About half of all job seekers use artificial intelligence to apply for jobs, flooding employers and recruiters with poor-quality applications in an already tight job market.
Candidates are increasingly turning to generative AI—the type of AI used in chatbot products like ChatGPT and Gemini to create conversational-style text—to help them write their resumes, cover letters, and complete assessments.
Estimates from employers and recruiters who spoke to the Financial Times, as well as several published surveys, put the figure at as high as 50 percent of applicants.
A “flood” of AI-powered applications has resulted in the number of candidates per position more than doubling while at the same time “lowering the barrier to entry,” said Khyati Sundaram, CEO of recruitment platform Applied.
“We’re definitely seeing higher volume and lower quality, which means it’s harder to sift through,” she added. “A candidate can copy and paste any application question into ChatGPT and then copy and paste it back into the application form.”
In recent months, recruiters have received more applications for each job because labor markets on both sides of the Atlantic have weakened, leaving employers with fewer vacancies to fill and more people looking for new jobs after being laid off.
Longer-term trends such as the increase in online job boards, which make vacancies accessible to a wider range of potential applicants and simplify the application process, have already led to an increase in the number of applications.
According to a survey of 2,500 UK workers by HR startup Beamery, around 46 percent of job seekers use generative AI to search for and apply for jobs. In a separate survey of 5,000 global job seekers by creative platform Canva, 45 percent had used generative AI to create or enhance their CV.
“We are seeing increasing use of AI,” said Andy Heyes, regional managing director of UK-based tech recruiter Harvey Nash, adding that “telltale signs (such as) American grammar” and “boring” applications provided “an indication of whether candidates have used AI.”
Many recruiters are now dealing with large volumes of AI-generated resumes from candidates who have used these tools to polish their personal statements and add key keywords. The actual numbers might be higher, some have added, but these estimates are based on the numbers that were obviously recognized, usually because they were copied and pasted without editing.
“Without proper editing, language becomes clunky and generic, and hiring managers can spot that,” says Victoria McLean, managing director of careers consultancy CityCV. “Resumes need to showcase the candidate’s personality, their passions and their story, and that’s something AI simply can’t do.”
Many large employers have a zero-tolerance attitude toward the use of AI, say several people familiar with their processes. The Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG – have warned graduates against using AI in their job applications.
In addition, more and more candidates are using generative AI to cheat on recruitment tests.
“Over the last 18 months, I have seen the most unrest ever on the employer side,” said Jamie Betts, founder and chief product officer of Neurosight, a consultancy that advises companies such as Virgin Media, Grant Thornton and the NHS on psychometric testing.
Betts highlighted the entry-level sector, where applicants tend to be younger and “very adept” at using advanced generative AI and “able to go undetected.”
Neurosight found in a recent survey of 1,500 student job seekers that 57 percent of them used ChatGPT to assist with their application process.
It was also found that users of the free version of ChatGPT were less likely to pass psychometric tests, while users of the paid version were very likely to do so.
The quarter of job seekers who paid for ChatGPT passed the test “with flying colors,” says Betts. They were “mostly applicants from higher social classes, male applicants, without disabilities and mostly white, as there is a correlation with socioeconomic status.”
Many employers and recruiters hope that a candidate who has cheated or lied during the application process will be exposed in the final in-person or virtual interview.
“Candidates are increasingly concerned about how they stand out in the job market, so they are simply turning to generative AI to present an inflated version of their actual experience,” says Ross Crook, global managing director at recruitment agency Morgan McKinley.
“Currently everything is automated as much as possible, but … human interaction will always be required before the final selection is made.”
