7 in 10 recruiters in Pune are investing up to 70% of their hiring budgets in AI and tech to hire smarter, faster: LinkedIn Research

Pune, 20th June 2025: Recruiters in Pune are ramping up their investment in smarter hiring tech to stay ahead in a competitive talent market. New research from LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, reveals that 70% of organisations in the city are allocating up to 70% of their recruitment budgets to tech and AI hiring tools.

LinkedIn’s India Hiring ROI research, based on responses from over 1,300 HR professionals across 10 cities, finds that recruiters in Pune are shifting from ‘quick hiring’ to ‘quality hiring’, with quality of hire (83%) emerging as the top measure of success, followed by cost per hire (62%) and revenue per employee (59%). The definition of ‘quality talent’ is also shifting with 44% of recruiters in the city prioritising practical and transferable skills when defining talent quality.

Ruchee Anand, Head of LinkedIn Talent Solutions, India, says, “Across India, recruiters are embracing AI tools to boost efficiency, maximise ROI, and drive greater business impact. In Pune, this trend is taking hold as talent professionals see the positive impact of AI tools on efficient, skills-first hiring. With 6 in 10 recruiters already seeing strong results from online platforms like LinkedIn, AI tools are helping strike the right balance between skills, speed, and cost — enabling smarter hiring and talent building.”

Talent gaps key challenge across sectors

Across India, sectors like Manufacturing & automotive (66%) and IT & technology (62%) are also giving skills the higher seat when weighing talent. However, recruiters in Manufacturing & automotive say it’s tough to find the right mix of technical and soft skills (69%), while IT & technology companies struggle to find quality candidates quickly (69%). For Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in Pune, high competition for top talent (71%) and lack of skilled talent (62%) pose significant hurdles in hiring skilled talent locally.

Abhishek Singh Kumar, Sr. Director HR, Impetus, says, “LinkedIn has been an invaluable asset in our talent acquisition strategy, enabling us to connect with both active job seekers and highly qualified professionals who may not be actively searching. The AI-powered candidate outreach ensures that our messaging is well-crafted and efficiently customised, enhancing our employer branding and positioning us effectively in front of potential candidates. With ongoing support from LinkedIn’s dedicated account managers and subject matter experts, our recruiters have mastered the art of hiring through the platform. As a result, LinkedIn has helped us source exceptional talent swiftly, contributing significantly to our business growth.”

AI tools boost efficiency, help recruiters grow into strategic career advisors

Recruiters are using AI to save time by automating manual tasks and enhancing productivity. As per the research, 67% in Pune are using AI-powered hiring tools, and 65% are leveraging data analytics in decision making to hire faster.

Across India, sectors like IT & Technology are speeding up hiring through AI-powered screening tools (71%) and data analytics (74%), with similar trends in Healthcare (60%; 75%) and Manufacturing (58%; 62%).

Recruiters are seeing measurable benefits: 54% in Pune say that AI boosts efficiency, 51% say it yields better skills-first outcomes, and 45% say that by taking repetitive tasks off their plate, it helps them focus on higher value activities such as stakeholder alignment and candidate experience.

As AI adoption grows, 85% percent of recruiters in Pune expect to step up as ‘strategic career advisors’ in their roles, and 87% plan to use personalised content and data insights to engage candidates more effectively.

LinkedIn’s AI-powered tools are built to help recruiters hire quality candidates faster, with higher response rates

As recruiters face rising pressure to move faster without compromising on quality, LinkedIn’s AI-powered tools are designed to deliver results that matter.

● Recruiter 2024, LinkedIn’s first generative AI hiring experience, is already helping hirers connect with qualified candidates more effectively, with AI-assisted messages seeing 44% higher acceptance rates and being responded to 11% faster than standard outreach globally.

● LinkedIn’s first AI agent Hiring Assistant automates repetitive tasks like sourcing and screening, freeing up recruiters to focus on their most impactful work and strategic priorities like advising hiring managers, interviewing candidates and assessing candidate fit, and building stronger talent pipelines.