Back in November 2025, Business Insider reported that job applicants have roughly a 0.4% chance of landing the job they’re applying for—something that isn’t exactly news to anyone who has been forced to navigate waves of hirings, firings, and everything in between.
Employers have reported being overwhelmed by applicants for open positions, and would-be employees have reported something else. There’s a kind of résumé black hole, wherein information is sent out but nothing—not even a rejection—ever comes back.
According to new data from the Hays 2026 U.S. Salary & Hiring Trends Guide, the overabundance of qualified applicants isn’t the only reason you’re not hearing back after applying for a job. (And it might not even be the most prominent one.)
The guide reported in February that the problem is multifold:
- Employers are hiring more selectively, and hiring is frequently impacted by economic signals, budgets, and internal restructuring that changes what roles are available and how many people are needed to do them.
- 42% of employers told Hays Americas that they’re prioritizing upskilling their existing workforce over bringing on new people.
- Employers are looking for candidates who immediately bring value to their organization.
- Artificial intelligence is used by nearly 70% of organizations at some point in the hiring process by applicants, which has resulted in a “sea of sameness.”
If job seekers really want to stand out in that sea of homogeneity, they’ll need to find a way to marry newer AI advances with old-school job-seeking strategies, Hays Americas CEO Dave Brown tells Fast Company. That will definitely mean adjusting the résumé that AI generates, and it should also mean venturing out into the world (be it physically or online) and networking with real people who can help.
Plus, there are AI tools built to detect if AI was used to generate a résumé in the first place. The mistake many job seekers make is simply copying and pasting the résumé they receive without any personalization.
Instead, Brown says: “Use it to help draft [a résumé], but then personalize it and make it human—so that if a company is using a screener for AI, or if it’s obvious that AI is used, you at least pass that hurdle.”
Another frequent problem (that’s very obvious to many employers) is that most résumés are far too generic. “One of the AI tells is generalities,” Brown says. Instead, applicants should get very specific about what they’ve done, and how it impacted their organization.
“Include ‘I worked on this project, and I did this specific thing, and I delivered that outcome,’” Brown says. “‘And we achieved these results. And I worked with these people. And we increased our revenue by 15%. Or we did very specific, demonstrable things.’”
In addition to filling in the details of what you’ve achieved, adding “specific stories about how you were able to impact [your organization], or the feedback from what a customer said, or a quote, or a testimonial from someone—those are all things that are not going to be on your standard AI-driven résumé. It’s going to be specific to you,” he continues.
Even a résumé that is both personalized and assisted by AI-generation might not beat what used to work back in the day—that is, connecting with people who work in the field you’re entering, or with whom you’ve worked before.
“Still to this day, a lot of hiring or a lot of shortlisting will happen through word of mouth or referral or doing something outside of just submitting your résumé and hoping,” Brown says.
And if all else fails? Brown says that adding a video to your proposal or résumé is never a bad idea.
“If you’re really interested in a deep experience and you know who’s hiring for the position, remarket yourself in a different way. Record a video,” he explains. “Do creative things to get attention for yourself. Show that you are paying attention to what’s going on with the organization.”
Spending time catching up on the organization’s latest news can go a long way, especially if you can back that up with your own experience solving a similar problem, or creating a similar strategy. The internet can help here, he notes.
“You can do that through a LinkedIn email or an email. Or again, like I said, record a video. I have people that record videos and send them to me on LinkedIn—and I remember those people.”