Your ATS Is Filling Up with AI-Generated Résumés—Here’s How to Fight Back

If you’re a talent acquisition leader, you’ve probably noticed a troubling trend: Your applicant tracking system (ATS) is filling up with perfectly polished yet strangely similar résumés. That’s because 46% of job seekers say they’ve used ChatGPT to craft résumés or cover letters, and 69% report higher response rates when they do. While these AI-assisted résumés might check all the keyword boxes, they often lack genuine insight into a candidate’s true capabilities.

Here’s why that matters—and what you can do about it.

Why AI-Generated Résumés Pose a Risk

1. Generic, Surface-Level Content

AI-written résumés often produce generic phrases and buzzwords (“proven track record,” anyone?). They may pass ATS keyword checks but reveal little about actual job performance, leaving recruiters struggling to differentiate candidates.

2. Misleading Qualifications

Generative AI tools are known to embellish or even fabricate skills and achievements. One study found nearly 49% of hiring managers automatically dismiss résumés suspected of AI authorship due to authenticity concerns.

3. Increased Recruiter Burden

AI-generated résumés often exaggerate experience or use vague, identical phrasing, which forces recruiters to manually cross-check details, add interview rounds, or administer skills tests to confirm qualifications. This flood of superficially perfect applications increases recruiter workloads as hiring teams must spend more time verifying claims and conducting deeper candidate assessments, potentially delaying hires and increasing costs.

How to Combat AI-Generated Résumés

Talent acquisition teams can shift away from résumé-dependent processes toward practical, skills-based hiring. Here’s how:

1. Prioritize Skills Assessments over Résumés

Rather than relying solely on keyword-driven ATS screening, integrate practical assessments into your hiring process. Real-world job simulations, such as those offered by Forage, provide candidates an opportunity to demonstrate tangible skills through task-based simulations.

Companies partnering with Forage report compelling outcomes:

• One leading law firm found Forage simulation participants comprised 44% of their applicants yet represented 90% of eventual hires.
• An investment bank discovered that Forage participants, making up just 9% of applicants, received 70% of offers with a 100% acceptance rate.

By screening based on actual performance, companies can reliably separate qualified candidates from AI-assisted pretenders.

2. Enhance Your ATS with Human and AI Screening

Ironically, AI can also help detect AI-generated résumés. Advanced ATS systems using contextual analysis and cross-referencing can flag inconsistencies or generic language. Pairing these insights with human judgment means trained recruiters quickly spot unnatural phrasing or implausible career achievements, enabling more informed candidate assessments.

3. Foster Authenticity and Transparency

Clearly signal your organization’s preference for authenticity. Consider asking candidates up front if AI aided their application materials—62% of hiring managers support this transparency. Frame this positively, emphasizing that the goal is understanding the candidate’s genuine qualifications.

Encourage interviewers to discuss specific résumé details during conversations, probing deeper into experiences. Genuine candidates typically respond confidently and specifically, while those relying heavily on AI tend to falter.

4. Build Curated Talent Pipelines

Reduce your reliance on the open résumé flood by creating pipelines from candidates who have already proven interest and aptitude. Forage job simulations offer this advantage by engaging thousands of motivated, skill-tested candidates who have proven relevant competencies. Leveraging such curated pipelines simplifies screening and elevates candidate quality.

5. Train Recruiters to Stay Agile

Educate your hiring team about emerging recruitment trends, including AI-generated applications. Regularly update screening criteria to prioritize skills, authenticity, and practical assessment outcomes over keyword-matching alone. An informed, agile recruitment team better identifies high-quality hires despite evolving candidate strategies.

Turn AI Challenges into Hiring Advantages

AI-generated résumés don’t have to overwhelm your hiring strategy. By shifting the focus from traditional résumé screening to practical skill validation, leveraging authentic tools such as Forage job simulations, and combining AI tools with trained human judgment, talent acquisition leaders can confidently separate outstanding talent from AI-assisted noise.

Your ATS might currently be cluttered with AI-assisted applicants, but with the right approach, you’ll spot genuine talent faster, reduce recruiter workloads, and ultimately make smarter hiring decisions.