The job market has survived worse than AI. (Part 2)

Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a two-part article. If you haven't yet read Part 1, I encourage you to start there for the full context before continuing.

What’s actually happening with AI and hiring

Let me give you the honest picture because I think context matters more than headlines.

LinkedIn saw a 45% increase in applications submitted through the platform in the last year, an average of 11,000 applications per minute. Much of that surge is being driven by AI tools that allow candidates to mass-apply, auto-generate cover letters and tailor resumes to job descriptions at scale.

But here’s the part the fear-driven headlines leave out: 62% of employers say AI-generated resumes without personalization are more likely to be rejected, while 78% of hiring managers say personalized details signal genuine interest and fit. 64% of recruiters say the flood of look-alike AI resumes has actually increased their screening workload, not reduced it.

According to the 2025 SHRM Benchmarking Survey, average cost-per-hire and time-to-hire have both increased in the past three years - the very period of highest AI adoption in recruitment.

In other words, gaming the system with AI isn’t working. It’s making things harder for everyone, including the people doing it. And the candidates who’ve stayed specific, authentic and genuinely positioned are standing out more clearly than ever, precisely because so many others are blending into the same AI-generated noise.

Why this is genuinely good news if you’re serious about your career

Here’s what I find genuinely interesting about this moment.

When everyone is using AI to apply for everything, the candidates who stand out are the ones who don’t sound like everyone else. The ones who have a specific, clear, authentic story about what they’ve done and where they’re going. The ones who’ve built relationships with the right people before a role is even posted. The ones who are known before the search starts.

This isn’t a new insight. It’s the same insight that served people well through 2008 and through the pandemic. The mechanism has changed. The underlying truth hasn’t.

Recruiters are putting tighter filters and additional screening measures in place precisely because of the AI flood. And the candidates getting through are the ones who sound like real people with real expertise. (Source: Built In, 2025) The irony of this moment is that AI has made human qualities more valuable, not less, the ability to tell a specific story, the credibility that comes from genuine relationships in the sector, the emotional intelligence to show up as a person rather than an optimized document.

What this means if you work in sustainability or ESG

I want to say something clearly about this sector, because the picture here is more optimistic than the general narrative suggests.

US green hiring grew 8.9% year over year according to the LinkedIn Green Skills Report 2025 — one of the strongest rates of any major economy globally. And yet 94% of companies still say they don’t have the sustainability talent they need to execute their ESG strategies. The demand is real and it’s growing. The challenge isn’t that the roles don’t exist. The challenge is visibility being known by the right people before AI screening even enters the picture.

Senior sustainability roles at Director, VP and CSO level are almost never filled through a job board. They’re filled by specialist recruiters who already know who they want to call. By the time a role appears online, the shortlist often already exists. The candidate who gets placed isn’t usually the one who submitted the most applications. It’s the one the recruiter already knew.

The things that have always worked and still do

In 30 years of recruiting, consulting and coaching sustainability professionals through every kind of market disruption, the strategies that consistently work are the same ones.

Be specific, not generic: The candidates who stand out right now are the ones who can articulate exactly what they’ve changed, at what scale, in what context. Not a list of responsibilities. A clear, specific story about impact.

Build relationships before you need them: The professionals who navigated 2008 most successfully were the ones who’d invested in their networks before the crisis hit. The sustainability and ESG world is genuinely small. The right introduction to the right recruiter, made at the right time, is worth more than a hundred applications.

Developing the human skills AI can’t replicate: Emotional intelligence, cross-functional credibility, the ability to influence without authority, these consistently separate the candidates who move quickly from the ones who stay stuck. Not soft advice but the data confirms it repeatedly.

Don’t use AI to sound like everyone else: Use it to think more clearly, prepare more thoroughly and research more deeply. But your voice, your story and your specific experience are what make a recruiter remember you. The candidates who get called are the ones who sound like themselves.

What I tell every client who comes to me with AI fear

The job market has weathered far greater disruptions than this and while the uncertainty can feel overwhelming when you're in the middle of it, history shows us that markets adapt, opportunities re-emerge and the fundamentals continue to matter.

I’ve watched it happen through the dot-com crash, through 2008, through the pandemic. Every time the noise says this is different, this time it’s broken. Every time the fundamentals reasserted themselves. Genuine expertise, authentic relationships and a clear personal narrative are what move people through markets in good times and difficult ones.

The real irony of this AI moment is that the flood of identical, AI-generated applications has made a genuinely human, specific, well-positioned resume and personal narrative more valuable than it’s ever been. 62% of employers are already rejecting AI resumes that lack a personal touch. The candidates who invest in getting their story right, who work with someone who understands both the sustainability sector and what recruiters actually look for, have a significant advantage over everyone hitting apply with a ChatGPT cover letter.

That’s exactly what I work on with every client. The resume that sounds like you, not like a template. The LinkedIn profile that gets you found before a role is posted. The personal narrative that makes a recruiter pick up the phone. After 30 years of recruiting and 20 years of coaching sustainability leaders through transitions just like this one, I know what that looks like and I know how to build it with you.

Don't let fear make your decisions. Keep doing the work, keep building the right relationships and keep telling your story in a way that reflects the value you've created. The market will always have noise, but it continues to reward people who are clear, credible and known for what they do.

If you'd like support in navigating this process with someone who's spent 30 years on both sides of the hiring table, trial sessions are open.