PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2026--
Phenom, the leader in applied AI with an infrastructure built specifically to redesign work operations, today released its State of Hiring Automation: 2026 Benchmark Report in partnership with Aptitude Research, analyzing hiring workflows and the candidate experience from the moment a candidate clicks apply to when they submit their application.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506136424/en/
The findings reveal a striking disconnect: organizations have invested heavily in attracting candidates and getting them to apply for jobs, but that’s where the process stalls. Most qualification still happens days later via email, long after engagement has peaked and candidates have moved on to other opportunities. Every qualified candidate who drops off due to process delays is a role that stays open longer, absorbs hiring team time and delays business impact.
The State of Hiring Automation Report revealed the issue is not that companies are lagging on improvements, but rather they do not perceive it’s a problem to fix. According to Aptitude Research survey data in the report, 72% of organizations rate their inline candidate experience as “effective” or “very effective.” Audits of their actual hiring workflows for frontline roles reveal a different story:
Attraction Is Working. Qualification Is Too Late.
The report provides detailed company rankings and analysis across eight industries (retail, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation & logistics, financial services, hospitality, IT and higher education) for both frontline and knowledge worker roles. The report also found that although companies are making strides to improve candidate attraction, they fall short in streamlining post-application interactions with job seekers:
Automation Urgency is Rising. A Hypercell Approach is Emerging.
Although 57% of organizations said there is increased urgency to use AI in hiring, most are scaling their approach without tailoring it by role. Among companies using automation in the apply process, it is applied almost identically to frontline and knowledge worker roles. This signals a missed opportunity to strengthen the hiring process by accommodating different hiring volumes, qualification requirements and candidate journeys.
Context is critical to ensuring the right AI agents and automation are deployed to have the most significant impact. Phenom’s Hypercell framework addresses this by capturing critical factors across roles within a given organization, including industry context, job function, and geography. The orchestration and governance of this deployment is overseen by Phenom WorkOps to ensure hiring workflows are specific, policies are embedded and humans are in the loop.
This ensures an experienced registered nurse in Kansas City is qualified against essential licensures like RN credentialing through the Kansas State Board of Nursing, while a patient care tech in Virginia follows a fast-tracked path anchored on state-issued CNA certification, BLS and availability.
“The invisible space inside every company where work either flows or stalls starts with hiring,” said Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and co-founder of Phenom. “Automation and AI agents only work when they’re applied with context at the right moment, for the right candidate, inside the right workflow. Without that discipline, speed becomes friction. With it, candidates move forward, work operations improve everywhere hiring touches and the business grows.”
Now organizations are in control of what success looks like for any role, any hiring moment, and automatically deploy the right automation and qualification stack to measure candidate fit, calibrated to the specific demands of their industry, function, and market. Specific use cases include:
How Organizations Are Closing the Qualification Gap
With 62% of organizations saying hiring automation is more critical now than a year ago, the report gives HR and talent leaders a practical framework for identifying the issues that are slowing hiring and recommendations to take action.
“Automation urgency is rising, tool ownership is widespread and the business case for inline qualification has never been clearer,” said Madeline Laurano, founder and chief analyst at Aptitude Research. “What this audit reveals is that owning the tools and deploying them where they create value are two very different things. The organizations that figure out the difference in the next 12 months will set the hiring standard for the rest of the decade.”
Leading organizations have enhanced their hiring process by:
Download the full State of Hiring Automation: 2026 Benchmark Reporthere.
Learn more about the findings by watching the “Mind the Gap: What the State of Hiring Automation Report Reveals” Webinar. Registerhere.
Enterprises interested in a detailed gap analysis of their current hiring process can request a complimentary Hiring Automation Audithere.
