{"id":276609,"date":"2025-11-11T15:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/276609\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T15:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T15:52:10","slug":"job-recruiters-struggle-to-hire-qualified-people-amid-flood-of-ai-written-job-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/276609\/","title":{"rendered":"Job recruiters struggle to hire qualified people amid flood of AI-written job applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Moor Studio\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Richard Noel, director of security operations and infrastructure for workplace software firm Eptura, has seen a surge of job applications in the past year, with many cover letters and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s seemingly written by artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Noel, a Quebecker living in Minnesota, says he used to get about 100 to 120 applications for each job posting. That number has tripled, meaning more work for him and his human-resources colleagues when it comes to discerning who is actually a good candidate and who has used AI to appear like one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question we keep asking ourselves is, what\u2019s the end goal for a candidate who isn\u2019t qualified, if they manage by some miracle to make it through the hiring process?\u201d said Mr. Noel, whose company has several offices around the world, including in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only so much \u2018fake it until you make it\u2019 with AI,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

How AI is both hurting and helping the next generation of workers<\/a><\/p>\n

The challenges faced by Mr. Noel\u2019s team are becoming more common in many industries. With AI tools making it easier for applicants to tailor their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, and high unemployment pushing more people into the job hunt, employers are being flooded with applications, especially for entry-level positions.<\/p>\n

As a result, recruiters and hiring managers are giving additional scrutiny to anyone whose application clearly leans heavily on AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they used AI to get the interview, then it\u2019s possible they\u2019re using AI to get through the hiring process,\u201d Mr. Noel says, adding that his team has seen candidates try to do online interviews with their cameras off, which suggests they may be getting help from AI with their answers.<\/p>\n

To cut through the glut, Mr. Noel has started offering an interview to anyone referred by someone he knows – provided they fit the job profile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way, at least you know you\u2019re getting genuine candidates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

AI becoming unavoidable for recruiters and job seekers<\/a><\/p>\n

Katrina McFadden, chief people officer at cannabis company Organigram, says her team has changed the types of questions they ask in interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past you might have asked questions that build on the CV. Now you have to ask questions that dig into the CV,\u201d she said, adding that they have started asking job seekers to attend interviews in person more often.<\/p>\n

Ms. McFadden says her company\u2019s entry-level postings sometimes get more than 300 applications a day, but she can spot an AI r\u00e9sum\u00e9 right away. They tend to be more generic and not especially good at highlighting someone\u2019s unique experience and specific abilities, she explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know how the person has used these skills, the outcomes they had and the progress they made,\u201d said Ms. McFadden, who is based in Toronto. \u201cRather than say, \u2018I participated in something,\u2019 say, \u2018I did this specific project, I was looking at improved sales in this type of product, and I generated additional sales of this much money.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI adoption is upending the job market for entry-level workers<\/a><\/p>\n

A Robert Half survey conducted in April<\/a> found 79 per cent of about 1,500 hiring managers say they can identify when a candidate has used AI to generate their application materials.<\/p>\n

But many applicants feel an AI-generated r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is the only way to get past the AI screening tools widely used by recruiters. Research<\/a> from U.S.-based Career Group Companies suggests AI is being used by 65 per cent of candidates.<\/p>\n

Cristina Schultz, a recruitment manager with Calgary\u2019s About Staffing, says a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that is too closely matched to the job posting is another tipoff that it has been generated with AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI tools that are created to support in keyword matching sometimes take it a bit of a step further, where the content of the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is almost verbatim the job posting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her organization, a recruitment firm, uses tools that can detect whether a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is \u201cAI-supported or fully AI generated\u201d \u2013 but she says she can usually tell without them. That isn\u2019t a deal-breaker for her, but it does signal that she should \u201cpick up the phone and have a conversation with them before bringing them in for an interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not using AI \u2013 and allowing your own voice to come through in your application \u2013 is a great way to stand out, Ms. Schultz says, as is visually differentiating a CV, since ChatGPT r\u00e9sum\u00e9s tend to follow a standard format. She also encourages job seekers to network, as \u201cit is trending back to that \u2018who you know?\u2019 kind of market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AI application glut has led many companies to seek help from recruitment firms such as hers, Ms. Schultz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses call us all the time after they\u2019ve put up a posting on their own, got hundreds of applications in 24 hours, and said, \u2018None of these people have what we\u2019re looking for.\u2019 We have seen an uptick in applicants but, regrettably speaking, it\u2019s not the quality that\u2019s upticking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you a young Canadian with money on your mind? To set yourself up for success and steer clear of costly mistakes, listen to our award-winning Stress Test podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Moor Studio\/AFP\/Getty Images Richard Noel, director of security operations and infrastructure for workplace…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,901,276,277,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-276609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-alberta","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}