After getting a layoff discover in Could, engineer Todd Hendricks, 46, began his job search. One Friday, he signed on to Zoom for the coding spherical of a multistep interview course of and waited for somebody to look. Nobody did.
He reached out to the recruiter and heard nothing again. The subsequent Monday, an e-mail landed in his inbox. The corporate mentioned it was now not transferring ahead along with his software, based mostly on his efficiency within the interview he says by no means occurred.
Hendricks is considered one of many American job seekers who imagine the hiring course of is “damaged.” Discovering a job has hardly ever been straightforward, however in 2026, fierce competitors, the rising use of synthetic intelligence and an absence of belief in employers have additional difficult the method. U.S. employers shed 23,000 roles in July, and know-how accounted for 31% of introduced job cuts this yr, in keeping with Challenger, Grey & Christmas.
The nation’s unemployment price was 4.1% in July, although economists say it fell this yr largely as a result of staff dropped out of the labor pressure, not as a result of a large variety of candidates had been employed. Some analysts imagine one cause behind the departures is burnout from the job search.
Extra Candidates, Much less Human Consideration
After being laid off in Could 2023, Candee Petersen mentioned she secured a brand new job three months later in August, solely to be laid off once more in September. Although she has landed some contract work since, Petersen, 54, mentioned that about 5,000 purposes later, she’s nonetheless with out a full-time job. A former government administrative enterprise associate, she first utilized to comparable roles. As time dragged on, she utilized to “every part” that aligned together with her ability set.
Amanda Dobson, founding father of Clear Pathways, an HR and management advisory agency, mentioned one of many issues with hiring as we speak could also be that “quantity has changed intention” for job seekers and recruiters alike.
The explosion of distant work amid the COVID-19 pandemic led to extra candidates vying for a similar jobs across the nation quite than competing with simply these of their space or these keen to relocate for a place, Dobson mentioned.
U.S. candidates per open position have doubled since spring 2022, in keeping with LinkedIn analysis launched at first of this yr. It discovered that 65% of individuals mentioned discovering a job had change into more difficult, citing competitors as the principle impediment.
Recruiters used to overview about 100 purposes per position in early 2021. They’re now processing 291 per rent, in keeping with a 2026 Expertise Tendencies report by Ashby, a recruiting platform.
Employers obtain a whole bunch of purposes and can’t reply to every. Candidates don’t hear again, in order that they apply for extra jobs, and the cycle continues, Dobson mentioned.
Vicki Salemi, a profession knowledgeable at job listings web site Monster, mentioned she has seen lifeguards apply to licensed public accountant roles and a candidate apply to 10 positions on the identical firm at one time, a “crimson flag” to the employer. She and Dobson advise job seekers to slender their search.
In case you’re “sending out 500 purposes as a candidate, there’s no method that you just really wish to work for these 500 jobs,” Dobson mentioned. “As a substitute of spending the power — the 5 to 10 minutes per software that you just’re sending out — and sending it out 500 occasions, take 20 minutes in your resume and take 20 minutes in your software to thoughtfully reply the applying questions.”
The Rising Position of Synthetic Intelligence
An issue with that method could also be that solely 10% of job seekers really feel that almost all of their purposes are reviewed by a human, in keeping with LiveCareer’s 2025 Job Search Frustration Survey, although 64% believed their resumes had been optimized for applicant monitoring programs.
Dobson mentioned they’re proper to be skeptical.
“I speak with a number of HR professionals, and within the recruitment course of, they’re not each single resume,” she mentioned. “They’re letting the programs try this.”
At 93%, most recruiters surveyed by LinkedIn late final yr mentioned they deliberate to extend their AI use in 2026, and 59% mentioned the know-how was already serving to them uncover new candidates. Some have gone as far as to introduce AI interviewers.
“No one talks to you anymore. You get invites, ‘Oh, we have now an AI interview.’ I’m not speaking to AI. I’m not sending a Loom video simply so you possibly can see me sitting there speaking to myself,” Petersen mentioned. “The place’s the humanity on this?”
However candidates are utilizing AI, too. The LinkedIn survey discovered 81% of individuals had used AI to help their job search or mentioned they deliberate to. Hendricks described it as an “automation arms race.”
“Candidates are more and more utilizing AI to tailor their resumes and canopy letters on the purposes, and employers more and more will use AI or different automated programs to filter and rank these purposes,” he mentioned.
Hendricks shouldn’t be counting on AI to rewrite his purposes, nevertheless.
