AI Transforms Job Applications and Hiring, Experts Say

The recruitment industry is changing as more applicants and employers use artificial intelligence, experts say.

Brodie Shane works in the IT sector and uses AI when he is applying for jobs.

He says he keeps a "master document" of his employment history, including skills and achievements, that AI can pull from to create tailored CVs for each position listing.

"I've actually been on the other side of this process, and I've seen the tools that some recruitment departments will use, which is keyword matching," Mr Shane said.

"I'm very specific with the prompt that I give [the AI] so it doesn't make up any of my experience."

Mr Shane said he was not concerned about his applications failing to stand out.

"None of my experience points is being made up, and it just makes the process a lot faster for me."

David George, the senior managing director of recruitment agency Michael Page, said the widespread use of AI was making it "incredibly difficult" for employers to identify good candidates.

"What we're finding with AI when it comes to job applications is people are applying en masse, and all CVs look the same," Mr George said.

"Trying to really work out what a good CV is versus a bad CV, that's almost irrelevant now.

"There's more and more focus on the humanistic skills … and we're finding the interview is where the job seeker has to sell themselves."

Michael Page's recent 2026 Talent Trends report, which surveyed more than 60,000 professionals worldwide, found 67 per cent of job seekers used artificial intelligence to "tighten language, tailor CVs and summarise skills".

AI should be paired with 'personal touch'

With such widespread use of AI among applicants, Mr George said prospective job hunters would be "crazy" not to use the technology.

However, he said applicants need to be careful to keep their individuality.

"AI cannot pull together what you actually achieved in a job, that's got to come from you," he said.

"You're the artist, you've got to be the person who can say, 'I actually did this.'"

Employers may be missing good applicants

Brisbane-based recruitment consultant Meqa Smith said she advises her clients to be more intentional with job descriptions and application guidelines to avoid being bombarded with AI-generated resumes and CVs.

Including a video question as a requirement can also be helpful, Ms Smith said.

"If we create a process that up-front helps us to filter out the wrong people and get the right people to opt in, we can then buy ourselves some time to actually be doing more to interact and engage with people in that process," she said.

"You're more than likely going to find that those people, whether they've used AI or not to help them on their resumes, they are more legitimate."

Mr George warned that employers may be "missing" good applicants by overusing AI in hiring.

"If employers are using chatbots or using AI at a very early stage in the interview process, you're putting people off," he said.

"You may not find the best candidates because your AI tools may not be capable of finding the humanistic skills they're looking for.

Using less AI 'not an option'

University of Queensland data science professor Gianluca Demartini said recruitment has "become a game" between applicants and employers, with both sides using artificial intelligence to increase efficiency.

Professor Demartini said artificial intelligence would "inevitably" make mistakes, including selecting candidates based on biased attributes, such as race or gender, that are unrelated to job requirements.

"On the applicant side, we are losing this unique flavour and the personality of the applicant because all of these tools will generate a very similar type of CV," he said.

"But probably the bigger risk is on the other side, where employers using AI for screening applications may find themselves implicitly discriminating on certain minorities applying for a job."

However, Professor Demartini did not believe AI would, or should, be used less.

"It does improve efficiency," he said.

"We can do things faster, we can do things at scale in an easier way, but we need to be sceptical in how we use it.

"It's essential to make sure that the human using the AI tool is in charge and takes responsibility for the decisions that are either made or recommended by these AI tools."