Greenhouse, the leading hiring platform, has published its 2025 Workforce & Hiring Report, painting a stark reality of today’s job market. Nearly two in three Irish job seekers (63%) are grappling with intense pressure in a fiercely competitive market. As hiring automation, employer ghosting, or unresponsiveness, and bias reshape the hiring landscape, candidates are fighting fire with fire, turning to AI agents, resume hacks, and interview cheating just to get noticed. Based on a report of 2,200 active job seekers in Ireland, the U.K., and the U.S., the findings highlight how Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers are navigating today’s volatile hiring environment.
Job Hunting Is Survival of the Fittest
Hiring is entering a new era, and candidates are feeling the heat: only 7% believe the market favours them. This intensity is wearing down confidence. Nearly half of Irish job seekers (42%) say the job market is very competitive. Poor hiring practices are compounding pressure in a market where employers hold all the power. The vast majority (82%) of candidates say they’ve encountered bait-and-switch tactics, where the job they applied for turned out to be different than what was ultimately offered.
Nearly half (46%) of Gen Z candidates report that the benefits package was less comprehensive than what was initially presented. Adding to the strain is a sense of instability: one in every two (49%) Irish workers feel insecure in their current role, as economic uncertainty ripples across industries. Nearly one quarter of workers (23%) face employment uncertainty, with 20% reporting they’ve been warned their role might be affected. Job hunting has become an uphill battle, and to stay competitive, over two-thirds of candidates (63%) have altered their resumes, and over a third (39%) of those who admit to it say they embellish their qualifications.
AI Is the New Cheat Code
The old hiring playbook is failing. And candidates are turning to AI to stay ahead. Nearly three in four Irish job seekers (73%) now use AI in their job search, with interview prep (42%) leading the way, followed by analyzing job ads (28%) and generating work samples (25%). There are also instances of AI usage backfiring on candidates: while 41% say AI has created and helps them uncover new opportunities, 54% report it’s making job hunting harder by raising the bar on skills and intensifying competition.
Gen Z is driving the AI surge, with 81% using AI tools in their job search, more than Millennials (76%) or Gen X (64%). Nearly one in five (19%) are even deploying AI agents to apply for jobs automatically. But in the race to stand out, ethical lines are getting blurred: half of Gen Z candidates (50%) admit to altering the skills on their resumes, with 44% embellishing work experience or adding AI capabilities they don’t actually have.
Meanwhile, most candidates are left without a playbook: 82% say employers provide little or no guidance on AI use in interviews. Only 22% believe AI is acceptable when explicitly permitted, while 54% either reject it entirely or aren’t sure where the ethical boundaries lie.
“Hiring is stuck in an AI doom loop,” says Daniel Chait, CEO and Co-founder of Greenhouse. “Only 7% of candidates feel that the market favors them right now. As this technology advances, it makes it easier than ever to apply, flooding the system with noise. With 25% of Gen Z saying AI has made it harder for them to stand out, candidates entering the market are up against more applications, more automation, and less clarity.
“We don’t need more friction or hoops to jump through; we need a hiring process that allows people’s true selves to come through more clearly and more completely. A more human and three-dimensional hiring process that helps candidates showcase their skills and focus their job search is the only way to cut through the chaos and connect the right people to the right roles.”
Discrimination as the Invisible Filter
Discrimination is still showing up in the interview room. Nearly half (49%) of Irish job seekers say they’ve been asked inappropriate or biased questions, most often about health or disability status (21%), parental responsibilities (20%), and age (18%). Generational divides also shape the interview experience. Gen Z is asked most about technical skills (43%), as employers zero in on practical know-how. Millennials say they are asked most about salary and compensation (43%). Meanwhile, Gen X candidates face deeper scrutiny of their work history (39%). That bias is driving candidates to hide: 69% admit to scrubbing older experience from their CVs to avoid age-based assumptions.
Ghosting Cuts Both Ways
Employer ghosting is rife in the job market. Two in every three candidates (66%) say they are left in the dark after interviews. Among those who’ve been ghosted, the most common points are after one-way interviews (24%), after interviews with hiring managers (23%), and after initial conversations with recruiters (21%). Yet job seekers aren’t blameless–over half (51%) of candidates have ghosted a prospective employer, and over a fifth of those due to poor communication or long delays from the employer (23%).
“When candidates feel they have to scrub experience or change their names to get noticed, it reveals the dangerous way bias decides who gets seen and who is overlooked,” says Danielle McConville, VP of EMEA at Greenhouse. “Discrimination allows qualified candidates to slip through the cracks and erodes trust, damaging a company’s reputation. Transparency, communication, and fairness are not optional; these characteristics are a competitive advantage for employers.”
To read the full report, visit the Greenhouse blog.
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