In a recent survey by hiring platform Greenhouse, 81% of job seekers said they never heard back from a company, be it human or machine, at least once during the past year.

Nearly one third (31%) say this happens “often or almost always,” including 38% of Gen Z applicants. Even those who get interviews are not immune: 45% of respondents said they interviewed with an organization only to be ghosted completely. 

Ironically, employers are also reporting greater difficulty finding qualified candidates, said Greenhouse chief people officer Sharawn Tipton.

“For the first time I can remember, neither side thinks hiring is working,” she said. “Candidates send applications into a black hole, while employers sift through AI-polished resumes that all look the same.”

The “black hole” that job seekers are experiencing may be related to what Greenhouse has called the “AI doom loop”: employers’ reliance on AI screening systems incentivizes applicants to blast out AI-optimized applications. 

Buried under a mountain of indistinguishable applications, employers may not have time to send formal rejections.  

Indeed, more than half of job hunters (54%) told Greenhouse they use AI to figure out what a particular employer’s screening system is looking for, and 40% said they added skills and keywords that don’t accurately describe them. Another third said they added hidden text to catch the attention of an AI reviewer.

As recruiting and hiring become increasingly automated, companies need better ways of assessing candidates’ subjective qualities, and candidates need better ways of showing their ability to learn and adapt, said Greenhouse Head of Voice AI Ophir Samson.

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