Articles and Insights

Are you worried that AI resume screening is hurting your chances of getting an interview?

I keep hearing candidates say that AI is putting them at a disadvantage because they don’t have all the secret keywords on their resumes. Here are some thoughts from a real recruiter’s perspective…

First, the reality is that 99% of the companies out there aren’t using any kind of AI to screen applications yet.  Yes, every HR platform claims to have integrated AI capabilities.  But the vast majority of these tools are little more than a new UX on the same old search engine.  AI hype is real, and most of the platforms don’t even come close to delivering on their marketing promises YET.

Also, most recruiters never want to miss a great candidate because they didn’t even look at a resume.  Many smaller companies aren’t even using advanced hiring platforms because they’re too expensive.  If you talk to a recruiter, you’ll find that most of them look at every resume that comes in.  They’re scared of missing a great candidate. This is true, even though 99% of the applicants for most roles aren’t even close to what they are looking for.   

Next, the teams that are using more advanced tools are typically still prompting them the exact same way they search for resumes on job boards.  Recruiters have had Boolean search drilled into them for years… How do you think they found your resume 2 years ago?  Keyword searching the ATS and job boards!  That keyword scanning tech that you are worried about has been here since job boards started.  If you’ve never taken the time to add your skills to your resume or LinkedIn profile, you haven’t been showing up in most searches anyway.

As these tools continue to improve, I’d argue that they will actually be HELPFUL to candidates.  Especially those with resumes that don’t fully reflect their skillset… 

Combining data sets that include tech stacks at specific companies (for example) with candidate resumes, an AI Agent can infer that a Software Engineer does have a specific skill, because that’s what their company uses, even though it’s not on the resume.

These tools are already out there, but they are still cost prohibitive for most hiring teams. 

That AI agent is going to improve the right candidate’s chances of getting through the noise, because it will have access to much more context about their experience.  Do you think a recruiter who scans your resume for 15 seconds has time to look up your previous companies to try to figure out the relevance of your experience to the open role? 

To the people who’ve been considering embellishing their resume with fake data to pass the AI screener, I have some advice: At the rate we’re seeing things advance, it’s not going to be long before that AI flags you as dishonest and the keyword arms race backfires.