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For the longest time, budding professionals had to sift through endless templates online to craft their own CVs. The choices were either generic templates or existing online formats, both of which left much to be desired. But the advent of <keyword id="19904566" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="keywords">artificial intelligence</keyword> has changed the <keyword id="20823009" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="CV" source="keywords">CV</keyword> game, with <keyword id="4514704" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-tools" source="Orion">AI tools</keyword> now capable of generating resumes in seconds. While this influx of options is exciting, it brings new challenges: How to make your CV stand out in a sea of AI-generated documents? More crucially, how do you ensure your CV feels uniquely yours and not just another generic product of artificial intelligence? Julia Gergelova, a Certified Professional CV Writer at Kickresume, suggests letting <keyword id="19899640" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI" source="keywords">AI</keyword> handle the initial grunt work. The key is to meticulously review and personalise the AI-generated CV, infusing it with your unique experiences and achievements. Julia, having reviewed hundreds of CVs, emphasises that the standout details are the ones only you can provide. Here are some expert tips on humanising your AI-generated CV—what to add, what to avoid, and how to utilise it to maximise your chances of securing that next job! <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Start with AI, then add your details" comment="subhead" text="Start with AI, then add your details">Start with AI, then add your details</cmsannotation> AI CV writing tools are a great starting point. They often need just your current job title to predict your skills and daily tasks. But AI can’t fill in everything. Begin by adding your contact details, like your phone number and email address. Depending on the role, include a link to your LinkedIn profile or an online portfolio. Julia stresses the importance of updating the professional summary. The AI tool will draft this for you, but make sure it accurately reflects your experience, key achievements, and career goals. This is your pitch—make it count. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Enhance the job descriptions" comment="subhead" text="Enhance the job descriptions">Enhance the job descriptions</cmsannotation> Your AI-generated CV will provide a basic job description based on your title. Add the company name, your tenure and specific, quantifiable achievements. This fleshed-out work experience section should follow with other relevant roles you have previously held. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Make your education and skills section more specific" comment="subhead" text="Make your education and skills section more specific">Make your education and skills section more specific</cmsannotation> The education section can be brief if you’re well into your career, listing just your degree and institution. For recent graduates, go into more detail about courses and grades. The skills section will be populated by the AI, but strengthen it by adding specific software proficiencies and soft skills that demonstrate your leadership and ability to work under pressure. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Showcase your personality and unique skills" comment="subhead" text="Showcase your personality and unique skills">Showcase your personality and unique skills</cmsannotation> Include sections for awards, certificates, hobbies and volunteering work to give a sense of your personality and priorities. Julia suggests adding an industry-specific section for recent projects, campaigns or collaborations relevant to your field. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Final touches: Proofread and format" comment="subhead" text="Final touches: Proofread and format">Final touches: Proofread and format</cmsannotation> After personalising your CV, proofread it thoroughly. Check the formatting to ensure it’s concise—ideally one to two pages. Adjust font size, formatting and margins if needed. Ensure all links work, and double-check for spelling and grammar errors. Your CV is the first impression a recruiter gets, so attention to detail is crucial. By following these expert tips, you can transform an AI-generated CV into a compelling, personalised document that highlights your unique qualifications and experiences.

Using AI to create your CV? Here's how you can humanise it and make it stand out from the crowd

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Companies often want to signal they're growing or to let overworked employees think help is coming.</li><li>But three in 10 companies have fake job listings, according to a Resume Builder survey.</li></ul>That <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/this-method-may-help-resume-stand-out-recruiter-job-search-2024-5">job you applied for</a> might be a mirage.Companies often post bogus roles to ease employees' concerns about being overworked and signal that the organization is growing, said Resume Builder, which recently found three in 10 employers have fake job listings.Resume Builder, which offers résumé templates, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.resumebuilder.com/3-in-10-companies-currently-have-fake-job-posting-listed/">surveyed</a> nearly 650 hiring managers in May and found nearly seven in 10 said it was "morally acceptable" to post fake jobs. Hiring managers credited the move with increasing revenue, morale, and how much workers get done.Yet, Stacie Haller, Resume Builder's chief career advisor, told Business Insider that the practice could — no surprise — undermine confidence among existing and would-be employees."The last people you want to be sharing fake information to your staff is the HR people," she said.The prominence of sham listings highlights the challenges many people, particularly desk workers in industries like tech, face in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-managers-biased-against-gen-z-older-workers-survey-says-2024-4">finding jobs</a>. The overall labor market remains strong, but it's not a game of workers' choice like it was a few years ago when more employers were fighting for people.<h2 id="3a0cfae6-63fd-4e4a-8aad-ebed188c0c8e">Everybody's doing it</h2>Haller said it's long been common for staffing firms to fish for talent with dummy listings. That way, when a client calls needing workers, the agency has people ready to go.But now, Haller said, companies beyond staffing firms appear to be adopting the practice, which can frustrate job seekers and erode trust with workers.The listings spanned entry-level positions to executive roles, according to the survey.The reasons for listing fake jobs included signaling that the employer was willing to hire from outside the organization. Yet about six in 10 respondents also said companies wanted to make overworked employees think help was on the way — and that they could be replaced."Some people are saying, 'Well, it increased productivity.' And I'm thinking, 'Well, does it do it out of fear?'" Haller said.She said it's a stretch to think that ghost listings would do a lot to boost morale among workers by making them believe the organization was growing.About six in 10 hiring managers said the intent was to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/simple-cover-letter-example-unemployed-job-search-never-hear-back-2024-1">scoop up résumés</a> for when a role opens. Haller said there's no issue collecting the information, provided employers are upfront about it."Why not be honest?" she said.Haller said employers that dangle fake listings risk hurting themselves by undermining their reputations.One reason is simply that companies often get caught. Two-thirds of hiring managers said those they meant to dupe, including workers, investors, and job seekers, figured out they were being hoodwinked.<h2 id="57e2ca17-533f-4907-aad0-10336f04b4a8">Fake listings can lead to real jobs</h2>About seven in 10 of the fake jobs were on a company website or LinkedIn, according to the survey. And, yet, despite all the shenanigans, many fake listings often lead to real interviews — and even employment.Four in 10 hiring managers said they always contacted workers who applied for made-up jobs. Forty-five percent said they sometimes contacted those job seekers. Among companies that contacted applicants, 85% report interviewing the person."A lot of them are getting contacted and interviewed at some point, so it's not necessarily a black box," Haller said.<h2 id="1c47819f-dd05-4a5c-8830-b583078af3cf">How you can spot a sham listing</h2>Haller said it's best to try to determine who posted a job. Going to the hiring manager on LinkedIn or to someone you know at the company is often a better route than applying cold, anyway, she said. And look when the job was listed."If it was five months ago, and it's still up there, it's fake," she said.Of course, not every unanswered job submission indicates that a listing isn't real. Sometimes, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jobseeker-whose-resume-rejected-changed-format-to-help-search-2024-5">problem isn't the worker</a> but the CV, Haller said."It's easy to say, 'I sent out 500 résumés and got nothing.' And then I look at the résumé and they have an AOL address, and it's 20 pages, and I have no idea what they want to do. So, 'No, you're not getting a response,'" she said.Haller lamented fictional aspects to any part of the job equation."'People lie on their résumés. So what?' That's horrifying. Hiring managers lie to hire people. 'Oh, we have great benefits, and you'll get promoted.' And it's a lie. None of this is acceptable," she said.Haller is optimistic that Gen Z workers, who are expected to outnumber full-time boomers in the labor force in 2024, will demand change because surveys indicate many young people share an interest in preserving their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/workforce-innovation-series-c-suite-worker-well-being-dei-2024-6">mental health</a> and in employers being open with their people."The new generation coming up isn't going to stand for this," she said.That's a good thing, Haller said. "Anytime I see the word 'fake' in any part of the hiring process, it's alarming."

