AI has become a familiar tool for recruiters in hopes of streamlining the IT talent search process. Meanwhile, countless job seekers in IT and other industries are using AI applications to create resumes, cover letters, and find jobs.
Unfortunately, in both cases, using AI in the job search and recruitment process can reduce the efficiency of both processes.
“We call this the ‘AI hiring doom loop,’” explains Lili Fogle, director of the Interview Institute at the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. (PARWCC), Founder of Impressive Interviewing. She says this process creates a counterproductive loop:
- Job seekers will use AI to enhance their resumes and tailor them to job descriptions.
- Companies are flooded with a sea of sameness and every resume looks qualified, making it difficult to identify truly qualified candidates.
- Companies apply more or stricter AI filtering, making it harder for candidates to get interviews.
- To gain an edge, candidates apply for more jobs. AI is often used to apply at scale, leaving companies inundated with unqualified applications.
As a result, Fogle says, there’s a huge gap between struggling employers and the candidates who might be truly qualified for the role. According to the Career Plug Recruiting Metrics 2024 reportTypically, only 3% of applicants are invited for an interview.
“AI platforms like AI apply and EZ apply can automatically apply candidates to hundreds of roles and tailor their applications to each role, increasing their chances of landing an interview,” Fogle explains. “AI assessments and AI-assisted interviews can help companies manage and filter the growing number of applications. This AI doom loop will make it harder for job seekers to get interviews and companies to find good candidates.”
Recruiters use AI throughout the process
Kyle Elliott, a career coach specializing in the technology industry and founder of CaffeinatedKyle.com, explains that employers aren’t just using AI to help screen resumes (although it’s still widely used). “They are using AI throughout the hiring process to streamline workflows and save time, especially as companies reduce the number of recruiters.”
Elliott said companies are using AI to summarize information from resumes, verify the accuracy of information provided by candidates, and help recruiters prepare for interviews.
However, Lacey Kaelani, CEO of job search engine Metaintro, believes that the new AI job search and hiring reality has many problems.
“AI is changing many things in the labor market, including how people search for jobs, how they apply for jobs, and how quickly they find jobs,” Kaelani explains. “We look at this in three different ways.
- The majority of applications and resumes are filtered by AI before humans see them, using keyword matching and predictive pattern recognition.
- While AI-powered platforms can make job recommendations, these recommendations are based on an individual’s job search history, which is often narrow and may prevent job seekers from finding other jobs for which they may be qualified.
- Increased speed and volume of job applications — Individuals can apply for jobs at 100x the rate in the same time frame it takes to submit just 10 applications. Quantity may not be better than quality, and AI will ultimately act as the gatekeeper.
IT skills and job gap puts pressure on both recruiters and job seekers
It is certainly understandable that the pressure on both recruiters and job seekers is increasing, which is driving much of the focus on AI tools.
“It’s no secret that 2025 was a tough year for technology professionals, with more than 125,000 layoffs in that calendar year alone,” explains Lisa Duplass, owner of Elev8 Coaching & Resumes.is a career coach with a background in HR and IT who specializes in resume writing and coaching for technical professionals. “More than 25% of job seekers have been unemployed for more than six months. This additional pressure has significantly increased competition for open positions, and businesses are now applying significantly more applicants per open position.”
Dupras provides several examples of how organizations are incorporating AI and social media into their recruitment processes.
- Score and rank candidate resumes against job requirements
- Incorporate social data as input into profile evaluation and decision-making
- Infer and extract an expanded list of skills using AI-driven platform semantics
- The ranking process prioritizes resumes that include desirable skills and experience.
- Analyze keyword density to reduce the impact of keyword packing
- Apply rule-based or model-driven signals that can reduce visibility when risk indicators are present
How companies are using AI in recruiting
Duplass explains that recruiters are applying AI to several areas of the hiring process.
Many companies have invested in applicant tracking systems (ATS) that leverage AI to improve and speed up resume evaluation. When a resume is uploaded to ATS, the data is evaluated against the criteria of the posted job. This is commonly referred to as “job ranking.”
Although rankings have been available in ATS systems for more than a decade, Duplass explains that AI automates the process and provides analysis on the results. Recruiters report using rankings more frequently to reduce the time it takes to review hundreds of resumes. This determines who gets an interview and who gets a rejection letter. Still, she explains, many recruiters don’t trust the ranking results and will consider the list of eligible resumes themselves.
Certain AIs are trained to mimic recruiters’ evaluation of resumes and select interviewees. Each AI can be trained differently based on a company’s needs, Duplass explains.
“I haven’t seen any hard evidence that AI is automatically rejecting resumes without a human approving the sending of a ‘no thank you’ email,” Duplass says. “Please note that there are legal reasons why a human must review a resume before a rejection is processed.”
Break through AI resume filtering
Job seekers should consider a three-pronged approach to “get spotted” and survive the AI filtering process, Duplass says, focusing on the quality of their resume, LinkedIn profile, and social media accounts. Each area contributes to visibility, relevance, and professional trust in AI-driven adoption.
Talent platforms like Workday continue to leverage AI to expand their capabilities. ATS systems have evolved from databases with keyword filters to systems that use candidate skill and experience data to support candidate matching, automated scoring, and job fit analysis, Duplass explains.
In line with AI-based assessments, job seekers should avoid using tools that mass apply to open positions. Customize all submitted resumes to improve alignment with role requirements. We will also develop a process to align resumes with AI-driven evaluation logic before applying to improve match strength.
