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Why You Should Avoid AI Apply Bots, with Jessica Miller-Merrell

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An AI bot might seem like the answer to the hours you spend submitting resumes and filling out application materials, but it could be harming your job search. These bots submit information about you without your oversight. Not only that, says Find Your Dream Job guest Jessica Miller-Merrell, but the facts they share are the same for each position. Jessica recommends taking the time to tailor each resume and application for the job you want. Narrow down your unique skillset, focus on the jobs that fit your skills, and spend your time researching your ideal companies and positions instead of submitting thousands of resumes per week.

About Our Guest:

Jessica Miller-Merrell is the founder of Workology. It’s a workplace resource for HR, recruiting, and business leaders.

Resources in This Episode:

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Episode 473:

Why You Should Avoid AI Apply Bots, with Jessica Miller-Merrell

Airdate: October 23, 2024

Mac Prichard:

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.

You can now use what are called AI apply bots to not only find jobs for you but submit your resume, too.

Sounds tempting, doesn’t it?

Jessica Miller-Merrell is here to talk about why you should avoid these AI apply bots.

She’s the founder of Workology. It’s a workplace resource for HR, recruiting, and business leaders.

Jessica joins us from Austin, Texas.

Well, let’s start here, Jessica, what are AI apply bots exactly?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

AI apply bots are tools. It’s technology that’s designed, in theory, to help the job candidate apply for more jobs. Unfortunately, they don’t always give you the quality that you need; more is not always better, but they help you apply for jobs and just get your name out to more job postings and listings.

Mac Prichard:

Who offers this service, Jessica? And how much, if you’re a job seeker, can you expect to pay?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

These are outside services that charge anywhere between $10-$80 a month for the job seeker. The job seeker is paying for this, for the opportunity and ability to apply for multiple jobs, up to 370 a week, I’ve seen in some cases, for roles. It sounds good, but sometimes things are too good to be true.

Mac Prichard:

I want to talk more about that, but tell me, why do job seekers use AI apply bots? What’s the appeal here?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

I have found, from working and talking with job seekers, that the average amount of time that they’re spending to customize and optimize their resume, and these are for more senior-level positions that require a certain skill set, and adding in those unique characteristic that are specific to the job posting, to your cover letter, resume, and so on. It can take upwards of 45 minutes for every single application, depending upon the different applicant tracking systems and the requirements for those specific openings. If you are actively looking for work, it’s really easy for just the application process to become a full-time job or even more when you think of it that way.

Mac Prichard:

How automated is the AI apply bot process? How does it work exactly? You’re a candidate, and you’ve got a resume. What do you do, and what happens next?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Well, each tool is a little bit different, and, again, some are a little bit better than others, and there are a lot of them right now, so it’s really hard to discern which one is a good tool and not necessarily costing more means that it is higher quality.

Basically, when you set up your account, you’ll put in not only your resume but you’ll upload skills and experiences, and then ideal types of jobs, locations, and things like that, that you want the technology to match you with, and it will apply for openings for you, based on the criteria that you set. If you make something really broad, you might get more job applications in, but more is not always better because now you’re having to sort through lots of emails or phone calls from recruiters, or in some cases, the opposite for recruiters; they’re receiving so many applications that they can’t even make time to contact the qualified candidates for that opening.

Mac Prichard:

How automated is this process? Is it set it and forget it? Do you sit down once and say, “Here’s what I do, these are my experiences and skills, and this is what I’m interested in,” and you’re done? Or are there variations?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

There are variations, but in theory, that’s what they’re marketing these tools to be able to do, but I have found in my own research, using some of these tools myself and in talking to job seekers who have paid for these services, that it does not do that.

In fact, one of my friends, Heidi Miller, she’s actively looking for work. She’s an ex-amazon marketing professional. She was using a number of AI tools that were advertised to apply for 20, 40, even 100 jobs a week, and they matched her to jobs, and she applied to, I think, 2 in a period of thirty days. The technology didn’t work the way it was supposed to, and it ended up being more work for her because she spent all of this time setting up her profile to have only two applications.

Which was several hours of her time, and then going back and forth to check to make sure the technology was working.

Mac Prichard:

What are the challenges with this approach? I’m hearing that it can generate lots and lots of applications, and to many candidates, that sounds like a good thing, but I’m also hearing that it takes a lot of effort on the part of the candidate to produce, and the result is only a handful of applications. What exactly is going on here?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

It’s an employer’s market right now, and we’ve seen this shift. I know, Mac, that you’ve been in the job market for a while. We saw these kinds of tools that cost money for the candidate to use to sort through openings or to get in front of recruiters. In the last recession that we had, they were very prevalent, but then as we shifted back to where the candidate was in charge, we saw less and less of those things. This is kind of a trend that I’m seeing when the market shifts and there are less openings and more candidates looking for work.

What I do want you to also think about is that recruiters also have smaller teams, and Green House, which is an applicant tracking system that many recruiters in the market use right now, they have seen a 71% increase in applications from the previous year. Not necessarily related to AI, but more candidates are looking for work and applying for more jobs, and as recruiters, it is making our jobs a lot harder.

These tools, while they sound fantastic for you, end up making it harder for me, as the recruiter, to be able to find candidates in the sea of applications and then qualify the right people so I can put the through my first, second, and third rounds of interviews, and then ultimately hire for that role.

Mac Prichard:

As a recruiter, Jessica, can you tell if an application has been generated by one of these AI apply bots?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Many times, I can. I can definitely tell Chat-GPT. If you’re using Chat-GPT to draft your cover letter if you aren’t customizing it. I can see, for the most part, out of the sea of sameness with the applications because you are putting information into these tools, and it’s generating, using generative AI, a response back and/or keywords into your cover letter and customizing those.

It is, right now, very easy for me right now to identify that you have used AI when you’re applying for a job, and many recruiters see that as a negative. It’s really hard to stand out, too, when your application is like 75 other people who have used some sort of artificial intelligence technology to modify or use that tool to apply for the role.

Mac Prichard:

When you’re a recruiter, and you’re looking at dozens, perhaps hundreds of applications for one position, and you can tell which applications have used either an AI apply bot or a generative GPT, what happens to that application? Is it going to lose out to one that has been clearly customized by hand?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Well, let’s think about it as if maybe you’re at a concert or at a store or in a crowd and you’re looking for a friend. If everyone is wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, you’re not going to be able to find your friend if they’re wearing that same outfit, but if they come in with maybe an orange T-shirt and purple shorts, they’re going to stand out from the crowd.

That is what’s happening right now with these technologies. Custom resumes, applications, and cover letters that you are doing yourself, while more time-consuming, are standing out in the sea of sameness, which is everyone relying on AI or technology to apply for jobs or modify their applications.

Mac Prichard:

Terrific. We’re going to take a break.

Stay with us. When we come back, Jessica Miller-Merrell will continue to share her advice on why you should avoid AI apply bots.

We’re back in the Mac’s List studio. I’m talking with Jessica Miller-Merrell.

She’s the founder of Workology. It’s a workplace resource for HR, recruiting, and business leaders.

Jessica joins us from Austin, Texas.

Now, Jessica, before the break, we were talking about why you should avoid AI apply bots.

I want to go back to a point that you made about how the AI apply bots work. You put your information in there – your skills, experiences, your goals, and some systems can generate applications for you. If I understand correctly, you might never see where you’re applying or what your final application looks like. Is that correct? Am I getting that right?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Absolutely, and you won’t necessarily know what it submitted or what it sent, or what it said about you on your behalf. Which artificial intelligence tools are not 100%. We’ve seen that with Chat-GPT and some of these other AI tools. They encourage you to proceed with caution.

You are relying on a technology to take your application, your unique set of skills that you have worked on and crafted into a resume, your marketing piece, to modify and then apply to jobs on your behalf. That sounds a little frightening as someone who likes to be in control of my own branding and marketing, as an entrepreneur, but in your case, as a job seeker.

Mac Prichard:

I can imagine, though, Jessica, a listener, thinking, “Well, that sounds like a good thing because I’m not sure how to research the places where I might want to work, and I’m not sure how to customize my resume and I welcome technology that can help me do that.”

What would you say to a listener who’s having those thoughts?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

I really feel like it sounds good, but there is so much negativity surrounding AI-generated content right now, so if you’re going to use these tools and technology to help you, you do need to be editing and modifying it and tweaking it so that it puts a unique spin on you because that’s what you bring to the table. The number one red flag by recruiters right now, (and this is from a recent study by Resume Genius), the number one red flag by recruiters, this is above long employment gaps or having no measurable achievements, is an AI-generated resume.

That is the number one red flag. I would encourage you to reconsider using artificial intelligence because it is stopping you from getting noticed or even moved to that first round of the hiring and selection process.

Mac Prichard:

You mentioned earlier, in the first segment, that often you can tell when an application has been AI-generated. In your experience, I know you talk to a lot of HR leaders, is this something that you’re seeing throughout the industry? Are HR people and recruiters getting good at recognizing AI-generated content, or are using tools to do that?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

We are getting good at recognizing the content because, remember, if the average job listing has at least 400 applications and as a recruiter, I manage anywhere between 20 and 60 open jobs, that’s kind of across the board and general, so let’s just assume it’s 30.

That means that in just one moment, I am looking at several thousand applications that I might be reviewing, and that’s just at one time. For the entire year, I might be reviewing upwards of maybe 40,000 applications or more, and that’s not even interviews.

I am able to be my own AI-seeking tool to be able to sniff these things out, but there are also tools in existence right now that can notify me if something is likely AI-generated, and I think that if this AI chatbot use continues to grow, we will see applicant tracking systems using tools to evaluate what you’ve submitted to give a percentage of how likely it is that this was AI-generated versus that it was created by a human.

