Talent crunch deepens as 74% recruiters struggle to find right hires

Nearly 74% of recruiters in India are struggling to find qualified candidates even as hiring remains well above pre-pandemic levels, with AI-generated applications and skill shortages adding pressure

India’s hiring market is moving fast, but finding the right talent is getting harder. Almost 74 per cent of recruiters now struggle to find qualified candidates, even as hiring activity runs 40 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from LinkedIn.

 

The report highlighted that recruiters are facing a volume-quality mismatch. Among recruiters who say hiring has become more difficult, over half point to a surge in AI-generated applications (53 per cent), while many cite continued shortages in in-demand skills (47 per cent). Nearly half also say distinguishing genuine applications from low-quality or misleading ones is adding friction to the process (48 per cent).

   

The result is a more crowded, competitive labour market. LinkedIn platform data shows applicants per open role in India have more than doubled since 2022. Additionally, while 72 per cent of professionals say they are actively job-hunting in 2026, 85 per cent admit they feel unprepared to navigate the process.

 

Amid these pressures, recruiters are seeing AI as part of the solution. Among those already using it, 71 per cent in India say AI has helped them uncover candidates with skills they would have previously missed, while 80 per cent report it makes gaining insight into a candidate’s skills easier. More than three-quarters (76 per cent) believe AI is already speeding up hiring.

 

Ruchee Anand, APAC vice-president, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, said: “We’re seeing a structural shift in hiring from pedigree and past titles to demonstrated skills and capability. This shift is hard to execute at scale without AI. Used responsibly, AI helps recruiters detect the right skills earlier, reduce screening friction and create a more consistent and fair evaluation process.”

 

Looking ahead, adoption is only set to rise. Around eight in 10 Indian recruiters say they plan to expand their use of AI to support hiring goals, evaluate applicants, and source top talent. A majority also plan to increase AI use for pre-screening interviews in 2026, believing it will lead to more valuable recruiter-candidate conversations (83 per cent), faster hiring experiences (83 per cent), and better candidate insights (82 per cent).

 

As AI becomes more embedded in hiring, expectations from candidates are rising, too. Professionals increasingly want visibility into how hiring decisions are made, signalling a clear demand for transparency. Half of recruiters (50 per cent) in India now say they are under pressure to explain how AI is being used in their processes and hiring flow, particularly when it comes to screening and shortlisting candidates.