It's wild how many job listings might be fake

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Companies should ditch résumés to hire Gen Z talent, a recruiter says.</li><li>Biases in traditional hiring methods can hinder diversity and inclusivity at a company.</li></ul>When it comes to finding the right candidate, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-tests-impact-on-resume-and-employment-2024-3">résumés may be on their way out</a>.Sophie O'Brien, the founder of the entry-level recruitment service Pollen Careers, told Business Insider that if companies want to hire the best-fitting Gen Z talent, they should ditch asking for a résumé.Gen Z are people aged 12 to 27. For young people entering the workforce applying for entry-level jobs, résumés often don't reveal more than schooling and internships. Categories where <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unconscious-biases-in-hiring-decisions-2015-7">biases and privilege</a> can tip a hand. When O'Brien started her business in 2023, having previously worked as a director at a media agency, she was aware of the issues in job hunting. She knew <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recruiter-explains-interview-habits-holding-gen-z-back-2024-7">young candidates</a> were getting ghosted and not receiving feedback on why they'd been passed over, which can be "soul-destroying," she said."I wanted to create something that addressed diversity, that could make job hunting more equitable, more inclusive, more positive for the candidate," O'Brien told BI.O'Brien found success in hiring Gen Z talent with less conventional methods. <h2 id="5badc1dd-2f27-4c54-9990-8568856961ff">Résumés may be a root cause of hiring bias</h2>Recruiters have hundreds of resumes to look at and tend to gravitate toward people like themselves, O'Brien said."I remember occasions in my old job where I'd be looking at CVs, and then somebody would look over my shoulder and be like, Oh, they're an Arsenal supporter, get them in," O'Brien said. "These things don't mean that they will be the best-suited person to the job."Sporting teams aren't the only social markers that may impact a candidate's odds. Hiring managers may have a subconscious or conscious <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-job-candidates-more-likely-to-face-discriminatory-questions-2022-9">racial bias</a>. This problem was demonstrated earlier this year when researchers sent more than 83,000 fake applications to big US companies, and candidates with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-display-race-gender-bias-when-hiring-resumes-names-jobs-2024-4">white-sounding names received more callbacks</a>.BI has also previously reported on a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-name-resume-hired-guilty-2024-5">struggling job seeker </a>who felt changing the name on his résumé to something more white-sounding may have helped him land a role.Ageism is also an issue, with about a third of hiring managers <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-managers-biased-against-gen-z-older-workers-survey-says-2024-4">not wanting to hire older workers or Gen Zers</a>, according to a Resume Builder survey in March.O'Brien believes many of these issues can be traced to résumés. She tested her theory by hiring her interns based on how well they made mock-up social media posts for her company."In the job posting, I said I'm not going to look at a single CV," she said. "I don't care what your academic background is. I don't care about your work experience history." She told BI she wanted an intern who was reasonably competent at the job, had autonomy, and had a good attitude. It worked out great. The two interns she hired are now permanent employees.While helping out a fellow hiring manager at another company, O'Brien asked if she could test her method on the candidates he was screening to ensure they were inclusive and fair.The person who got the job was originally in the reject pile because his CV didn't stand out."I was like, OK, I'm onto something here," O'Brien said. "He was phenomenal, but you wouldn't have known that from his CV."The hiring manager wrongly assumed this candidate lacked soft skills and would struggle with client-facing work because their résumé was so technical."But the reality was the total opposite," said O'Brien. "You can't showcase in your CV what you are like as a human."<h2 id="626c8ae4-2140-4ad9-a3bf-ed385a65da39">Entry-level positions aren't so entry-level</h2>Many Gen Zers are looking for their first jobs where they may not have much relevant experience. Their chances of landing an interview can depend solely on their education or on whether they've been privileged enough to complete a sought-after internship.Those who didn't attend top colleges may find themselves in the reject pile simply by default. This is just a "lazy way of shortlisting," O'Brien said."It's alienating Gen Z," she said. "That massively hinders their confidence. They're thinking, well, what chance do I have? And employers are exacerbating that problem."Instead, O'Brien finds ways for employers to narrow their search to candidates with traits and skills that matter to them. Her approach mainly follows the principles of matching junior candidates based on their values and potential and not judging them on where they may have received their education."This is groundbreaking for Gen Z, they absolutely love it," O'Brien said. "For employers, we've been really lucky that a lot of them get it."<h2 id="0ad38497-3072-4c16-9163-38a47bdc9b8f">Employers are taking note</h2>Three employers, december19, Mobsta, and My Big Career, have stopped screening entry-level candidates based on their résumés. Majella Lavelle, a managing partner at the media planning and buying agency december19, told BI that traditional recruiting methods were "time-consuming and overwhelming" and led to a lack of diversity."We moved to blind CVs some time ago, and that definitely removed any unconscious bias," she said.Blind résumés can still be a good starting point, Lavelle added, but they needed a completely new approach.Laura Littlehales, the CEO of MyBigCareer, which provides disadvantaged children with career advice, said the résumé-free approach has helped the charity find junior talent and save money.She told BI she wanted to recruit young people but found it challenging to hire on potential rather than experience."Through this approach, we were able to reach a greater number of candidates, much less time was spent on recruitment, and the caliber of candidates was much higher than previous recruitment we had run ourselves," Littlehales said.David Graham, the head of customer success at the sustainable advertising agency Mobsta, said removing résumés has transformed the way the business hires candidates.He didn't realize that before he was exposed to such a small portion of young and found the hiring experience "refreshing." O'Brien said it's amazing to see candidates who were stacking shelves in a grocery store and or working at McDonald's starting new roles they may not have been considered for. "The longer they are trapped in lower-skilled jobs that don't offer longer-term career opportunities, the harder it is to break in," O'Brien said. "They're ready to go," she said. "They just needed a fair opportunity."

