Recruiters Buried by Fake AI Applications
Recruiters across various industries are facing a significant challenge: a flood of applications, many of which appear to be fake or from unqualified individuals. This is impacting their ability to fill roles, reducing response rates, and forcing them to spend excessive time vetting candidates, leading to frustration and inefficiency.
SOURCES (60)
“Not a gotcha. I'm genuinely trying to figure out if anyone tracks this. Every application takes your address, phone, sometimes DOB, and then you never hear back and the data just sits there. I am probably at over a 100 submitted by /u/Party_Bar8135 [link] [comments]”
“Recently had an honest and frank discussion with a Senior HR person trying to fill a Senior Security Engineer position. Hiring manager is in my network and really wanted me to apply. Got their actual max salary out of the HR person and that would be a pay cut for me, and I’m fully remote so adding the commute and paid parking would make it an even bigger pay cut. They’ll probably have to hire two or three people at around $80K to get the skills they need to get the work done. Not saying I can do”
“I just made my Linkedin and set the aesthetic of my profile. Now I just look like a fake profile with 0 connections and am confused on how the community works. Do I add people with similar interests even tho I don't know them? How do I expand my connections? Any tips and tricks any communities where people just connect. Also any tips and tricks or any useful tips. Thank you for your time guys! 🙏🏽 submitted by /u/Matiyyz [link] [comments]”
“yeah those are almost always spam. the ham sandwich equity terms are real lol. at your stage, traction is the right call. protect your time hard.”
“Name and Shame. And if you have courage, do the same on LinkedIN. Or light them up on glassdoor. Because this is pure nonsense on the employers side.”
“I know I’ve asked this before somewhere, but is LinkedIn helpful to you in the job search as well as connecting with others? At companies I’ve worked at, I’ve heard of instances where HR recruiters and other recruiters do reference checks through connections they have at companies where the applicant worked prior, or a mutual company at a period in time. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but if something undesirable on the part of an applicant comes out, I don’t see how the applicant stands”
“I put “looking for work” on Linkedin like two days ago and was flooded with recruiters for companies hiring, but they seem to be 3-5 days in office with limited flexibility so far anyway I know folks have been boomers about jobs but at least from my POV there’s tons of stuff out there (entry roles probably worse now so my sympathy if you just entered the field, legitimately) seems like these companies would have an easier time filling these roles if they didn’t have such lousy flex policies but”
“I'm looking around for something new. Where I am is fine, pay is good. But it's always good to see what else is out there. Earlier this year a recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn. We ended up talking in depth about this role, sounded good to me. He said she'd get me scheduled to start the interview process. Great! Didn't hear back for a week so I emailed him for an update. Silence. OK whatever, moving on. A month ago another recruiter from the same company also reaches out on Link”
“When I post a role, I have no idea the source of the candidate outside 'Internal' or 'External' From a hiring point of view it wouldn't make any difference to me if the person came from our website, linkedin, a recruiter or anything.”
“Oh god tell me about it. The AI slop is so rampant, it’s like nobody knows how to write on their own anymore. Hate the self promotion, tagging 163826 people for one announcement, and all the cliché milestones story arc.”
“I’ve had over 400 employees in my various companies and startups and I despise hiring platforms. It’s not that they don’t provide useful information. It’s the fact that the time I’m spending on them costing me much more money than other functions I could be doing. So when I’m looking for a new employee for a specific job, I tend to hire through my network and if it’s a high profile job, I get a headhunter involved. I have hired though LinkedIn before but did not enjoy the process. One food for t”
“ran into the same thing with an EOR. ended up listing the actual employer and mentioning 'via Deel' in the description or the job entry itself. fyi rankresume.io has templates that handle this kind of stuff cleanly, might save you some trial and error.”
“Hey folks, I need some guidance here. I spent the last two weeks not coding, but talking to my ICP. I stayed mostly on LinkedIn because I had a 0% reply rate with cold email. So far, I’ve had a few discussions with people working in technical customer support. The goal was to validate the problem, and the problem seems real: people are spending a significant amount of time on investigations, and job postings for technical support engineers clearly state that investigation is part of the role. Qu”
“So like everyone else I have been applying for roles and I am suprised why I am getting the response email within hours or less. At this time the position has been filled. But, the posting is still up, hours and days later. This is such a waste of any one's time. Just take the job down once you have what you need. Thank you submitted by /u/Organic_Bug1334 [link] [comments]”
“Honestly the new search feels like it was built to hit some internal metric, not to actually help anyone find people.”
“I have one bullet point that is somewhat true and somewhat untrue. Idk if to be more private about it. Idk if I want to publicize everything I did. Idk Also, do you accept random requests from people on LinkedIn or no? submitted by /u/Successful-Test-5590 [link] [comments]”
“Yup and that's the problem, why do I gotta learn advance stuff man if I am simply looking for a job.”
