AI is reshaping the workforce, from job displacement and growth to the creation of new roles. Its influence also reaches every stage of the job search and hiring process, changing how candidates apply and how employers identify talent.
Whether you’re looking for your next opportunity or hiring for an open position, understanding where AI helps—and where human judgment still matters—can lead to better decisions.
What Job Seekers Need to Know
For job seekers, AI is changing how they search, apply, communicate, and prepare. It can reduce the time spent tailoring resumes and cover letters, but faster applications don’t automatically lead to better results. As more job seekers use the same tools, the market becomes noisier, making it more important for authentic, role-specific applications to stand out.
Job seekers increasingly use AI to refine resumes and applications, strengthen communications with hiring managers, research employers, and practice interview responses. These tools can help job seekers work more efficiently, but they can’t replace the individual perspective, experience, and relationship-building that moves a hiring process forward.
According to Resume Genius’ Hiring Trends Report, 82% of hiring managers are concerned about job seekers using AI on applications, and 81% have encountered it. That concern makes careful review essential: an application should still sound like you and accurately reflect your qualifications.
AI auto-apply tools may seem like a convenient way to reach more employers, but volume alone isn’t a strategy. Forbes reported a success rate of just 0.01% per application, while the flood of submissions can overwhelm hiring teams and reduce the likelihood that any one application receives attention.
That doesn’t mean job seekers should avoid AI altogether. Instead, use it wisely as a resource and support tool.
Productive AI uses include:
- Customizing a resume to emphasize experience that matches the job description.
- Drafting a cover letter that you revise with specific examples and your natural voice.
- Practicing responses to common or role-specific interview questions.
- Researching a company, industry, or position before applying.
- Reviewing written communication for clarity, tone, and errors.
The key is to stay involved in the process. Review every AI output, verify the details, and use your judgment. AI can help organize and strengthen your ideas, but it shouldn’t invent experience, overstate skills, or erase the personality that helps employers understand what you bring to the role.
What Hiring Managers Need to Know
For hiring teams, AI is changing how candidates are screened, compared, and validated. It can process information quickly and reduce repetitive work, but speed doesn’t solve the challenge of identifying quality talent. In fact, AI-generated applications can make it harder to judge authenticity and determine whether a candidate’s claims reflect their actual capabilities.
In 2026, 66% of recruiters said it was more difficult to find quality talent, while the same percentage planned to increase their use of AI for candidate prescreening, according to LinkedIn. Resume Genius also found that 87% of companies use AI in at least one part of recruiting, and 58% use it to screen candidates—up from 35% in 2025.
As adoption grows, hiring managers need clear guardrails.
Effective AI practices include:
- Defining where AI may support the process and where human review is required.
- Checking screening criteria for relevance, consistency, and unintended bias.
- Using interviews and skills-based assessments to validate candidate claims.
- Being transparent with candidates about how technology is used in hiring.
- Monitoring outcomes instead of assuming a faster process is a better process.
Unmonitored AI use can introduce risk, create unfair outcomes, and add inefficiency rather than remove it. Human oversight remains essential for evaluating context, potential, communication, and fit—qualities that are difficult to reduce to keywords or automated scores.
Keep People at the Center of the Process
AI will continue to influence how people look for work and how employers hire. The strongest approach for both groups is not to reject the technology or depend on it completely, but to use it with purpose.
Job seekers can use AI to prepare more effectively while keeping their experience and voice at the forefront. Hiring managers can use it to streamline repetitive tasks while protecting fairness, accuracy, and meaningful human review. When people remain accountable for the final decision, AI becomes a useful tool, not a substitute for judgment.
About Express Employment Professionals
At Express Employment Professionals, we’re in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, employing more than 11 million since its inception. Learn more at ExpressPros.com or ExpressPros.ca.
