AI pre-screening swarms 70% of Singapore recruitment

Four in 10 recruiters now face intense pressure to fill open roles faster than in previous years.

Seven in ten (70%) recruiters in Singapore plan to increase their use of artificial intelligence (AI) for pre-screening interviews, as 40% face pressure to hire qualified candidates faster, according to a LinkedIn report.

The move comes as more than half (58%) of professionals in Singapore are actively seeking new roles in 2026, yet 74% of recruiters said finding qualified candidates has become more challenging.

Early adopters are already seeing results, with 61% of recruiters who use AI tools saying the technology helped them identify candidates with skills they might otherwise have missed.

Almost four in five (79%) added that AI has already changed how their organisation hires.

Moreover, 40% were also expected to identify overlooked or “hidden” candidates amidst a limited number of open roles. Applications per job posting rose 6% year-on-year.

On the other hand, Singapore’s overall unemployment stood at 2.0% in December 2025, with resident unemployment at 2.9% and citizen unemployment at 3.0%, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Manpower.

The share of firms expecting to hire in the next three months also eased to 43.3%

Separately, LinkedIn’s labour market outlook report revealed that hiring activity in the country was about 5% lower in 2025 compared with 2024, despite job postings rising 4% YoY. Employers prioritised cost discipline, productivity, and internal redeployment over net new hiring.

Hiring remained below pre-pandemic levels, with the slowdown attributed to cyclical and macro-driven factors rather than AI-driven job displacement, the report added.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia