It was three years ago. Andrew Stockwell’s hiring process was a well-oiled machine.
Stockwell, who was previously the director of Vendr’s people department before joining Vendr as a software buyer in 2007, has a new job. listing, waited a few days, and then reviewed a few dozen applications—up to 100, if he was lucky. Recruiters Stockwell identified additional candidates to add to the pool. Stockwell read résumés, conducted interviews, and passed along sterling candidates to hiring managers.
“It was really about finding that great talent, sussing out that talent, speaking with that talent, and identifying the best possible people,” Stockwell tells WIRED.
Stockwell claims that everything began to change in the past year. Stockwell began the process in exactly the same manner, but after a few days, he was no longer looking at 100 applicants. Stockwell was inundated by hundreds of applications. The number of applications received sometimes exceeded a 1000. A good chunk were “total bogus,” Stockwell says—fake candidates. Stockwell says–fake candidates. artificial intelligenceThe truth is stretched and it becomes difficult to differentiate between applicants. Stockwell says he was overwhelmed by the sheer volume. Stockwell said he felt himself. “paying my talent-acquisition professionals—who are high-paid, high-quality individuals—just to look through applications all day long.”
Stockwell, a recruitment professional from the UK, is among many who think that looking for work is fundamentally flawed. In 2026, job hunting has become as easy as online shopping: AI can crank out tailored résumés and cover letters in seconds. No human intervention is required with browser extensions that auto-fill application forms. LinkedIn offers users hundreds of job postings every day. Many have the option to submit an application. “just a few clicks.”
“A year ago, every recruiter would tell me: We want to make it as easy as possible to apply for jobs,” Offering candidates an opportunity to a “seamless experience,” Ophir Samson is the voice AI head at Greenhouse. He tells WIRED. Samson was hired by the platform in early 2018, when they acquired his AI-powered startup. “What they got was 2,000 applicants in 24 hours for a job. That is a shitty experience for everyone.”
The good candidates aren’t noticed, but the bad ones slip through. Samson says recruiters are faced with the difficult task of having to judge thousands of applicants every day. Instead of spending hours searching LinkedIn for ideal employees, recruiters spend their time in application tracking systems tweaking the filters, trying to decide which applications are worthy of a quick glance.
Now recruiters tell Samson. “actually, we kind of want friction,” “He says” “The friction is good. We want to make it harder.”
It makes sense to eliminate pain points from the application process. If the most qualified applicants apply, a company will have the greatest chance of finding the right fit. For years, recruiters posted jobs on job boards as well as LinkedIn. They also signed up to LinkedIn’s “Easy Apply” Candidates were promised a feature “one-click” Application process. After the pandemic, employers were struggling to fill vacant roles. Recruiters began to streamline their processes.
“Everyone was job hopping, because you literally could have three offers in an afternoon,” Jane Curran is the Chief Transformation Officer at JLL. She tells WIRED. Now, “it is the polar opposite.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the openings peaked in March of 2022 at 12,3 million, and then declined for two years. The number of openings has been hovering around 7 million since the middle of 2024.
As the number of jobs available decreased, so did the entry barriers. AI—which entered the mainstream in late 2022 with the public release of ChatGPT—allows applicants to rewrite résumés and track new postings almost instantaneously. Businesses like JobAssist, SonaraThen, Ladder’s Apply4Me Promise applicants that your technology will do all of the work for them when applying for jobs. submitting “10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application.” It is possible to apply for many jobs in a single day.
