• AI is reshaping job searches, offering speed and automation for rudimentary tasks.
• There are pros and cons for recruiters, who are now getting more applications than ever.
• Candidates should use AI as a tool, experts say, adding personal touches to stand out.

AI is transforming job searches for both candidates and recruiters.

But with all the tools that make the application process easier and faster than ever, there are traps you can fall into.

Andrea Miller, the founder of LeadWell Company, a global leadership consultancy that helps organizations navigate the future of work, told Business Insider that while AI can save time and effort by streamlining applications, optimizing resumes, and improving interview preparation, it also comes with some challenges.

"Generic, AI-generated applications can fail to stand out," Miller said, "And relying on AI without reviewing its output can lead to mistakes or misrepresentations."

Recruitment and AI pros explained to BI the dos and don'ts of using these tools and how candidates can make the most of the technology available when job hunting.

Mock tests, interviews, and portfolios

James Uffindell, the founder and CEO of the graduate recruitment platform Bright Network, told BI that AI can be very advantageous in the job hunt, especially for underrepresented and neurodiverse candidates.

"It helps level the playing field by offering better preparation opportunities, such as practice assessments and mock interviews, that may not have been otherwise available," he said.

Candidates can take advantage of many tools, such as CV builders like Kickresume and mock interview platforms like Interview Warmup by Google. Indeed's Pathfinder also helps people discover career paths that fit their skills.

Jason Heilman, the senior VP of product, automation, and AI at the staffing industry software company Bullhorn, told BI the company has a screening agent where candidates can conduct their first interview with an AI — something that could one day replace resumes entirely.

"You really get to see so much more," Heilman said of the technology. "It unlocks so much more of the person's potential beyond what a résumé could ever capture."

Heilman said it benefits candidates to be responsive and open to changes, even if it feels a bit strange at first.

"Be willing to try out these screeners," he said. "Lean into the opportunities to respond, and lean in when you are faced with new AI tools like this."

Cori Lunnen, the VP of recruitment marketing operations at HireClix, told BI that candidates should not hesitate to use AI tools to create a résumé, cover letter, or portfolio.

"The future is undeniably AI-driven," she said. "So some recruiters will want to see examples of how a candidate can successfully integrate AI-generated content with their own creativity."

The goal should be to use AI as a starting place, Lunnen said, "but then ultimately create something more unique or tailored to the opportunity it's designed to engage."

Be careful with prompts

According to Jennifer Burns, director of career development of Cornell University's executive MBA program, learning to put in the right prompts is crucial.

She advises candidates to put their resumes into ChatGPT along with the job description and ask a question like: "What are the 10 most important skills and keywords a hiring manager will look for to fill this role?"

"For the most useful output, you want to begin with input. For example, you can provide details such as your degree, your major, and your past experience," Burns told The Wall Street Journal.

"You can also input information about your major accomplishments, some of your highlights, and what motivates you, thinking about what you're good at and what you like doing. Then, after you share that information, you can ask specific questions."

Burns said AI tools can also help you determine good questions to ask at the end of the interview.

But she warned that candidates must ensure that everything makes sense and that they have a thorough understanding of the role. "Just putting in keywords for the sake of putting them in to match a job description isn't going to serve you well," she told the publication.

A personal touch is still important

On the recruiter's side, implementing AI can free up mental bandwidth, previously dominated by administrative tasks like scheduling, so recruiters can focus on providing a better experience for the candidates who move to the next stages.

But this has its downsides too. Uffindell said some recruiters are seeing a 500% increase in the number of applications, which makes it important to still stand out.

"It's important to view AI as a tool to support, not replace, your own words," Uffindell said. "While AI can help streamline the process, relying on it too heavily can lead to generic applications that fail to showcase a candidate's unique qualities."

Vrijen Attawar, a former career coach and now the founder and CEO of the AI-powered career guidance platform Careerspan, told BI that in this current environment, candidates should apply to fewer jobs so as to "not contribute to the application spam pile."

"Avoid the temptation to use easy apply or other similar tools to apply for jobs," he said. "Instead, save your time and sanity for the opportunities you can verify are real and excite you."

All AI tools have limitations. Some make things up or exaggerate information, so it is a candidate's responsibility to proofread everything and ensure it is accurate before submitting an application.

"ChatGPT 4's knowledge cut-off is April 2023, for example," Uffindell said. "So any major industry updates or company changes since then won't be included in ChatGPT outputs, so you'll need to do your own research, too."

