Navigating the ‘A.I. Sludge’ Era: A Case for Ethical AI Integration in Modern Hiring

Reflection on Sarah Kessler's New York Times Article: Employers Are Buried in A.I.-Generated Résumés

The New York Times' recent documentation of employers being "buried in A.I.-generated resumes" reveals a fundamental breakdown in the hiring process (Kessler, 2025). This surge of AI-generated applications captures how artificial intelligence, rather than helping people find better jobs, has created what recruiters describe as an "applicant tsunami" that frustrates job seekers and employers alike (Kessler, 2025).

The Scale of Automated Overwhelm

The Times' example of over 1,200 applications flooding a single remote position within days isn't unusual—it's the predictable result of removing all barriers to job applications (Kessler, 2025). Modern bulk application platforms have changed the basic economics of job searching by eliminating the time and effort it used to take. Services like BulkApply.ai, LazyApply, Sonara, and JobCopilot now promise users the ability to "submit 10x as many applications with less effort than one manual application," turning job searching from a thoughtful, strategic process into a lottery-style numbers game (JobCopilot, 2025).

The problem extends beyond simple volume. As documented in Kessler’s (2025) article, applications are increasingly becoming "keyword-heavy and formulaic, lacking personalization," with some candidates using AI agents that can "autonomously find jobs and apply on their behalf" (Kessler, 2025). LazyApply's promise that users can "automatically apply for 1000's of jobs in a single click" exemplifies this shift toward volume-based strategies (LazyApply, 2025). The overall impact has been dramatic: LinkedIn alone has seen applications surge more than 45% in the past year, with the platform now processing an average of 11,000 applications per minute (Kessler, 2025).

The Breakdown of Trust and Authenticity

The A.I. application surge reveals a deeper crisis of trust—the basic confidence that information shared between job seekers and employers represents legitimate intentions and abilities. When hiring managers encounter applications that appear indistinguishable and lack genuine engagement, they're experiencing the collapse of authentic communication that makes good hiring possible. As Kessler (2025) reports, recruiters now find it "getting harder to tell who is genuinely qualified or interested," with many resumes looking "suspiciously similar.”

Growing concerns about fraudulent applications compound this authenticity crisis. The Times highlights how the Department of Justice announced "indictments in a scheme to place North Korean nationals in IT roles working remotely at U.S. companies," with Gartner estimating that "by 2028, about one in four job applicants could be made up" (Kessler, 2025). This creates a coordination failure where candidates and employers each lose faith in the system's integrity.

The Technology Arms Race Problem

Kessler’s (2025) article identifies how organizations respond to the AI application surge by deploying their own automation, using "automatic chat or video interviews, sometimes conducted by A.I." and AI-powered assessment tools (Kessler, 2025). Companies like HireVue now offer "A.I.-powered games to gauge abilities like pattern recognition and working memory, and a virtual 'tryout' that tests emotional intelligence," creating what one expert describes as scenarios where "we end up with an A.I. versus A.I. type of situation" (Kessler, 2025).

This escalation paradox removes human connection from what should be fundamentally human processes. According to industry reports, approximately 75% of resumes never reach human reviewers, while companies increasingly automate entire hiring pipelines (Carnegie Mellon University, 2024). Both sides express frustration at the impersonal nature of the process, yet continue escalating their technological responses.

The Path Forward: Strategic Authenticity Over Volume

The solution to the current crisis requires moving beyond both blind faith in technology and complete rejection of it. Instead, we need what career experts call "strategic authenticity"—using artificial intelligence deliberately to enhance genuine qualifications rather than replace human judgment (Staffing Advisors, 2025).

The Times notes that "the problem is less that candidates are using A.I.—a skill many employers say they want—than it is that they're being sloppy" (Kessler, 2025). Research shows this distinction matters: platforms like Rezi.ai and TealHQ that focus on helping candidates "put your best foot forward, not to misrepresent your skills" represent a fundamentally different philosophy than bulk application tools (Staffing Advisors, 2025). According to a TestGorilla survey, 90% of hiring managers find AI acceptable when used ethically, suggesting the problem isn't the technology itself but its application in the job application process (TestGorilla, 2024).

