u/Unusual_Crow_1809

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I work in HR, and lately, I’ve noticed something that I’m honestly not sure how to deal with.

Many candidates are clearly using AI for their resumes, cover letters, and even interview preparation. That doesn’t really bother Me.

Everyone uses tools to present themselves better.

The problem is that sometimes the resume looks perfect, but when you talk to the candidate, the difference is huge.

I’ve also seen candidates giving very polished answers that sound nearly identical. Lots of “I’m a highly motivated individual”, “I thrive in dynamic environments”, and other phrases that seem like they came from the same AI source.

For other HR and recruitment people:

How are you handling this?

Do you care if a candidate uses AI to write their resume?

Are you changing your interview process to check if someone actually has the skills they claim??

And for candidates, what should HR realistically expect from you now that everyone has access to AI?

I’m curious how other companies are managing this because I feel like hiring is slowly becoming less about who can write the best resume and more about figuring out what the person can actually do....

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Throwaway because some of my coworkers are definitely on Reddit.

I work in HR for a fairly large company. I’ve been here long enough to notice something that I initially thought was just normal corporate stupidity.

Now I’m not so sure.

Every few months, management launches an “employee engagement initiative.”

Anonymous surveys.

Pulse checks.

Town halls.

Wellness programs.

“Culture listening sessions.”

And every single time, employees complain about the exact same things.

Pay.

Workload.

Bad managers.

Pointless meetings.

Promotions.

HR collects the data.

Then nothing happens.

But here’s the weird part.

The following year, the questions change.

They stop asking “Are you satisfied with your compensation?”

Instead, they ask things like:

«“Do you feel your total rewards experience reflects your personal definition of success?”»

What the hell does that even mean?

I started looking through some old engagement reports.

Employee satisfaction has barely changed in five years.

Yet management keeps describing the scores as “positive momentum.”

Then I noticed something else.

Whenever engagement drops significantly, the company announces a new initiative within about three weeks.

Not a raise.

Not additional staff.

A fucking “Wellbeing Week.”

So now I have a theory.

Maybe these surveys aren't designed to improve the workplace.

Maybe they're designed to measure how much corporate nonsense employees will tolerate before they quit.

Think about it.

HR doesn't necessarily need to know whether you're happy.

They need to know your resignation probability.

How many bad meetings can you tolerate?

How much overtime?

How long after your manager pisses you off before you start updating LinkedIn?

At what salary does the probability of leaving drop?

Maybe that's why companies obsess over engagement scores.

Not because they care about engagement.

Because engagement is just a convenient variable for predicting employee turnover.

And if that's true, the surveys aren't really asking:

“Are you happy here?”

They're asking:

“How close are you to fucking off?”

I genuinely hope I'm wrong.

Unfortunately, I'm in HR.

Being wrong is apparently something we measure with a quarterly dashboard.