The majority of workers in the UK (70%) prefer the human touch to AI when looking for a job, according to the latest candidate sentiment survey from Robert Half.

The survey also found that 36% of people across the UK choose to deal with humans rather than AI while 34% stated that they are happy for AI to be part of the job search process, but still feel that people need to be a fundamental part of their experience.

By age group, the study noted that fewer 18-34 year olds wanted to deal only with humans (25% versus 40% of those aged 35-54 and 49% of the over 55’s). However, almost half (43%) of the younger demographic aged 18-34 want person-to-person interaction to remain a critical component of recruitment.

Meanwhile, a further 35% of UK workers stated that AI has not yet impacted their role and don’t believe it will this year while 9% of employees believe that this technology will reshape their role by reducing administration, and 3% stated that AI is going to completely change how they work in 2024.

Kris Harris, regional director, UK Technology Solutions, at Robert Half, said, “AI holds the potential to greatly enable process optimisation and automation, yet in many areas the human subjective reasoning is and will remain fundamental. And it is not surprising that an overwhelming proportion of the UK workforce still views the experience of looking for a job as deeply human.”

“Finding purpose and fulfilment with meaningful work, whilst feeling connected and empowered is one way to describe the new world of work,” Harris said. “Individuals no longer simply perceive their workplace as a means of earning a living, but as an environment of shared values, beliefs and purpose. This makes job-seeking and career-building a subjective and personal experience, which cannot solely rely on AI.”

“Although emerging generations are certainly more adept at utilising technological developments, they still have a desire to connect with – and learn from – people, and that’s unlikely to ever disappear,” Harris added.