For the past two years, navigating the job market has been demoralizing, especially for those who are just now graduating college and entering a tumultuous workforce rife with ghost jobs, smug artificial intelligence agents and disturbing “blue people.” As a result, spraying and praying — the act of blasting out hundreds or even thousands of AI-generated resumes to job postings out of desperation — is becoming the norm. Now, according to career experts who spoke with SFGATE, overwhelmed employers are rescinding job offers and ghosting applicants, creating even more pain, confusion and regret among recent college grads.
Per a June 2026 report from Resume Builder, which included survey responses from 1,000 respondents between the ages of 20 and 28 who graduated with a bachelor’s degree within the last year, 34% percent said that they had a job offer rescinded right after accepting it. Among that 34%, 21% said this happened to them once, while 13% said it happened to them multiple times. Sixty-eight percent of applicants in the June report said that they were ghosted by employers after interviewing, and 65% believed that AI led to cuts in entry-level jobs in their departments.
While ghosting has always been an issue, “today, it’s totally out of control,” Stacie Haller, Resume Builder’s chief career adviser who was quoted in the report, told SFGATE. Spraying and praying is inundating recruiters, she said, and the chances are that many entry-level applicants aren’t qualified. But bills need to be paid, and “people are getting desperate,” she said, adding that while this method might seem to make sense at first, it’s also “the quickest way to get depressed.” Many organizations that overhired during the pandemic and that are trying to find ways to implement AI may have no idea how many employees they actually need, either, Haller said.
This was always the goal with AI. Hell, some jackass even tried to set up AI as an attorney in court.
Several years ago I was called and told I had gotten a job only for it to get taken away because the CEO didn’t think I was excited enough on the phone call.
Excuse me for finding myself short for words in the moment, fuck face. It had been ~about five years since I’d quit my miserable job at Rite Aid and was doing gig IT deployment jobs through a major recruiting company while getting multiple interviews for multiple full time jobs that went no where.
Time to go back to physical canvassing and relational networking?
[edit] I have to say, every single job I’ve ever got was due in part to pre-existing relationships. I’ve tried all the other methods over the years, and it’s the only one that’s ever provided me more than pain and frustration.
I’d been in communication with all my employers or at least someone employed there for non-employment reasons prior to being hired.
That’s a big part of what I’m up to at school right now. Building my network, getting my classmates to build theirs, we’re only getting jobs if we know someone
Yep that absolutely works. I‘m a freelancer and I‘m regularly hosting some events related to work topics in my city and got at least 2 big clients through that. All my other clients I also got through recommendations from friends, relatives and other clients.
This is an ad for that AI resume generator site.
I’ve heard that now when you want to hire someone it’s also hard. You get very few applicants. I think the problem is AI in HR. Management thought it can replace initial screening and applications fall into AI black hole
we get flooded with applicants, the problem is that most of them are shit. just not qualified at all, or appear qualified but are just dumb.
I’ve got no problem teaching people what they need to know, but they need to be able to learn. most don’t demonstrate the ability to be worked with.
You get very few applicants
I live in France and most job offers have 200+ applicants right now. It may be a lot of bots submitting resumes.
Another problem is the number of applicants for a job.
I had a post up for just a few hours and I got so many applicants. Many were not qualified and I guess just applied hoping it would be OK.
It takes a while to go through and record the important information from each applicant and I can only do so many interviews per week.
I’d say about half the applicants that apply and I send a zoom calendar link to apply do not schedule an interview and about half that do, do not show up after scheduling a meeting time.
So applicants who are not serious about a position and apply, take potential spots away from others.
I typically bring in a few people at a time, but it needs to be in batches so training can happen at the same time.
So I’ve had great interviews and been ghosts on an interviews that someone else could have had. In one case a great candidate did not get a position as it was taking too long to find another person to bring on so they could go through training together.
All around, the job application process sucks from both sides.
about half the applicants that apply and I send a zoom calendar link to apply do not schedule an interview and about half that do, do not show up after scheduling a meeting time
That, I completely don’t understand. Why do the do that?
Well, it doesn’t suck equally. You’re getting paid to interview people. They are not getting paid to apply.
And you’re the only one with power to fix things. So it’s really all on you.
when I was interviewing people, sure I was getting paid to do that in the sense that I was being paid hourly. but I had other shit to do, and all of the interviewing was overtime, of which I was already doing plenty.
I certainly didn’t have the power to change the fact that we have way too many applicants to sort through. I’m just a dude at a small company who rose just high enough to have to deal with this. I think I did a pretty good job with the interview process and respecting candidates, but the other user’s point about shitty candidates taking spots away from others is valid. I’ve definitely been through a good handful of interviews that were a complete waste of time where the candidate clearly did not give a fuck, and I went out of my way to treat them respectfully and give them a chance when what I should have actually done was just end the call once it was clear they didn’t care. because of those shitty applicants, I had less time for other applicants.
I’m not actually getting paid to interview people, in fact I have to pay job boards to post a job, so I’m technically paying money to interview people.
Do you respond to all applicants and have an answer template that makes it clear they shouldn’t apply again?
Everyone has the shotgun, follow our career page for new opportunities, and I can’t help to think some of them actually don’t want me to apply again
Yes, linked in has a way to sort candidates into different categories.
I’ve stopped accepting applications, anyone who is marked “no” gets an email explaining they were not qualified for the position.
to be fair they likely are also applying to dozens if not hundreds of other jobs at the same time. and they couldve forgotten your interview invitation, often times they are probably using a dozen different emails for job applicants, since using the same one over an dover again gets you screened out pretty quickly . or thier interview time doesnt match thier schedules.
worst case scenario they are likely cherry picking, like they saw your job lisitng, applied and then decide to choose/ or wait for something else. additionally, i think applicants are applying to jobs they may not be qualified for , because theres no other job available in thier location, and the jobs they are applying for arnt giving callbacks at all.
im confused about the last part, did you mean ghost candidates?
No, the candidates will schedule the meeting and not show up is what I meant.
Regardless, I might set aside 5-10 hours for interviews.
If I like 20 people, I have to pick the 5-10 I like to interview with.
5 out of 10 don’t show up, I only interview the 5 people. So applicants who were serious about the position may never get an interview because someone else scheduled an interview and didn’t show up.
I already put in 40-50 hour weeks. I can’t interview everyone.
So there’s candidates that set up an interview and don’t show up are taking opportunities away from others who are eager.
As a side-note I pay on the high end for this position in some instances I’m the highest paying company for this. I’ve seen a few others offer the same pay but don’t offer paid training which I do offer. (Not in USA by the way)
it is possible they are mass applying without even looking with AI, and forgetting they even applied to yours?
That’s not the main issue. The main issue is people scheduling interviews and not showing up to them.
It wastes my time and takes an interview away from a candidate that is serious about it.
They get a reminder email 24 hours in advance. They could just respond and tell me they want to cancel.
Remind me the point of higher education again? I’m not seeing its ROI anymore.
Same as it’s been for the past 20-30ish years, to scam unsuspecting young adults into a lifetime of debt.
I have the somewhat unique experience of being a 2x uni dropout so I have some of the education and none of the qualifications. Just ended up getting a job in a factory as an operator and becoming an engineer anyway within 5 years. Now I just wonder where I might be if I didn’t waste that time and money and got a job straight out of school.
