Small Businesses Are Replacing Recruiters With AI Tools
BigGeo, a Calgary-based data company with 40 employees, eliminated its human resources position in early 2026 after adopting an AI recruiting tool. The move came as the company posted six open positions and faced an unusually large volume of applications.
Arden Styles, BigGeo's chief operating officer, said the tool saved him hundreds of hours. "We've only been using it for the last six months, but this tool has fixed one of our biggest bottlenecks: recruitment," he said.
Small businesses across Canada are increasingly turning to AI for hiring, social media management, website development, and sales reporting. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 12.5 percent of companies with fewer than 100 employees now use AI tools. A September 2025 survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that 23 percent of small business owners have allocated budget for AI, with another 25 percent planning to do so over the next three years.
How the Tools Work
BigGeo uses Hero AI, a recruiting agent from Australian payroll provider Employment Hero (which acquired Canadian software company Humi HR in January 2025). The tool designs job posts, posts them across platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn, and screens applications.
The system ranks candidates and explains its reasoning. Selected applicants receive interview invitations conducted by the AI agent, which further narrows the candidate pool. For BigGeo's six positions, the tool reduced 20 applications to three finalists whom Styles then interviewed in person.
KJ Lee, Employment Hero's chief executive officer, said the company targets small and medium enterprises because they face one of two extremes: they're either overwhelmed with applications or struggling to fill roles. Usage data from Australia, where Hero AI has been available for about a year, shows hiring timelines reduced by roughly 10 days.
Broader Adoption Among Small Businesses
Some business owners are experimenting with general-purpose AI platforms. Michael Duggin, a home renovation contractor in Pickering, Ontario, struggled for months to fill administrative and electrician positions through job postings on Kijiji, Facebook, and Indeed.
After peers recommended the platform Claude, Duggin began using it to rewrite job postings. "I think my job postings were not written well. They weren't showing up to people," he said. He now uses the AI platform to write and post jobs, and said he would consider a dedicated recruiting agent if his business expands further.
"Anything I can outsource to AI, I will, because it frees me up to take on more clients," Duggin said.
According to the CFIB survey, 35 percent of small business owners are actively planning to use generative AI tools and automation to streamline HR tasks.
Major Chains Moving Faster
Large employers are implementing AI recruiting tools at scale. In late 2024, Chipotle Mexican Grill introduced an AI assistant called "Ava Cado" to handle hiring for 20,000 seasonal roles. The assistant chats with candidates, answers questions about the company, schedules interviews, and sends offer letters to candidates selected by hiring managers.
Chipotle reported cutting recruitment time by roughly 75 percent.
Canadian Adoption Catching Up
Canada's small businesses lagged behind other G7 countries in AI adoption during 2023 and 2024, according to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. That gap has narrowed significantly. Canadian small businesses now use AI at rates rivaling those in Japan and the United Kingdom, and far exceeding adoption rates among American small businesses.
HR software has emerged as a particular focus area. The CFIB noted that small businesses view AI-powered HR tools as a way to scale operations without hiring additional staff to handle that growth.
For HR professionals, these shifts signal a changing role. Rather than managing high-volume screening, the focus is shifting to strategy, candidate experience, and decisions that require human judgment.
Learn more about AI for Human Resources or explore the AI Learning Path for CHROs.
Your membership also unlocks:
