AI recruitment and a "tsunami" of ChatGPT CVs are destroying the job market
HR staff and recruiters are being crushed by an avalanche of AI slop, as applicants report being ghosted and ignored.
Businesses are being crushed by the weight of appalling AI-written CVs and covering letters written by people who are barely employable.
Meanwhile, a huge rise in people looking for a job (1.5 million in the UK alone) and terrible AI recruitment software is leading to vast numbers of applicants being ghosted or ignored.
It's a perfect storm that's making the jobs crisis even more acute.
A new study has found that businesses spend an average of 9.24 days sorting through irrelevant applications for every role they open due to the sheer number of AI-generated resumes.
Remote, a global HR platform for distributed companies, surveyed 4,000 businesses across 10 countries.
The study found that businesses worldwide are facing a "growing crisis", finding it increasingly difficult to fill roles as application volumes surge, local talent shortages remain a challenge and the nature of work continues to shift after millions of us said a non-so-fond farewell to the office.
"Chaotic": A damning assessment of the employment market
Remote warned that the "modern job market is more chaotic than ever", with both job seekers and employers facing "major challenges accelerated by AI".
One recruiter, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Machine: "Whenever we post a job, we are inundated with CVs - many of which are total AI slop written by ChatGPT.
"It's almost impossible to sort through them in any meaningful way, and finding a decent candidate is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Qualified people are simply being drowned out by a tsunami of unqualified wannabes. Recruitment is broken and it needs to be fixed - fast. AI is making the jobs crisis worse."
Remote's study found that a quarter of global businesses say they frequently receive more applicants than they can handle and almost three-quarters of UK businesses (76%) have received AI-generated resumes in the past 6 months which contain false information. A similar share (73%) of recruiters in the UK reported a "surge" in under-qualified applicants.
Ironically, more than a third (37%) of British businesses are still struggling to find candidates with the right skills.
The rise of AI-driven job applications and automated hiring tools has made it easier for people to take a "scattergun" approach and apply in bulk, but harder for employers to sift through candidates and for job seekers to get noticed.
This "flood" of appalling AI resumes from unqualified candidates means that 29% of businesses in the UK have been forced to adopt a "shortcut-driven approach", taking as little time as possible reviewing each application due to the sheer workload, potentially overlooking decent talent.
How can the job market be fixed?
Almost a third (29%) of businesses in the UK are already using AI technology in the recruiting process to screen or match candidates to combat the overflow of applications, the survey found.
"New technologies have transformed the way businesses access talent globally while also expanding opportunities for job seekers through remote employment,” said Job van der Voort, CEO and co-founder of Remote.
“While global access to talent is a major advantage, the surge in AI-driven tools and mass-apply tactics have led to application overload, making it harder for HR teams to identify top candidates.
"The key is not rejecting AI, but using it strategically — we’re seeing more teams leverage AI to streamline hiring, verify skills, and cut through the noise, ensuring they connect with the right talent efficiently."
However, many job hunters may have a different view.
Some AI systems have been caught illegally discriminating against people over a certain age. Others have even rejected candidates based on their body language in interviews.
We spoke a jobseeker in the UK, who was laid off from a tech job three months ago and has filed dozens of applications since then.
He said: "It's a nightmare out there. People are getting laid off in huge numbers and finding it incredibly difficult to get work. LinkedIn now dominates job listings and it's hard to be sure whether the positions are even genuine. I've applied to loads of roles using a real CV I've written myself and am just ghosted most of the time.
"Then, even if I get a reply, I have to go through round after round of pointless interviews before they end up ghosting me again. It's the worst job market I've seen in my 20-year career. I think the future is freelance because getting past HR seems impossible right now.
"Even my recruiter is thinking of retraining because AI is impacting their job. If that's happening, you know things are really bad."
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