Most College Students Say Using AI Tools on Job Applications Gives an Unfair Advantage

AI tools may help job seekers finesse resumes, write cover letters, or enhance their LinkedIn profiles. But college students are weighing in on whether using AI in a job search is fair — and if they trust employers with AI in hiring.

BestColleges surveyed 1,000 current undergraduate and graduate students, and 55% say using AI tools on job applications would give some candidates an unfair advantage. About 1 in 5 (19%) disagree, and 26% are neutral.

Overall, 4 in 10 college students (39%) agree that it's acceptable to use AI tools on job applications. One-third (33%) disagree, and 29% are neutral.

While most students surveyed say using AI tools on job applications would give some candidates an unfair advantage, 40% say that AI tools could help improve job prospects for socially or economically disadvantaged groups.

Some student groups are more likely to see the upsides of using AI tools on job applications and to say it's an acceptable practice.

Millennials (54%), men (51%), first-generation college students (44%), and Black students (50%) are more likely than Gen Z (32%), women (29%), and students of all other races (36%) to say it's acceptable to use AI tools on job applications.

In general, these groups are also more likely to say that using AI tools might help improve job prospects for socially or economically disadvantaged groups.

Recently, new tools have cropped up that could help job seekers apply for more jobs faster. A lot faster.

For example, LazyApply's AI-powered job search tool helped one user apply for thousands of jobs overnight — a process he told Wired was taking back some of the power that's been ceded to the companies over the years.

Similar start-up Sonara promises to help job seekers compete in a numbers game by completing more resumes faster than they could manually. It especially stands to benefit recent graduates with limited professional networks.

Students Skeptical About Companies Using AI in Hiring

Free, accessible AI tools might be new to job candidates, but many companies have used AI-led interview software and other automated means for processing and sorting job applications for some time.

However, only about one-third of students (34%) say they would trust potential employers to use AI tools to help make employment decisions, while 41% disagree.

Only slightly more students (38%) would trust employers to use AI tools to process and sort through job applications. Thirty-five percent disagree.

As long as companies have used AI to recruit and hire employees, they've encountered issues of bias. After all, AI tools learn from humans, who have inevitable and sometimes deep-rooted biases.

For example, in 2015, Amazon discovered its AI-powered tool for rating job applicants was biased against women. The tool was replicating hiring patterns it observed in a male-dominated tech industry. It ended up docking resumes that included the word women, such as references to women's clubs or colleges.

AI-centric hiring and management platforms have come to the defense of AI, arguing that AI tools can combat biases in human decision-making with the right parameters. HireVue, for example, emphasizes a model of continuous testing and iteration to help promote diversity and fairness.

In our survey, the same student groups who are more likely to approve of using AI in their job applications are more apt to trust potential employers with using AI in their candidate search and hiring process.

That is, millennials (50%), men (45%), first-generation students (42%), and Black students (38%) are more likely to trust employers to use AI to help make employment decisions than Gen Z (26%), women (26%), non-first-generation students (25%), and students of all other races (33%).

What Are Acceptable Uses of AI on Job Applications?

College students identify the following as the top acceptable applications of AI tools: Writing email inquiries (43%), writing thank you letters (42%), and preparing for interviews (41%).

They are least likely to say that writing application essays is an acceptable use for AI tools (27%). Fewer than 1 in 10 students (8%) say none of the listed applications are acceptable.

If you're a college student or recent graduate curious about using AI tools in your job search responsibly, keep the following in mind.

• ChatGPT can help you prepare for interviews without just giving you the answers. Try asking the tool for popular interview questions for the role you're interviewing for.
• AI-powered chatbots can also help you tighten up your elevator pitch for a networking event. Feed ChatGPT your life story and ask it to give you the 10-second version.
• If you do lean on an AI tool to write emails, thank you notes, or your resume, always fact-check, edit, and personalize what you get in response. These tools are prone to making up false information. The last thing you want is to lie on your resume.
• Whether or not you choose to use AI, know that employers likely do. Learn about writing a resume to get past automated resume readers.

Methodology

This survey was conducted from Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2023, and was fielded by Pure Spectrum. Survey participants included 1,000 respondents nationwide who were currently enrolled in an on-campus, online, or hybrid undergraduate or graduate degree program. Respondents were 17-49 years of age, with the majority (95%) ages 18-38, and currently pursuing an associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral, or professional degree. The respondents for the survey were screened by various quality checks, including systems like Relevant ID, and responses were manually reviewed to ensure consistency and accuracy.

A note on gender: BestColleges also surveyed non-binary/gender-nonconforming students, but did not surface enough participants in this group to reliably report on their responses.