They told me their application volume increased by 33.3% in the past six months, a very specific number for a big increase in mostly unqualified applicants for a large organization. And we keep hearing this over and over again from the employers, big and small, across industries in our CandE Community. The increases are mostly from midsized companies to global enterprises, but there have been smaller companies with similar increases in volume.
In my last article, I shared insights from the CandE Benchmark Research, which revealed that job searches have taken significantly longer for candidates this year than last. In fact, 50% more professional candidates (salaried versus hourly) reported that their job search lasted over six months in 2024 than in 2023. With unemployment rates for industrialized nations hovering around 4%-5%, far fewer job opportunities are available now compared to the past two years. It’s no longer the candidate market it was 2-3 years ago.
While job candidates are applying for more jobs because it’s taking longer to find a job, serial appliers and those wanting to mess with employers are using more AI-powered technologies today – JobHire.AI, LazyApply.com, AI Hawk’s Auto Jobs Applier bot, and many others, that enable hundreds of applications at once. Nobody needs this, especially not the employers that have to screen them all out with leaner teams, fewer resources, and under-utilized and under-optimized recruiting technologies.
Even if companies have AI-enabled features in their ATS, CRM, or sourcing platforms that help with job matching, ranking, and filtering applications—or even limit how many jobs a person can apply to within a certain timeframe—it seems the situation may get worse before it improves in the coming years.
Anecdotally, many CandE Community employers have told me that they’re not using those matching, ranking, and filtering AI/machine learning features for fear of tipping the noncompliance scale too much in their direction, opening them up to audits and litigation. Remember what happened with Workday in July when a legal decision came down that service providers could be directly liable for employment discrimination under “agent” theory? This potential litigation may increase in years to come and is also a slippery slope for employers.
As the application volume continues to increase, the percentage of candidates screened and interviewed remains low in our 2024 CandE data, especially for professional candidates. For example, this year:
- In North America, only 24% were scheduled for a screening/interview event – and of those, 25% were professional candidates
- In EMEA, only 21% were scheduled for a screening/interview event – and 47% were professional candidates
- In APAC, only 23% were scheduled for a screening/interview event – and 64% were professional candidates
- In LATAM, only 17% were scheduled for a screening/interview event – and 40% were professional candidates
I’ve been arguing this year more than any year previous that TA teams (and hiring managers) should definitely spend more human time improving and managing the screen to interview to offer to onboard stages. This is when there’s more investment from all parties, including the candidates, and a potentially greater positive or negative business impact depending on the later-stage candidate experiences.
However, we have to address the escalating unqualified application volume that employers continue drowning in. Yes, we’ve made it a lot easier to apply and “get in the door”, and sadly there are those candidates who might be qualified, who are truly interested in the company and the jobs, who will continue to be drowned out. AI recruiting technologies can and will help employers take on these increases and help identify those who should be looked at further, but we have to ensure that bias is addressed and that legal protections for both employers, solution providers, and candidates are in place. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) started this conversation early on, but it’s still early days for what’s about to exponentially expand in recruiting and hiring over the next few years and beyond.