Uffindell said personalizing each application to the specific role is still crucial because employers are looking for candidates who can communicate their strengths well and who have good soft skills.

"The strongest applications will combine AI's efficiency with the candidate's own knowledge," he said. "Showcasing not only the right skills but also the ability to navigate AI's limitations."

• Job seekers with prestigious schools or employers on their résumés can benefit from a "halo" effect.
• Yet education and experience are not reliable indicators of job performance, an expert told BI.
• Some employers are shifting focus to skills and behaviors to improve hiring outcomes.

Job seekers who are attractive, who went to the right school, or who worked at the right company can enjoy a so-called "halo effect" that outweighs other factors that often are better predictors of how well someone will perform in a role.

While they look good on paper, that's a problem for employers and many job seekers, executives told Business Insider.

Shiran Danoch saw firsthand how bias can affect hiring. Early in her career, she thought she'd found the perfect candidate for a role she was trying to fill.

Yet after Danoch's boss interviewed the woman, he called Danoch into his office.

"He said, 'Why did you bring her here? She isn't one of us,'" Danoch told BI.

It slowly occurred to Danoch that her boss's problem was with the candidate's ethnicity despite what Danoch saw as her obvious fit for the role.

There's a lot of work to do to reduce bias that unfairly hurts — and helps — candidates, said Danoch, an organizational psychologist who's the CEO and founder of Informed Decisions, an artificial intelligence startup that aims to help organizations reduce bias and improve their interviewing processes.

Danoch estimates that perhaps as many as nine in 10 hires either suffer or benefit from a bias that shapes the interviewer's perceptions of the candidate's aptitude for the role.

She said this means people who aren't a great fit could end up landing the role, and candidates who would do the job better might be sidelined.

Education and experience aren't sure bets

Danoch said analysis of thousands of interviews on the Informed Decisions interview platform, combined with findings from broader academic research, highlights that "dominant-skill" bias is a prominent risk.

"When you're interviewing a candidate, there might be one specific skill that paints your overall impression," she said. Often, Danoch said, that is "effective communication." That can mean job seekers who are strong communicators can talk their way past their weaknesses.

Another risk is being wowed by grads from top schools or those who worked at high-profile companies. Substantial bodies of research have shown that education and experience aren't good predictors of how successful someone will be in a job, she said.

Meantime, it's easy to see why a hiring manager might assume someone who'd worked at one big-name tech firm might be a good fit for another. That's not always the case, according to Alan Price, the global head of talent acquisition at Deel, a global HR company that helps employers hire abroad.

He told BI that in past roles at other companies, there was often a push to focus on Ivy League grads or people who'd worked at certain tech firms. That made it hard for candidates coming from small startups, for example, to get hired, he said.

"You'd work at Facebook. You'd work at Google. You'd go to LinkedIn. There's a merry-go-round," Price said.

Yet he said those in sales, for example, who had halo résumés by virtue of having been at top companies, weren't always the strongest contributors when it came to basic metrics like how much revenue they brought in.

"The top people weren't only coming from the big, established organizations," Price said.

Hiring for skills

To improve the quality of its hires, Price said, Deel reformatted its interviewing process to focus on behaviors and less on factors like education and experience. That's led managers to report being more satisfied with the work they were getting from new hires, he said.

Price said it's not that experience doesn't count. Instead, it's evaluated alongside factors like functional skills for doing the job, behaviors, and motivation. To gain insight into skills, Deel will often have job seekers complete assessments.

That can help root out candidates who might toss around industry buzzwords, though they might lack some abilities.

"Because you've worked here and you've worked on this problem type, my assumption is, from a halo CV perspective, you're going to be really good," he said.

Price said that because some job seekers might stay at an organization for two to three years, hiring managers could take that to mean the candidates are good at what they do.

Yet "that is a big assumption," he said.

Some employers have announced efforts to look more at abilities rather than pedigree. In some cases, this can mean waiving degree requirements.

However, David Deming, a professor of political economy at Harvard's Kennedy School, previously told BI that even as some employers do away with prerequisites that candidates for some roles have a bachelor's degree, those doing the hiring might still consider whether a candidate has one.

"Firms are wanting credit for removing a requirement, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're changing their hiring at the end of the day," he said.

Strong communicators can win out

Danoch, from Informed Decisions, said one reason strong communicators can benefit from a halo effect in interviews relates to those doing the hiring.