One way employers can attract Gen Z talent is by ditching résumés, recruiter says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>About one-third of hiring managers in a survey admitted bias against Gen Zers or older candidates.</li><li>Forty-two percent of managers consider job seekers' ages when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/simple-cover-letter-example-unemployed-job-search-never-hear-back-2024-1">reviewing résumés</a>, per Resume Builder.</li></ul>If you're looking for a job and you're a Gen Zer or an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shocked-when-recruiter-said-too-old-tech-job-ageism-2024-3">older worker</a>, you might be out of luck — at least with some hiring managers.That's because, according to a survey from Resume Builder, 36% of hiring managers said they were biased against Gen Z candidates. And 34% admitted they had it in for older candidates.Oof. Ageism isn't new, of course, though the survey findings are a reminder that even in a strong job market, it can still be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-hard-to-find-job-us-though-unemployment-low-2024-2">tough to land a new gig</a>. Having people <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-seeking-vp-job-hr-told-her-appearance-not-good-2024-3">discount your abilities</a> because of how young or old you are doesn't help."You need to be aware of pitfalls like age bias," Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at Resume Builder, told Business Insider. "You have to know the landscape you're in."Resume Builder <a target="_blank" href="https://www.resumebuilder.com/1-in-3-hiring-managers-say-its-beneficial-to-avoid-hiring-gen-z-senior-candidates/">surveyed 1,000 hiring managers</a> in March and found that 42% consider the age of job seekers when going over résumés. To determine a candidate's age, hiring managers tally years of experience, look for the year someone graduated, and even look for a photo, according to the survey.<h2>Delete the year you graduated.</h2>Some candidates might choose not to put the year they graduated on their CV, thanks to worries about recruiters doing the math. In the survey, six in 10 hiring managers said job seekers should "always" include the year they graduated, but about four in 10 said candidates sometimes shouldn't or should never include the year.Some TikTokers who focus on career advice encourage people to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-remove-graduation-year-from-resume-2023-8">delete their graduation year</a> so that young candidates avoid getting dinged for not having enough experience and older workers don't <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-search-romance-dating-similar-process-frustrating-2024-2">get dumped</a> for having too much.That's something Haller endorses. "It matters that you got the degree. Does it matter if you got it last year or 20 years ago? It shouldn't," she said.Haller added that recruiters determined to weed out groups they don't like can often still find a way, even when job applicants <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-tests-impact-on-resume-and-employment-2024-3">strip their résumé</a> and LinkedIn profile of indicators like graduation dates. "If you're somebody who really is biased against folks, those people go to Facebook to check you out," she said.Of course, there are federal laws designed to protect workers over 40 from age discrimination; some states also have provisions meant to shield younger members of the workforce, according to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency. But <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-inequity-age-discrimination-costs-economy-billions-2021-6">proving bias based on age</a> can be difficult, as BI has previously reported.<h2>The Goldilocks generation.</h2>So why are some hiring managers not down with younger or older workers? One reason could be because those looking to bring on workers are often of a different generation, Haller said. More than six in 10 survey respondents were between 25 and 44 years old. It's an indication, she said, that these managers — perhaps in their first role leading others — "seem to be biased against everybody younger than them and older than them," Haller said.Among the hiring managers who admitted to bias against Gen Z job seekers, more than three-quarters cited younger workers' lack of experience. About six in 10 managers pointed to what they saw as a tendency among Gen Zers to job hop. And a similar proportion of respondents pointed to an unprofessional attitude among members of the youngest slice of the workforce.Among older workers, the indictments were likewise nothing new. Three-quarters of respondents were concerned an older worker might soon retire. Nearly two-thirds were worried older candidates would experience health problems, and almost half of all hiring managers identified worries that older workers didn't have sufficient experience with technology.Showing up to an interview and looking too old can also be a problem for job applicants. In the survey, four in 10 hiring managers said if a candidate has an "elderly" appearance, they would be less inclined to consider the applicant. And 36% of hiring managers said candidates over age 60 should take steps to look younger in interviews.That's advice that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/barbara-corcoran-said-older-workers-should-act-younger-in-interviews-2024-1">Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran</a>, a septuagenarian, has given, according to BI's prior reporting.Some hiring managers surveyed also had advice for those with a youthful visage: Look older. A fresh-faced glow was a turnoff for 19% of hiring managers. More than one-third of hiring managers recommended that candidates aged 18 to 27 "try to appear older during interviews," according to the survey.Haller said while bias works against a range of job seekers, Gen Z has a specific challenge because many young people were sidelined early in their careers by the pandemic and were ill-prepared to enter the workplace. Some started their jobs remotely, making it harder to build skills and nail basics like how to dress for the office.Yet, she added, one generation dumping on another is nothing new."Every generation gets talked about. The millennials, at one point, were entitled. Nobody wanted to hire them," she said. "And now they're the age group that's biased against everybody else."Do you have something to share about your job search or what you're seeing in your workplace? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:thegrind@businessinsider.com">thegrind@businessinsider.com</a> with your story or to ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers. Or check out <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10">Business Insider's source guide</a> for tips on sharing information securely.

