Hiring with AI is Broken

🔍 What We Know

LinkedIn is seeing a tidal wave of applications

• Nearly 11,000 apps per minute (≈183 per second) per Michael Jackson, VC 

• Other data suggests 77–101 apps per second—but they all agree the volume is overwhelming ()

With both applicants and recruiters using AI, the platform is saturated with automated résumés and cold outreach, but solid hires still remain scarce. Recruiters find themselves buried in noise—not buried in top candidates  .

🤖 What’s Broken

• Original AI use: Recruiters used tools for candidate matching and scheduling, which felt helpful.

• Now: Candidates clang the ‘Easy Apply’ button with AI-generated résumés. Recruiters mirror that with AI-enhanced filtering.

  • Glittering résumé influx, but not necessarily quality 

  • Recruiters revert to analog methods (phone screens, projects) to sift real talent from bots 

Both sides are using AI—but the result is not more hires. It’s more friction. And that gap is growing.

🚀 Where Real Disruption Lies

1. **Human Signal over Volume**

   AI can boost reach, but sourcing the right talent still requires connection and judgment.

   – Recruiters are building personal outreach to cut through AI noise 

2. Rethink Application Funnel

   High volume without evaluation creates meaningless metrics. Better triage: AI-driven screening + human review.

3. Invest in Human Review Moments

   Use AI where it belongs (screening, scheduling), but don’t outsource the human element—culture fit, empathy, questions only a person can ask.

⚠️ Why “Both-Sides” AI Strategy Fails

• We’re racing to automating the front, but forgetting the “middle game” and closing—the real hiring work.

• Person-to-person drives trust, but isn’t scalable alone.

• Pure automation exploits volume—not quality.

✅ Final Takeaway

If AI is flooding LinkedIn with auto-applications, recruiters respond with AI to manage volume. But neither side is solving the core issue—matching real people, with hard-to-automate skills, to the right roles.

It’s time for real disruption.

We need smarter funnels, hybrid screening, and strategic human engagement that go beyond the illusion of speed.

Would love to hear your take: is your team still drowning in noise, or have you cracked the code on human-first sourcing in this age of AI spam?