Welcome to The Hero 🗞️. This is approximately a 3-minute read.
🤥 Why the resume can't be your first (real) filter anymore
🕵️♂️ How AI gave dishonesty a new name
🖌️ The four-step playbook to find the real candidate underneath
See How Super Recruiter Is Using AI to Recruit Better Candidates Faster
YouTube Link (skip to 13:41)👇
TL;DR
65% of candidates are using AI in their applications. 64% of recruiters say everything looks identical. Both are right.
Only 33% of hiring managers can spot an AI-generated resume.
Your funnel isn't broken. It's compromised. There's a difference.
Use the three questions deep technique when you can.
💄 The Resume Is a Marketing Document
65% of candidates are using AI somewhere in the application process - resumes, cover letters, interview prep - even automated applications.
Entire career narratives generated in seconds.
And then on the other side, your ATS is using AI to screen them.
AI writing resumes.
AI reading resumes.
The result?
64% of recruiters say applications increasingly look identical - because they essentially are.
Especially as we get into dynamic prompting…
Same "results-driven professional."
Same "proven track record."
Same perfectly optimized keywords that nobody actually typed 👀
Here's what makes it worse:
Only 33% of hiring managers could identify AI-generated resumes when tested.
Two out of three missed it completely.
Your first filter doesn't filter anymore.
It just rewards whoever used the best prompt.
The full breakdown is just below - don’t miss it! 😉
Links of the Day:
🔗 Best Links
Here are some of the best links I’ve found since last time I emailed you:
🧩 Skills-Based Hiring
Nearly Two-Thirds of Employers Use Skills-Based Hiring Practices (link)
A Skills-Based Hiring Guide (link)
🔎 Sourcing
Building a World-Class Talent Sourcing Strategy (link)
The Ultimate Guide to Talent Sourcing [2026] (link)
🔒 Employee Retention
9 Powerful Employee Retention Strategies for 2025 and Beyond (link)
13 Employee Retention Strategies to Reduce Turnover Fast (link)
📰 News
Recruiting Trends for 2026: What Hiring Teams Need to Prepare For (link)
🕵️♂️ How to Actually Find the Real Candidate
The top of your funnel is compromised.
Not broken - compromised.
Every application looks qualified because AI made it look qualified.
Your ATS scores it well because it was engineered to score well.
And AI didn't invent dishonesty - 44% of candidates admitted to lying during the hiring process in 2025.
When every candidate has the same weapon, the weapon stops being a differentiator
The first real assessment is the screen.
That's where the human shows up.
Or doesn't…
🔥 The Playbook
1. Make the Screen Your Real Top of Funnel
Treat the phone screen as the true first filter.
That's where you learn who's real - it always has been.
A polished resume with a hollow screen tells you everything.
2. Go Three Questions Deep
"Tell me about a project you led."
"What went wrong?"
"What would you do differently if you ran it again tomorrow?"
AI doesn't prep people for the third follow-up.
That's where the truth comes out.
3. Test for Taste, Not Just Skill
Ask them to react to something in real time.
"Here's how we're thinking about this problem - how would you go about solving it?"
No prep.
No script.
You'll see how they think, not how ChatGPT thinks.
4. BONUS: AI Agent
Metaview's Application Review dropped a couple weeks ago and it’s pretty legit. It matches applicants against your ideal candidate and surfaces who's worth a call.
Let AI handle AI – fight fire with fire.
Get humans in front of humans faster.
To Sum It Up…
AI made every candidate look good on paper.
Your job isn't to read more carefully - it's to talk sooner, and go deeper when you do.
And To Wrap It Up…
Both sides are armed now.
Same tools.
Same playbook.
The only edge left is knowing how to find the human underneath.
That's always been the job…
It just matters more now.
HOW WE CAN HELP?
There are a few ways:
Or you can just reply to this email.
I reply to absolutely everyone who writes me back 🙂
