Why Job Applications Feel Generic in the Age of AI
A lot of HR managers are getting upset about the AI-generated slop they’re receiving from job candidates.
But who’s really to blame? Stay tuned.
A lot of HR leaders are frustrated by the rise of AI-generated job applications.
They’re seeing resumes and cover letters that feel generic, impersonal, and clearly written by a machine.
Fair enough.
But here’s the awkward question:
Are candidates ruining the hiring process with AI, or are they simply responding to the hiring process we created?
Watch the video below.
For years, job seekers have complained that applying for work feels cold and automated. Generic job portals. Keyword filters. Automated responses. Algorithms deciding who gets seen and who disappears.
So when candidates start using AI to write for those same systems, should we really be shocked?
Human beings are social. We mirror what we experience. If the hiring process feels human, people are more likely to show up as humans. If the process feels like it was built for bots, people will eventually write for the bots.
That is the real leadership issue here.
This is not just an HR problem. It is a workplace culture problem. Your hiring process is often the first real experience someone has with your organization. Before they meet a manager, before they talk to a team member, before they see your culture in action, they experience your system.
And if that system feels impersonal, confusing, or needlessly difficult, it sends a message.
The awkward part is that organizations often explain these problems away. “That’s just how the system works.” “We need the filters.” “We get too many applications.” “It’s more efficient this way.”
Maybe all of that is true.
But if your process teaches candidates to behave like keywords instead of people, you can’t be too surprised when the applications feel generic.
A useful leadership exercise is simple: apply for a job at your own company.
Go through the process like an outsider. Read the posting. Fill out the forms. Upload the resume. Answer the questions. Wait for the response.
Then pay attention to the moments where you feel frustrated, confused, or tempted to give the system exactly what it seems to want.
Those moments are clues.
They may be the same barriers keeping creative, thoughtful, human candidates from showing you who they really are.
Leadership Lessons
- Candidate behaviour often reflects the system they are responding to.
- A hiring process is part of your workplace culture, not separate from it.
- If you want human applications, build a more human application process.
AI may be changing hiring, but it is also revealing something leaders should have been looking at already.
Sometimes the awkward truth is not that candidates are submitting slop.
It is that the process may have taught them to.
If you’re looking for a speaker who explores the human side of leadership, communication, and workplace culture, you can learn more about my talks and speaking topics here.