The job applicant experience is going through a revolutionary shift. Students and recent grads are leveraging grad school-specific AI tools geared for a dizzying 50% usage rate. This change, driven by the need for efficiency in a challenging job market, is reshaping how candidates approach job applications and how employers respond. It seems even Teach First—a London-based charity that has catalyzed many recent educational initiatives and reforms—are changing. They are moving away from traditional written assessments to more exciting real-world task-based evaluations.
This is real good news — Teach First’s applications have risen by almost 30% in recent months compared to this time last year. AI has been a foundational technology in accelerating this astounding growth. The charity’s transformation is an indicator of a much larger movement in the labor market. Federal job demand has jumped in spite of the overall economy continuing to weaken. James Reed, the chief executive of the Reed employment agency, expressed his concerns about the recent amendments. He thinks the labor market is hanging by a thread of a structural change. He says that given the pace of technology, five years from now, the world of work will be very different.
Bright Network has shared that use of AI for job applications has tripled. It really soared from 38% last year to an astounding 50% this year. As hiring has become more reliant on technology, it has become easier for candidates to apply to dozens of roles in a day. This automates an otherwise lengthy manual process. “AI tools make it easier for candidates of any age – not just graduates – to apply to many, many different roles,” stated Kirsten Barnes, head of the digital platform at Bright Network.
Either way, employers have noticed this influx of applicants. Barnes noted, “Employers have been saying to us that what they’re seeing is a huge surge in the volume of applications that they’re receiving.” This boom comes even as vacancies for graduate jobs, apprenticeships, internships and other entry-level roles have nose-dived. As an example, these kind of opportunities have waned by 32% since the inception of ChatGPT in late-November 2022. According to university impact reports from Indeed, new graduates are facing their most challenging labor market conditions since 2018. The total number of advertised roles has fallen by a third (33%) since this time last year.
As applications pour in, Patrick Dempsey of Teach First warned that the increasing use of AI in recruitment poses major risks. Not only that, he really emphasized how the process has been made incredibly easy for candidates. Unfortunately, sometimes they unwittingly slip in some AI-generated text into their applications, which results in immediate rejection. “There are instances where people are leaving the tail end of a ChatGPT message in an application answer, and of course they get rejected,” Dempsey explained.
In order to respond to these changes, Teach First intends to move more quickly from mainly written assignments to more task-based assessments. Dempsey emphasized the necessity of this transition: “The shift from written assessment to task-based assessment is something we feel the need to accelerate.” This strategy would focus on more accurately assessing prospective applicants’ skills while reducing the danger that AI would be weaponized through malicious misuse.
Owing to these changes, over one in four businesses are expected to adopt rules against using AI to screen job applicants. They are getting ready for the next recruitment cycle. Reed noted that universities must reconsider how they prepare students for this evolving landscape: “I think universities should be looking at this and thinking quite carefully about how they prepare young people.”
Candidates and employers alike are still working their way through this emerging landscape created by AI technology. This transition has profound consequences for our future workforce. As the use of automation and technology increases in recruitment processes, it is important to consider the potential impact on fairness and accessibility for those applying to jobs.