According to Employ Inc.’s 2025 Recruiter Nation Report—based on survey data from over 1,200 talent acquisition professionals and proprietary data from 23,000+ customers—the talent acquisition (TA) industry is at a tech transformation point driven not by dissatisfaction, but by ambition.
The hiring platform and the parent company of JazzHR, Lever and Jobvite found that despite an impressive 82% satisfaction rate with current recruiting systems, over three-quarters of TA leaders expect to replace their primary platform within the next two years. This finding reveals that many organizations aren’t looking to fix what’s broken; they’re preparing for what’s next.
Increased TA investment
Investment reflects the forward momentum in talent tech. Two-thirds of TA leaders plan to increase technology spending in 2026, with more than half specifically allocating budget toward new recruiting platforms.
Artificial intelligence has moved from experiment to infrastructure, according to the report. Sixty-five percent of recruiters now incorporate AI into their daily workflows, but adoption comes with a crucial caveat: responsible implementation matters.
“The 2025 data shows that organizations are striking a new balance, leveraging automation for efficiency while protecting fairness, transparency and connection,” said Stephanie Manzelli, CHRO at Employ Inc. “It’s proof that progress in talent acquisition doesn’t mean replacing people; it means empowering them.”
Rather than chasing automation for efficiency’s sake, TA teams are building systems that balance speed with fairness, scale with personalization, and intelligence with transparency.
Researchers say the technology foundation built today will determine competitive advantage tomorrow, especially as 70% of recruiters report increased hiring year-over-year, with momentum expected to continue into 2026.
HR tech in the news
Global hiring platform Deel research found that visa restrictions have caused critical hiring delays for 60% of U.K. and 55% of U.S. businesses, with 49% of hiring managers avoiding overseas recruitment despite acknowledging they cannot find necessary skills locally.
Health navigation platform Castlight Health partnered with preventive health platform Noom to offer employers direct access to Noom’s weight management, diabetes prevention and GLP-1 medication programs through the Castlight app for seamless member enrollment and sustainable health outcomes.
Walgreens is expanding PharmStart, its fully funded online pharmacy education program, to all 50 states after launching earlier this year with 300 team members across six states. The program helps eligible employees meet pharmacy school prerequisites, addressing critical pharmacist talent pipeline challenges while unlocking new talent pools.
Talent development firm TalentBridge launched a pilot program with business transformation platform ServiceNow to identify talent, provide ServiceNow certifications and connect certified professionals with career opportunities at leading organizations.
New HR tech surveys and resources
A Paychex survey of 600 U.S. business and HR leaders finds outdated HR systems cost companies up to $414,000 annually, create security and compliance challenges and burden leaders, while effective technology directly boosts engagement and retention.
St. Charles Consulting Group and NIIT’s 2026 Global Learning Transformation Benchmark Survey examines how organizations are evolving learning strategies amid technological change. Participants receive early access to benchmarking insights. Want to participate? The survey is here, but it closes on December 15th.
The 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, conducted by member association ISC² with responses from over 16,000 cybersecurity professionals worldwide, finds that economic pressures and budget constraints strain security teams, while demand for advanced skills in AI, incident response and security engineering continues to grow.
ManpowerGroup’s Q1 2026 Employment Outlook survey shows India ranking second globally in hiring demand, driven by faster-than-expected economic growth, favorable monsoons boosting rural demand, low oil prices controlling inflation, banking sector reforms enabling foreign loans and minimal impact from U.S. tariffs.
Employee recognition provider Workhuman released its 2025 Global Research Study showing that tangible monetary rewards increase belonging by 28% and engagement by 21%, with employees receiving such recognition twice yearly being 34% more likely to feel organizational belonging.
Freelance platform Upwork’s November hiring report shows increased demand for quality assurance testers, interpreters and creative professionals as companies adjust their talent acquisition strategies.
Workforce agility solutions provider Cornerstone OnDemand released its annual Skills Economy Report, revealing the “Great Skills Merge” trend where AI drives demand for blended roles, with data literacy in customer-facing roles up 22% and emotional intelligence in technical roles surging 95%.
HR tech funding and acquisition news
Financial learning provider Fitch Learning completed its acquisition of Moody’s Analytics Learning Solutions and Canadian Securities Institute, creating a combined entity serving over 92,000 finance professionals across 148 countries with certifications, corporate training programs and digital learning solutions.
Fully-owned 401(k) platform 401GO raised $33 million in Series B funding led by Centana Growth Partners, with participation from Next Frontier Capital, Rally Ventures and Impression Ventures, reflecting investor confidence in its in-house retirement infrastructure that aims to eliminate legacy recordkeeping dependencies.
Work platform Glean doubled its annual recurring revenue to $200 million in nine months. Glean has expanded its enterprise footprint across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific with deep integrations driving measurable productivity gains.
HR tech people moves
Workforce management platform Legion Technologies appointed former Dayforce executive Angela Stark as chief marketing officer. With over two decades of global marketing leadership experience, Stark will drive Legion’s international expansion as the company scales worldwide.
Chicago-based leadership consulting firm Vantage Leadership Consulting appointed Jacqueline Ackerman, Ph.D. as managing partner effective January 1, 2026, marking the firm’s fourth leader in its 50-year history as Ackerman returns after starting as an undergraduate intern three decades ago.
Zero-trust cybersecurity software provider Keeper Security named Tim Strickland as Chief Revenue Officer to lead global revenue strategy and drive customer growth as demand accelerates for Privileged Access Management and identity security solutions worldwide.
Workforce software platform Rippling appointed veteran engineering leaders Wan Agus and Gang Wang as Senior Vice Presidents of Engineering to lead product development across Rippling IT, Rippling Payroll and Rippling Spend as the company expands its business platform capabilities.
More from HR Executive
HR Tech Europe Meetups continue in 2026! The series features invite-only roundtables and networking events connecting HR leaders to spark conversations and share ideas shaped by local and international community voices. Want to participate? Let us know here.
HR Tech U.S. 2026 Call for Proposals closes January 21, 2026. Senior HR executives and industry experts can submit proposals for the world’s largest HR technology event. Selected speakers receive complimentary registration and thought leadership positioning. Apply now.
Investors poured $4.93 billion into HR technology through Q3 2025, a 20% year-over-year increase. Investors poured capital into four key HR tech categories during Q3 2025. Compensation intelligence tools responding to pay transparency laws, benefits platforms that secured two mega-deals, AI-powered candidate screening technology and payroll systems embedding financial wellness features all attracted significant funding. Get the story.
