How AI is changing work
HR & recruitment
Faster matching, with a human who chooses.
In recruitment and selection, AI helps with job ads, initial screening, scheduling and matching on skills. At the same time, applicants themselves use AI on a large scale. Because decisions about work have major consequences, AI for recruitment and selection counts as high risk and human control remains at the core.
What changes
- Job ad copy, intake and scheduling interviews are being automated.
- Matching shifts from CV and diploma to skills and ambitions.
- Applicants write letters and CVs with AI, so the letter says less.
- Assessments and screening are more often done or prepared by software.
Where people make the difference
- Choosing a candidate, and being able to explain that choice.
- Testing whether a system excludes or disadvantages groups.
- The interview: motivation, doubts and whether someone fits in a team.
How AI is already used
Screening via WhatsApp
Randstad Smart Match sends applicants a message within 15 minutes for an initial check and lets suitable candidates schedule an interview themselves.
RandstadMatching on skills
UWV is building a placement service that uses AI to look at competences and ambitions as well. The Adviescollege ICT-toetsing (the government's ICT review board) considers the project insufficiently under control and advises first proving that it works.
Dutch IT Leaders, 2026Applicants use AI
Research by Indeed among Dutch jobseekers: 94 percent of Gen Z uses AI when applying for jobs, compared with 40 percent of Generation X.
Recruitmenttech, 2025Algorithms in selection
Twelve percent of employers use algorithms when selecting candidates and twelve percent when assessing them, mainly larger employers. Automatic screening of letters and CVs hardly occurred in 2022.
College voor de Rechten van de Mens, 2022Rules for online assessments
The AP examined online and game-based assessments and points out that an automatic score that determines the decision may fall under the rules for automated decision-making. Results can be unreliable or discriminate unintentionally.
Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, 2026Fewer entry-level vacancies
Randstad reports 29 percent fewer entry-level vacancies worldwide since January 2024. In the Netherlands, 47 percent of young workers are worried about AI and their job.
Emerce, 2025
Where the sector is heading
AI for recruitment and selection is high risk under the AI Act (Annex III). Because of the Digital Omnibus, those rules apply from 2 December 2027 instead of August 2026.
Europese Commissie, 2026Employers cannot shift responsibility for discrimination onto an algorithm or supplier. Awareness of that risk was low in 2022, and employers rarely checked their systems for fairness.
College voor de Rechten van de Mens, 2022UWV, the Dutch employee insurance agency, increasingly sees jobs that involve a lot of work with language, such as copywriter and translator, as having poor prospects because of AI. AI is also taking over tasks in customer contact and administration.
Nederland Digitaal, 2026
What a maker can do for you here
- “Make our job ads more inclusive and clearer, with a check by our recruiters.”
- “Automate our intake and scheduling, with a recruiter always making the choice.”
- “Test our selection process for possible exclusion of groups.”
- “Make an onboarding video and a help desk for new employees.”
Researched on 5 October 2026. Know a good example from the Netherlands? Let us know.