Artificial intelligence has quietly taken up residence in the practices of French job seekers. It stands as one of the most striking takeaways from the sixth edition of Robert Half’s barometer, “What Candidates Want,” published in April 2026 and conducted with a representative sample of 1,000 French employees.
One in Two Active Workers Use AI in Their Job Search
The figures are unequivocal: 46% of active workers report using AI tools in their job search “quite” or “very” regularly. This adoption masks deep disparities by gender and age: men are 58% to use it regularly, versus only 33% of women. Among 18–34-year-olds, the rate climbs to 61%, confirming that AI is already a reflex for the younger generation of candidates.
Moreover, AI tools appear as the 8th most-used job-search channel overall, used by 20% of people actively seeking work, just behind recruitment firms (24%). Yet again, the generational split is clear: almost one in four young workers (18–34) use AI to search for a job, making it a mainstream practice in this age group.
The CV Is King, but Not the Only Use
When asked what they concretely use AI for in their job search, the range of applications is broader than one might expect. Improving one’s CV remains the leading use (59%), followed by creating personalized CVs or cover-letter variants (45%). But AI is also used to practice for interviews (40%), to check a company’s reputation (39%), to identify keywords to include in an application (31%), or to gather information about the leadership or the target organization (30%).
The most advanced, and arguably most sensitive uses for recruiters concern the ability to answer the recruiter’s questions during interviews (29%) or to handle the technical tests requested during selection processes (25%). These practices raise new questions about the authenticity of applications and the reliability of assessments.
AI: The No. 1 Skill to Acquire
The appetite for AI doesn’t stop at job hunting. When asked about the skills they want to develop over the next 12 months, French employees place AI at the top (45%), ahead of technical hard skills (30%), soft skills (27%), or managerial competencies (20%). A strong signal to companies and recruiters: mastery of AI tools is now seen as a priority lever for career progression.
The Impact of AI on Jobs Remains Uncertain
Even as workers embrace AI tools, their view of AI’s impact on their jobs remains ambiguous. Only 37% believe AI will positively influence their work in the next five years, 21% anticipate a negative impact, and 42% say they don’t know. This level of uncertainty has remained steady since 2024 and 2025. The most optimistic groups are unsurprisingly the 18–34 age bracket (54% positive) and men (50%), while women and older workers show noticeably more cautious perceptions.
What Recruiters Should Take Away
For businesses and their HR teams, these findings sketch a recruitment market in the midst of transformation. On one hand, candidates are increasingly tech-enabled, capable of producing more polished applications but also potentially less differentiated. On the other, there is a strong demand for transparency and clarity in the selection processes: according to the same study, 69% of workers consider a clear description of the role and its responsibilities to be the most important criterion in a recruitment process; up 7 points from 2025.
AI is redefining the rules of the game for candidates. It is up to recruiters to adjust their own practices accordingly.