"Because a lot of interviewers are inexperienced in interviewing, that's what grabs them," she said, referring to a candidate's communication chops.

While such abilities are often among the soft skills many employers say they value, Danoch said being able to communicate well isn't likely to be the only attribute needed for a role. Even if communication is important, she said, it shouldn't be the sole factor for hiring.

Danoch said the halo effect can be problematic if it leads employers to hire candidates who might not be the best fit. Conversely, she said, a "shadow effect" can result in capable job seekers being discounted.

"The candidate is either all good or either all bad," Danoch said.

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• Job seekers may face 'love-bombing' from hiring managers during interviews.
• Love-bombing involves excessive praise to keep candidates interested without real intent.
• Experts advise setting expectations and keeping options open to avoid being manipulated.

If a hiring manager is excessively complimenting you and telling you you're the top candidate during an interview, you may be being "love-bombed."

The term originated as a way to describe the manipulative tactics some toxic people employ in romantic relationships to hook in their victims, showering them with affection, gifts, and promises for the future, only to later flip the script and show their real selves.

But the same pattern may apply to the workplace, too. Many job seekers complain of inconsistent behavior from hiring managers, CNBC reported, being flattered and praised one minute and ghosted the next.

"Love-bombing during job interviews happens all too often when recruiters or hiring managers want to keep you interested in them while they figure things out behind the scenes," Renee Barber, the global director of recruiting for TYR Talent Solutions who has over 20 years of experience in the recruitment industry, told Business Insider.

"They may overhype your chances to keep you interested," Barber said. "Especially if they're not ready to make a decision or they need to buy time without being direct about the actual situation."

Janine Chidlow, the managing director of EMEA at the global talent firm Wilson, told BI that love-bombing not only disrupts a candidate's career expectations "but also raises questions about organizational integrity and employer branding."

"This phenomenon isn't new," she said. "But its frequency and impact have surged."

How to recognize love-bombing

It's looking like the job market may see a boost next year. But white-collar hiring is still in a slump, with tech jobs being hit the hardest.

Love-bombing may serve as a "morale-booster" for both candidates and interviewers, Chidlow said.

Amanda Fischer, an executive leadership and career coach who is the founder of AMF Coaching & Consulting, said that some recruiters and hiring managers want everyone they are interviewing to feel optimistic about the role so they don't lose out on the best candidates.

They may also want to create a strong connection so the candidate to make them less likely to negotiate further.

"In this particular instance, that is a highly manipulative move," Fischer said.

It may not always be a scheme, though, and some recruiters and hiring managers may be love-bombing without realizing it.

"They could genuinely be excited about a candidate and might not see how the excessive compliments could backfire," Barber said.

There are plenty of ways to recognize love-bombing during the interview stages.

According to Barber, some signs are excessive compliments, like being told you're exactly what the company is looking for, or that you're the best candidate being interviewed, or being given unrealistic promises, such as if they talk about you "being a great fit for the team" or "starting soon" before they've actually made a decision.

Fischer told BI that pressure for a quick decision is also "a huge red flag."

"From my perspective, there are very few circumstances where you should accept a role the moment it's offered," Fischer said.

Barber agreed, adding that if there is a long delay or no communication after the interview, "it's a sign that the praise might have just been a way to keep you interested before they made their decision."

What to do about it

Love-bombing during the interview process is symptomatic of deeper issues in recruitment, Chidlow said.

"While it may yield short-term gains in market perception, the long-term costs — disillusioned candidates, damaged reputations, and high turnover — far outweigh the benefits," she said.

"By prioritizing transparency and respect, organizations can foster genuine connections with candidates, ensuring a healthier, more productive recruitment process."

If you think the person on the other end of the interview desk is love-bombing you, it's good to set expectations early, Barber said.

"Before you wrap up the interview, feel free to ask when you can expect to hear back and what the next steps are," she said. "This can help you keep track of the process and avoid getting strung along."

Barber also recommended following up after the interview, sending a thank-you email, and asking for feedback.

"This allows you to gauge whether the praise was sincere and whether the company is genuinely interested," she said.

"If something feels off, trust your instincts," Barber added. "If it all felt too polished or disconnected from your experience, be cautious."

Keeping your options open is also a good move because being in a stronger position yourself makes you less likely to fall for manipulative tricks.

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket," Barber said. "Otherwise, you could be waiting around for a response that might never come."