It’s the great mystery facing frustrated job seekers: Who — or what — is rejecting my application?
As more companies turn to AI to boost productivity, applicants often tell BI that they wonder whether a human ever reviewed their résumé. We reached out to seven major companies and found out that AI’s role in the hiring process varies widely.
Mark Grimwood, Salesforce’s SVP of Recruiting, said the company received “tens of thousands” of applications for account executive roles in the first quarter of this year — a position the company is investing heavily in.
Grimwood said two key factors help manage this volume: skilled recruiters who know how to spot talent with the right skills and experience, and Agentforce — the company’s AI-powered tool. He said Agentforce helps recruiters scan for valued skills like collaboration, storytelling, and AI literacy, and identify promising candidates.
“Our human recruiters are overseeing this process from start to finish, but using AI in our hiring processes really helps our recruiters be more productive and prioritize their time on the most relevant candidates,” he said.
Grimwood said the company’s recruiters strive to give every application the attention it deserves, but not every one is reviewed by a human.
“The sheer volume we see — especially in areas like sales, where we are really growing and investing — means we have to be strategic,” he said.
AI is playing a growing role in the hiring process. Some job seekers have used AI tools to optimize their résumés, submit hundreds of applications, and navigate interviews, while some businesses are using AI-assisted applicant tracking systems to evaluate and prioritize candidates.
While AI has helped streamline parts of the process, it’s also created headaches on both sides: Some applicants have told Business Insider they worry they’re being rejected by algorithms with little or no human review, while companies are overwhelmed by AI-generated applications that aren’t always accurate or well-crafted.
While job seekers’ concerns are understandable, most companies haven’t offloaded their entire application review process to AI, though many are using it to assist. Business Insider asked seven companies — Salesforce, Google, Kraft Heinz, McKinsey, Verizon, Exelon, and Allstate — what role AI plays in evaluating applicants.
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How AI is a tool in the job candidate evaluation process
Some companies are trying to strike a delicate balance: using AI to help evaluate applicants without relying on it too heavily, and ensuring substantial human involvement. Google, Allstate, Kraft Heinz, and Exelon all said recruiters still review every application and decide who moves forward.
Sean Barry, Allstate’s vice president of talent acquisition, said the company uses technology to pinpoint strong candidates, which has helped speed up the early stages of the hiring process. He said it used to typically take about 22 days for the company to follow up with promising candidates — asking for details like location and salary expectations — but that now it’s happening in just 11 days.
“When you get 1,000 people applying for a single job, we use the technology not to decide who’s the right fit, but to figure out which, say, 50 look like they could potentially be the right 50 to begin screening,” he said.
However, Barry said every application is still reviewed by a human, and that humans continue to decide which candidates move forward, and who ultimately gets hired.
A Google spokesperson said the company’s recruiting teams are exploring ways to make the application review process more efficient, and AI is a part of that effort.
“We use machine learning to suggest candidates for open roles based on their skills and experience, which in turn, frees up recruiters to focus more on building relationships with the best candidates,” they said.
While this technology helps prioritize candidates, the spokesperson said every application submitted to Google is still reviewed by a human.
Denise Galambos, chief people and equity officer at Exelon, said the company uses AI to help rank candidates based on various criteria, but a recruiter looks at every résumé.
“We are not using AI to just right off the bat, exclude people,” she said.
Some companies are still relying heavily on recruiters
Some companies have been slower to adopt AI for candidate evaluation, or have focused on other ways to apply the technology in hiring.
Spring Lacy, Verizon’s vice president of talent acquisition, said the company doesn’t use AI tools to filter or rank applications — that job still falls to its recruiters.
She said Verizon is open to using AI to make hiring more efficient, potentially freeing up recruiters to spend more time with top candidates. But any technology, she said, would need to function properly.
“We want to make sure that any tools that we use are fair, and that there’s no bias in the AI,” she said. “That it can accurately and equitably screen résumés based on our qualifications.”
Blair Ciesil, partner, global talent attraction at McKinsey, said the company doesn’t use AI to rank applicants during the screening process. Applications are reviewed by humans who have a set of criteria they’re looking for in candidates.
“We do not use AI to evaluate cover letters or résumés,” she said, adding that AI’s primary role in the hiring process is a “candidate bot” that helps employees prepare to interview applicants for open roles.
Allstate is also exploring alternative ways to use AI in hiring — including to revisit past applicants. Barry said the company adopted a tool last year that helps flag qualified candidates who were initially turned down and recommends them for other roles. Through this process, Allstate has hired more than 100 people, many of them for claims roles.
“While they might’ve been a no-go for that role at that time, it certainly doesn’t mean that they’re not a fit for the company and potentially a fit for another need,” Barry said.