A third of hiring managers don't want to hire Gen Z or older workers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Z may face hiring bias, with a third reporting age discrimination in a recent survey.</li><li>AI, portfolio careers, and stereotypes could make recruiters distrust Gen Z.</li></ul>Everyone is likely to face challenges early on in their career, but Gen Zers feel they're discriminated against — largely because of their age.And they have a point. In a survey from Resume Builder earlier this year, over a third (36%) of the 1,000 hiring managers polled said they had <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-managers-biased-against-gen-z-older-workers-survey-says-2024-4">a bias against Gen Z candidates</a>.New research from Applied, an inclusivity and diversity-led recruitment software, also found that out of 2,000 respondents in the UK, 36% of Zoomer respondents believe they have experienced hiring bias.The survey results, shared with Business Insider in an email, showed that Gen Z respondents felt the top reason for this discrimination was their age — 21% of respondents aged 16-24 cited this. Age came above ethnicity (19%) and gender (15%).<h2 id="da53d663-333f-40f2-a0b6-ccaa0e3eacfa">AI and outdated methods</h2>Khyati Sundaram, the CEO of Applied, told BI there could be a couple of reasons behind this prejudice against Zoomers.Firstly, developments in AI have made recruiters "hypervigilant," Sundaram said. Gen Zers are seen as the cohort most likely to write their résumés and cover letters with the help of ChatGPT and other AI services."They're seeing more and more call mediocre applications or applications that resemble each other," Sundaram said. "So we've seen a spike in that where there's general distrust of the system."Secondly, Gen Zers are fans of "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leonardo-da-vinci-had-a-portfolio-career-2015-3">portfolio careers,</a>" Sundaram said, where they have multiple projects at one time and career gaps, which might seem erratic and random to a more traditional hiring manager."Employers don't really know how to judge that," Sundaram said. "People who are 50, 60, they've probably done one or two jobs in their lives. So if they are in managerial positions, that's what good looks like to them."When a CV comes in with four jobs in four years, it's unfamiliar, but it doesn't mean that candidate is a bad choice.Having a bias toward career paths similar to one's own can trip hiring managers up, according to Sundaram.<h2 id="c85075dd-4e2c-431f-9246-4d17ca9516cb">Stereotypes hold them back</h2>Gen Z suffers from being stereotyped. But it's not entirely without reason.Recruiters have noted them exhibiting strange behaviors, such as bringing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-zers-bringing-parents-job-interviews-recruiters-not-happy-2024-6">their parents to interviews</a>, attending video calls at the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-worker-attends-remote-meeting-boss-hair-salon-tiktok-2024-3">salon</a>, driving, or wearing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recruiter-explains-interview-habits-holding-gen-z-back-2024-7">a bathrobe</a>.They are the generation known to champion <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-workers-want-flexibility-fair-pay-survey-2024-5">work-life balance and flexibility</a>. A Gen Z creator was the first to coin the term "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-anti-work-girl-boss-lazy-girl-jobs-2023-6">lazy-girl job."</a>Business Insider has previously reported that Gen Z employees <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-happy-job-hopping-quit-without-backup-oliver-wyman-2023-1">are more comfortable job-hopping</a> and have started <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-college-students-renege-job-offers-tech-rescinded-2024-7">reneging on job offers</a>, which frustrates the recruiters who work hard to place them.Overall, these generalizations aren't helpful, according to Sundaram, because they just exacerbate the problem. The workforce's expectations are shifting; it's not just the impact of "Gen Z particulars," she added."Five years ago, nobody would've thought that people sitting at home and working from their laptop in their garden were actually doing work," Sundaram said, adding now people agree that working from home is effective. "Times are just changing."<h2 id="3afa887c-5254-488d-82a0-2c9207d13989">How to get noticed</h2>For Gen Zers still facing hiring discrimination, Sundaram's advice is to focus on their skills — identifying the precise ones outlined in job descriptions and demonstrating that you have them in job applications.Out of the 36% of hiring managers who admitted to bias against Gen Z workers, 77% stated their concern stemmed from a lack of experience, according to the ResumeBuilder.com study."Use real-world examples of times when you've solved relevant problems or showcased the attributes the company is looking for," she added. "Rather than straying into personal information or hobbies, try and focus specifically on the role at hand."While cutting and pasting cover letters and applications can be tempting, personalizing it for the dream roles "will pay dividends," Sundaram said.There's also no harm in casting your net more widely, she added."Don't let a lack of previous experience in a new sector or not having a related university degree hold you back," she said. "Role-relevant transferable skills are a far more accurate indicator of a candidate's ability to succeed."Sundaram recommends writing down a list of your strengths and to "think laterally about all the various sectors and roles they apply to."Lastly, don't be disheartened by rejection, Sundaram said."I applied to hundreds of roles before landing a job at Applied, which eventually led to my becoming CEO," she said. "Rejection might, therefore, be a sign that a particular job isn't quite right for you."

How Gen Zers can beat negative stereotypes in a tough job market

<ul class="summary-list"><li>If you're job hunting in this shaky economy, your résumé needs to sparkle.</li><li>Your résumé should highlight your experience and showcase the skills that employers seek.</li></ul>When you're job hunting in a softening economy, having a terrific résumé becomes all the more important.Your résumé needs to tell your prospective employer who you are, what you've done, and what you can do in the future. Especially as data suggests there might be increased competition for jobs.Roughly two-thirds of American workers are considering <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-workers-confident-job-market-change-jobs-2023-1">changing roles this year</a>, according a LinkedIn <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?postID=63c841a4a5f1ba536c034d42&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpulse%2Fready-anything-jobs-come-go-your-career-here-stay-catherine-fisher%2F.&amp;amazonTrackingID=null&amp;platform=browser&amp;sc=false&amp;disabled=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> of more than 2,000 US employees conducted in December. And while the job market looks strong for now— as of November, there were 1.7 job openings per unemployed person — the overall economic picture remains hazy. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceos-recession-global-economy-layoffs-inflation-davos-2023-1">Most CEOs are bracing for a downturn</a> amid <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-layoffs-worst-month-for-job-cuts-is-january-2023-1" rel="">layoffs in some industries</a>, while other <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/are-we-in-a-recession-now-2022-12" rel="">economic data</a>, like job growth, suggests the US <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-could-avoid-recession-2023-inflation-case-gathering-major-steam-2023-1" rel="">could avoid a recession in 2023</a>. Rebecca Pay has built a business — <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=62ed6d79ed6d0d3af8445635&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Ftoday%2Fauthor%2Fpayforprecision%2F">Pay for Precision</a> — helping people write their résumés. She said résumés today should have a touch of personality and tell a clear story about how your experience qualifies you for the position."Writing CVs can be tough. That's why I've got a business," Pay told Insider. "Writing about yourself is the hardest thing."Some advice may be intuitive, like brainstorming with colleagues and using concise language when describing your work, Pay said. Other advice is different from what it was five years ago: Pay said most people should keep their résumé formatting simple unless they're in graphic design or art.It's also become more normal to have a break in your résumé — a <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=62ed6d79ed6d0d3af8445635&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fbusiness%2Ftalent%2Fblog%2Fproduct-tips%2Flinkedin-members-spotlight-career-breaks-on-profiles%3Fsrc%3Daff-ref%26trk%3Daff-ir_progid%253D8005_partid%253D10078_sid%253D_adid%253D449670%26clickid%3D2oeR9m0HVxyNUyoSlPSheWVJUkD3KnwtuWsB0Y0%26mcid%3D6851962469594763264%26irgwc%3D1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn survey</a> from last March found that nearly half of 7,000 employers considered candidates with career breaks to be an untapped talent pool. Insider spoke with career experts about their advice for résumé writing in this uncertain climate. <h2>1. Try some writing exercises </h2>Eli Joseph, a faculty member at Columbia University and New York University, takes an unusual approach to résumé writing. In his book, "<a href="https://www.drelijoseph.com/">The Perfect Rejection Résumé</a>," he helps people document how they failed and what they learned. While you shouldn't give this to a hiring manager, it's an exercise in thinking about your experience in a different light. Then, switch it up. Write a résumé where you completely praise yourself, jotting down all the personal, professional, and technical things you're proud of each week. After looking at your experience and skills from these opposite perspectives, you can incorporate lessons from both into the final product.<h2>2. Focus on a summary section</h2>Both Joseph and Pay said the summary section is one of the most critical parts of your résumé. This section, which typically sits at the top of your CV, should be between 100 and 150 words and written in the first person. Pay said this was a place to add your voice, instead of being overly formal. This is where you tell a story about how your qualifications equip you for the position you want."Work out what you uniquely offer," Pay said. "Why would they pick you for the job as opposed to someone else?"<h2>3. Update your skills</h2>The types of skills employers look for have changed in recent years. According to a <a href="https://zety.com/blog/skills-employers-look-for" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey last year of 205 recruiters and hiring managers by Zety</a>, an online résumé builder app and career website, soft skills are increasingly important to hiring managers. Teamwork, communication, and time management were among the most in-demand soft skills.Be specific about how you've used your skills in the past, said Joseph. For instance, perhaps you've showcased and honed your communication skills with speaking gigs and presentations. Technical skills are also important to employers. And artistic skills like writing or design can be worth highlighting to show that you're well rounded, he said."It brightens up your résumé and it lets employers know that you're productive in an organization," Joseph said.<h2>4. Tailor your résumé to each posting </h2>Pay and Joseph agreed that you should change your résumé for each job application. These are often small tweaks in the skills section and the summary, that speak to how your experience would lend itself to the job."No application should be the same because no opportunity is the same," Joseph said. "We need to add some flavor, and the best way to do that is to come up with as many ideas as possible so that you can make changes on the résumé for opportunities in the future." This story originally published on August 9, 2022.

