people2people Recruitment’s Catherine Kennedy said AI could help candidates polish their applications, but employers were looking for authenticity. (Source: Supplied/Newswire)
Aussie job seekers are being warned over a major “red flag” that could impact their chances of landing a new role. Aussies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence for help during the application process and they are being told to tread carefully.
One in four Aussies have admitted to using AI to help write their CV or cover letter, new research by people2people Recruitment found, with 14 per cent saying they used it a lot. Surprisingly, Gen X were the biggest culprits (33 per cent), followed by Millennials and Gen Z (24 per cent) and Baby Boomers (22 per cent).
Superior People Recruitment founder Graham Wynn told Yahoo Finance he was also seeing more job seekers using AI in their applications and it often meant they were passed over for jobs.
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“If you see resumes using AI, you can normally tell that it’s being used by the kind of grammar, the kind of wording being used. You can see they haven’t written this themselves and we generally don’t consider them,” he said.
Recruiters have noted AI also raises concerns when it comes to honesty in applications, with the research finding 35 per cent of Aussies had lied or exaggerated on their CV or cover letter and 90 per cent admitted AI made it easier to mislead.
The biggest fear when using AI was “sounding fake” at 33 per cent, followed by getting caught at 23 per cent, and accidentally lying at 12 per cent.
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people2people Recruitment managing director NSW Catherine Kennedy said AI could help candidates polish their applications, but at the end of the day, employers were looking for authenticity.
“A CV or cover letter that sounds fake or over-engineered can raise red flags. AI should be used as an assistant, not a replacement for personal voice, accuracy, and honesty,” she said.
Kennedy said hiring managers were becoming more alert to AI and many now ran extra screening or verification steps.
“Candidates who rely too heavily on AI risk being overlooked before they even get to interview. The most successful applications are still the ones that feel real and human,” she said.
Alexandra Frisby-Smith is one Aussie who told Yahoo Finance she was rejected from a job because of her “heavy use” of ChatGPT during the recruitment process.
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The 30-year-old had been given a trial task to complete, which involved suggesting ways to streamline her potential client’s processes.
She was given 30 minutes to complete the task.
Alexandra Frisby-Smith said she lost a job she applied for because she used ChatGPT during the application process. (Source: Supplied) · Source: Supplied
She shared that she had brainstormed ideas herself and then put everything into ChatGPT and asked it to consolidate it and “make it neater, more presentable and easier to digest”.
After submitting the task, Frisby-Smith said she got a rejection email for the job. One of the main reasons was her use of ChatGPT.
“[The potential client] said that she personally doesn’t like to use it, so she’d rather work with someone who doesn’t use it so that they’re on the same page,” Frisby-Smith said.
Whether we like it or not, Kennedy said AI was here to stay and the reality was job seekers were using it.
“But trust is the currency of recruitment – and if candidates misuse AI, they risk damaging their credibility before they even reach the interview stage,” she said.
Job seekers who do use the technology are being encouraged to rely on it for structure and grammar, while ensuring their skills, experience and tone are their own.
It’s also important to fact-check everything as AI can ‘make up details’ and to make sure things are exaggerated.
Adding personalisation and tailoring your application to the role and employer can also be helpful, as can using AI just as a polish rather than to create your application from scratch.
Australia’s unemployment edged lower to 4.2 per cent from 4.3 per cent in June, but remains very low relative to historical averages.
While SEEK found applications per job ad had dropped for the first time in more than two years in July, they still remain elevated.
It comes after a new report by the Australian HR Institute found more than one in four employers expect to make work redundancies in the September quarter.
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