About Phenom
Phenom is an applied AI company with the only AI infrastructure built specifically for HR. Powered by Engines that harmonize data, Ontologies that guide every decision, X AI that hyper-personalizes experiences, and Agents that work alongside teams, Phenom’s platform uses industry and business context to automate workflows, eliminate busywork, and enhance every experience while remaining compliant. Driven by a purpose to help a billion people find the right work, no other company is as dedicated to helping organizations hire faster, develop better and retain longer.
Phenom has earned accolades including: Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies (6 consecutive years), Deloitte Technology's Fast 500 (5 years), 11 Brandon Hall ‘Excellence in Technology’ awards including Gold for ‘Best Advance in Generative AI for Business Impact,’ Business Intelligence Group’s Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards (3 consecutive years), The Cloud Awards 2025/2024, The A.I. Awards 2024, and a regional Timmy Award for launching and optimizing HelpOneBillion.com (2020).
Headquartered in Greater Philadelphia, Phenom also has offices in Canada, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
For more information, please visit www.phenom.com. Connect with Phenom on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Phenom today released its State of Hiring Automation: 2026 Benchmark Report in partnership with Aptitude Research, analyzing hiring workflows and the candidate experience from the moment a candidate clicks apply to when they submit their application.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media Wednesday that the war with Iran could soon end and oil and natural gas shipments could restart, if Iran accepts a reported agreement that he did not detail.
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” Trump's post said.
The White House believes it is nearing an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum to end the war, according to reporting by Axios. It said provisions include a moratorium on Iranian uranium enrichment, a lifting of U.S. sanctions and the distribution of frozen Iranian funds and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for ships.
Trump wrote that it was “perhaps a big assumption” that Iran would agree to the terms being offered by the United States.
The White House did not respond to questions about the possible agreement.
Also Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is appearing before a House committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as lawmakers seek answers for Lutnick’s contact with him in the years after 2008. Lutnick has given contradictory statements about his relationship with Epstein but says he has done nothing wrong and welcomes the closed-door interview with lawmakers.
Elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan on Tuesday reinforced a picture that’s becoming increasingly clear — while Trump still dominates the Republican Party, Democrats seem to have the momentum ahead of November’s midterm elections. In Indiana, five of the president’s candidates won with the help of an avalanche of cash.
And Trump has renewed his criticism of Pope Leo XIV, potentially complicating a fence-mending visit that Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to make this week to the Vatican. In an interview, Trump said the first American-born pontiff is helping Iran and also making the world less safe with his comments about the importance of not treating immigrants with disrespect.
The Latest:
Hamburg-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd says the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is costing it around $60 million a week, in particular in costs for fuel and insurance, as it remains too risky to permit its ships to try getting through.
Insurance costs have shot up due to the risk of attack from Iranian drones and small boats. Alternate routes to safe harbors or overland are “limited in capacity and cannot completely replace the regular maritime routes through the region,” a company statement said.
The number of ships passing the strait has dwindled to a trickle. Iran has demanded that vessels go through a vetting process run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp that involves passing to the north near the Iranian cost, submitting information on crew and cargo, and in some cases paying. But paying the IRGC risks running afoul of sanctions from the US and the EU, which have designated it a terrorist organization.
Oil prices and shipping are unlikely to return to normal until it’s clear the risk of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have receded, cautions Kaho Yu, head of energy and resources resources at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
“Even with diplomatic engagement continuing, energy markets are unlikely to return quickly to pre-crisis assumptions,” he said. “Refiners, shippers, and commodity traders will remain cautious until there is clearer evidence that Hormuz disruptions will not re-escalate.”
Despite the Iran-China meeting’s emphasis on de-escalation, “Hormuz remains the real metric that will be watched,” he added. “Tanker traffic and energy flows over the coming weeks and months are likely to matter more than diplomatic language in assessing whether Beijing can translate influence with Tehran into practical stability.”
About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the United States is no longer a great place for immigrants, according to the AP-NORC poll.
Roughly 3 in 10 say the U.S. is a great place for immigrants, while about 1 in 10 say it never was. The belief that America is no longer great for immigrants is more common among Democrats and independents.
