You’ve assessed your business need, counted the beans and now you’re ready to hire.
Over the next few days, you are inundated with over 200 CVs. Why do they all sound the same? How will you find the time to sift through the mound of submissions to find a candidate worth interviewing?
Welcome to AI CV Dystopia!
Many aspects of running a business have been transformed by AI, and there is certainly a place for it in recruitment. For employers, AI can help with tasks such as writing job descriptions, evaluating applications and assessing employee progress. Job seekers can benefit from AI tools and techniques that help them identify suitable roles, tailor their applications and prepare for interviews.
However, amongst hiring managers there are frustrations that AI-written applications impact authenticity. Cutting through the ‘template noise’ to find genuinely qualified and experienced candidates is time consuming and risks overlooking the top talent they need.
How Widespread is AI in CV and Cover Letter Writing?
The use of AI in CV and cover letter writing is on the increase and unlikely to go away any time soon. Easy-access AI tools simplify the application process leading to mass submissions.
But how big is the issue of AI in CV and cover letter writing? In a Reboot Online survey of 100 applications, a whopping 61% of applications were AI-generated. LinkedIn and Indeed’s easy apply features were called out for contributing to poor quality applications.
Meanwhile, research by Hiscox conducted over a 12 month period found 1 in 2 job applicants submitted AI enhanced CVs, 29% used AI to supplement remote interviews, and AI helped 45% to complete online tasks and assessments.
A Raconteur article describes a ‘tidal wave of AI applications’ with AI commonly used to write cover letters, enabling candidates to send out many more applications in far less time. The article reported how the number of applicants for a branding agency role was 173% higher than for a similar job advert posted the previous year.
This evidence suggests that volume is fast overtaking substance in job applications, thanks to AI.
Your Hiring Manager’s Frustration
Hiring managers often find themselves at the sharp end of job seeker stress and anxiety when struggling to find work. Candidates turn to AI to modify and enhance their applications to increase their chances of securing an interview, but this leaves hiring managers with a high volume of applications from unsuitable applicants.
AI tools also strip applications of personality and individuality. While they may look more polished, hiring managers would prefer more authenticity.
Chances are that your hiring manager is one of the 80% who discard AI-generated job applications, as identified in a CV Genius survey of 625 hiring managers. Reported by Forbes, the same research found that 74% of hiring managers claim they can easily spot AI content in job applications.
Results from the Reboot Online survey corroborate these findings. The survey identified common phrases that led to 73% of hiring managers recognising AI-generated content. Those phrases included:
…thank you for considering my application… (43%)
…writing to express my interest in… (22%)
…the opportunity to contribute… (21%)
…bring my skills and energy to your team… (9%)
…I am confident in my ability to contribute to… (9%)
From the research, Zoë Blogg, Managing Director and recruitment expert at Reboot Online identifies anecdotes, statistics, real world examples and references to ‘times when…’ as signs of human written job applications. They are more engaging than the bland AI-written cover letters that lack the nuance of real expression and experience.
The 2025 AI and the Applicant Report from Resume Now supports this view. For 78% of hiring managers surveyed, personalised details signal genuine interest and fit, with 62% likely to reject AI-generated CVs and covering letters without customisation. The report claims that 53% of hiring managers are frustrated by AI-generated outreach that feels impersonal or robotic.
Ultimately, hiring managers’ frustrations with AI-generated job applications centre on the time wasted filtering through hundreds of applications and having less time to meet top candidates. The biggest risk to your hiring manager and your business is that amongst the template noise your authentic, ideal hire is overlooked.
Strategic Resourcing’s Solution
Strategic Resourcing recruitment software, designed specifically for employers in the built environment, cuts through the AI noise to help you recruit and swiftly move forward with your projects.
We work with six specialist recruiters in each region of the UK. Our recruitment partners specialise in the built environment sector and understand your need for competent, authentic staff to deliver your projects successfully.
How does our software benefit your Hiring Manager?
The Strategic Resourcing platform allows your hiring manager to recruit faster, better.
- Working with specialist recruiters ensures that candidates are qualified, authentic and culturally aligned.
- Instead of receiving hundreds of generic CVs with a template format and common phrases, you will only be sent the details of three carefully selected, pre-vetted candidates for each role from each of our 6 recruiters from your region.
- Our recruiters focus on genuine experience, tone and suitability, not the inappropriate use of experience keywords that job seekers are told score well with assessment bots. The Hiscox research analysed in Global Recruiter found that 53% of applicants exaggerate experience in AI-written applications.
- It is free to post a vacancy, and you have access to unlimited vacancy uploads.
- When hiring multiple candidates, Strategic Resourcing handles high volume recruitment effortlessly, allowing you to scale your recruitment at the pace and to the extent you need.
Escape from AI CV Dystopia
Hiring managers in the built environment are spending too much time sifting through AI-generated CVs and covering letters because AI tools are making it easier for candidates to apply for roles for which they are often unsuitable.
Throw your hiring manager a time saving, cost-effective lifeline!
Speak to Strategic Resourcing about our intuitive, efficiency-driven recruitment platform, designed specifically for employers in the built environment to help you hire the best candidates.
You can start for free. Alternatively, book a discovery call with one of our recruitment experts today.