“Even earlier than AI, there was this idea that it is best to have a singular resume for each job software,” he mentioned. “Now, AI has made that simpler, whereas individuals used to do it by hand. However I imply, my expertise is my expertise. I’m not going to enhance it in ways in which aren’t true.”
Even when an applicant makes use of AI to assist optimize their software, if a monitoring system is flagging resumes for particular key phrases or phrases, a misplaced comma could be the cause an applicant isn’t severely thought of, Dobson mentioned.
“Due to the place a comma was positioned of their standards, they had been auto-rejecting a number of candidates that they need to have been reviewing,” she mentioned of 1 firm. “We’re relying too closely on these programs and never utilizing a human to overview candidates.”
Ghost Jobs and a Lack of Belief
The standard method individuals measure job market tightness is by evaluating the variety of open jobs with the variety of unemployed individuals.
Nevertheless, “a big and rising share of job postings goal already-employed staff or characterize inactive listings,” a Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis evaluation mentioned final November. “Consequently, the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio now overstates how tight the labor market actually is for unemployed staff.”
Even when a job itemizing shouldn’t be a rip-off, an organization could put up a job whereas planning to rent internally or recruiting somebody already employed elsewhere. A finances change may imply a job that was as soon as actual is now lower. In these circumstances, an organization could promote a gap that job seekers by no means had a sensible likelihood of getting. Candidates name these listings “ghost jobs.”
One other Ashby report launched final yr analyzing knowledge from its buyer base discovered that 82% of open jobs in 2024 led to an actual rent however that 5.5% had been paused, 1% led to a proposal however no rent, and three.5% had been pulled with out a cause given.
Candidates “don’t have any solution to know whether or not one other candidate was chosen, or the hiring plan modified, or the place was by no means actively being crammed, and it was only a itemizing to extend the looks of success on the a part of the corporate,” Hendricks mentioned. “If I apply to 10 positions and obtain no interviews, I have to know whether or not which means I’m focusing on the incorrect roles, or I’m presenting my expertise poorly, or I’m making use of to positions that weren’t sensible alternatives within the first place.”
Salemi mentioned that whereas it’s true there are job postings unemployed candidates by no means had a sensible likelihood of getting, corporations “don’t put up them only for enjoyable” however quite to construct a expertise pipeline or stack of resumes to reference the subsequent time they’ve a gap.
Expertise pipelines haven’t labored out for Petersen.
“No one ever has referred to as me again as a result of they constructed a pipeline from a job that I utilized to 3 years in the past,” Petersen mentioned.
Doubting Job Descriptions and Scanning for Scams
Candidates have extra belief in job postings when corporations share clear wage ranges in addition to clear expectations round workload and hours, a brand new Monster report discovered. However they don’t all the time get them.
After reviewing sufficient job posts that listed the place as distant solely to search out out the corporate requires workers to work in workplace, Petersen doesn’t belief job descriptions anymore.
She’s not alone. Solely 10% of staff say job descriptions “all the time” precisely replicate the fact of the position, in keeping with the Monster report. It discovered that 81% of staff surveyed mentioned they not less than typically encounter job descriptions that “really feel imprecise or overly polished.”
Past figuring out whether or not an organization means what it says in a job posting, candidates are also navigating rip-off provides. Petersen mentioned she receives suspicious texts and emails promising to assist her land a job “on daily basis.”
“You get, ‘After all. Yeah. Now we have a job for you, however it’s essential pay this individual to rewrite your resume,’” she mentioned. “It’s scary to see how many individuals will attempt to benefit from any individual who’s already down.”
At 95%, most job seekers have encountered a suspicious job supply, and 98% mentioned as we speak’s job market will increase vulnerability to scams, a separate Monster report discovered.
To confirm whether or not a possibility is actual, Salemi mentioned, job seekers ought to ask themselves just a few questions: Is it sensible? Does it spotlight particular duties? Is it listed on the corporate web site? Does the corporate have a mailing handle? Does the recruiter have knowledgeable e-mail handle?
She reminds job seekers that almost all corporations gained’t want their Social Safety quantity or handle till after they’re onboarded.
“Reputable employers won’t simply instantly rent you with out having screened you,” Salemi mentioned. “Your intestine was possible going to be proper anyway. So belief it.”
Attain Rachel Barber at [email protected], comply with her on X @rachelbarber_, and subscribe to her publication “Making Extra of Your Cash” right here.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: ‘The place’s the humanity?’ Why job seekers say hiring is ‘damaged’
Reporting by Rachel Barber, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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