Transcription
Stanford just released the biggest study ever done on AI hiring tools, and it's uncovering this massive web that's answering the question all of us are asking: why does my resume keep getting rejected for jobs that I am completely qualified for? And I'm going to be honest, this study has changed the way I think about every application I've ever sent.
90% of companies are using AI to screen applicants before a human ever sees them, and the interesting thing is that most of these companies are using the same few vendors to do that work. Meaning it's the exact same tool, just used in different companies, and it's probably everywhere that you have been applying.
Here's how it actually works. You apply to a job, and then the company sends your resume to a third-party AI tool, and that AI platform gives you a score, and then it sends that score back to the employer. But that score doesn't disappear or get regenerated with every application you send. Sometimes it holds onto that score for 330 days. So when you apply to another company that uses that same platform, you're not getting a fresh start. You're just getting that same score again.
And the research is real. They tracked over 4 million applications across 156 employers. And when they found that the people who had applied to multiple companies who were using the same AI tool to screen, the rejection rate was a little too high to be coincidental. So they're calling it systemic rejection.
The study is called "Algorithmic Monocultures in Hiring" if you want to check it out, but just know that if you've been sending applications out and hearing nothing back, it's probably not your resume. And this is just another reminder that we're not living in some glitch. It's effectively one score for 330 days for every company that you're applying to.
And this is why laws like the ones Colorado is passing right now are going to be imperative to the future of job applications and hiring. I'm going to continue to report on this, so follow, like, comment if you want to know know about the systems that are actively working against you in your job search. And feel free to share this with anyone else who's being actively gaslit by AI on a daily basis.