Capita rolls out ‘agentic AI’ to speed up recruitment

Outsourcing company Capita will use AI to automate more than 200 recruitment tasks and speed up hiring.

Capita will become one of the biggest employers in the UK to deploy “agentic” AI from Salesforce, which consists of autonomous AI agents that can independently carry out tasks previously managed by humans.

“We hire about 10,000 people for multiple operations and multiple contracts every year because of the nature of the transient workforce in some of our markets,” said Capita chief executive Adolfo Hernandez.

“High volume recruitment will probably be going to market this summer.”

Salesforce’s AI tools will be used to speed up tasks including job specifications to shortlisting, meaning recruiters can spend more time on final interviews and onboarding new staff.

According to a survey of UK CEOs and C-suite leaders by the firm, more than three-quarters (78%) are already using AI agents in their workflows, and 92% believe that “digital labour” will be live in their organisations by the end of the year.

By using these agents to manage processes, they expect to see a 26% jump in productivity, with the average employee saving between three and 10 hours a week.

Most (84%) senior leaders in the UK plan to train their teams on AI within the next 12 months, Salesforce found, with 40% planning to do so within the next six months, investing 12% of an average salary.

Earlier this week, science and technology secretary Peter Kyle announced an £86 billion investment in the sector, including a £25 million scheme to bring “elite AI experts” to the UK, and £187 million for new schemes to train up the digital workforce of tomorrow.

However, research shows that jobseekers want full transparency when AI is being used during the recruitment process.

Research published earlier this month by the Information Commissioner’s Office found that candidates wanted to know when and how automatic decision making (ADM) is used. The ICO has also unveiled plans to increase scrutiny into how AI and biometric technologies are used to support decision making during recruitment.

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