AI-Based Recruitment Becoming Stricter, 80 Percent of CVs Rejected Early

In the midst of an increasingly competitive job market, the challenge for job seekers today is no longer just finding job vacancies, but ensuring their applications are relevant enough to pass the initial selection process by companies. This situation occurs amid Indonesia’s still relatively high unemployment rate. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the number of unemployed in Indonesia at 7.24 million people as of February 2026, with an open unemployment rate of 4.68 percent of the total workforce of 154.91 million. Although the unemployment figures have decreased compared to the previous year, the scale of job seekers not yet absorbed indicates that matching candidates with company needs remains a major challenge in the labour ecosystem. This challenge is not only faced by fresh graduates or junior candidates, but also by experienced professionals, career switchers, and mid- to senior-level talents re-entering the recruitment process after a long absence. The technology recruitment company TalentGO.AI assesses that the main challenge for job applicants today is understanding how they are evaluated in the modern recruitment process. This phenomenon is termed by TalentGO.AI as “The Great Preparation Gap” or readiness gap. On one hand, access to job vacancy information is becoming easier. However, on the other hand, many candidates do not yet have access to objective and structured feedback before applying for jobs. CEO & Founder of TalentGO.AI, Valencia Gabriella, said that many candidates still view the job search process as a matter of the quantity of applications submitted, rather than the quality of preparation. According to her, in modern recruitment systems, the quality of preparation is actually the main differentiator among candidates. “In fact, in modern recruitment, the quality of preparation is the differentiator. CVs must demonstrate relevance, salary expectations must be based on market data, and during interviews, candidates need to be able to explain their experiences in a structure that makes sense to recruiters,” said Valencia. TalentGO.AI assesses that the need for job preparation is becoming increasingly important because recruitment processes now increasingly utilise digital technology.