How to write a résumé that gets you hired in an uncertain economy

When Michael Keach was laid off in January after five years as a senior manager in the customer-service department at Wayfair, he was tentatively optimistic. After all, Keach had been laid off before and had found work again quickly. He figured his experience at Wayfair — where hundreds of people reported to him and he launched a new communication platform — would make him a standout candidate for a new role. Plus, the broader job market seemed strong: Companies were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-growth-unemployment-rate-recession-outlook-january-jobs-report-2023-2">adding hundreds of thousands of new employees</a>. Given these prospects, Keach wasn't prepared for what happened next: He couldn't find a job. In March, Keach, who is 51, described his job search on <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=418df6daafb85cd75f7b253be74f61bf45e3ed1140c0c80b376cd01201c1fd53&amp;postID=6463878b310b0b249c700808&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fposts%2Fmichael-keach_layoff-opentowork-opentowork-activity-7044776410887950336-Z1SJ%2F%3Futm_source%3Dshare%26utm_medium%3Dmember_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LinkedIn</a>: "I have participated in about 20 hours of interviews, have received no job offers, ghosted by recruiters and have my fair share of rejection emails," he wrote. He said the job hunt "has been one of the most mentally challenging experiences in my adult life" — more taxing than his 20-year career in the US Air Force.Keach's experience may sound extreme, but many found it relatable. Thousands of other users shared comments commiserating with how surprisingly demoralizing they've found their own job searches. Their anecdotes, and those of the people I've spoken with, suggest the world of hiring is strange right now. Economic instability, opaque hiring processes, and the destabilizing rise of technologies like generative AI have converged into an environment where it's hard for job seekers to feel like they have even a basic sense of what is going on. Finding a job right now isn't only tough, it's deeply weird.<h2>Economic (and emotional) turbulence </h2>While the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-market-job-growth-unemployment-rate-april-jobs-report-2023-5">current labor market looks strong</a>, continued high inflation and the threat of recession are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-growth-unemployment-rate-march-jobs-report-2023-4">casting a dark shadow over its future</a>. Once-hot industries are freezing over and large companies are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-sweeping-the-us-these-are-the-companies-making-cuts-2023">making layoff announcements</a>. For newly jobless workers, the hunt for a new gig is not only complicated by economic uncertainty and the always-arduous process of polishing a résumé and rusty interview skills, but also by digital phenomena that have become more advanced, widespread, and destabilizing in the years since many found themselves looking for work.Take, for instance, "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ghost-jobs-why-some-companies-dont-respond-to-applications-2022-9">ghost jobs</a>" — positions advertised on job sites like Indeed and Monster that float around, seemingly unmonitored, luring in hopeful applicants and then never dignifying them with a response, not even an automated "no thanks." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are just <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/02/jolts-march-2023-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 9.5 million job openings</a> in the US, down from a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-openings-march-jolts-labor-shortage-hiring-market-great-resignation-2022-5">record high of 12 million in March of 2022</a>, but still well above the pre-pandemic average. Despite this seemingly encouraging number, it's not clear how many of those openings reflect a real intention to hire. "I've applied for at least 200 roles, and I'd say probably only about 30 of them have actually come back and said, 'No, we're going with someone else,'" Keach told me. "A lot of times I'm just sitting there waiting in limbo, wondering what's going on." The proliferation of ghost-job postings isn't just anecdotal — a 2022 <a href="https://clarifycapital.com/job-seekers-beware-of-ghost-jobs-survey//" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> by the small-business-loan provider Clarify Capital found that over 27% of 1,000 surveyed hiring managers admit to leaving "ghost job" postings up online for over four months, both to create the illusion of booming business and to placate overworked employees who want to see that their bosses are ostensibly looking for more help. Another <a href="https://www.employamerica.org/researchreports/a-vacant-metric-why-job-openings-are-so-unreliable/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study by the think tank Employ America</a> found that listed vacancies can be misleading because online job postings make it easy for companies to advertise for an opening, even if they spend little effort actually trying to fill the role. William Warren, 52, who is currently unemployed after 20 years in sales and can't find a job in his home state of Georgia, is familiar with ghost-job postings — he calls the tactic "fishing without a worm."Individually, ghost-job postings can erode both trust in the job market and the morale of job seekers who are applying to hundreds of positions and never hearing back. On a macro level, ghost-job postings contribute to a skewed sense of how many opportunities are really out there for US job seekers right now. Plus, many positions that are available are in industries that are either highly specialized, like healthcare, or ones that many find unattractive, such as manufacturing, gig work, or service and retail jobs. If you're a worker in an industry like real estate, media, and tech — where <a href="https://layoffs.fyi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 200,000</a> people have been laid off so far this year — these job openings aren't helpful. "I've been applying left and right, and there's a lot of oddness to it," Bishoy Riad, 31, who was laid off from his remote San Francisco tech job earlier this year, told me. "I did five interviews and a full-page web-page-proposal revamp for a position, then I was told I wasn't even shortlisted for it," he said of his job hunt. "I believe it's related to the fact that there's just so much talent supply in the market in the midst of all these mass layoffs." <h2>AI in hiring</h2>Even when an applicant is able to find a real job that a company is actively trying to fill, new technology is stacking the deck against all but the tech savviest. That's because instead of hiring managers reviewing applications, today many companies have turned to automation to reduce costs and simplify the process. Job platforms — including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster — also use language-processing AI tools to filter applicants. Ian Siegel, the CEO of ZipRecruiter, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/11/artitifical-intelligence-job-applications-screen-robot-recruiters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a> last year that AI and algorithms process at least three-quarters of all résumés submitted for jobs in the US. "The dawn of robot recruiting has come," he said. "And people just haven't caught up to the realization yet."AI applicant-tracking systems filter résumés and cover letters by keywords — not necessarily by the most dynamic and interesting job candidates. A 2021 Harvard Business School <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/Documents/research/hiddenworkers09032021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that 88% of executives know their AI tools screen out qualified candidates but continue to use them anyway because they're cost-effective. These days, in order to get your application seen by someone, you need to know how to optimize it for AI hiring systems by doing things like keeping your résumé short and tailoring keywords to the position. This has inspired a cottage industry of résumé-scanning tools that help optimize a résumé's legibility to applicant-tracking systems. If applicants rely solely on the older conventional wisdom that a sparkling cover letter, straightforward CV, and plucky email introducing yourself to the boss will be enough to catch an employer's eye, they'll likely fall through the cracks no matter how perfect they are for the job.And the weirdness doesn't stop once an applicant passes the first round. