Joveo’s CEO on the future of AI-powered recruitment: ‘When 90% of today’s hiring methods won’t survive AI, HR will raise its expectations’

Talent acquisition leaders are more important to a business’ future success than ever.

But what distinguishes one platform from another is not just features or claims — it’s the vision, mission, and integrity of leadership behind it.

That’s according to Joveo CEO Kshitij Jain (KJ).

In an interview with the vendor leader, he laid out how his company is positioning itself as a bold partner for change for CHROs and heads of TA overarching message is simple: “90% of how we do things today won’t exist tomorrow.”

Indeed, UNLEASH has recently reported that we are in HR’s reinvention era.

For Jain, his question for HR leaders is: Are your vendors equipped for that future?

Here are his five top takeaways that HR leaders should consider when building their TA roadmap for this new era.

1.AI is changing recruitment: Remember the mission

When I asked Jain to articulate Joveo’s mission, his answer was grounded in the daily frustrations of recruiters and candidates alike:

“There’s a huge wastage of human time. There can be one hundred applications for one hire in a long drawn process. What if someone sees a job and says, ‘That’s a perfect job for me’. They click, they get hired, and that’s the end of the story.”

He framed Joveo’s mission as focused on radical efficiency: Matching the right person to the right job, streamlining the application funnel, and reducing friction and drop-offs.

But efficiency isn’t the only pillar. Jain also emphasizes transparency.

“Beyond inefficiency, there are hidden margins and markups in our industry. We believe in transparency — internally and externally — showing how we make money, and doing it honestly.”

For CHROs, that focus on human trust matters.

As a recent Deloitte study advised HR: “Companies that prioritize having humans and machines work together through redesigned roles, processes, and operating models are significantly more likely to realize measurable returns on AI compared to those taking a technology-first approach.”

2.The 90% shift

One of the most memorable parts of our conversation was when Jain compared AI’s upheaval to an evolutionary event:

“Three million years ago, the Ice Age wiped out 90% of life. That’s how I view AI. 90% of what we do today will not survive. The unlearning and relearning has to be faster than ever.”

He challenged TA and HR leaders to rethink their relationship with product roadmaps and legacy expectations:

• No more long roadmaps: What used to take 12 months must now happen in weeks.
• Ask boldly: “Whatever you wanted, ask for it. If it doesn’t arrive at breakneck speed, that’s a red flag.”
• No trade-offs: High quality, speed, and scale must coexist. The old triangle (you pick two of three) is obsolete.

3.The future of work: Technology integrations

Integrations remain a recurring pain point for HR technology buyers.

“Integration has become so difficult that vendors can hold clients hostage. That world must change.” Jain says.

He believes in pre-stitched, in-built connectivity or partnerships where there isn’t a reliance on manual data pipelines or clunky middleware that causes excess complexity.

For HR leaders, that means asking a vendor: How many tech stack connections do we as HR practitioners have to build ourselves? How plug-and-play is this tool?

CHROs must be leaders in this shift in mindset.

According to Mark Whittle, Vice President of Advisory in the Gartner HR, 2026 is a “big opportunity for HR and for CHROs” when it comes to AI-enabled technology.

As part of Gartner’s CHROs in 2026 research, Whittle adds: “Many CHROs and HR departments are doing something with AI in their function and trying to enable AI within their organizations.

“It’s mostly trying things out, piloting a few things and implementing a few things, but you’ve got to have a real plan first, with a framework to think of.”

4.From dashboards to advisory AI: Making insight actionable

When it comes to roadmap, Jain tells UNLEASH Joveo is pushing beyond analytics toward guidance and insight.

He lays out five areas this is enabling HR Leaders.

• “Quality click” prediction: As soon as a candidate clicks on a job, the system gauges whether that action is likely to convert to a valid, shortlisted application.
• Prompt-driven analytics: Users can ask natural language query prompts and get immediate charts and signals.
• Outlier detection & root causes: The system flags what is deviating from patterns and recommends underlying causes and actions to HR teams.
• Instant microsites and landing pages: What once took months can now be created in minutes via a prompt, including career sites.
• Advisory nudges: What is the “what’s next” in the recruitment pipeline for particular HR practioners based on their company’s recruitment metrics?

For HR leaders, this marks a shift moving away from static dashboards toward actionable intelligence embedded in a tool that learns from the HR practitioner.

5.The comeback narrative: Rebuilding legacy for the AI era

UNLEASH also asked Jain to share an insight into his drive and principles as a CEO, asking what’s the hardest lesson you have learned as a leader?

“This is a great question.

“I’d say the willingness to start over.”

Jain is candid about Joveo’s internal transformation.

He shares that three and a half years ago, the company undertook a full rewrite of its codebase.

“We rewrote every line of technology from the ground up. It was painful, but necessary. We believed AI was coming, so we baked it in.”

Today, that gamble is paying off. The result has been flexibility for feature innovation, and a foundation that can ingest new ideas without compromise.

Jain shares that the willingness to start over is a powerful trait because it shows a boldness in being willing to sacrifice short-term comfort for long-term adaptability.

Looking ahead, Jain paints a vision where companies increasingly self-source talent.

“I believe that 75 to 80% of talent will come from in-house databases, CRMs and career sites.

“If you have that work working as one ecosystem, not in disconnected parts — that’s when you get optimal outcomes.”

His closing message to HR leaders is to be audacious, reimagine your vendor relationships, and demand a toolset that advises, predicts and adapts to your business.

Jain adds: “Everything you want is possible now. And if your vendor says otherwise, you’re talking to the wrong partner.”