The one-click job application is breaking the labour market
Recruiters are calling for more friction in hiring as artificial intelligence and one-click features flood companies with thousands of low-quality applications daily.
The modern job application process is under fire for being too easy, according to recruitment professionals who argue that the combination of shrinking job openings, one-click features, and artificial intelligence has fundamentally broken the system. As the labour market cools, hiring managers are facing an overwhelming surge of applications, with some roles receiving more than 1,000 submissions in a single day. Many of these applications are considered low-quality or generated by AI, making it difficult for recruiters to distinguish serious candidates from automated noise.
The shift is stark for those who managed hiring during the post-pandemic boom. Andrew Stockwell, former head of people at Vendr, recalls a time when a job listing would attract up to 100 applications. Now, he says, he is flooded with hundreds, sometimes over a thousand, within days. A significant portion of these are described as "total bogus" or AI-generated, stretching the truth and blurring the lines between applicants. Stockwell notes that he found himself paying high-priced talent-acquisition professionals simply to sift through the volume, a task that has become increasingly inefficient.
Data from LinkedIn highlights the scale of the problem. The platform reports that submissions per applicant are up 46 per cent compared with February 2020, while applications have risen 22 per cent since the launch of ChatGPT. Ophir Samson, head of voice AI at Greenhouse, which acquired his startup earlier this year, notes that some roles now receive 2,000 applicants within 24 hours. This volume has forced a strategic reversal; recruiters who once promised a "seamless experience" are now actively seeking to reintroduce friction into the process.
To combat the deluge, companies are turning to AI-conducted interviews and skills testing to filter out unqualified candidates. Greenhouse’s Samson explains that while automated applicant tracking systems have been used for a decade, AI agents for first-round interviews are a more recent development. These tools help sort serious candidates from bots, providing context beyond a résumé. LinkedIn is also rolling out a feature this month that informs seemingly underqualified applicants that they are likely not a good fit for a role, suggesting alternative jobs instead.
The underlying issue is a mismatch between supply and demand. US job openings peaked at a record 12.3 million in March 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, but have since declined to hover around seven million since mid-2024. Jane Curran, chief transformation officer at JLL, notes that while the post-pandemic rush to simplify applications made sense when employers struggled to fill roles, the market has now reversed. For white-collar knowledge workers, there is not enough churn or new jobs coming into the market to justify the current volume of applications.
As a result, many recruiters are reverting to referrals and internal hires to circumvent the glut. Stockwell, now on the job hunt himself, estimates that online applications lead to a phone interview less than two per cent of the time. He argues that this reliance on personal connections benefits those whose backgrounds align with existing employees, potentially hindering workforce diversity. Tessa White, a former HR executive, suggests that the current process is antiquated and that even AI tools may not accurately judge a candidate's potential, calling for a massive overhaul of how companies recruit.