There’s already a lot of concern about using writing samples and different things and candidates relying on AI. I’ve also seen it the other way, where some companies are saying, “Hey, we want to see how you use AI. Go ahead and use prompts to generate this information using Chat-GPT.” For a writing sample to see how much you modify, but I would encourage you to reconsider using some of these tools because it could be the thing that is keeping you from getting to that interview, that first phone call so that you can really shine.

Mac Prichard:

Are there situations where it does make sense to use an AI-apply bot?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

I’m not seeing anything right now. The technology is new, and new is untested, unchecked, and really rough. Again, it’s a red flag, and it’s keeping you from opportunities. I’m not saying that you can’t utilize some tools, maybe evaluate, but you need to be customizing the content, really customizing the content to make it unique to you.

So you can ask Chat-GPT to create an AI-generated cover letter, but I need you to be modifying that by at least 50% and putting your own unique stamp on it because if 75% of the candidates are using these tools, again, you’re in that sea of sameness. I can’t figure out your unique skills because the tool is making something that isn’t unique to your qualifications that is human-generated. It’s making something that 70% of the population also has, and it keeps me from being able to find the right candidates, and it’s keeping you from being able to come forward and shine.

Mac Prichard:

What I’m hearing is there is a role for AI, using tools like Chat-GPT to generate drafts or ideas, but you’ve got to put in the work and make it your own. Is that correct?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Absolutely, I love to use Chat-GPT for a lot of different things. It’s a good starting point for content, and AI can be a great start for research, for information, to generate ideas, but it is not something that you should rely on, these artificial intelligence application tools, as the only source and the only tool in your job search, and I would discourage you to use them right now, as that apply function because we don’t have any control of what it’s sending or not sending or how it’s positioning you and your unique set of skills and qualifications that make me, as the recruiter, want to bring you into my company.

Mac Prichard:

I hear this a lot from candidates, I expect you do as well, that it’s a numbers game. If I send out x number of applications, eventually, 1 or 2% of those that I generate will produce a response, and I’ll get interviews and then, eventually, an offer.

What do you say, Jessica, to someone who thinks that? Again, you’re a recruiter; you get thousands of applications all the time. What do you say to someone who says, “Well, if I send out 100, 750, even a thousand applications, eventually, I will get a job”?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

If you’re spending 45 minutes to customize a resume and application and you’re sending out a thousand applications, that’s all you’re doing with your time. I would much rather, as the job seeker, submit 50 applications and then spend that time customizing them uniquely to me.

Now, I’m assuming that you have a niche set of skills and, hopefully, a unique focus on what kind of company you want to work with. I personally have always, as a former resume writer and in my own job search, wanted less applications and less time spent, and more interviews and more conversations, and I have always encouraged candidates to leverage their network or apply to specific jobs, maybe ten or fifteen instead of five hundred because you’re ratios are better, and when you actually do get that call, you’re ready, you’ll know exactly what needs to be said, and you can spend the appropriate amount of time to prepare for that phone call, and those first, second, and third interviews.

Mac Prichard:

Well, it’s been a great conversation, Jessica.

Tell us what’s next for you.

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

Well, I do have a podcast of my own, and it’s called the Workology podcast. If you are looking for insights into the world of human resources and recruiters, and you want to know how we think, what we do, and what captures our attention, you can certainly check out the Workology podcast on all of the major podcast outlets.

I do have a resource for job seekers as well. It’s called “Secrets of the Job Hunt,” and it’s an Ebook that takes all of my experience as an HR and a TA leader and then my work as a resume writer in the past and puts it together in a downloadable ebook that you can grab.

Mac Prichard:

Terrific. I know listeners can find that ebook by visiting secretsofthejobhunt.com and that you also invite listeners to connect with you on LinkedIn. When they do reach out to you there, I hope they’ll mention that they heard you on Find Your Dream Job.

Now, Jessica, given all of the great advice that you’ve shared today, what’s the one thing you want a listener to remember about why you should avoid AI apply bots?

Jessica Miller-Merrell:

I want you to think about standing out in that sea of sameness and those unique qualities, those things about you that make you a highly sought-after candidate are things that only you know and can think about, and technology is just not there yet, to be able to sniff those out for you.

Take the time, put in the research, less is more, and do it the human way vs the AI-driven way when you’re in the job search.

Mac Prichard:

Next week, our guest will be Casey Hasten.

She’s the director of recruiting and coaching at We Are VIP.

Casey also hosts the We Are VIP Podcast and serves as CEO of Success North Dallas.

There are no shortcuts in a job search.

But practicing three good habits can help you find your next job easier and faster.

Join us next Wednesday when Casey Hasten and I talk about how to collapse the timeline to success through networking, coaches, and mentors.

Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List.

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media.

Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. Dawn Mole creates our transcripts. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.