Selby Jennings survey: finance HR teams struggle to judge AI skills
Industry News · Finance and Accounting · October 21, 2026
Hiring for AI-enabled roles is growing. Many teams cannot yet tell strong claims from weak ones.
Week of October 14 to October 21, 2026 · Orbytt Editorial
Censuswide surveyed 500 US finance HR professionals for Selby Jennings. The data was collected August 19 to 26, 2026.
Selby Jennings is a financial services recruiter, so the report has a commercial interest. Censuswide ran the survey. All 500 respondents work in HR in US finance.
Respondents say hiring for AI-enabled roles grew 74% over the past year. Hiring spend on this talent rose 70%. Yet 31% name the top roadblock as having no one inside who can confidently evaluate candidates.
In the survey, 16% do not know what AI-enabled means for the roles they fill. Half say they now interview more underqualified candidates. About 42% added technical assessments, and 27% use AI-conducted interviews.
We could not find a publication date on the report page, and we checked it on October 21, 2026. The finance focus limits how far the results travel to other fields.
The takeawayBuyers want proof of AI skill but lack a way to test it. Show your work, not only your tool list.
Why it matters
- For talent: add a short case study to your profile. State the task, the tool, the review step, and the result.
- For employers and agencies: write the test before you post the role. Ask candidates to show a real workflow.
Sources
- AI Talent Pulse Report: Financial Services, Selby Jennings, Data collected August 19 to 26, 2026. www.selbyjennings.com
