LinkedIn launches Hiring Assistant in Italy, the AI agent for recruiters

The Hiring Assistant agent

Based on reliable real-time signals from a network of over 1.4 billion members, Hiring Assistant allows recruiters to go beyond traditional keyword searches and identify specialized profiles, relying on the platform's real-time insights. The objective is to free up time from more routine activities to dedicate it to relationships with candidates. "In an increasingly complex job market, the value lies not only in recruiting more quickly, but also in improving the quality of the match between people and opportunities. AI is transforming the role of recruiters, helping them to identify talents and skills that traditional processes might otherwise overlook", says Marcello Albergoni, Country Manager of LinkedIn Italy.

Applications on the rise around the world

The launch of the Italian-language agent comes at a time of increasing pressure for recruiters. Globally, since 2022 the number of applications per position has doubled, but in Italy 52% of recruiters say that finding qualified staff has become more difficult in the last year, while 63% feel unprepared to manage the pressures of their role and the growing expectations of organisations. "The results are already measurable: companies that use Hiring Assistant record 11% more quality hires and hire 18% more highly sought-after professionals. This is how the recruiter's work evolves: technology can increase his ability to identify the right people, leaving him more space for what remains profoundly human", adds Albergoni.

The duties of Hiring Assistant

Hiring Assistant can search, analyze, and make recommendations, but it cannot make hiring decisions on its own, exclude candidates from the process, or move a person through the hiring pipeline. The recruiter maintains control throughout the entire process by defining objectives and establishing criteria. The use of Hiring Assistant therefore allows support in the phases of defining requirements, simultaneously searching for talent and analyzing applications. The recruiter maintains control throughout the entire process, defining and refining the proposed requirements and deciding which actions to take. For each profile identified, Hiring Assistant also demonstrates with data the reasons for the correspondence with the position and the qualifications met, making them available to the recruiter to exercise their judgment.

The numbers

According to numbers provided by LinkedIn, on average recruiters who use Hiring Assistant record a 66% higher InMail acceptance rate compared to traditional sourcing methods, saving 1.5 hours for each position in the phase of identifying the most qualified candidates. Hiring Assistant therefore aims to guarantee recruiters time to dedicate to activities in which human contribution is central, such as knowing people and trust. “Hiring Assistant helped us identify highly specialized candidates who would have been difficult to find through traditional keyword searches,” explains Valentina Sensati, talent acquisition manager at Mermec. Furthermore, “AI-generated analytics have enabled more effective dialogues with hiring managers, improving the overall quality of the selection process and making the talent search more targeted and collaborative,” he remarked.