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 42% of large employers (like Unilever and Deloitte, for starters) use AI hiring support, meaning job seekers may virtually interview with or be prescreened by an artificial-intelligence program such as HireVue, Harver, or Plum. After someone applies to a job at a company that uses this software, they may receive an automated survey asking them to answer inane personality-assessment <a href="https://www.jobtestprep.com/plum-assessment#:~:text=What%20Is%20the%20Plum%20Assessment,and%20attitude%2C%20and%20social%20intelligence." target="_blank" rel="noopener">questions</a> like "Which statement describes you best? (a) I love debating academic theories or (b) I adopt a future emphasis." An applicant could also be asked to complete a puzzle. Some companies use an automated interview: The applicant is filmed answering a series of questions while a program analyzes their speech and facial expressions — basically proving their "people skills" to a robot. No wonder that <a href="https://hbr.org/2023/02/are-you-prepared-to-be-interviewed-by-an-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">researchers</a> at the University of Sussex Business School described the experience of being interviewed by AI as "confusing and unsettling."And these AI-moderated processes might not be fair, either. <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/when_good_algorithms_go_sexist_why_and_how_to_advance_ai_gender_equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Researchers</a> at the University of California, Berkeley, say that AI decision-making systems could have a 44% chance of being embedded with gender bias, a 26% chance of displaying both gender and race bias, and may also be prone to <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/artificial-intelligence/2022/05/eeoc-doj-sounding-alarm-over-ai-hiring-tools-that-screen-out-disabled-applicants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">screening out applicants with disab</a>ilities. In one notorious <a href="https://qz.com/1427621/companies-are-on-the-hook-if-their-hiring-algorithms-are-biased" target="_blank" rel="noopener">case</a>, an audit of an AI screening tool found that it prioritized candidates who played high-school lacrosse or were named "Jared." (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/25/unilever-saves-on-recruiters-by-using-ai-to-assess-job-interviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Some companies</a> claim that AI has in fact led to more diversity in hiring.) In 2022, Congress gestured toward the importance of moderating the use of these programs with the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which would have required that employers across states perform an impact assessment of AI decision-making, but the bill was never passed. Only Illinois, Maryland, and New York have <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3691819/legislation-to-rein-in-ais-use-in-hiring-grows.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">state laws</a> regarding the use of AI screening by employers in the hiring process — laws that include requiring a bias audit and telling applicants when AI is being used. <h2>Weird work</h2>There's no shortage of reasons why job hunting feels strange right now. In the blink of an eye, workers have gone from feeling galvanized by a hot job market and the Great Resignation to feeling acutely stressed by mass layoffs, the rising cost of living, and the widespread <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/work-life-balance-job-satisfaction-burnout-great-resignation-office-return-2023-4">phasing out of remote work</a>. And among the companies that have embraced remote work, competition for roles is especially high, since the hiring pool for these roles now stretches across the country or, in some cases, world. As a result, half of Gen Z job hunters surveyed by the career site <a href="https://ripplematch.com/insights/gen-z-is-losing-confidence-in-the-job-search-in-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RippleMatch</a> this year said they were not confident they will be able to find a job that meets their standards in the coming months.And now, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are contributing to job loss. Goldman Sachs recently predicted 300 million jobs in the US and Europe could be replaced by AI. And <a href="https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/automation-ai/survey-finds-many-employers-laying-off-workers-because-of-chatgpt/373964" target="_blank" rel="noopener">market research</a> by ResumeBuilder found that 48% of 1,000 surveyed US employers said they have replaced workers since ChatGPT became available in November 2022. Plus, 63% said that ChatGPT will "definitely" or "probably" lead to workers being laid off within the next five years. "I think there's a great deal of hesitation for companies to make investments in people knowing that these tools are on the horizon that will reduce their need for people," Ali Abbasi, a consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia, told me. One silver lining, though, is that AI works both ways: Job seekers can also use AI tools to help with writing their CVs, formatting their résumés, preparing for interviews, and other laborious elements of the job hunt. Because of his concern about the growing impact of AI on employment, Abbasi created a free library of advanced ChatGPT prompts called AI for Work to help workers do their jobs. "There's a lot of fear amongst individuals as they see these new tools come out that actually replace big portions of their roles," he said. But he added that "employees will not be replaced by an AI, they will be replaced by another person who can leverage AI to do the job." Suddenly, knowing how to work with AI tools and resources is an important edge for job seekers to have.Job hunters may also take small comfort in the fact that having a period of unemployment on your résumé these days isn't as stigmatized as it once was. "So many people have been laid off that being unemployed — if you can financially afford that and look for a job — isn't going to harm you as much as years ago when people actually were worried about why you were unemployed," the career coach Marlo Lyons told me. If you feel that looking for work is strange right now, you're not alone. And as generative AI continues changing the shape of work, companies float jobs that they have no intention of filling, and layoff announcements permeate the news, discombobulation is par for the course.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/adrienne-matei" rel="">Adrienne Matei</a> is a freelance journalist based in Vancouver, Canada. She writes about culture, technology, lifestyle, the environment, and more.

