Artificial intelligence is increasingly an integral part of everyday work, transforming recruitment, pay practices and onboarding rather than creating a single new profession, said Pécsi Judit, HR director at UNION Biztosító, in an interview with Pénzcentrum. Pécsi emphasized that the labor market is becoming more polarized, creating simultaneous challenges: managing large volumes of applications for some roles while competing fiercely for specialists in others.
Long job-search periods and a divided market
According to data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the average job-search period in Hungary now stands at 11.6 months. That figure reflects a labor market that is splitting: some positions attract very high numbers of applicants, while roles requiring specialized knowledge — such as data science, actuarial work or IT — continue to experience shortages. Pécsi sees intense cross-industry competition for these scarce talents.
Pay alone is not enough: retention and total offer matter
While competitive pay remains essential, Pécsi pointed out that salary by itself no longer secures top talent. Equally important are engaging professional tasks, opportunities for development, a good workplace environment and flexibility. On pay transparency she said transparency does not necessarily introduce new principles but makes existing ones more visible, documented and accountable; HR and managers must be able to explain objectively how pay decisions were reached. She also noted that counteroffers must align with the role’s value, pay bands and internal pay ratios, or be objectively justified.
Recruitment and selection in the AI era
Recruitment faces a paradox: both employers and candidates increasingly use AI, producing many flawless, highly polished but strikingly similar CVs. That makes it harder for HR professionals to identify the real person and genuine capabilities behind optimized applications. Consequently, practical task-based assessments are gaining importance alongside traditional interviews that focus on social skills.
Changing expectations for entry-level hires and the learning journey
As AI takes over many routine, entry-level tasks, expectations for newcomers have shifted toward independent thinking, problem solving, communication and the ability to learn. Pécsi said UNION prioritizes potential, curiosity, critical thinking, responsibility and adaptability. It is also important that young professionals use AI to augment thinking rather than replace it.
Employers must rethink the learning pathway: if AI replaces some junior learning tasks, organizations should deliberately create situations where juniors walk through the full reasoning process. Pécsi favors a model combining foundational knowledge, on-the-job learning, mentoring and AI use. The mentor’s role increasingly involves teaching evaluation and judgement — why a choice was made, what was checked and how the correctness of an answer was established — in short cycles of independent solution, feedback, reflection and a more complex next task.
HR (R)evolution conference — 17 November 2026
These topics will be discussed at the HR (R)evolution 2026 conference on 17 November. The organizers describe the event as one of Hungary’s leading labor-market and HR professional conferences, gathering HR specialists and middle and senior managers from notable domestic companies to debate the defining HR and labor-market trends of 2026. Pécsi Judit will speak at the conference and take part in a debate on whether organizations should still hire juniors in 2027.
Editorial note: AI assisted preparation
An AI assistant contributed to the preparation of this article; the final content was edited and verified by our journalist.
Tags: skills shortage, work, workforce, pay, artificial intelligence, labor market, recruitment, entry-level, compensation, HR.
