Applying for jobs is easier than ever. Getting one isn't.

Applying for jobs is easier than ever. Getting one isn't.

Key points

• Recruiters process roughly 291 applications per hire, compared with roughly 100 in early 2021, per recruiting firm Ashby.
• It takes almost 25% longer to fill an open role today than before the pandemic, Scott Dobroski, Indeed's Vice President of corporate communications, informed Axios.
• Zoom in: Ghost jobs, or jobs firms aren't actively trying to fill, produce up regarding 18-22% of posted jobs in a typical quarter, per internal Greenhouse data.
• What they're saying: "I think burnout is absolutely happening, " Gorick Ng, a Harvard career advisor and UC Berkeley faculty member, tells Axios.
• While 38% say they've walked away from a job as it included an AI interview, regarding 63% of U.S.

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"We've moved past the ordinary job search burnout into systemic cynicism, " he notes.

"Candidates assume that every posting is fake and every rejection is automated, and that their video-recorded interview won't ever even be touched, and so there's been this collapse of trust in the labor market."

Meanwhile, the major picture: Technology has produced it increasingly straightforward for applicants to apply for jobs – and for employers to screen them out.

While employers employ chatbots, resume filters and other tools to sort through the flood, AI usage is rampant on both sides: applicants can automate applications.

By the numbers: Forty-six percent of candidates say their faith in the hiring process has fell, per Greenhouse data.

While 38% say they've walked away from a job as it included an AI interview, regarding 63% of U.S. Applicants have been interviewed by an AI system.

Only 21% of recruiters surveyed remarked they were "very confident" their systems weren't weeding out qualified candidates.

Some research suggests firms post them to build a future applicant pool, signal continued expansion to investors, or even to remind workers they're replaceable.

Alternatively, Greenhouse CEO Daniel Chait notes sometimes it's not a ghost job. Business needs change, hiring managers leave and some firms have "evergreen" jobs, like how a restaurant might always need new servers.

AI-powered resume filters can prevent applications from ever reaching a human, sometimes sparking discrimination lawsuits.

These tools employ keyword matching and algorithmic scoring to weed out applicants, often with little transparency into how they work.

Yes, but: Regarding 49% of hiring managers say using AI in the hiring process has improved candidate quality.

Between the lines: It's never been easier to rapidly send a resume to dozens of jobs, whether through a chatbot programmed to apply or easy-apply features.

Dobroski notes that phenomenon is creating a "huge volume of noise" and applications employers have to sift through, and can leave candidates thinking they've been ghosted.

For context, the bottom line: Both sides are increasingly hesitant to lean into the trust fall.

"How a company shows up in the hiring process can tell you a lot about how this company actually operates, " Ng notes, comparing the process to a first date.

When employers show "little effort in being human, " he notes job seekers start wondering: "If this is what I'm seeing on a first date, should I be worried about our long-term prospects together?" Go deeper: U.S. Economy surprisingly lost 23, 000 jobs in July.

Taken together, the developments around applying for jobs is easier than ever. Getting one isn' t point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.