AI Has Broken the Hiring Process
HR is supposed to be about people. Lately, it feels like we're interviewing language models by proxy.
Cover letters and resumés are hard work. Tools make it easy to produce clean prose, recycle keywords and churn out "custom" applications in seconds. That convenience is flooding pipelines with content that looks polished but says very little about the person behind it.
What AI-generated applications look like
Patterns give it away. Unusual punctuation that most people never use. Full sentences in place of bullet points. A clinical, samey tone stuffed with buzzwords like "cross-functional," "alignment," and "collaboration."
When a batch of applications reads like it came from the same template, trust takes a hit. If the words are engineered, the skills might be as well.
Costly misses happen faster now
Here's the pain: someone can sound fluent in the right jargon and still stall the moment a task gets real. We've seen candidates ace phone screens, then fail basic hands-on tests because their knowledge came from googling terms, not doing the work.
That forces a reset-reposting roles, paying to re-promote, re-screening, re-interviewing. It burns time, budget and team focus.
Live interviews aren't immune
Real-time prompting is here. Signs include repeating your question word-for-word, followed by instant, perfectly structured answers read off a screen. Screening questions in online forms often come back with the same generic phrasing and recycled ideas.
That defeats the point of prompts meant to reveal judgment, curiosity and genuine interest.
Shift the signal: judge the work, not the prose
Resumé polish matters less than proof. Interviews and skills tests should carry the weight. In-person touchpoints help. Multi-panel interviews reduce single-interviewer bias. Hands-on tasks for every role-sales, office, technical-separate real experience from borrowed language.
- Use work samples under light supervision. 20-30 minutes is enough to see how someone thinks and prioritizes without outside help.
- Ask for specifics. "Walk me through the exact steps you took, the tools you used, the risks you managed, and the numbers that moved." Vague answers are a flag.
- Press for depth. Follow up with "why that choice," "what went wrong," "what you measured," "what you'd do by day 30/60/90."
- Run structured interviews. Score against clear criteria. Look for evidence, not performance.
- Make rules explicit. Tell candidates where assistance is allowed (e.g., resumé formatting) and where it isn't (assessments). Add a short honesty statement.
- Use time-boxed, in-person written tasks to curb live prompting.
- Target references. Ask past managers to confirm the exact outcomes a candidate claims.
- Avoid AI text "detectors" for go/no-go calls-they misfire often. Even the most cited classifier was retired for low accuracy.
- If you deploy any automation in hiring, review it for fairness and compliance. See the EEOC's guidance on AI in employment.
Grow your own talent to reduce guesswork
Apprenticeships, mentorships, job fairs and partnerships with high schools and trade schools rebuild a reliable pipeline. You get to see work ethic and learning speed up close, long before a formal interview.
Referrals still help, but balance them with outreach that widens access. Give people a fair shot to prove skill in simple, real tasks.
Keep hiring human
This isn't about banning tools. It's about seeing the person. Shorter cycles, clearer communication and practical tasks reduce noise and restore trust.
If someone can't hold a conversation or perform a basic exercise without a hidden script, that's the signal. If they can show their work, that's the hire.
For HR teams building policy and skills
If your organization needs a common playbook for ethical use of AI in hiring and practical assessments that surface real ability, explore focused training here: Complete AI Training: Courses by Job.
A quick note to candidates
Perfect phrasing won't carry you. Proof of work will. Show your thinking, talk about outcomes, and be honest about what you know and what you're excited to learn. That's what gets you in-and keeps you there.
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