AI use creating recruitment ‘doom loop’ for job seekers and employers, consulting firm says
The use of AI by both job applicants and hiring companies has plunged corporate recruitment into a “doom loop” in which it is becoming harder for either side to successfully navigate the process, according to research from consultants Greenhouse.
The survey suggests 68 per cent of job seekers are using AI to improve their applications while 82 per cent of employers are using the technology to help assess the applications, with both sides struggling to keep up with the technological advances.
Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait says almost half (45 per cent) of job applicants who responded in Ireland said they had lost trust in the process, with almost all of those blaming AI.
Companies, meanwhile, have seen a 350 per cent increase of applications for positions, many of them far more tailored to the role than would traditionally have been the case because AI makes that so easy, and they are finding it harder than ever to assess who the best candidates are.
“What I’d compare it to is in the workplace, when I want to send you an email, but I don’t feel like writing the whole thing, so I’ll just bang up some bullet points and have Chat GPT turn it into a nice email,” says Mr Chait.
“Then you get the email, and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to read this whole thing, I’ll just get Chat GPT to turn it into bullet points …’
“Well, imagine that on steroids, at the level of the entire job market. What we see is people using AI to add a bunch of noise, and then other people trying to use AI to take the noise back out. And overall, it’s getting worse, not better.”
Mr Chait, whose firm itself uses AI in the course of its work for its more than 7,000 clients says that while the technology has its role, “somehow or other, we got to figure out a way to get that to a place where there’s real humans on both sides and they can learn a lot about each other”.
[ How is AI affecting jobs for graduates in Ireland?Opens in new window ]
Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait says more than half of job seekers surveyed in Ireland encountered fake job postings which turn out to be a scam
The research also suggests a substantial growth in the area of hiring fraud with companies having to weed out fraudulent applications and applicants while job seekers are encountering a growing number of entirely fictitious recruitment ads.
“Fake job postings are a big one,” says Mr Chait. “You reply to a job posting thinking you’re in the running for an actual job, only to learn at some point that it’s actually a scam. ‘Congratulations, you got the job … we need your bank account information, we need your ID so we can pay you.’ It’s really awful.”
“More than half of job seekers we surveyed in Ireland have encountered these type of fake job postings, 54 per cent. In the US, it was over almost 70 per cent of job seekers.”