AI has infiltrated the hiring process &mdash; and it's making it miserable to find a new job

In the fall of 2020, I found myself in unfamiliar territory: I was looking for a new job. In theory, it was something I should have known a lot about as an economics reporter. But in practice, I was lost. Because I had stumbled into a great job right out of college, and stayed with that company for a decade, I was blissfully unaware of how soul-crushing it was to be a job seeker in 21st-century corporate America.I threw myself into the task. I meticulously researched employers. I applied to a dozen openings. I tailored my CV to match each job description. I wrote heartfelt paragraphs about why each role was perfect for me. Yet all I got back was a raft of canned rejection emails — or worse, silence. I was floored that I didn't advance to a single interview. This is terrible, I thought. How does anyone do this? I might as well have been sending my applications out into the ether.Luckily, I landed a job after a few months. But the experience stayed with me. And these days, applying for a job has turned into even more of a nightmare. In the current market, it's not uncommon for totally unremarkable jobs to attract <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-wfh-jobs-application-odds-tech-market-rto-2023-9">thousands of applications</a>. Employers are so overwhelmed by the flood of résumés that they're barely able to glance at most of them, let alone read them. The whole process has become an odds game: Job seekers submit their cover letters to hundreds of companies, struggling to stand out among the tsunami of applicants. Things have gotten so grim that LinkedIn no longer trumpets the number of people who have applied to openings on its job portal.So when I heard that you can now use a bot to mass-apply to job openings, I was intrigued. The bots — with names like LazyApply and Massive — have turned job hunting into a technological arms race. You pay a fee, feed your résumé into the bot, tell it what you're looking for, and blam! — it starts sending out hundreds of applications on your behalf, often in real time. It's the promise of AI, applied to the job market: an intelligent, personalized, HR-slaying machine, designed to land you a gig through a combination of tech-savvy and brute force.The question is: Do the bots work? I decided to find out. So I went undercover in the age of AI.I wasn't looking for a job. But late one night I cracked open a beer, updated my résumé, pulled out my credit card, and entrusted my fate to a job-application bot. Which roles would it apply to? How accurately would it reflect my skills and interests to employers? A friend joked, "Does your editor know this story might end in you taking a new role?" The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I didn't think any employers would actually bite. How could an AI-generated version of me possibly compete in such a crowded and chaotic job market?Some 120 applications later, I stood corrected.The first bot I tried was called Sonara. For $79.99 a month, I signed up for the most expensive "amplitude" plan, which would allow me to apply for 420 openings. After I spent a half hour uploading my résumé and completing my profile, Sonara showed me maybe a dozen job options. I greenlighted a few of them, and the bot promised it would send them out. Each morning when I logged back on, it would send me a trickle of new options to consider. But the ones I approved continued to sit in the queue, unsent. It was hardly the job-applying firehose I was looking for. I pinged customer service a few times. Then, after a week, a statement popped up on Sonara's website. The service was shutting down. Great, I thought. There goes my $79.99.Undeterred, I signed up for WonsultingAI, which seemed like a bargain at only $19.99 a month. It was a little more manual than Sonara: Every time I wanted it to pull in more job openings, I had to input my experience level and specify the title and location of the position I was looking for. It had a cool feature that allowed me to use a different résumé for each job title I applied to, meaning I could highlight different skills and achievements for various positions. But like Sonara, it didn't show me many job openings, and it was pretty glitchy. About one in three applications never went through.<div type="image" title="A robot carrying resumes." height="2000" width="2000" msid="108238936" hostid="261"></div>I had more hope for Massive, another bot I tried. True to its name, it showed me way more openings than Sonara and Wonsulting. But it had a limited, preset list of corporate occupations I could apply to. I chose a couple that felt most relevant to what I do: content marketing and PR. For $39 a month, it would send out up to 50 applications a week. Every few days, I would spend 20 minutes sifting through the options and vetoing the jobs that weren't relevant. It all seemed pretty seamless. After a few days, I started getting a steady stream of automated emails from various employers thanking me for submitting my application. Still, 50 applications a week felt pretty tame in the AI age. What I wanted was a true spray-and-pray machine, the AK-47 of job-application bots. For that, I turned to LazyApply.LazyApply didn't offer a monthly subscription option, so I purchased a lifetime plan for $129. That gave me the ability to submit a maximum of 750 applications per day. (A more expensive plan came with unlimited applications, but I just couldn't imagine sending out more than 750 in a week, let alone a day.) Unlike the other bots, which ingested job openings into their own sites, LazyApply submitted applications via external job boards. So I linked my brand-new LazyApply profile to my accounts on Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and LinkedIn. Then I set it loose.Unlike the other bots, LazyApply did all the applying in real time, right in front of my eyes. It was as if someone had hacked my computer: I watched as the bot clicked on various boxes and typed out answers to short questions. For the first few minutes, I was mesmerized. Then, I started to panic. In one application, the bot indicated that I speak conversational-level Spanish, which I definitely do not. In another, it reported that I was African American, even though I had specified in my LazyApply profile that I am Asian. I shouldn't have been surprised, given AI's well-known propensity to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbot-chatgpt-google-microsofty-lying-search-belief-2023-2">make stuff up</a>. But I was alarmed. If I had been a real job seeker, I probably would have pulled the plug on the rogue machine. Instead, I let LazyApply do its thing. I was curious to see which jobs, if any, Spanish-speaking African American Aki would land.Then things got even weirder. A few applications in, I realized that LazyApply wasn't using the updated résumé I had given it. Instead, it was attaching a document I didn't recognize, titled "Aki Ito Cover Letter, Resume, Links for Insider.pdf." That's strange, I thought. Did LazyApply auto-generate a cover letter for me? I wondered whether it was any good. But when I opened the PDF, I saw it was dated October 24, 2020. It read: "Dear Mr. Carlson: I'm writing to apply for the analytical features editor position at Insider." Instead of sending out the updated résumé I'd provided, LazyApply was submitting an old cover letter it had found buried in the depths of my LinkedIn account, from when I had applied to BI three years ago. In a single spurt, 27 employers — ranging from a website I had never heard of called CryptoNewsZ to venerable publications like The Boston Globe — received an application from me that talked about how much I wanted to work for one of their competitors. LazyApply, I realized in horror, was living up to its name.Applying for jobs has never been easy, or pleasant. Nobody liked it back in the old days, when people found work by scanning the classified ads in their local newspaper, going to Kinko's to print out their résumés, mailing off their applications, and then waiting weeks or months to hear back. Looking for work has always been work.The internet promised to change all that. Three decades ago, when Monster and CareerBuilder launched, they sought to match huge pools of job seekers and employers in one big forum — to create what's known, in economics, as a thicker market. With more efficient matchmaking between companies and prospective employees, the thinking went, we might even be able to permanently lower unemployment and boost productivity.But a thicker market actually didn't make the matching process any more efficient. Employers got access to a larger pool of applicants, but they didn't have the tools to sort through the sudden influx of options. Besieged by volume, they coped by spending less time reviewing the details of every applicant and ghosting the ones they rejected. Candidates adapted by sending out more applications, which further overwhelmed HR departments. The new technology came with an ironic twist: It made it easier than ever to apply for a job, and harder than ever to actually land one.The first wave of AI was supposed to fix what the internet broke. Job boards began to take on a more active role in the marketplace, using big data to recommend the best jobs to job seekers and the best job seekers to employers. A decade ago, when I was writing for Bloomberg, I posited that the new approach might finally solve what one economist called the job market's "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-04-03/algorithms-play-matchmaker-to-fight-7-7-u-s-unemployment-jobs">needle-in-the-haystack problem</a>." I couldn't have been more wrong. The vicious cycle continued, forcing everyone to apply to ever more jobs as their chances of success dropped. Hence the bots.