At this year’s SHRM25 Conference in San Diego, Equifax surveyed more than 250 HR executives and professionals and found a troubling paradox: HR teams know they need technology to compete for talent, but many are still struggling to use it effectively.
Half of HR leaders polled said one of their biggest challenges is leveraging tech to automate workflows—even as the same survey revealed that 76% are already experimenting with AI in hiring and onboarding.
“As AI and emerging technologies proliferate, HR professionals increasingly want to automate the time-intensive aspects of their days so they can focus on the human-first parts of their jobs,” said Chris Johnson, SVP and GM of Employer Services at Equifax Workforce Solutions.
The Rise of AI—and AI-Generated Resumes
One of the biggest headaches for HR teams isn’t just tech adoption—it’s the job applicants themselves. 71% of HR professionals reported encountering fabricated or misleading information on resumes.
The most common problem areas? Employment history, education, and credentials. Worse, only 20% of HR professionals feel “very confident” in spotting falsified information. That lack of confidence is becoming more concerning as generative AI tools make resume padding easier—and harder to detect—than ever.
“Employers may think they’ve found a well-qualified candidate, only to learn after a comprehensive background check that the person was exaggerating their experience,” said Bart Lautenbach, SVP and GM of Talent Solutions at Equifax Workforce Solutions. “That mistake can be extremely costly.”
The report recommends that employers lean on automated employment and education verifications as a way to avoid bad hires, which not only impact ROI but can also drag down morale and productivity.
The Speed-to-Hire Problem
Another key theme from the survey: speed matters. Yet fewer than 12% of HR professionals say their organizations hire quickly. That slowness risks losing top candidates in competitive markets.
Onboarding doesn’t fare much better. 83% of HR professionals see room for improvement in how their companies onboard new hires, with inefficiencies ranging from paperwork delays to compliance bottlenecks.
Equifax argues automation can ease both issues by digitizing onboarding forms, speeding background checks, and ensuring compliance—all while giving new hires a smoother first-day experience.
The Bigger Picture
The survey underscores the growing tension in HR tech adoption: teams want automation to handle repetitive tasks, but adoption is uneven, and confidence in catching risks like AI-boosted resumes is low. At the same time, candidates expect seamless, fast, and fair hiring experiences.
For HR tech vendors, that gap represents opportunity. AI-powered hiring platforms, compliance-driven automation, and predictive analytics are no longer optional—they’re quickly becoming the differentiators between organizations that win top talent and those that lose it to faster-moving competitors.
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