Hi Candidate Slash Full Underscore Name
AI Is Running Your Job Search Whether You Like It or Not
A few weeks ago, I woke up to a voicemail from what I assumed was a human recruiter. There are no typos in the quote below. This is a direct transcript with an MP3 recording underneath it:
“Hi, candidate slash full underscore name. This is Grace from um. I have reviewed your background and found an exciting, shhhh, job underscore title opportunity at a highly sought after organization. It closely aligns with your skills and experience, and we plan to submit our top 2 candidates as soon as today. Let’s connect as soon as possible to determine if it’s a good match. So please call me back at I look forward to speaking with you”
The “Hi” introduction certainly sounded human but then she hit me with “Candidate slash full underscore”.
Not Chris.
“Hi Candidate slash full underscore”
She then proceeded to introduce herself as “Grace from um” just before shushing me. Yes…she said “shhhh” before letting me know about a “job underscore title” opportunity.
I don’t know who she thought she was shushing. I don’t know why. But apparently somewhere in the AI data center her avatar is situated, she felt the need to shush someone. Weird.
Meet Grace from Um. She is trying to fill a job underscore opportunity.
careful consideration
A few days later, I received a rejection email at 3:39am on a Saturday. One day after applying. The email said…quote…”after careful consideration” they had to decided to move forward with other candidates.
Careful consideration at 3:39am. On a Saturday.
The “Middle of the night”
Call me crazy but that doesn’t seem like very careful consideration does it? Maybe the AI avatar’s are self-aware to the point of going out for a night of bar hopping and coming home to message people while inebriated? Similar to the way a college student would reach out to ex-lovers? Regardless, it was strange timing and I don’t believe there was an actual consideration given to my candidacy.
297 Days later
This one might actually be my favorite. I applied to a job on June 13, 2025.
I received a rejection email on April 6, 2026.
297 days after I applied.
During that period, I attended 12 Phillies games. 13 concerts. I evolved as a person. Had blood work done twice. Cleaned the gutters three times. Winterized my lawnmower then started using it again. And ate 6 bags of complimentary airplane pretzels.
Somewhere, in some data center in middle America, an algorithm couldn’t quite quit me but eventually decided the best path forward didn’t include me. Single tear. Using the word sincerely in the complimentary close was certainly an interesting choice but hey, at least they were impressed with my qualifications.
The “297 days later - no thank you” email
The confirmation email with AI disclosure
And then there is the company that just came out and said it.
In the templated confirmation email, they informed me that AI tools would be supporting multiple parts of the hiring process: reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses and transcribing calls. (Here’s hoping they weren’t also making calls to candidates at this um company)
I truly do appreciate the transparency but read that list again: They are relying on AI for a majority of the hiring process. The days of simply being bounced by ATS scanners are long gone. We are very close to the point where it’s not just AI supported, it’s going to be entirely AI run.
The “BTW you are consenting to AI handling most of the hiring process. Good luck” email.
On the bright side, at least they actually communicated this to me rather than having a robot call to shush me.
I previously covered the role of AI in creative and marketing in this blog post. How do YOU feel about this being the present and future of hiring and hunting? What has your experience been? And where else have you observed AI infiltrating to the point of a possibly hostile takeover? Let me know in the comments.
