Key Takeaways
- A lot of clients want candidates who are AI fluent, but are asking for a mindset more than a skill set. They screen for disposition, curiosity, and a willingness to adapt.
- Not every company wants the same thing. Some organizations require AI enthusiasm, while others actively screen against it. Knowing where you stand is as important as knowing the role.
- I have found there are four distinct tiers of AI users in the talent pool. They are avoiders, casual users, strategic users, and builders. Each tier represents a meaningfully different level of adoption, and the right tier depends entirely on the role and the client's actual needs.
- The best screening questions to gauge a candidate's level of adoption focus on impact. Asking candidates to describe a time AI changed what they were able to accomplish separates people who are genuinely integrating it from those who are just checking a box.
Recently, I attended a supplier summit for one of our larger manufacturing clients. It was the kind of meeting where you expect to hear about vendor performance metrics and process updates. What I didn't expect was a statement that has stuck with me ever since.
Their message to every staffing agency in the room was simple: every single person we hire, regardless of role, level, or department, will work with AI. Not might. Will. And what they needed from us as Recruiters wasn't a checklist of AI tools or a certification to screen for. What they needed was for us to find people who were open to it. People who were curious, willing to learn, and ready to embrace change rather than resist it.
That conversation reframed something I'd been trying to put into words for a while. When employers say they want “AI-forward” candidates, they're not just asking for a skill set. They're asking about a mindset. And as a Recruiter, that changes everything about how you approach a screening call.
The question isn't “can you use AI?” It's “how do you feel about it?”
There's a version of AI screening that looks like a technical assessment. What tools have you used, what prompts have you written? Can you build a workflow? That version matters for certain roles. But for a lot of the hiring happening right now, the more important question is attitudinal. Especially since most candidates will not have access to the enterprise-level AI tools being used within the organization, or perhaps not the same ones, think Co-Pilot, Gemini, Claude, or a proprietary tool trained entirely on internal data. They may have experience with one, but not the other.
I've talked to candidates who light up when AI comes up. They're experimenting, learning, and figuring out how it fits into their process. I've also talked to candidates, particularly writers and creatives who built careers on skills AI now replicates, who are genuinely resistant. Those who see it as a threat to their craft and their livelihood. Both reactions are understandable. But only one of them is a fit for a client whose workforce needs to move in the same direction.
The company I mentioned didn’t screen for AI proficiency; they screened for AI disposition. Someone who says “I hate AI and I'll never use it” isn't a fit for that organization, no matter how talented they are.
Four types of AI users you'll actually encounter
After years of recruiting across creative, content, and now expanded technical categories, I've started to think about AI adoption in four distinct tiers. Understanding where a candidate falls tells you a lot about how they'll perform in an AI-fluent environment.
The avoider
These candidates are resistant, sometimes passively, sometimes vocally. They see AI as a threat to authentic work, job security, or something more fundamental about how they practice their craft. They're still out there in meaningful numbers, especially in creative and writing fields where the disruption has been most visible and most personal.
There's nothing wrong with this perspective, and it's worth understanding where it comes from. But in companies that need people who will lean into AI-assisted workflows, avoiders will struggle, and placing them in that environment doesn't serve anyone. They may, however, be a good fit for some organizations that are strictly “no AI zones.”
The casual user
This is probably the largest group right now. These candidates are using AI, but transactionally, cleaning up an email in ChatGPT, asking a quick question, and running a basic prompt to get unstuck. They're not resistant, which is meaningful. But they're not doing anything strategic or differentiated with it either.
At this point, casual AI use is close to table stakes. It's worth noting, but it's not a selling point on its own.
The strategic user
Strategic users have intentionally and systematically integrated AI into their workflows. They're using it to analyze data, build processes, develop survey questions, stress-test ideas, or streamline something that used to take three times as long. They are busy contemplating how to use AI more effectively, not just whether or not they should.
When a candidate can walk you through their AI workflow, explain what it changed, what it improved, and where it still falls short, that tells you they haven't outsourced their critical thinking skills to AI. In fact, they're actually applying those skills to how they use AI.
The builder
Then there's a category that operates at an entirely different level: Developers, Engineers, and AI Specialists who are building the systems everyone else is using. These are the people training models, architecting agentic workflows, designing AI-assisted features from the ground up, and working directly with large language models to create new capabilities. And as more organizations stand up dedicated AI Teams and hire their first AI Directors for oversight and governance, this tier is becoming a hiring category all its own.
What this means in practice
When a hiring manager tells me they need candidates who are open to using AI, I know how best to screen for that mindset in interviews and prescreenings.
The four tiers give me a frame, but there's one question that actually tells where someone lands: “Tell me about a time you used AI to do something you couldn't have done, or done as well, on your own.” A casual user will struggle to get specific. A strategic user will have three examples ready, and at least one of them will include what didn't work.
That's what the manufacturing client was really asking for when they said everyone will work with AI. Not a certification or a tools list. Someone who has been figuring it out already and can tell you what they've learned. That doesn't show up on a resume, but it comes through pretty quickly once you start asking the right questions.
About the author
Victoria is a dedicated Sr. Recruiter with 20 years of experience in the ever-changing staffing industry. With a deep understanding of recruitment strategies and a mission to provide exceptional candidate experiences, Vicki has successfully partnered with Fortune 500 companies across various sectors for the past 8 years at Aquent, driving innovative sourcing techniques and comprehensive recruitment strategies for creative, digital and marketing talent. Known for building strong, trust-based relationships, Vicki is passionate about understanding candidates' unique journeys and aligning them with the right opportunities. With a strategic approach to sourcing and recruitment, Vicki ensures that every interaction is positive, fostering an environment where candidates feel valued and supported throughout the hiring process. Holding a BA in Psychology and Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vicki combines a deep understanding of human dynamics with innovative recruitment strategies.
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