Recruiters say easy online job applications are flooding hiring

In short: Applying for jobs online has become so easy, often with help from AI, that recruiters are getting swamped with applications and are starting to add more steps.

What's going on

Hiring teams say the number of applications per job has jumped sharply in the last year. Andrew Stockwell, a former head of people at Vendr, told Wired that roles that once got 100 applications can now get hundreds or even more than 1,000. He said many are fake, and many look similar because applicants use artificial intelligence (software that can write text like a person) to produce resumes and cover letters quickly.

This shift is partly driven by tools that make applying feel like online shopping. LinkedIn can show many job posts each day, and “Easy Apply” can submit an application in a few clicks. Other services promise to apply to many jobs for you, like a button that sends out dozens of forms while you do something else.

LinkedIn told Wired that submissions per applicant are up 46 percent compared to February 2020, and applications are up 22 percent since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022. LinkedIn has added limits to reduce automated and low quality applications. It is also rolling out a feature that warns some users they may not be a good fit for a role and suggests other jobs.

What to watch

Recruiters say they may add more “friction,” meaning extra steps that slow people down, to filter out bots and low effort applicants. That could include more screening questions, earlier skills tests, or AI led first round interviews (like an automated phone screen). Some experts warn this may not fix the core problem, because it can still be hard to judge a person’s real skills from forms and text alone.

Source: Wired