Artificial intelligence is playing a larger role in recruitment as employers seek a faster, more precise supply of high-end talent, and job seekers are using it to strengthen applications and prepare for interviews.

For employers, AI is reducing the time spent on high-volume screening. Yang Liang, who works in human resources at a central State-owned enterprise, said his team uses AI to compare resumes with job descriptions and generate matching reports, along with suggested interview questions, risk alerts and assessments of candidates' potential.

"Recruitment efficiency has soared with AI," Yang said, adding that his company can receive more than 100 resumes a day, a volume that once took recruiters most of the day to screen but can now be processed dozens of times faster, he added.

Nearly 80 percent of companies used AI hiring tools during China's 2025 spring recruitment season, with 52.6 percent using them for resume screening and 35.1 percent for AI-powered interviews, according to a report by Chinese recruitment platform Nowcoder.

The report said automated bulk screening shortened the average recruitment cycle by 25 percent and cut initial manual screening costs at leading internet companies by 33 percent. During the peak campus recruitment period, screening 1,000 resumes would take recruiters more than eight hours, while an AI system could complete the task in less than 20 minutes.

Beyond volume hiring, recruiters are testing AI on specialized searches. Recruitm