Nearly three in 10 jobseekers tailor applications for potential AI screening, CV-Library finds

Nearly three in 10 (29%) jobseekers changed their CV or cover letter because they believed it would be screened by AI, data from CV-Library found.

Its Candidate Behaviour Barometer found 70% of candidates said widespread AI use made it harder to stand out, while 69% of recruiters said AI-generated applications made it harder to identify the strongest candidates.

83% of recruiters had frequently or occasionally seen signs of AI-written applications.

More than a third of recruiters were less confident than a year earlier that CVs and applications accurately reflected candidates’ skills.

Among those who had become less confident, 52% cited obviously AI-generated CVs or cover letters, 44% cited candidate exaggeration and 31% cited increasingly polished or generic applications.

Around 58% of candidates said they would feel more comfortable with AI in recruitment if they were guaranteed that a human would review their application.

Alec Stanwell, director of marketing at CV-Library, said: “Candidates are becoming so focused on writing for AI that they risk forgetting their real audience – the human making the final hiring decision. 

“AI can help improve an application, but it shouldn’t remove the personality, skills and real-world examples that can make a candidate stand out.