Is AI Making Hiring Impossible?

Have you noticed that the number of job seekers using generative AI to write their resumes and cover letters, and complete pre-hire assessments is rapidly increasing?

According to the Financial Times, "about half of all job seekers are using artificial intelligence tools to apply for roles, inundating employers and recruiters with low-quality applications in an already squeezed labor market."

In addition, 29% of job seekers have used AI to do a test or skills assessment, potentially skewing the results and hiding a lack of relevant skills. 28% have used AI to come up with answers to interview questions, and 26% have used AI to mass apply for jobs.

A Job Seeker AI Survey by Capterra reveals how candidates use AI to exaggerate their skills, cheat interviews, and forge assessments, with 83% admitting to deception!

Why is using AI to apply for jobs a problem?

Well, to put it bluntly, when used in certain ways, it's cheating. When applicants use AI to beef up their resume or to complete skills assessments, hiring managers are getting a false sense of who the applicant is. This will lead them to make hiring decisions based on inaccurate information, potentially causing them to make bad hires.

It's also flooding companies with many resumes and applications for people who aren't even qualified for the job...

"We're definitely seeing higher volume and lower quality, which means it is harder to sift through. A candidate can copy and paste any application question into ChatGPT, and then can copy and paste that back into that application form."~Khyati Sundaram, chief executive of Applied

So how do I spot a cover letter or resume done by AI?

1. Start by looking for unnatural repetition or a lack of context around the use of keywords. AI loves to throw keywords in, so this is an obvious tell.

2. Another thing to watch for is an inconsistent tone and style; look for shifts in voice, formality, or writing style throughout the resume or cover letter. Also, does the writing and tone of the cover letter differ from the resume?

3. It will be bland. There will be no personality or depth to the cover letter or resume. AI doesn't know anything about the person applying, so there will be nothing personal about it.

4. Is it excessively long and rambling? For example, when a job seeker asks AI to write a cover letter for a marketing position, it will come up with all the skills and buzzwords it knows about marketing and will list it all! Even if they don't relate to the job being applied for.

How do I prevent making bad hires due to AI?

According to Cangrade.com, you don't need to conduct an in-depth investigation into who is potentially using AI tools when you're hiring-you simply need to consider adjusting your hiring process to prioritize pieces that can't be faked with AI.

• Soft skills assessments: It's possible to fake hard skills (ex. programming, accounting, language fluency, etc.) for the technical requirements of a job with AI tools. But it's much more challenging to use AI to pretend to possess critical soft skills (ex. adaptability, teamwork, organization, and critical thinking). These skills are also much harder to train than hard skills, so it's important to prioritize soft skills to prevent applicant cheating.

• Don't rely as much on resumes and cover letters: Obviously, you need these two things to get an idea of who you're hiring, but people can lie on cover letters and resumes. So don't just take the applicant's word, check references and confirm their education and work history!

• 1:1video interviews: Written tests/assessments are definitely susceptible to cheating with AI, so anytime you can do an in-person or video interview, do it! During a video interview, you can ask questions to confirm what they put on their resume. You can check both soft and hard skills. This will also help you to gain a better understanding of who the candidate is.

• AI detection tools: Did you know that there are tools out there to help you identify content written by AI? They work by looking for specific characteristics in the text, such as high repetition and long and rambling sentences (characteristics typical of AI writing), allowing the detector to sense when text is AI-generated. These tools aren't 100% accurate, but they're very helpful!

As more job seekers realize how AI can help in their job search, employers will need to stay one step ahead and move quickly to decide for themselves what is acceptable or not when it comes to AI.

Those who combine AI detection tools with smarter recruiting processes will have a clear advantage in identifying and hiring candidates who are actually qualified for their jobs.