What HR professionals told us at Dansk HR Træfpunkt 2026

What is actually making recruitment difficult for HR teams right now? That was one of the questions we brought with us to Dansk HR Træfpunkt 2026 in Copenhagen. On 16 and 17 September, HR professionals, leaders and providers came together at Lokomotivværkstedet to exchange perspectives on HR, leadership and the workplace. This year’s programme also put topics such as AI in HR and the digitalisation of the job market on the agenda.

For us at Gi Group Denmark, however, some of the most interesting input came directly from the people attending the event. At our Challenge Wall, we asked HR professionals to share the issues they currently encounter in recruitment. The answers painted a picture of a hiring environment in which finding candidates is only one part of the equation.

More applications do not necessarily make hiring easier

One recurring issue was the sheer number of applications. At first glance, a large candidate pool might sound like a good thing. In practice, it can create another problem: hiring managers still need to identify the people who genuinely fit the role and organisation. AI adds another layer to this. Visitors pointed out that applications are increasingly AI-generated, making it harder to get a feeling for the actual person behind the CV and cover letter. This reflects a broader discussion within HR.

AI and digitalisation were prominent topics at Dansk HR Træfpunkt 2026, including sessions specifically examining how AI is changing the conditions for both employers and candidates. The input from our Challenge Wall therefore raised an important question: if applications become easier to create, how does recruitment retain the human insight needed to make good hiring decisions?

Qualifications are only part of the match

Another topic came up several times: recruitment can become too focused on qualifications while giving too little attention to human values. A candidate can meet the technical requirements of a role and still not be the right match for the organisation, team or working environment. Conversely, candidates who do not tick every box on paper may bring relevant qualities that are harder to identify through a qualification-focused screening process.

This becomes particularly relevant when companies are recruiting technical profiles, which visitors described as difficult to find in the first place. A narrow scope for a role or a lack of experience among applicants can reduce the available candidate pool even further. For Gi Group Denmark, this is also why candidate screening goes beyond the application itself. Candidates we work with are interviewed and screened before being presented to a company, allowing qualifications as well as behaviour and values to become part of the assessment.

Recruitment processes can become an obstacle themselves

Not every issue on the Challenge Wall was about candidates. Some concerned what happens inside companies. One example was the “go, stop, go” recruitment process: start searching for a person, pause because the budget is no longer available, then restart the process later with a different timeline.

Long internal processes can make recruitment harder even when suitable candidates exist. Requirements may change, timelines move and candidates who were available at the beginning of the process may no longer be available when a decision is finally made. Visitors also highlighted a lack of structure in interviews. Without a consistent approach, comparing candidates’ interview performance becomes difficult. Recruitment then risks depending on individual impressions rather than criteria that can be applied across candidates.

Employer branding remains part of the recruitment equation

Employer branding also made it onto the Challenge Wall. That fits into the wider picture. Recruitment does not begin when an application arrives. How a company presents itself, what candidates understand about the role and organisation and what they experience throughout the hiring process all influence recruitment.

The issues raised at Dansk HR are therefore closely connected. Too many applications, difficult-to-find technical profiles, unclear internal processes, a strong focus on qualifications and employer branding may look like separate topics. In practice, they can all affect the same outcome: whether companies and candidates find the right match.

Taking the Challenge Wall beyond Dansk HR

Our takeaway from Dansk HR Træfpunkt is not that there is one recruitment issue HR teams need to solve. The Challenge Wall showed something more useful: different companies experience friction at very different points in the hiring process. For some, the problem starts with attracting the right profiles. For others, it is screening a high volume of applications, assessing the person behind the qualifications or keeping an internal hiring process moving. That is where the conversation becomes interesting.

At Gi Group Denmark, our role is to understand where recruitment is getting stuck and determine which part of the process needs attention, whether that means sourcing candidates, screening and selection, temporary staffing or permanent recruitment. The Challenge Wall gave us plenty to discuss at Dansk HR. Now we are taking those conversations with us beyond the event.