“People need to send, on average, 200 applications to get a job offer."
Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping UK hiring, with candidates warning the process has become “robotic” and harder to navigate.
Bhuvana Chilukuri, a third-year business student who has applied for more than 100 jobs without success, said:
“It’s robotic. It’s brutal.
“There are moments where I applied and I got a rejection less than two minutes later, which is really horrible.”
She believes most applications are filtered out before reaching a human recruiter.
The 20-year-old told BBC: “The first step is AI screening your CV. You can get rejected pretty quickly at that stage.
“Then the next process would maybe be an AI video interview.”
Job vacancies have almost halved since their post-pandemic peak, while higher employer costs and stronger worker protections have slowed recruitment.
At the same time, companies are increasingly relying on AI to manage applications. According to LinkedIn data, 89% of UK recruiters plan to expand their use of AI in hiring in 2026.
For many candidates, this means completing automated assessments with limited human interaction.
Bhuvana added: “I do tend to feel like a robot, because you’re just seeing yourself on screen, and answering questions for almost 20 minutes.
“You become sort of monotone. You don’t speak to anyone, and it takes away your personality. It’s quite sad.”
Recruitment firms say the use of AI is driven by the volume of applications and the need for efficiency.
Denis Machuel, chief executive of Adecco Group, said:
“People need to send, on average, 200 applications to get a job offer.
“What AI brings is scale. Before, you would reach out to 50 people, and out of that you will take one, so you will have 49 people frustrated.
“Now, if you reach out to 500 candidates, you create 499 people frustrated.”
Candidates are also turning to AI tools to improve their chances, creating what some describe as an “arms race” between applicants and employers.
Bhuvana added: “They’re getting floods of applications. So I don’t blame them.
“But it’s coming to a point where students are becoming lazy. They’re like, ‘If you’re going to screen with AI, I’m going to apply with AI’.
“And they use AI to write their CVs. I don’t blame them either. Everyone’s trying to figure it out.”
Employers say the surge in applications is making it harder to identify strong candidates.
Law firm Mishcon de Reya received 5,000 applications for 35 roles in its latest hiring round.
The firm is trialling an AI chatbot developed by graduate careers advisers Bright Network, which screens candidates in real time and can flag sections of applications likely written by AI.
However, some candidates remain sceptical about the growing role of automation.
Bhuvana said:
“I don’t trust the AI, I think I’ll always trust a person. But it’s hard to get the opportunity to see the person.”
Industry leaders say the future of recruitment will depend on balancing AI efficiency with human judgment.
Mr Machuel added: “What needs to happen is to inject the AI smartness at the right moment in the process, so that you complement the efficiency of AI with the judgment and human touch of people.
“That’s the combination that will break this arms race.”
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