Is AI drowning out genuine applications ? A Recruiter’s View from the Front Line
I’ve been a recruiter long enough to remember when posting a job advert meant waiting days—sometimes weeks—for applications to trickle in via the post. Today, that window has shrunk to minutes. Sometimes seconds. And increasingly, I’m left asking: is the hiring market becoming so saturated with applications that the best talent is being drowned out?
AI has changed the game on both sides of the hiring table. What was once a carefully written CV and a thoughtfully crafted cover letter is now, more often than not, a perfectly polished document generated in seconds. From a candidate’s perspective, that’s empowering. From a recruiter’s perspective, it creates a need to question what is genuine and what is simply well-packaged by a machine.
The flood no one prepared for
The promise of AI, at least initially, sounded like a gift to recruiters: tools to automate admin and speed up hiring decisions. What many of us didn’t anticipate was the sheer volume of applications it would unleash.
Today, candidates can apply for dozens—sometimes hundreds—of roles with minimal effort. Automated services tailor CVs and cover letters to job descriptions at scale, meaning roles can attract an extraordinary number of applicants almost instantly.
The uncomfortable truth? Many of those candidates simply cannot have read the job description properly. They’re applying because they can, not because the role genuinely fits.
The problem with “post and pray”
This brings me to something I see far too often, the “post and pray” approach. Put a role on a job board, share it on LinkedIn, and hope the right person applies.
When hundreds of applications arrive almost immediately, even the most diligent hiring teams would have to rely on filters or keyword searches, just to cope. That means great candidates can be missed—not because they aren’t qualified, but because they don’t match the signal the system is tuned to detect.
From a client perspective, this creates frustration: “We had loads of applicants, but none of them were right.” From a candidate perspective, it feels like shouting into the void. Without a considered response, will the genuine candidate apply next time?
Cutting through the noise
So how do you stand out when the noise is this loud?
For candidates, a beautifully written CV means very little if it doesn’t clearly demonstrate relevance. Specific experience, tangible outcomes, and genuine alignment with the role cut through far more effectively than generic perfection.
For employers, differentiation is becoming just as important, as well as full disclosure on salary. If your job advert looks like everyone else’s with a salary ‘dependent on experience’, it will attract everyone else. Clear expectations, honest insight into the role, and a compelling reason why someone should work for you matter more than ever.
Will the best candidates even apply anymore?
Highly skilled, in-demand candidates are already sceptical of traditional application processes. They know the odds. They know their CV, when sent to some organisations, may never be seen by human eyes. Many are open to conversations—but not to filling out forms, uploading documents, and competing with hundreds of AI-generated applications.
If that trend continues, we may reach a point where the best candidates simply don’t apply at all. Social Media started as a tool for good but fake accounts and keyboard warriors turned in to something very different. Our fear is that is happening again.
A market at a crossroads
AI isn’t going away—and nor should it. Used well, it can improve hiring decisions and reduce bias. Used passively, it risks turning recruitment into a volume game where nobody really wins.
So I’ll leave you with this—whether you’re a candidate or a hiring manager:
- Are job adverts still serving their purpose, or are they simply adding to the noise?
- Is “post and pray” helping you find the best people, or just the most people?
- And in a world where applying is effortless, will the most valuable talent even bother applying at all if you are not able to respond to them?
The answers to those questions will shape what recruitment looks like next. And for all of us navigating this new landscape, cutting through the noise has never mattered more.