German companies spend an average of 9.91 working days for each advertised position to weed out irrelevant applications. This is the result of a study conducted by the market research company Censuswide on behalf of the HR company Remote. According to the authors of the study, this figure is due to a high volume of application documents created with AI support. For many companies, it is therefore necessary to shorten the time it takes to review applications. As a result, not every application receives sufficient attention, which makes the search for qualified candidates more difficult.

Just under 30 percent of the managers surveyed stated that they were burdened by a high number of applications for advertised positions. Despite the large number of applicants, around 40 percent of companies find it difficult to find qualified candidates for vacant positions. At the same time, more than three quarters of companies have received AI-generated application documents with incorrect information in the past six months. As a result, around 40 percent of companies reduced the time it took to view the documents.

The authors of the study conclude from these figures that many job seekers apply for a large number of positions with AI-supported documents in order to increase their chances of being hired. However, this makes it more difficult for applicants to stand out from the crowd, especially as companies are increasingly using automated selection processes. Furthermore, over 70 percent of respondents report an increase in unqualified applicants. More than 90 percent of managers see this as a significant problem for their own company.

The countermeasures taken by German companies vary. Around a quarter of them rely on pre-screening the documents to check the information they contain. Around 30 percent work with external recruitment companies that take over the recruitment process. Around a third of the managers surveyed state that they want to reassess qualification requirements for advertised positions. Another third use AI applications to manage the high number of AI-supported applications and make a pre-selection.

For the study, the researchers surveyed around 4100 managers with HR responsibility from ten different countries, around 500 of whom work in German companies. Despite a persistent shortage of skilled workers, the number of advertised positions in the IT sector has recently declined, with C-level positions down by around 50 percent in 2024. In addition, an analysis by the job platform Indeed showed that not even every tenth advertisement for IT jobs includes a salary.

(sfe)