The dividing line: How AI-first recruiting will define 2025

This week, we welcomed TA professionals from across the globe to Gem’s Talent Summit. The energy was electrifying as recruiters, sourcers, TA leaders, rec ops specialists, and talent marketers gathered to redefine the future of recruiting.

Our CEO, Steve Bartel, started the event with a thought-provoking keynote, setting the tone for the rest of Talent Summit. His central message was clear: 2025 is the defining year for talent acquisition, with a dividing line forming between teams that fully embrace AI and those that do not.

Continue reading to dive into the highlights from Steve's keynote and what they mean for your recruiting strategy this year.

The perfect storm in talent acquisition

Steve began by acknowledging the challenges facing businesses today. We're in an existential moment where companies must become AI-first or risk being left behind. This transformation depends entirely on hiring the right specialized talent — making the role of Talent Acquisition more strategically important than ever.

But this comes at a time when recruiting teams are facing unprecedented pressure:

• Specialized talent is in high demand: While overall hiring may be down from the 2022 peak, data from PwC shows that job postings for AI specialists have grown 3.5 times faster than all other roles.

• Teams are doing more with less: Our benchmarks report reveals recruiters are now handling nearly three times as many applications as they did in 2021 and managing 40% more job requisitions. At the same time, hiring managers are more selective, with interviews per hire increasing by 42% compared to three years ago.

• Tech stacks are becoming chaotic: The recruiting technology landscape has exploded, with over 550 vendors (a 200% increase) competing for attention. As a result, recruiters are juggling 10-20 different tools daily, causing inefficiencies, data silos, and fragmented candidate experiences.

Why this AI wave is truly transformative

What makes today's AI revolution different from previous waves of recruiting technology? 

About 18 months ago, Gem conducted an internal experiment comparing the latest off-the-shelf models from OpenAI against a vendor that had spent over a decade building custom machine-learning models to parse resumes. The results were eye-opening. The off-the-shelf AI significantly outperformed the specialized algorithms at a fraction of the cost.

This breakthrough inspired Gem to reimagine its entire platform, weaving AI into every step of the recruiting process — from sourcing and messaging to application review, scheduling, and talent rediscovery.

The crucial nuance: integrated AI vs. point solutions

Steve emphasized a critical point many organizations miss: adding a few AI features or adopting standalone AI point solutions isn't enough.

The real power of AI in recruiting comes from complete candidate histories and context, every interaction and touchpoint. Without this comprehensive data, AI tools might make mistakes, like reaching out to recently rejected candidates or sending generic messages that ignore past interactions.

In recruiting, AI must be built natively into an all-in-one platform that combines all your candidate data, not bolted on as an afterthought.

The spectrum of AI adoption

Becoming "AI-first" exists on a spectrum. Steve outlined four stages:

1. AI-resistant: Organizations that prohibit AI use, often due to overly conservative legal teams.

2. AI-curious: Teams experimenting with basic tools like ChatGPT for email writing or job descriptions.

3. AI-enabled: Organizations using multiple AI solutions across different recruiting functions.

4. AI-first: Teams embedding AI in every step of the recruiting process.

The message was clear: every team must move quickly toward the AI-first end of the spectrum. Those who hesitate will be at a significant disadvantage.

Real results from AI-first teams

Steve highlighted two customer success stories that demonstrate the power of AI-first recruiting:

Zillow implemented Gem's AI-powered application review and sourcing with remarkable results:

• 50-75% reduction in resume screening time

• Ability to review every qualified candidate, regardless of application order

• 57% "yes" rate for candidates found through AI sourcing (compared to roughly 10-20% with manual LinkedIn searches)

Mission Cloud took an even more comprehensive approach by adopting Gem as their AI-first, all-in-one recruiting platform:

• Made 43 hires in just 90 days with only two recruiters

• Reduced time-to-hire by 12% (and improving)

Introducing the new Gem platform

The keynote shifted to Gem's evolution from a sourcing and CRM product to the only AI-first all-in-one recruiting platform. The new Gem combines ATS, CRM, sourcing, scheduling, analytics, talent marketing, and access to 650M+ profiles to source from, all with AI woven into every step of the hiring journey.

Steve explained the "better together" benefits of this integrated approach:

• One consistent system instead of juggling ten different tools.

• A single source of truth for every candidate relationship.

• Better analytics with metrics across the entire recruiting funnel.

• Smarter AI that knows every candidate touchpoint and interaction.

• Simplified administration with one system to configure.

• Cost savings of 30-50% through consolidation.

Most importantly, this approach enables recruiting teams to handle increased workloads while delivering exceptional candidate experiences and positioning themselves as strategic partners to the rest of their organization.

Looking ahead: The dividing line

As Steve concluded his keynote, he returned to his opening theme: 2025 is a pivotal year for talent acquisition, with a clear dividing line emerging between organizations that embrace an AI-first approach and those that don't.

This blog post recaps Steve Bartel's keynote address at Talent Summit 2025. Stay tuned for more content from the event.