Rejection at Two in the Morning
Samantha Kehler graduated from Marist College ready to start her career. But the job hunt has felt less like networking and more like shouting into a machine.
"I know that AI is pretty much the one who is reading my application," Kehler told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria." "I don't feel like my resume and my cover letters are being read by human eyes."
The New Arms Race in Hiring
It is not hard to see why companies use applicant tracking systems. They save time when thousands of applications pour in for a single opening. But the system has a big blind spot. The system penalizes applicants who fail to include the correct buzzwords.
Get the market news that matters in a five-minute read with Market Briefs, our free daily newsletter
Kehler knows she is being cut for missing a keyword. "I know I'm just getting filtered out if I don't have a specific keyword," she said. That leaves job seekers with a choice: learn the game or keep losing.
So they are learning it. "I've tried to definitely do a little bit of training," she said. "It definitely helped me understand how to work the AI in your favor rather than just getting kind of a short answer from AI." She also uses generative AI to help with research and to synthesize information faster.
Kehler's experience is not unusual. Many job hunters report spending hours customizing each application, only to receive radio silence or automated rejections sent in the middle of the night. Because of keyword matching, even qualified candidates may be missed when they don't use the precise wording from the job listing.
Why Does It Matter?
This change has sparked worries among applicants that the job search is losing its human touch. Kehler stated, "I receive rejection emails at two in the morning," adding that this only confirms her view that software is taking over hiring, making many applicants question if they ever got a real opportunity to create a personal impression.
To bypass the automated gatekeepers, many job seekers now study job descriptions for keywords and even use AI to rewrite their resumes. This creates a feedback loop where both sides lean on machines, reducing the chance for genuine human connection. Recruiters, meanwhile, face pressure to process hundreds of applicants quickly, further entrenching the software-first approach.
The human side of hiring is not going anywhere. But for now, the first gatekeeper is software. And it does not care how good you are if you do not say the right word.
As more graduates encounter this hurdle, the reliance on AI tools grows - job seekers use them to tailor applications, while companies depend on them to handle volume. This cycle deepens the impersonal nature of the process, leaving candidates like Kehler feeling they must beat the machine to even be seen.
Join Market Briefs, our free daily newsletter, for a quick daily rundown of the markets
