Is AI killing the resume?

AI has made it easy for job applicants to tailor résumés to a job description — and good for them. But now employers are drowning in lookalike résumés with little real insight, research shows.

While most companies still require a resume, many others, especially in tech, are shifting focus from traditional résumés to skills assessments, portfolios, and real-world tasks. Tools like HireVue use AI and video interviews to evaluate candidates, and some employers now review LinkedIn profiles instead of requesting résumés.

For creatives and tech professionals, portfolios and platforms like GitHub often replace résumés altogether, with LinkedIn emerging as a dynamic, networked “living résumé.” Meanwhile, internal mobility and referrals are filling more roles, making résumés optional — or just a formality — in many hiring processes.

So, while the résumé isn’t dead, if you’re relying on it alone, you’re behind the curve. Job seekers now need a multi-pronged approach: résumé, online presence, skills, and personal branding.

How AI makes hiring harder

As AI-enhanced resumes continue to flood markets, nearly three in four hiring professionals (74%) say finding skilled candidates is tough — and some organizations struggle more than others, according to a new report from hiring assessment platform provider Criteria Corp.

Generative AI (genAI) tools — especially those like OpenAI’s ChatGPT — are being used by many job seekers to enhance, exaggerate, or outright fabricate parts of their resumes, cover letters, or even responses during job interviews.

“We’re seeing this a lot with our tech hires, and a lot of the sentence structure and overuse of buzzwords is making it super obvious,” said Joel Wolfe, president of HiredSupport, a California-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company.

Criteria’s report found the same. AI-enhanced resumes have left organizations struggling to find quality talent. Criteria’s report contained the results of a survey of 350 hiring professionals across “a wide breadth of industries,” in the US, Australia, and Canada.

A recent Skills Report from Hirevue found that 72% of talent acquisition leaders don’t trust the self-reported skills outlined on resumes and would prefer to make hiring decisions based on validated skills.

But Hirevue’s report also found that 50% of talent acquisition leaders have difficulty validating candidate skills. Only 26% of leaders surveyed said they feel confident in their current approach to skills-based hiring. Companies also report widespread “skills fatigue,” where they are eager for change but plagued by uncertainty and ineffective tools.

“None of this is surprising considering how easy AI has made it for job seekers to craft polished resumes and cover letters. This has made it harder than ever for hiring managers to identify actual candidate skills and the right candidate for the job based on resumes alone,” said Mike Hudy, chief science officer at Hirevue.

Criteria

Criteria’s survey data showed about a third of hiring managers and HR professionals are concerned about candidates using AI; another third say they’ve had to take down roles due to changing priorities; and yet another third of hiring professionals say they’ve seen a major increase in the number of job applicants per job.

“Hiring feels like a slog for a lot of reasons, but at the heart of the issue, three-fourths of hiring professionals say that it’s hard to simply find high-quality candidates with the right skills,” Criteria’s report stated.

On that point, hiring managers may not find much sympathy from job seekers frustrated by their resumes being filtered out by applicant tracking systems. Indeed, hiring and talent management’s use of AI to sift through potential talent and resumes is up 33% from last year, the report revealed. Hiring managers are even using AI to perform initial interviews.

The shift to skills-based hiring

Across industries, the finance and health sectors are more likely to report struggling with finding the right talent, while tech is the least likely, the survey showed. Smaller companies are also having more trouble compared to larger companies. And companies that have moved to in-person or on-site work are significantly more likely to report challenges compared to remote companies.

The rise in AI-powered cheating on job interviews, including the use of ChatGPT and deepfakes, is driving companies like Google, Cisco and McKinsey to return to in-person chats to better detect candidate fraud and assess genuine skills.

Many companies now use AI-based skills assessments over resumes to gauge real abilities, focusing on how candidates apply knowledge — not just what they know. This helps identify true potential and build a future-ready workforce, according to Hirevue’s Hudy.

From 35% to 45% of companies are expected to use AI-based talent acquisition software and services to help select and interview job prospects in the coming year, according to two recent studies.

“Companies that move beyond inertia and adopt validated approaches, such as job simulations and skill-specific assessments, see significant, measurable gains,” Hudy said.

Hirevue’s survey found that 68% of hiring managers reported improved quality of hire, 62% saw a reduction in bias, and 74% noted higher satisfaction.

Bridging the tech talent gap

The struggle to find high-quality talent has led many to believe that there is a shortage of talent. In fact, 67% of the hiring professionals surveyed most industries are facing a talent shortage, according to Criteria’s report.

That echoes what consultancy Deloitte wrote in a recent report. It found that corporate leaders continue to rate critical talent shortages as one of their greatest fears, even as job-seekers report despair about their hiring prospects. “And yet neither side seems prepared to address it,” Deloitte said in its report.

Despite sizeable tech layoffs over the past two years, the tech talent gap is real  — especially for those trained on implementing and using generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools. Consultancy McKinsey & Co. now projects that demand for AI-skilled workers will outpace supply by two-to-four times, a skills gap likely to continue at least until 2027.

Along with technology skills, soft skills continue to be one of the most sought after by prospective employers. Criteria’s survey revealed 63% of respondents ranked analytical thinking as the top skill they’re searching for right now.

Success in high-demand tech careers starts with in-demand certifications, real-world experience, and soft skills. Ultimately, high-performing teams are built through agile, continuous training that evolves with the tech, said Justin Vianello, CEO of US technology talent training firm SkillStorm.

“We train teams to use AI platforms like Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT to accelerate productivity,” Vianello told Computerworld in an earlier interview. “But we don’t stop at tools; we build ‘human-in-the-loop’ systems where AI augments decision-making and humans maintain oversight. That’s how you scale trust, performance, and ethics in parallel.”

High-performing teams aren’t born with AI expertise; they’re built through continuous, role-specific, forward-looking education, he said, adding that preparing a workforce for AI is not about “chasing” the next hottest skill. “It’s about building a training engine that adapts as fast as technology evolves,” he said.Is AI killing the resume? – ComputerworldRead More