a excessive quantity of purposes for every position that there’s accessible. So, if I am a job seeker, I am making use of to a lot of roles. On the flip facet, there’s corporations recruiters who’re receiving a lot of purposes.

“Corporations are discovering it exhausting to filter by way of these purposes shortly sufficient to seek out individuals with the appropriate ability set for the roles that they are hiring for. And the job seeker on the opposite facet of that’s ready to listen to again from corporations while getting more and more anxious as a result of they may not be listening to again,” Chamberlin stated.

The anxious job seeker then goes and applies to extra roles to extend their probabilities of getting a job, persevering with the cycle.

Chamberlin says AI is a “massive a part of the answer,” with 93% of recruiters planning to extend their use of AI in 2026, per the LinkedIn analysis.

The beginning of the brand new 12 months sometimes brings an inflow of latest job openings and motivated job seekers. Nevertheless, as AI turns into central to hiring, many professionals are rethinking navigate the job market.

LinkedIn’s world analysis, which surveyed 19,000 respondents globally, together with from the U.Okay, U.S., France, Germany and Australia, discovered that 80% of staff really feel unprepared for the job hunt in 2026 and almost two-thirds really feel that the job search has grow to be more difficult.

Chamberlin suggested tailoring purposes and to keep away from mass-applying with generic cowl letters, as AI is now usually the primary to evaluation a job software.

It is necessary to “be focused” when crafting your resume and canopy letter. “Making use of for roles that genuinely match your abilities will at all times outperform sending a lot of generic purposes, for each AI and for people,” she stated.

Chamberlin stated that utilizing AI might help make your software extra succinct as it could actually determine the place you are not highlighting the talents you want for a selected job.

“In an AI-driven job market, readability is vital,” she stated. “For those who can guarantee that your abilities are highlighted very clearly in your resume, on the duvet letter, in your LinkedIn profile, naturally, I feel that is what’s actually going that can assist you stand out.”

Lastly, Chamberlin advised prioritizing easy codecs and to keep away from overly stylistic templates as it may be complicated to learn for AI.