Recruitment by robot: how AI is changing the way Australians get jobs

When Anisa* graduated from her second degree, she felt "fairly confident" that her postgraduate studies, double-major undergraduate degree and years spent balancing two volunteering roles and a part-time job would account for something in the job market. She applied to every entry-level or junior role she could find in her industry, tracking each application's outcome on a spreadsheet. Before she knew it, "applying for jobs became a full-time job": in total, she applied for, and was rejected from, 350 jobs before finally landing one 18 months later. And she believes that AI – in particular its use in screening applications – is a huge part of the reason. "The rise of third party, AI-run digital online forms are a huge pain point for so many jobseekers," Anisa says as she recalls uploading CVs alongside filling in digital forms.