AI in job applications comes out of the shadows: 82% of employers have published rules for its use

The 22-year-old geography graduate ended up as a restaurant manager. Here is what the UK graduate job market looks like now: 141 applications per vacancy on average, 172 in London, 158 in finance and professional services.

Mass applying is what drives AI use in applications. 73% of students and graduates used AI for at least one step of applying (Prospects survey, 5,000 people).

Among those sending 101-200 applications, 66% use AI. Among those sending fewer than 20, it is 40%.

Caught beyond the CV. In the 2025/26 cycle, 92% of employers saw misconduct in hiring. In 2025 the figure was 85%, in 2024 it was 78%. Where employers spot AI:

- unannounced interviews: 66% of employers; - online assessments: 47%, up from 27% in 2024; - CVs and cover letters: 10%.

67% of employers say graduates use AI to overstate their abilities, up from 48% a year ago.

The weight shifted to tasks. EDF received 12,000 applications, 10% more than last year, and closed its graduate program early, after three weeks. CVs are reviewed late there, while skills-based online assessments and video interviews now come first. Holly Moody, head of early careers recruitment at EDF, calls AI a moral dilemma.

The first filter used to be the text of the CV. Now AI writes that text in a minute, and the filter becomes what a person does with their own hands and says on camera.

64% of employers allow some AI use in hiring, up from 46% a year earlier. 82% publish rules on acceptable AI use, up from 55%.

Candidates themselves are strict about AI on the other side of the table: 38% call AI CV screening acceptable, and 73% are uncomfortable with AI in online interviews.

Employers are in no rush to automate either. 16% use it for screening, another 29% plan to within a year, and 52% have no plans at all.

77% of employers are now redesigning their hiring process, so the next graduate cycle will run under different rules.