Marvin OnumonuArtificial intelligence (AI) has made it harder for employers to trust what they see on CVs, research from Deel has found.
40% of UK HR leaders have already extended probation periods due to AI making it harder to judge people’s real skills at the application stage.
77% agreed that it is now more difficult to spot authenticity before someone joins the business, so checks are being shifted into probation.
Of 500 UK HR leaders, 74% said CVs and cover letters are less reliable than two years ago, with 75% seeing more AI-generated applications.
74% felt confident they could spot these.
77% said probation shows more about what people can actually do than interviews, while just 6% disagreed.
As a result, 42% have made probation more structured with stricter targets and checkpoints, and 37% now use probation as a “safety net” to catch hires who looked good in interviews but struggle once in the job.
Matt Monette, UK&I country lead and head of expansion at Deel, said: “AI has widened the gap between how candidates present themselves and how they perform.
“Something that used to feel predictable – reviewing a CV, holding an interview – now feels less reliable.
“Employers are telling us they can only understand real capability once someone starts the job, and probation has become the moment where authenticity is finally visible.”
Monette added: “Probation is no longer a formality. It’s becoming the defining stage of hiring in an AI-driven world.”
In the last six months, 29% of HR leaders said the standard probation period no longer feels long enough for both sides to decide if a hire is a good fit.
28% said candidates overstated their abilities at the application stage, showing the gap between how people present themselves and how they perform is getting wider.
Looking ahead, 43% of employers expect probation periods to get even longer over the next year.
The main reasons are improving performance management and measurement (25%) and the increasing complexity of roles that need more training and time to judge (21%).
Over half (52%) said probation periods last two to three months, but nearly half (44%) expect this to stretch to four to six months within a year.