<div type="image" title="A microscope reveals a robot face where a human face appears on a résumé." height="2000" width="2000" msid="108238937" hostid="261"></div>So far, though, it looks like the arrival of job bots is only making the problem worse. For starters, employers hate them. HR departments have no way of knowing which applications came from a human and which came from a machine. Unless, of course, the bot screws up, like LazyApply did on my applications. Factual errors, nonsensical answers to questions, false promises of Spanish fluency — letting a bot do your job hunting can make you look really, really bad."It's definitely a huge risk," says Tony Riggins, who has years of experience as a recruiter for leading tech companies. "It can completely damage your candidacy, and perhaps even your reputation, if you're a candidate with an application making mistakes." Thanks to LazyApply, I've probably destroyed any chance I had of working for The Boston Globe.Some of the bot services are aware of their technology's limitations. Their solution is the same one that tech platforms like Facebook and YouTube have long been forced to resort to in the face of their algorithmic chaos: reintroducing a layer of human oversight to the process. Massive relies on human "job experts" to double-check every application completed by its bot. Other services, including Teal and Simplify, use Chrome extensions that make you responsible for reviewing the bot's work, forcing you to click "submit" before each autofilled application is sent.Ladders, a job board that specializes in high-paid positions, takes human oversight a step further. Early in the pandemic, when hiring came to a standstill, the company brainstormed new ways to help job seekers. "A top complaint over and over again was, 'It takes me too long to apply for all these jobs,'" recalls Marc Cenedella, the founder and executive chair of Ladders. "It is mind-numbing, soul-crushing work." So in 2020, the company rolled out a new feature: a team of humans who would complete your job applications for you. At $49.97 a month, it proved wildly popular: Today, the majority of applications on Ladders are completed by human proxies instead of job seekers.Ladders' decision to refrain from fully automating its service is intentional. Cenedella says his team has taken a look at a variety of job-application bots. "What we're interested in is quality, accuracy, and speed," Cenedella told me. "So far, we haven't found any that have met those bars for us."Still, we know how this story goes. It's as old as John Henry. Humans may, in the short run, manage to beat a steel-driving machine. But sooner or later, their hearts will explode from trying to keep up. The humans at Ladders can only send out 50 applications for you each month. But the job bots at LazyApply and other services never get tired. They aren't aiming for quality. Like most tech these days, they're betting on scale.It's a smart bet. Much to my surprise, out of the 126 jobs I applied to with the bots, I ended up hearing back from seven employers. That's a 6% success rate — pretty high, considering that half the jobs were in areas like PR or marketing, in which I have zero experience.I responded to each email I got with an apology, explaining that I was testing out the bots for a story I was writing. Did the employers have any inkling that my application came from a bot?"I wouldn't have guessed," one recruiter told me. "There's no way to know on LinkedIn jobs." Another hiring manager wrote: "The main thing that was unusual about your application is it included a cover letter for an old job and outdated CV." Yet even that level of screw-up hadn't deterred him. "Other than that," he said, "nothing struck me as bot-like or weird."A third employer — a journalist whose work I've admired for years — was also fooled. "Yikes," he wrote when I told him my application was bot-produced. "Have not run into that, and didn't realize." He added, somewhat sheepishly: "I was on a cross-country plane and tired." Getting duped by a bot may not be a good outcome for an employer, but it felt like a win for me. After all, I got seven callbacks, compared with the zero I got with the handcrafted, low-volume strategy I took three years ago — and the bot-driven process required far less time and energy. Moreover, it felt like a form of equity. Let's face it: HR departments approach the job-search process in a purely transactional manner, sending out automated rejections to desperate job seekers who spent days polishing and perfecting their applications. Now I was doing the same, using adaptive machines to get my human foot in the door. It made the whole shitty process feel a bit more manageable. And if using bots increases your odds of success, it's worth a shot. The more darts you throw at the wall, the better chance you have of hitting the bull's-eye.But whatever value they provide for weary job seekers, it's worth noting that spray-and-pray bots don't address the larger issue that prevents many applicants from landing a job. Ultimately, it's not how many applications you send out that wins the day — it's the connections you have. A good résumé is one thing, but if Bob over in marketing says you'd be a great addition to the team, that means a whole lot more."The biggest challenge for job seekers is that you see a great job, but you see it at the same time as 5 million other people on the job board," Emily Lamia, an experienced career coach, told me. "How you find out about those jobs before they're listed, and how you make the right connections to even design a job for yourself, is how people end up in positions that are really fulfilling for them." Lamia routinely polls her clients, and she's found that 80% of the time, they got their current jobs — and most of their past ones — through some kind of connection. That's why she says she would never recommend job-search bots to her clients. Instead of cold applying to hundreds of jobs, they need to focus on networking for the ones they really want.Networking is ultimately how I landed my job at Business Insider. My original cold application to the company — the one that included my "Dear Mr. Carlson" cover letter — went nowhere. So I swallowed my pride and messaged anyone I knew who might be able to provide me with an introduction. One former colleague I reached out to suggested I talk to a friend of his at BI. The friend, in turn, connected me with an editor there, who then introduced me to his boss, who passed me on to a different boss, who eventually hired me. Thanks to those introductions, a company that showed zero interest in my initial application offered to create a whole new position to enable me to report on the rapid changes unfolding in the American workplace. No bot could ever do that.Still, I came away from my time among the job-search bots feeling the way I do about much of AI. It can be incredibly helpful for plowing through tedious tasks. And it's going to get better over time. But for now, you have to keep an eye on it. At the moment, relying on a bot is like turning a task over to an intern. They're hardworking and helpful. But they're also inexperienced and underpaid — so you'd be smart to check their work.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/aki-ito">Aki Ito</a> is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

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