“https://preview.redd.it/ba043peqs6nh1.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=3588ce5abe2d81608f36b73ce7555d8cf6f3102d I am looking for fresh jobs and ran many times into this while checking job posting dates and thought it was pretty strange. Examples: the employer page now says Aug 31. I had already seen the same job on Aug 10, and Google was showing it as 27 days old. the employer page says Aug 25, but the same job was already there on Aug 10. I'm not saying these job are fake or”
“Isnt that just kind of stupid? Are they blissfully ignorant to the job market right now ? submitted by /u/wassssuupp5678 [link] [comments]”
“I swear to god LinkedIn is the worst product in the history of mankind 1 AI slop in content 2 job search and recommendations sucks 3 LinkedIn premium is 44 dollars a month The only reason I use LinkedIn is because I was fucking unemployed”
“Before you swap tools, look at how many invites you send a day and how many of them get accepted. LinkedIn restricts accounts that send a lot and get ignored a lot, so a newer tool running the same list with the same message puts you in the same spot again. Sending fewer invites to people who already write about your topic is what keeps an account healthy, and it also answers your contact data worry, because you stop needing a phone number for someone who replies to you on LinkedIn. I've bui”
“I recently updated my resume to include more numbers and show what I actually did/find but man it feels like it doesn't even matter. I have the career fair coming up in 2 weeks and I have barely prepared for it. Only really found the company list and asked Gemini what companies most fit my skills. I am a junior now so I might have a chance. I've been applying since July, constantly updating my resume as I go. I've gotten nothing but rejections. It feels like I need experience to get”
“Yeah, about two weeks or so ago I refreshed the search jobs page and somehow they managed to make it even worst than before. I report bugs and they don't even care.”
“I don't do this as a service, no. I run a company on the brand side and have hired for exactly this kind of role, so I mostly know what makes someone easy to say yes to. LinkedIn works but it's slow because agency owners get pitched all day there. What worked better for people I've seen land this: go through the Shopify Partners directory and pick agencies with 5 to 20 people (big enough to have overflow, small enough that the owner still reads email), then send a short note that lea”
“This is incredibly insightful and super helpful. I will get to work on this immediately. Any idea where to reach out? I’m currently trying LinkedIn. Do you also do this as well? You have a very thorough understanding of it.”
“The job application process nowadays is a numbers game. And these companies are acting like they’re God’s gift to you. I’m not going to read every post of your company on LinkedIn. I’m not going to pretend I’m completely obsessed with your company and I don’t want to work for any other. I’m not going to pretend I’m not here for the money. I’m not gonna put in a monumental effort into interviews just so you can waste my time and defer to an internal hire. They’re seriously acting like job searchi”
“I was looking for a job about six months ago and had my resume out there. Got a good fully remote full time job and updated my LinkedIn. But I get emails from recruiters with open positions that are just awful in comparison to what I have. Postings like 6-12 month contract, hybrid or onsite. Also easily a one hour commute or more. Even some are in other states. So are these recruiters not looking at resumes, like address, or just spamming openings? submitted by /u/etm105 [link]”
“I’m currently searching for a frontend position and I have seriously no idea how to apply anymore. Like this job search is so degrading honestly. For example, I found a position for a frontend engineer that requires Java ! Why the hell do i need java for frontend works. Another one requests PHP and Drupal for all intense and purposes. It’s just like these people put things at random honestly . What the hell is going on for frontend positions? submitted by /u/mikeplus10 [link] [”
“ok I believe you but how do I have two job interviews already with employers? I’m thinking the job market is just really bad for entry level type roles”
“i see some matching jobs for me but this portal rings so many red flags, ai interview, fake links like job on linkedin is posted from some differen agency, but leads to micro1. At this point im kinda ready to do the humiliation of ai interview if it yields something, so reddit please help. thanks! submitted by /u/DaveAstator2020 [link] [comments]”
“My last 3 jobs were via LinkedIn. Had multiple interviews in past 3 months by finding jobs there.”
“Are we coming up to an era where the "veteran" trusted products lose adoption in favor of the smaller competitors? I'm thinking decline for Linkedin and increase in Ziprecruiter. Decline in Uber & Eats, increase in Lyft & Doordash. Drop in iPhone popularity and increase in Motorola?”
“You entry level? I'm not and I get 1-2 LinkedIn DMs per week. During the COVID-no-one-wants-work-anyone Golden Age, it was 20 per day. Not joking. I have two Fortune 500 companies listed on my profile. Massive difference like other comment said. I 100% get to the 15 minute HR screening stage if the recruiter DMs me.”
“My current role and the one before it both came from LinkedIn posts. Neither were "easy apply" though.”
LinkedIn has been under investigation in a state for posting ghost jobs
“Do you guys also get approached by recruiters for a job opening? I've heard it in this subreddit and on linkedin how people get approached by recruiters for a job opening they have but no such things have ever happened to me. It is always cold applying for me followed by OAs and all. How common is it for your average engineer? Also does it make any difference when recruiter approaches you vs cold applying? submitted by /u/Tasty-Tangelo3702 [link] [comments]”
“I am a Gen Xer and I work in this space (not HR or recruiting) and 100% there is a ton of fraud and bs going on. Big companies are fundamentally lying to you. Big companies do not want to hire you, but will, only if you can do the job of the Boomer or Gen Xer who is 2.5x more expensive than you. I had to work hard and be creative to get to where I am, but this is the crappiest job market since 2009. It’s rough out there but keep your head up.”
