Tips for Using AI in Job Applications

Write up by Rachel Wright and Rob Nathan

Karen has expertise of working as an AI strategic leadership coach, career coach and transformation coach alongside her experience of working in recruitment, outplacement, and supporting military service leaders. 

This is where self-assessment tools come in. When thoughtfully integrated into coaching and career development, they provide both structure and freedom – guiding individuals to uncover insights while giving managers and coaches a shared platform for dialogue.

Who is using AI in recruitment?

• UK organisations using AI in hiring has gone up from 16% in 2022 to 31% in 2026 (CIPD)
• 90% of large UK businesses now use AI in their recruitment process (Ernst & Young)

AI recruitment facts:

• AI doom loops, what are they? This is when candidates use AI to apply for multiple roles at a time. As a result, employers receive high volumes of applications which then leads to them adding more AI filters. AIl applications start to look similar as AI has written them and so the challenge then comes in to how a candidate can get noticed.
• If you use ChatGPT to write your CV it doesn’t mean you will get flagged and rejected.
• Jobscan (jobscan.co) now has an AI detector which can tell you if your CV lacks humanity! Try this out!
• AI driven ATS platforms have moved beyond just looking for key rich search words. Platforms such as Eightfold AI predictive performance uses modelling to try and predict potential and career trajectories of candidates. It does this by looking for similarities of other people’s profiles on LinkedIn. The purpose being to identify how likely a candidate possesses or could acquire the skills needed for a role and company culture as well as how they will perform if hired. Even though this is not always right, recruiters do use it.
• If you try and insert keywords in white (invisible) text, your CV will be automatically flagged or rejected so avoid doing this.
• Integrated platform tools such as Teal can enable you to write achievements in a way that fits the organisations culture and terminology in real time.

Combining AI and networking with your CVs/applications:

• Instruct AI to identify patterns from your past performance.
• Use AI as a guide and tool but not to write your CV.
• Ensure strategic networking is a key part of your job search strategy. Build relationships with your network so that your CV gets seen by a person.
• Stay authentic and make your achievements real and results-orientated to avoid your CV becoming generic and devoid of the human touch. Include facts and figures.
• Demonstrate career trajectory and patterns. Focus the CV on what you bring and what you can take forwards for the future. AI recruitment tools need to see evidence of forward momentum in your career and the impact you have made.

The digital filters:

For your CV to reach a human being one key basic check is to ensure your CV and LinkedIn profiles match exactly when it comes to dates and job titles otherwise they will be automatically rejected. AI will cross reference and it is also not looked upon favourably if a candidate doesn’t have a digital footprint.

The era of rigid keyword stuffing is over and now emerging is the importance of contextual meaning. This means that just having key words isn’t enough. You need to contextualise. AI can understand context if the candidate provides it.