Job applications go unanswered? AI may be rejecting your resume first

But more than a year later most of his applications have gone unanswered.

"There were job descriptions that seemed tailor-made for me," the 42-year-old engineer in HCMC, says. "My experience and skills matched exactly, and I had held equivalent roles before, yet there was no response."

He also noticed a change on LinkedIn: though the profile views feature remains active, no one appeared to be viewing his resume anymore. Recruiters and headhunters do reach out occasionally. "I suspect a machine is making decisions before any human even sees the file," he says.

Khanh’s case reflects a wider trend: despite a high number of job openings and applicants, many professionals receive no response to dozens or even hundreds of applications while employers report a shortage of suitable candidates.

A major reason, experts say, is the growing use of artificial intelligence and applicant tracking systems (ATS) in recruitment, replacing the traditional manual review. According to LinkedIn’s 2025 report, 37% of companies are testing new AI hiring tools, and 73% of HR professionals say AI is reshaping how they source talent.

In Vietnam, data from HR firm Navigos Group shows 28% of employers now use AI to write job descriptions, screen applications, analyze candidates, and deliver automated responses through chatbots around the clock. "AI can even score video interviews or assess cultural fit," Truong Hoang Tho, vice president of the Vietnam AI Alliance, says. "It helps write more engaging job posts and personalizes the job search experience."

A woman in a job interview. Illustration photo from Unsplash

He cites the example of Unilever, which used AI to process over one million applications, narrowing them down to just 400 interviews. The company cut recruitment time by up to 50%, halved costs and improved retention by 16%. But the technology is not without flaws. "A strong candidate can be filtered out just because of formatting issues, missing keywords or incompatibility with the system’s training data," Tho warns.

A report by global consulting firm McKinsey said 70% of organizations had experienced AI systems misjudging candidates due to biased training data. One example was Amazon’s discontinued AI hiring tool, which favored male applicants for technical roles.

For many jobseekers, being evaluated by a machine feels discouraging. Over 30% of candidates have exited interviews midway saying they "cannot talk to a robot," according to McKinsey. "AI still cannot read culture, detect intuition, understand emotion, assess critical thinking, or evaluate long-term potential," Tho adds.

Research by Harvard Business School professor Joe Fuller found that 88% of companies in two markets, the U.S. and Europe, admitted to losing otherwise qualified candidates due to AI rejections. One CEO said a potential hire was rejected over a single low score in one area despite nearly perfect ones in all others. Algorithms also tend to eliminate resumes with employment gaps of more than six months, regardless of the reason.

On job platforms like LinkedIn and Threads, frustrated users often point to ATS filters when hundreds of applications yield no response. Huyen My, a former head of external relations at a large student organization with a 7.5 IELTS score and an impressive resume, applied for an internship at a multinational firm, only to be rejected in the first round. "I was shocked and felt a blow to my pride," she says. After looking into it, she realized her CV was too long and did not emphasize key achievements.

Finance professional Tung Duong had a similar experience. Despite international credentials, his visually designed CVs, with columns, colors, and profile photos, got no traction. "I once stayed up all night working on my CV, only to wake up to a rejection," he says. He later learned that ATS software discards resumes with improper formatting. "After switching to a clean, black-and-white CV with no photos, my success rate improved significantly," he says.

Nguyen Anh, 33, who manages a Facebook group with nearly 30,000 members sharing job-seeking experiences in the U.S. and Europe, says her background as an internal auditor helped her understand how companies operate, and how recruitment systems have evolved. "The job market is already difficult this year, and AI only makes it harder."

Most companies in the U.S. and Europe and major firms in Vietnam now use ATS software, she says. As soon as an application is submitted, the system scans the CV, matches it against the job description and assigns a score. Low-scoring profiles are filtered out before any recruiter sees them, leaving many applicants wondering: "I have the qualifications; why am I not getting interviews?"

Often the answer lies in small details like a typo, missing keywords or an image that blocks data extraction. If a job post lists skills like teamwork, Excel or Power BI, and the CV does not clearly include them, the software may downgrade or reject the application.

In the AI era passing automated filters is no longer about luck; it requires strategy and understanding how the systems work. Bui Doan Chung, director of Human Resources Vietnam, advises candidates to study job descriptions carefully, identify relevant keywords and tailor their CVs to the position.

Applicant tracking systems filter and rank resumes. Photo courtesy of Anh Nguyen

"AI evaluates based on keywords, and so the CV must clearly reflect skills, experience, domain knowledge, projects, and accomplishments. I have seen many qualified applicants get filtered out because their formatting made the CV unreadable to AI."

If no feedback arrives after some time, he recommends following up by email or phone. While AI can filter resumes, scan videos and detect keywords, the final hiring decision still belongs to people, he stresses.

"If you only focus on refining your CV but neglect communication, critical thinking or a clear career goal, you might get past AI, but fail at the human stage," he also warns.

AI expert Tho says knowing which tools a company uses can help candidates prepare better. He suggests practicing with mock AI interviews to become more comfortable with robotic interactions. McKinsey also emphasized the importance of reskilling and constantly upgrading one’s capabilities as a key to succeeding in AI evaluations. "AI is neither an enemy nor a savior," Tho says. "It is just a tool, and only effective if you know how to use it."

As for Khanh, after months of unemployment, he realized the issue was not his qualifications, but how he presented them. And, he changed tactics. Now, before applying, he analyzes each job description and updates his CV to ensure it achieves an 80% or higher match.

"Your work history stays the same, but the language must adapt," he says. "Sometimes, just changing a few phrases can make all the difference."