“F23 fresh software related graduate Like genuinely asking because I’m losing my mind lol. I’m a fresh grad, WHERE am I supposed to get the experience??? Are there actually companies that are willing to hire fresh grads and train you from scratch without expecting you to already know everything? If you’re a fresh grad who actually managed to land a job with little/no experience, pls tell me what you did 😭 What kind of roles did you apply for? Where did you look? Any tips? A girl is tired. Please”
“I think Op went overboard on some things. I have like 75 contacts that I actually know and I never posted a thing, got my last 4 jobs from them. I think it is a different experience if you have experience though”
“Why haven’t they hired more people to handle the amount of people who submit early? I feel like it’s the same problem every single year. I submitted 6/21 and got verified MID AUGUST which basically delayed when I submitted my secondaries. If you’re applying next year, submit your application the FIRST DAY bc I don’t expect amcas to change their process any time soon. submitted by /u/kirveyre [link] [comments]”
“OK. And how is that fucking over job seekers? Do you think that recruiters or HR personnel have the ability to establish who can work from where? Do you think people with Team Lead or Manager in their title have that capability? Those decisions are made substantially higher than 99% of the people on this sub are applying for and talking about. As for the smugness...I don't know man. All I can say is I just had a team member fill a role beneath her and she's practically in tears that she”
“Agreed in principle, but the thing I take from my own story is that no tool would have told me anything I did not already have. The information was sitting inside LinkedIn, free, in a dropdown, and it took me a year to open it. My problem was not discovery. It was that I was watching the follower number go up instead of looking at who those followers were. Better discovery does not fix that by itself, it just gets you into the wrong room faster and with more people in it. Where I do think you ar”
“Its either juniors deal sourcing with no real selection or its someone who them says of course we can introduce you for ansmall price of x… Inwas excited when i got my first two…”
“They’re not family offices in the expected sense, anyway. A traditional family office wouldn’t reach out to you that way in my experience. These operations just use the term to catch the attention of desperate founders.”
“Just making sure I'm not crazy. I get 1-2 family office unsolicited DM on LinkedIn. My startup is in the DigitalHealth space, but that's a pretty crowded field right now. I'll click through to profiles but even the ones who seem organized leave me skittish. If they're fully legit, am I about to waste time on calls only to have them demand 20% equity for a $19 in cash plus a ham sandwich. We definitely need $$ but we're still too early for any serious investor, not sure why I&”
“I got a job via LinkedIn in 2022. It required me to relocate which I did on my own. It also didn’t include benefits short of they gave me $1k a month to buy my own (even under Obamacare that didn’t buy much). I moved across the country for it and the job only lasted 4 months before they let everyone go for lack of money (they couldn’t pay payroll). I needed it to last at least 2 years to recover my moving expenses. Last time I get a job vis LinkedIn.”
External recruiters are useless and seem to be very disconnected from job seekers and even their own companies. I don’t even waste my time with those introduction type calls unless they have…
“i’ve never had as many spam calls per day since i began applying for jobs on linkedin…”
“I am a hiring manager / recruiter for a specific role (big 4 consulting firm). I posted the role on LinkedIn and it sorta went viral? It has like 50k impressions! Which made me happy because I’d welcome a large pool of qualified, diverse applicants. However most of the applicants, as well as hundreds of messages on LI and my work email somehow (??) are from foreign (not within the US) and this struck me as odd. Nothing wrong with an applicant based in another country, but the specific role is ba”
“That's the only thing on Linkedin aside from the odd actual hiring manager. I don't want to book an intro phone call that precedes the teams call that precedes the call with your recruiting partner JUST to send my fucking resume somewhere. I'm absolutely fed up with this. Recruiters on Linkedin post about candidates being fed up with the interview process. ITS FUCKING YOU. YOU ADD A GODDAMN WEEK ONTO THE PROCESS. Then they want to "prep you" for the interview. Bitch, if you”
“Does anyone actually find jobs through LinkedIn anymore? It largely seems like bullshit, and I’ve heard there are a lot of scams and fake jobs on there. I have a “friend” who has been telling me that I should be on LinkedIn. I use the term friend VERY loosely because she is married to one of my husband’s close friends. She’s one of those people who ALWAYS seems to find work and brags about, “being up to her tits in work.” (She literally says that.) She often brags about it while I struggle to fi”
“Hello everyone. Today I got a very odd linkedin message from a HR professional connection who I don’t know and can’t remember connecting to at all, we just went to the same university. She said that a friend of hers recently applied for a position at my company and received an email from the HR software we use from someone identifying themselves as our HR Director asking for their availability for a call. She explained that because of recruitment scams, her friend wanted to verify whether the co”