I’ve been getting a few interesting emails lately.
“Dear Sir or Madam,
I am interested in your position. Please see attached my resume.
I look forward to hearing from you. Kind Regards. blah blah blah.”
It’s not the content that’s interesting. It’s the fact that these emails are pouring in more regularly even though I’m not hiring that is the interesting bit.
It’s no secret that job hunters are using generative AI to create painfully dull resumes with any traces of personality drained from them. That’s entry level stuff when it comes to using AI for job hunting.
I’m getting these emails because young job hunters are using AI to get their resumes out to as many people as possible.
Can AI be used to scrape email address of hiring managers from the web, LinkedIn, and social media? Absolutely
Is it hard to do? No. Does it take a lot of time? HELL NO.
Can AI customise resumes to match a job descriptions and maximise the chances of getting an interview? Yes.
Are young job hunters going to use AI more thoroughly during their search for work? HELL YES
So what does this mean for hiring mangers in the adventure sector?
We know hiring managers are getting bombarded with more resumes every year. It’s crazy to think that the number of resumes received is a good indication of the health of your hiring process. The number of resumes received is just a reflection on technology changes making it way easier to send them. The number of people looking for work barely changes. they are simply sending out their resumes way more often.
Hiring managers in large companies then use AI to deal with the huge volume of resumes. The resumes that don’t get rejected by the AI filters are most likely to be the ones written by AI to get around the filters. The candidates who hiring managers eventually interview are the candidates with the best AI skills, not the best skills for the job. And given their strong AI skills, these candidates are probably getting invited to a lot of interviews.
So where to from here?
AI is not the magic bullet to solve your hiring problems, and for small to medium sized enterprises, AI use by candidates is going to make things much more difficult.
We are starting to see companies use tactics to make candidates “earn” an interview. “Yes send in your resume, but you’ll also need to send us a two minute video application, and fill out this 2 page form”. Questions are often designed to bring out the character of the candidate. For example “Tell us about your most epic adventure” or “What attracted you to our destination?”
SEE YOU NEXT SEASON makes seasonal workers on our site create extensive profiles with information employers really need. If they can’t be bothered to finish the 10 minute process, we don’t want them.
Employers are also starting to realise that resumes are less reliable indicators of suitability. Human grunt work will be making a comeback. Second interviews with a different interviewer are becoming more popular. Using two people’s intuition to judge someone’s suitability makes sense. If a candidate really wants the job, they will put in as much effort for the second interview as the first.
Actually calling up candidate’s references will become popular again.
I understand why big companies use AI to hire hundreds / thousands of seasonal worker every year. HR teams are swamped and need to save time wherever possible. I just don’t think hiring managers in their 40 and 50s should be getting into an AI arms race with 18-24 year old candidates. That’s not ending well for us oldies.
For more reading please see. “Using AI to recruit seasonal adventure workers.”