A disheartened graduate claims she has been ‘ghosted’ by AI and made invisible to employers after applying for more than 400 jobs – but only receiving five interviews.
Karyna Lohvynenko is an otherwise impressive candidate, having been appointed as a student ambassador at the United Nations, as well as recently graduating from Cardiff Metropolitan University in business and management.
The 21-year-old was even handed scholarships to six US universities before the Russian invasion of her native Ukraine in 2022 disrupted her education and she moved with her family to Wales.
But despite her sparkling CV, Karyna has struggled to find work in any field and has been turned down for countless entry-level roles, including as a barista.
She believes AI screening tools, which are being increasingly used by employers, are to blame for her being rejected hundreds of times before a human has even had a chance to look at her skills and experience.
In many cases, Karyna says she does not hear back at all and has been left feeling her applications simply fall into a ‘void’.
And on the five occasions she has been able to get an interview, all have been conducted through an ‘AI interviewer’ or chatbot.
Karyna, who is currently completing a masters’ degree in governance at Cardiff University, said she is applying for ‘every’ entry role in law, marketing, management or business that comes up each day – but has yet to be successful despite her enviable experience.
Karyna Lohvynenko claims she has been ‘ghosted’ by AI after applying for hundreds of jobs and receiving only five interviews
The motivated student has in the past worked for the office of President Zelensky’s wife Olena and has represented Ukraine on a national council for young people.
She has also worked with British and American councils, and as an ambassador for the King’s Trust.
Her ideal role would be working in government – and she still dreams of perhaps one day returning to Ukraine. ‘Maybe I could be the next president,’ she smiles.
But first, she knows she has to overcome the hurdle of landing her first full-time job – and she believes AI has become an obstacle to achieving that goal.
‘I think AI is one of the main issues,’ explained Karyna. ‘If I’m tailoring my CV, some of my words may not be the exact keywords AI is looking for, so I’m just filtered out.
‘Another issue is the sheer amount of people applying for jobs. At my local coffee shop, more than 150 people applied for the role of a barista – and the owners admitted they just didn’t have time to look through all the applications.
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‘It does feel like no-one has even looked at my CV. At times I’ve felt very stressed and disappointed. It’s hard to know what to do.
‘In many ways I feel invisible. Now when I apply for a job I don’t even expect to hear back from anyone, and when I do get a rejection, I’m shocked that someone took the time to send me an email. I’m happier being rejected than being left to feel nothing at all.’
Karyna said she had been advised to try smaller firms – but even then, she believes the positions are more likely to go to interns or candidates known to the employer.
There have been a handful of applications that landed Karyna an interview – but even then there has been no human interaction, with the conversations led by AI tools.
‘My first AI interview I ended up quitting after five minutes because it felt like I was just talking to a chatbot,’ explained Karyna. ‘I would be answering a question but if I just even briefly paused, it would suddenly say, “Ok, next question” and move on.
‘In a normal interview, the person would ask you more questions about your experience or something you had just said, but the AI has time limits. So I didn’t even have time to explain my background, my skills and knowledge and because it was recorded, I had to look at myself and remember to smile all the time.
‘Two days later I received a rejection. My understanding is that humans don’t even get to see this video – the AI decides if you go forward or not, but it doesn’t really get to delve into your personality.’
When asked if she believes AI is the way forward in recruiting people, Karyna simply laughs.
Karyna believes AI screening tools, which are being increasingly used by employers, are to blame for her being rejected before a human has even had a chance to look at her CV
‘No. From the perspective of the employer its physically impossible to interview hundreds of people, but at the same time it can be frustrating for applicants. What is it that I have to say to AI for it to hire me?
‘I know some people are using AI to tailor their answers during the interview so now you have a situation where AI is talking to AI – and they are successful. I think the tool is good for companies, but not for people.
‘All AI has done is left me feeling like I’m talking to a wall.’
Karyna’s concerns come as a survey published earlier this month found recruiters are increasingly using AI to screen candidates.
Research by CV-Library found four in five (83 per cent) of 500 respondents revealed they now use AI to speed up the hiring process.
A further 28 per cent said they rely on it to manage the high volume of applications.
In an additional survey of 1,100 candidates, 53 per cent said they believed they had been ‘filtered out’ by AI, while 63 per cent said recruitment led by AI was more unfair than when humans are involved in the process.
But the use of such technology is also being used the other way – with recruiters claiming surging numbers of applications are being written with the help of ChatGPT and other similar tools.
How to succeed when AI is reading your CV (and probably watching your job interview)
The book, titled ‘The Algorithm’, has pulled the current on how the hiring world is becoming a ‘Wild West’ where unregulated AI algorithms make decisions without human oversight
The Algorithm, published by by Hilke Schellmann in 2024, examined the growing use of AI in the jobs market.
She advises that applicants should match 60% to 80% of keywords from the job description – but not 100% because AI tools may weed you out for simply copying the job description.
Schellmann said: ‘You want to have a super basic resume. The old advice often was to stand out to a human with cool columns and graphics. Don’t have any graphics, like a machine cannot read that: no images, no columns.’
Instead, Schellmann advises that applicants should have bullet points and clear, machine-readable language, short and concise.
She said several website services (including JobScan) can help you see if your application is machine-readable. You can upload the job description and a CV to check the overlap.
The current job market is a ‘cat and mouse’ game where applicants often use AI large language models such as ChatGPT to write covering letters, Schellmann said.
Schellman said, ‘Humans don’t actually craft the text, and the humans don’t evaluate the cover letters and resumes anymore. It’s the machines against machines.’
She advises using AI systems like ChatGPT to evaluate what are the most likely questions you’ll be asked – and in non-live interviews, ChatGPT can also help you come up with answers.
In interviews, if you’re going to be evaluated by machines, have long answers describing specific scenes, Schellman advised – because the shorter the answer, the harder machines find it to understand.
Schellman said some also suggest looking at the camera to show the algorithms you are ‘engaged.’
She said the other key thing is to apply to as many jobs as possible – even ones you feel unqualified for.
‘There’s a definite difference between women and men: women only apply when they are 100% qualified, while men apply when they are 50 percent. But if machines are rating whether you are qualified or not – apply when you think you are 60% qualified.’
Schellmann said that the answer is to keep applying, even if you have to do it hundreds of times.
She said, ‘Don’t be discouraged. It’s like a numbers game, and it can be really frustrating for people. But it’s just machines who read it at the other end and put you on a yes or no pile.
‘And there’s very little control anyone has of that. So bulk applying is the only way to do it. ‘