Career coach and author of Career Coach GPT, Jeremy Schifeling, quoted in the Times, emphasizes that the current system involves many people wasting "a lot of time, a lot of processing power, a lot of money" before reaching the realization that "the endgame will be authenticity from both sides" (Kessler, 2025). Users of strategically ethical, quality-focused artificial intelligence can benefit job seekers. According to user-reported data, Rezi.ai utilization led to a 25% increase in interview invitations (CovrLtr, 2025).

Three Principles for Ethical AI Integration

Moving beyond the current crisis requires establishing core principles that prioritize human value:

Authenticity Over Volume: Rather than encouraging mass applications, the focus should be on creating authentic, tailored applications that showcase each candidate's unique value through clarity, specificity, and storytelling. AI should work as a sophisticated translator of genuine abilities rather than a creator of artificial ones. Career development professionals emphasize that candidates must use AI "to enhance the presentation of your skills and abilities, not to do the thinking for you" (Staffing Advisors, 2025).

Strategic Navigation of AI Systems: As Kessler (2025) documents, job seekers must now navigate increasingly automated hiring processes that may include AI-based interviews, digital assessments, and applicant tracking systems. However, platforms like LinkedIn are developing tools to help both candidates and recruiters, including "an A.I. agent, introduced in October, that can write follow-up messages, conduct screening chats with candidates, suggest top applicants and search for potential hires" (Kessler, 2025). The key is using these tools strategically for alignment rather than indiscriminate application.

Preserving Human Differentiators: Despite technological proliferation, networking, referrals, and informational interviews remain powerful differentiators that AI cannot replicate. Organizations must recognize that 85% of Americans worry about AI use in hiring decisions, meaning that trust requires transparent communication about automated systems (Recruitics, 2024). This includes addressing bias concerns, as the Times notes that "concerns that using A.I. in hiring can introduce bias have led to lawsuits and a patchwork of state legislation" (Kessler, 2025).

Technology in Service of Human Potential

Kessler’s (2025) documentation of the current AI application crisis in The New York Times captures a critical inflection point. The key for job seekers is not to let AI erase their individual voice, but instead to invest in expressing their unique contributions, aligning their skills with specific roles, and presenting themselves as genuine candidates with real interest and qualifications. AI can be an especially helpful tool in this process, but job seekers must use it both ethically and strategically. 

Career expert Jeremy Schifeling's prediction that "the endgame will be authenticity from both sides" offers hope, though he acknowledges that many will "waste a lot of time, a lot of processing power, a lot of money until we reach that realization" (Kessler, 2025). It appears that the 'A.I. Sludge' challenge isn't technological but philosophical: Will we let AI reduce human complexity to algorithmic simplicity, or will we harness its capabilities to better express authentic human value?

The answer lies not in abandoning artificial intelligence but in demanding that it serve human flourishing rather than just computational efficiency. Job seekers (and employers) must possess AI literacy and employ it ethically. Further, when job seekers (and employers) emphasize strategic authenticity over volume, we can transform the current hiring process crisis into an opportunity for more thoughtful, genuine, and ultimately more effective practices that work better for everyone involved.

About the Author

Sandra Buatti-Ramos explores the intersection of technology and human potential and the rejection of rigidity in favor of fluidity in work and life. As we navigate an increasingly AI-disrupted workforce, understanding how to maintain authenticity while leveraging technological tools becomes essential for both individual success and systemic health.

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References

Carnegie Mellon University. (2024, June 21). AI tools reshape job application process. News. Retrieved July 7, 2025, from https://news.pantheon.cmu.edu/stories/archives/2024/june/ai-tools-reshape-job-application-process

CovrLtr. (2025, January 9). Top 10 AI tools for job seekers in 2025. https://covrltr.com/top-10-ai-tools-for-job-seekers-in-2025/

JobCopilot. (2025, May 6). Automate job applications with AI. https://jobcopilot.com/

Kessler, S. (2025, June 21). Employers are buried in A.I.-generated resumes. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/business/dealbook/ai-job-applications.html

LazyApply. (2025). AI for job search. https://lazyapply.com/

Recruitics. (2024, December 26). Legal and ethical risks of using AI in hiring. https://info.recruitics.com/blog/legal-and-ethical-risks-of-using-ai-in-hiring

Staffing Advisors. (2025, January 15). Using AI in your job search? Here's how to do it ethically.  https://www.staffingadvisors.com/blog/how-to-use-ai-ethically-in-your-job-search/

TestGorilla. (2024, September 27). The truth about AI-generated resumes. https://www.testgorilla.com/blog/ai-generated-resumes/