The hiring landscape in the United States is experiencing one of its most radical shifts that has been propelled by artificial intelligence (AI). From AI-led interviews to auto-generated cover letters, technology is reshaping how job seekers apply for positions and how companies evaluate candidates. That trend accelerated during the pandemic. Yet today, it poses major questions of equity and efficiency in the recruiting pipeline.
Analysis conducted by researchers Galdin and Jesse Silbert revealed a notable trend: the use of AI in hiring has become prevalent, with over half of organizations surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management reporting its adoption by 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly sped up this trend, as virtual interviews powered by AI became widely adopted beginning in 2020. Unfortunately, today, an astounding 54% of job seekers have gone through an AI-driven interview.
The growing dependency on AI tools has raised the ire of many. Critics have raised alarms that these new technologies only reinforce biases that are already present in hiring. Djurre Holtrop emphasized that “algorithms can copy and even magnify human biases,” which raises questions about the fairness of AI-led assessments.
The launch of widely available AI-powered tools such as Chat GPT in 2022 have really added a layer of confusion. With this upgrade, the tool has the ability to produce more nuanced and lengthier cover letters. Yet, this has unintentionally lessened the weight companies have given to this classic component of job applications. As Galdin noted, “the ability (for companies) to select the best worker today may be worse due to AI.” The effect is a labor market where a majority of qualified applicants are likely to be mischaracterized by their applications.
Daniel Chait, the CEO of Greenhouse, acknowledged the potential big-picture effects of AI on hiring practices with some apprehension. He called it devising a “doom loop.” In this round, both employers and job seekers see themselves similarly cornered by a broken system that doesn’t produce the results they need. Chait added, “both sides are saying, ‘This is impossible, it’s not working, it’s getting worse.’”
Despite all these obstacles, ChatGPT has become a steadfast partner to the majority of active users. In fact, about a third of them have used the chatbot to find their jobs. Today’s job seekers are facing a much different environment. They need to validate their talent in the process, fighting their way through automated screenings that sometimes overlook deeply relevant skills and experiences.
On behalf of 12.5 million members of that labor union, Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president, recently demonstrated pronounced opposition to AI’s role in hiring dynamics. She asserted that “AI systems rob workers of opportunities they’re qualified for based on criteria as arbitrary as names, zip codes, or even how often they smile.” Comments like these further underscore the importance of more oversight on the ways AI is currently being embedded into recruitment processes.
The implications of this technological shift should be alarming for job seekers. Fairness skepticism The first question many people have when AI is raised as a hiring tool is whether AI can ever be fair. Indeed, just 8% of job seekers still consider it a fair way to test candidates. This feeling is emblematic of a wider fear regarding the fairness of selection processes that are being ever more controlled by algorithms.
Businesses have widely adopted AI tools in their hiring practices. As such, the market for recruiting technology is expected to expand significantly, topping out at an estimated $3.1 billion by year’s end. This exponential change leads to more questions than answers—not the least of which is how should we be preparing workers to thrive in such an automated future workforce.
Jesse Silbert warned that, without intentional action to improve the flow of information between workers and companies, the impact may not be positive. “If we do nothing to make information flow better between workers and firms, then we might have an outcome that looks something like this,” he stated, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach to technology in hiring.