Nick Grivas, a 40-year-old Democrat from Massachusetts, said he worries that federal immigration policies could discourage new arrivals from investing in their communities, especially if they don’t believe they will be allowed to remain.
“You’re less willing to commit to the project if you don’t think that you’re gonna be able to stay,” he said.
The White House believes it is nearing an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum to end the war, according to reporting by Axios.
There is not an agreement yet, but the provisions include a moratorium on Iranian uranium enrichment, a lifting of U.S. sanctions and the distribution of frozen Iranian funds and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for ships.
The White House did not respond to questions about the possible agreement.
Trump posted on social media that the war with Iran could soon end and oil and natural gas shipments could restart. But that all depends on Iran accepting a reported agreement that the U.S. president did not detail.
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” Trump said.
Trump said that it was “perhaps a big assumption” that Iran would agree to the terms being offered by the United States.
Many U.S. adults say they or someone they know has made life changes because of immigration enforcement over the last year, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
About one-third of Americans say they know someone who has started carrying proof of their immigration status or U.S. citizenship, been detained or deported, changed their travel plans, or significantly changed their routines – such as avoiding work, school or leaving the house – because of their immigration status.
This is especially true among Hispanic adults, with more than half knowing someone affected. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say they have a personal connection to someone impacted by immigration enforcement.
Wang Yi said his country was “deeply distressed” by the conflict. He spoke after meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was visiting Beijing for the first time since the war with the U.S. and Israel started Feb. 28.
China’s close economic and political ties to Tehran give it a unique position of influence. The Trump administration is pressing China to use that relationship to urge the Islamic Republic to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The Chinese minister’s comments followed an earlier statement by Trump that he was pausing his short-lived U.S. effort to guide stranded commercial vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz in hopes that a deal could be finalized. A shaky ceasefire has been largely holding, despite exchanges of fire during the U.S. push to reopen the strait on Monday.
The seat has been vacant for more than a year, since Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet resigned to take a seat in Congress.
Democrats are showing surprising strength in special elections and off-year contests across the country, winning races in unexpected places and significantly narrowing the gap, even when they fall short.
There’s no guarantee the trend will continue through the midterms, when turnout will be much higher, but it has nonetheless energized Democrats and spooked Republicans worried about keeping their congressional majorities.
Trump took aim at seven Republican state senators in Indiana who opposed his plan to redraw congressional district boundaries to help the party gain seats in the U.S. House. His intervention mostly paid off.
Groups allied with the president spent more than $8.3 million on advertising, an extraordinary surge of money into races that are typically low-profile.
Five Trump-backed challengers won. One incumbent won. A seventh contest was too close to call on Tuesday night.
The races were a test of Trump’s enduring grip over his party as Republicans grow increasingly anxious about the midterm elections.
By winning most of them, Trump sent a signal to Republicans everywhere that they can still get thrown out of office if they distance themselves from him even as his popularity fades. And they show the president that he can still credibly threaten consequences for Republicans who cross him.
The Trump-targeted state senators all represent districts he carried in 2024, mostly by 20 percentage points or more.
Elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan on Tuesday reinforced a picture that’s becoming increasingly clear — while President Donald Trump still dominates the Republican Party, Democrats seem to have the momentum ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The biggest test of Trump’s power came in Indiana, where he backed primary challenges against seven Republican state senators who rejected his redistricting plan in December. Five of the president’s candidates won with the help of an avalanche of cash.
Meanwhile in Michigan, a Democrat comfortably won a state Senate race in a bellwether district, the latest in a string of special election victories.
Over in Ohio, primaries locked in candidates for two major races with national implications.
▶ Read more
Pro-government demonstrators chant slogans as one of them holds a picture of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during their gathering at Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attends an event on health care affordability in the Oval Office at the White House, April 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio leaves the room after speaking to the media in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
