When Mara Lucini stepped into her role as Head of Global Recruitment Business Partners at HP one year ago, she assumed a newly created position designed to strengthen direct connections with every business unit. HP had already globally implemented an AI-driven talent intelligence platform well before that. “Our goal was to move swiftly and consistently toward a single global recruitment strategy and one unified point of contact for the business, enabling greater speed and focus in strategic decision-making.”
HP positions AI as fundamental to its future, integrating it into its devices, operations, and ecosystem to drive smarter technology, greater productivity and security, and a leading role in the Future of Work. “Building on this company-wide vision, we now operate with one integrated global recruitment structure, aligned around a shared strategic mindset in every country”, she explains. “This coherence is especially important as HP undergoes a major transformation driven by AI across the entire organisation. We are reshaping our corporate systems. HR, including recruitment, plays a central role in enabling this digital shift. In this context, we implemented the AI-powered talent intelligence platform Eightfold, creating a unified ecosystem that connects recruitment, skills matching, and internal mobility.”
No AI without culture readiness
But Lucini strongly cautions against implementing AI without the necessary cultural foundations. “You cannot implement AI without simultaneously investing in culture, change management and process digitalisation. HP has been supporting that cultural shift for years with large-scale training programmes for our employees and for our partners. We also sell this technology to our customers, so our own workforce obviously need to speak the same digital language.”
AI has fundamentally changed and accelerated recruitment, yet the human factor remains essential in the relationship with candidates. “In the way we interview, the candidate journey, the first interactions. Always preserve the balance between efficiency and human connection. For an initial screening, I still prefer video calls over phone calls. And yes,” she laughs, “as an Italian, I strongly believe in body language.” AI also supports the drafting of CVs and job descriptions, always within HP’s recognisable tone of voice. “The recruiter remains fully accountable. AI supports us, but it does not replace human judgement.”
Internal mobility as the biggest gain
One advantage of AI lies in the speed and scale of screening. For a global brand like HP, receiving massive volumes of applications, centralised AI-driven screening makes a decisive difference. “You no longer need to manually go through thousands of CVs. It increases efficiency and improves the quality of the first selection. You also need scale, sufficient data and digital maturity.”
What stands out is that HP implemented AI globally straight away. “Our biggest challenge was ensuring continuity. Throughout the transition, global recruitment operations continued uninterrupted and at significant volume. Recruiters, HR managers, and HR business partners had to stay fully operational while simultaneously completing intensive system training. Last year, we rolled out the new plattform, this year we focus on new products and services and Today, the most visible transformation is clearly in internal mobility. All employees worlwide can visualize automatically internal roles, projects and mentoring opportunities that match their profile. It actively pushes people to be proactive in their career and think out of their comfort zone.” As external hiring patterns evolved, internal mobility became increasingly important from a strategic perspective. “The investment in AI-driven internal mobility has been a clear success for us, provided that employees individually create their own profiles.”
Classic sourcing remains a cornerstone
HP continues to invest in the digital optimisation of the entire recruitment process through digital calendars, workflow integration and automation. Yet, for Lucini, technology alone is never enough. “You first need to invest in your employer brand, and at the same time heavily invest in HR training across the entire organisation. Without that, AI solutions remain superficial.” Classic sourcing remains indispensable as well: “LinkedIn is still crucial. And across the globe we take into account enormous differences in unemployment rates and talent availability between countries. That continues to shape how we design our recruitment strategy.”
Key takeaways
- AI in recruitment requires a full digital and cultural transformation.
- AI can be a powerful lever for internal mobility as well.
- The human touch remains essential in the candidate experience despite advanced automation.
- Global implementation requires major investments in training and change management.
- Employer branding and sourcing remain fundamental in an AI-driven future.
