If your applicant pool feels less like a talent pipeline and more like a spam folder, you’re not alone. AI has made it effortless for candidates (and scammers) to flood your hiring funnel with copy-paste resumes, fake portfolios and automated applications. What used to be a volume challenge is now a trust challenge – and every overlooked candidate or fraudulent profile that chips away at your employer brand and impacts your overall hiring effectiveness.

Clarence Lal, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Planet Labs PBC, frankly stated what the recruiters (and IT teams) have feared: “We're seeing a huge uptick in phishing campaigns.”

The stakes are higher than ever. Recruiters are tasked not just with finding great talent but also with filtering out spam and protecting the employer brand in the process.
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The rise of fraudulent and spam applications

Today, it’s easier than ever for job seekers – or bad actors – to flood recruiters with submissions. Recruiters, meanwhile, are feeling the crunch: Greenhouse customer data pulled in August 2025 showed they now manage about one-third fewer roles than in 2021, but each role attracts far more applicants, rising from an average of 28 applications per job in 2021 to 95 in 2025, a 239% increase. In other words, the average recruiter is handling three times more applications than just four years ago.

According to the 2025 Greenhouse Workforce Report, more than one in five candidates in the US say they’ve used AI agents to apply for jobs automatically, contributing to the increase recruiters are experiencing. AI is also making it easier for candidates to misrepresent their skills, with 28% of US applicants saying they’ve used it to generate fake work samples or portfolios.

The issue doesn’t just stop at volume. Fake applications represent a new form of risk recruiters never needed to worry about before. Gartner also predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake. Add in reports of North Korean state-backed groups attempting to sneak into companies via fraudulent applications, and the problem escalates from frustrating to dangerous. 
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The real costs of pipeline overload

When your funnel is clogged with noise, the whole hiring process grinds down. Recruiters end up chasing spam instead of connecting with real candidates, slowing everything down and draining team morale.
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Shannon Castleman, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Greenhouse, has seen firsthand how these delays ripple across the business. The impact of these inefficiencies aren’t limited to the HR department but actually affect measurable business outcomes. “Vacant roles equal lost output,” she explained, noting that it can have downstream effects across multiple departments. For sales teams, it means missed quotas, for engineering, it’s delayed product launches, and for G&A, it’s bottlenecks that affect the whole organization.
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The price is also paid by existing employees. Stagnant open roles means someone else is picking up the extra workload, which can lead to overtime, burnout, and eventually attrition. The longer a role stays open, the longer the chance that you miss out on a strong candidate who’ll likely find their next opportunity.
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How overloaded pipelines hurt candidate experience

The hidden casualty of pipeline chaos is the candidate experience. With recruiters buried in resumes, communication slips and candidates feel ghosted. That silence takes a toll on brand perception and can impact hiring in the long term.

At Greenhouse, TA leaders have found ways to keep candidate care alive despite the pressure. Senior Manager Seán Delea pointed out that creating resources like a “[your company] at a glance” guide that details who you are and what you do helps candidates feel informed and valued, while saving recruiters time in the long run. Bulk updates are another tactic. As Melissa Lobel, Senior Talent Planning Operations Manager, explained, even a mass note letting applicants know reviews will be delayed or that communication will come soon shows transparency and respect and that the role is still active.

While automation plays a big role in keeping communication consistent, recruiters should look to reintroduce the human touch as candidates move deeper into the process. Candidates don’t separate a poor process from the company itself – long delays, lack of updates, or perceived unfairness directly influence whether they’d apply again, recommend your brand, or even remain a customer.



Even small signals of honesty – confirming applications were received, setting realistic expectations, and closing the loop – go a long way toward preserving trust.^‍

^{– Shannon Castleman, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition at Greenhouse}‍

How to manage an overloaded pipeline

The good news is that pipeline overload can be managed with the right combination of technology and process.

Recruiters can rely heavily on automation to cut through the noise. Platforms that offer candidate tagging and keyword filtering alongside well-crafted application questions all help surface the right people more quickly. Some teams have even introduced a second application review stage, giving recruiters the breathing room to pace outreach and refine who makes it to later stages.

But volume isn’t the only issue – fraud is too. Technical TA Manager Madison Kraft explained that she’s learned to scan for telltale red flags: resumes stuffed with buzzwords but light on specifics, broken or brand-new LinkedIn and GitHub links, and inconsistencies across applications. 



A great candidate won’t make information hard to find – they want to be noticed.^‍

^{– Madison Kraft, Technical TA Manager at Greenhouse}

Bronté added that moving to video conversations earlier in the process helps surface inconsistencies while keeping the number of verifications manageable.

Shannon recommends a tiered approach: automate knock-out questions and skill checks early on, then reserve more thorough reference and background checks for later stages. That balance helps teams stay fast without compromising trust.

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Where AI fits in – without losing the human touch

AI isn’t just used by candidates to flood applications. It can also be harnessed by recruiters to manage their hiring pipeline. From drafting job descriptions to creating interview kits, summarizing scorecards, or filtering applications, recruiters are already leaning on AI to take work off their plates.

Knowing where to draw the line on AI use and when and where to utilize human judgment matters most. “AI has been helpful in ensuring I’m crafting thoughtful outreach and summarizing feedback,” Bronté explained, “but I’m careful to keep the human element in conversations and relationship-building.” Shannon echoed the sentiment: the sweet spot is using AI for the repetitive admin tasks, freeing recruiters to focus on candidate relationships and strategic partnerships with hiring managers.

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Effective hiring starts at the top of the funnel

When your top of funnel looks more like a spam folder than a talent pipeline, the whole hiring process starts to wobble. Fake candidates sneak through, recruiters burn out and candidates who should be excited about your company walk away with a bad impression. Left unchecked, pipeline overload doesn’t just slow you down – it can tank hiring goals, frustrate teams, and chip away at the brand you’ve worked hard to build.
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The fix isn’t magic, it’s method: the right tech plus smarter processes. Automated filtering, tiered verification, clear communication, and a thoughtful balance of AI and human touch can turn the chaos back into clarity and keep your employer brand protected in the process.
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Want to go deeper? Download the eBook, Cut through pipeline chaos: A recruiter’s guide to bring simplicity back to hiring to learn how to take back control of your hiring process.