Candidates are increasingly tailoring their job applications for artificial intelligence rather than the human who will make hiring decisions, raising concerns that the race to 'beat' AI could be making it harder for candidates to stand out.
The latest Candidate Behaviour Barometer from CV-Library, one of the UK's largest job boards, which surveyed 1,043 candidates and 233 recruiters and direct employers, found that 29% of candidates have deliberately changed their CV or cover letter because they believed AI might screen it – almost three times the number recorded in 2025.
But this approach is having the opposite effect. 70% of candidates say widespread AI use makes it harder for them to stand out, while 69% of recruiters agree that AI-generated applications make it harder to identify the strongest candidates.
Recruiters are also seeing the impact first-hand, with 83% encountering signs of AI-written applications frequently or occasionally.
The trust problem
As applications become increasingly polished and tailored for AI, recruiters are becoming less confident in what they see. More than a third of recruiters (36%) are now less confident than a year ago that a CV or application accurately reflects a candidate's true skills.
Among those who have become less confident:
- 52% cite obviously AI-generated CVs or cover letters.
- 44% cite candidate exaggeration.
- 31% cite increasingly polished or generic applications.
This creates a difficult cycle – candidates are trying to optimise their applications to get past AI, while recruiters are finding it harder to distinguish genuine talent and ability. For candidates, the message is clear – AI should support, not replace.
And there is a clear appetite for human judgement, with 58% of candidates saying a guarantee that a human will review their application would make them more comfortable with AI being used in recruitment.
Alec Stanwell, Director of Marketing of CV-Library, said:
"Candidates are becoming so focused on writing for AI that they risk forgetting their real audience – the human making the final hiring decision. AI can help improve an application, but it shouldn't remove the personality, skills and real-world examples that can make a candidate stand out.
“For employers, increasingly polished applications mean it's important to look beyond the CV, using interviews and skills-based assessments to understand what a candidate can do. The goal should be to identify the candidate who genuinely fits the role best, rather than simply the application that appears to look the strongest, as it's clear, overly polished CVs can do the opposite effect."
To help jobseekers use AI without losing their individuality, CV-Library has released five prompts designed to make AI-assisted CVs more personal, evidence-based and tailored to the individual. The full toolkit can be found on CV-Library's blog.
Methodology:
The Candidate Behaviour Barometer 2026 is CV-Library's second annual study into hiring attitudes, drawing on two independent surveys -1,043 UK jobseekers and 233 recruiters, hiring managers and direct employers, conducted in August 2026. As the audiences were surveyed separately, figures shown side by side compare separate viewpoints, not like-for-like responses.
