When you hear the phrase “bot war” you probably think of some high tech science fiction plot with lasers and explosions. In reality, a fierce bot war is happening every day, and you might even be a part of it!
Here are Five Fast Facts on the job posting bot war:
- ⏲️ Back Story - In the early 2000s online job postings really caught on - companies could reach far more qualified candidates and job seekers could apply for far more jobs. But it wasn’t long before employers were swamped with applications, so software was created to sort through them. The opening salvo was fired!
- 👻 Detachment - This software removes the applicant/recruiter contact, and over time we’ve gotten to where a whopping 75% of job seekers never hear back about their applications, not even a rejection. It’s bad enough to be ghosted by a date, but to hear nothing from an automated application process…
- 💬 The Response - Now, job seekers are increasingly turning to AI themselves to combat the wasted time of filling out extensive applications, and for slipping their application through hiring companies’ screening software. New tools like Sonara, ChatGPT, and Big Interview instantly work in keywords and other details from the job posting itself to make the application as close a match as possible.
- ♻️ The Response To The Response - Companies have gotten wise to this, though. They’re now making tools to screen out AI-generated applications, and are likely to view AI-generated applications as a red flag. They’re also getting proactive to avoid AI apps - tools like Salesforce, Workday, and Indeed are actively searching for applicants even if they haven’t applied for a specific job opening.
- 🤝 Gettin’ It Done - With many job postings getting literally hundreds of applications within days of going live, and with AI being used on both sides of this bot war, what should you do? Turns out, you should go old school and lean into “who you know” since the vast majority of jobs (up to 85%) still get landed through personal referrals.
🔥Bottom line: Job searching is tough. Not only do you have the emotional struggle of needing to find something to provide for yourself and/or your family, but there’s so much complication to the process nowadays with all this AI stuff! It’s a shame it’s come to that, but if you’re on the hunt for a new job you have to use every tool available to stand out from the crowd. But even if you embrace the bot wars, make sure you lean into your network for the best results possible.
Have you ever used AI for job searching?
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