Why Agentic AI Will Reshape Recruiting

In June 2025, McKinsey published its new CEO playbook Seizing the Agentic AI Advantage. The report captures what many of us working hands-on with AI in business processes have already seen: Generative AI has been widely deployed, but it hasn’t yet moved the needle on company performance.

McKinsey calls this the gen AI paradox: almost 80% of companies report using AI, but roughly the same percentage say they see no measurable bottom-line impact.

The reason is simple. Most companies are still experimenting with horizontal use cases—chatbots, copilots, text summarizers. These tools are easy to roll out, but they deliver diffuse, shallow benefits. What truly changes performance are vertical use cases—AI deeply embedded in a company’s critical workflows. And this is exactly where AI agents come in.

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The Shift: From Assistants to Agents

As McKinsey argues, AI impact only scales when processes are automated end-to-end. Agents differ from simple copilots because they can:

• Understand goals and break them down into subtasks
• Interact with both people and systems
• Execute workflows autonomously
• Adapt in real time when conditions change

That’s not just efficiency—it’s a transformation of how organizations operate.

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Recruiting as a Prime Example

At Paul’s Job, we see this every day. Recruiting is one of the most communication-heavy, complex processes inside any labor-intensive organization. A single hire involves:

• Candidates sending documents, answering questions, scheduling interviews
• Recruiters pre-screening, checking documents, verifying availability
• Hiring managers deciding who to move forward
• Assistants or coordinators managing calendars and logistics

When this process runs manually, it consumes enormous time and management attention. In industries like elderly care, facility management, or retail—where service delivery depends directly on having enough frontline staff—the consequences are dramatic:

• Positions stay unfilled.
• Companies can’t serve as many customers or patients.
• Competitors win candidates simply by moving faster.

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What Happens When You Automate Recruiting

Now imagine replacing this fragmented workflow with an end-to-end recruiting agent. Candidates connect via WhatsApp or SMS. Paul, the AI agent, guides them through the process:

• Collects documents (driver’s license, language certificates, work permits).
• Assesses requirements (language via voice message, availability, certifications).
• Schedules interviews automatically with hiring managers.
• Prepares contracts as soon as all conditions are met.

The result? Hiring can move from first touch to signed contract in under 60 minutes.

This is not a chatbot bolted onto an old process. It’s a process reimagined around agents—exactly the kind of “vertical use case at scale” McKinsey highlights as the missing piece in today’s AI strategies.

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Why This Matters for Service Industries

For labor-driven businesses, faster recruiting isn’t just an HR metric. It directly drives capacity and revenue:

• Elderly care providers with more caregivers can support more patients in their homes.
• Retailers and logistics firms can staff stores and warehouses more reliably.
• Security and facility companies can fulfill contracts without costly delays.

In these industries, recruiting speed and efficiency are strategic levers. Companies that master AI-powered recruiting gain a decisive advantage in a market where labor shortages are the new normal.

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The Broader Lesson for CEOs

The McKinsey playbook concludes that the time for experimentation is over. CEOs must move beyond pilots and commit to process reinvention powered by agents. That means:

• Embedding agents into core workflows, not just as add-ons.
• Redesigning processes to exploit agent capabilities like parallel execution and real-time adaptability.
• Establishing governance to ensure trust, safety, and adoption.

Recruiting is just one example—but it proves the larger point. Agentic AI isn’t about tinkering. It’s about rethinking how work gets done.

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Closing Thought

The gen AI paradox won’t be solved with more copilots and chatbots. It will be solved when companies choose a few high-impact processes, redesign them end-to-end, and let agents run them.

Recruiting shows what’s possible: from weeks of back-and-forth to a new hire in less than an hour. That’s the power of process-level automation—and that’s the real agentic AI advantage.

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