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If you're hoping to use ChatGPT to get a leg up on job applications, you might just be shooting yourself in the foot.
While companies have been leveraging AI to automatically weed out résumés, job seekers have begun responding with chatbot-generated applications to keep up — and employers are noticing.
Jakob Knutzen, cofounder and CEO of video collaboration platform Butter, said he received around 450 applicants for a product designer position. But Knutzen told Business Insider he was able to detect what he believed was ample usage of ChatGPT-written responses to the form's three questions.
"The formulations were incredibly similar and used a bunch of phrases that I would never imagine people using," he said.
When Knutzen took his concerns to a LinkedIn post, other employers reported seeing a similar trend of a spike in AI-written job applications.
Christina Hallman, who is head of demand generation for cybersecurity risk management company Outpost24, recently said she received over 250 applications for two open positions.
She told Insider she estimated that 45% of the optional cover letters were AI-generated.
"I went over to ChatGPT and I put in our live job posting, and I said give me a cover letter," Hallman told Insider. "And it spit out almost the identical template that I was receiving time and time again."
She said that it didn't necessarily eliminate the candidate from the running, but when it came down to choosing between an application that used a ChatGPT-generated cover letter and a similar one that didn't, the latter would be hired.
"It just ended being like, well, it's not helping you," she said. "It's better to have just not attached anything."
Hallman, who said she has a decade of hiring experience, said that she's seen a noticeable increase in the use of AI in applicants over the past one to two years.
And it's likely going to keep climbing as ChatGPT and other AI tools become more accessible — and popular.
A 2023 study conducted by iCIMS found that 47% of college seniors were interested in using ChatGPT or other AI bots to write their résumé and cover letters, while 25% of Gen Z who were surveyed said they already have.
Some recruiters have considered creating "AI-proof" questions, such as requiring an introductory Loom video. Others have even set chatbot traps by sneaking hidden instructions for LLMs that show up in the applicant's response.
Although Knutzen said his company did contemplate using videos or other questions that could cut down on the likelihood of AI-generated responses, they decided against it due to concerns that the "barrier for entry would be too high."
However, some comments under Knutzen's post said that job seekers were simply leveling the playing field with recruiters — especially with an increasingly tough job market.
One person wrote, "When companies use automated systems to decide who is worthy of an interview, what do they expect applicants to do?"
Over 97% of Fortune 500 companies use automated hiring systems, according to a 2023 study conducted by Jobscan.
"I think it's more of a frustration with the application process overall," Knutzen said. "I don't think that companies are respecting the process for applicants."
Knutzen, who said his company does not use ATSs, points out that many companies tend to ghost candidates or send an automated rejection, which can discourage job seekers.
"If you don't get a lot of feedback on the applications that you send, then you begin thinking that they don't matter," he said. "If the company doesn't think it's important, why should I?"
However, Knutzen stresses that the issue isn't necessarily the use of AI but rather using it "as a writer and not an editor."
Hallman said she "fully expects" people to use AI in their jobs and applications to save time, but she warns candidates against relying on it blindly.
"It's not the use of AI that's the problem, it's the lack of customization that is coupled with it," Hallman said. "If you're going to use AI, I think you need to use it really intentionally."
She said that applicants using the same chatbot-written responses become lost among their identical competitors.
"You need to have that human checkpoint," Hallman said. "Or it will just be a sea of everyone spitting out the same thing."
