Employers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to help screen candidates, a shift that is changing how Canadians apply for jobs.GETTY IMAGES
AI is reshaping the job hunt in Canada – speeding up hiring for employers, pushing job seekers to adapt, and raising new concerns about fairness. A 2025 study by hiring platform Indeed found that more than a quarter of hiring managers have used AI in recruitment, while 40 per cent say they use more technology in hiring than three years ago – part of a push to cut costs and move faster.
Employers have long relied on applicant tracking systems (ATS) – software that organizes and filters resumes, among other functions – but many are now layering AI tools on top to evaluate candidates’ skills and fit more dynamically. The technology is making the process more efficient for hiring managers.
“On average, a recruiter spends 60 seconds looking at a resume, so they’re going to miss things,” says Justin Bergeron, senior consultant with Calgary-based HR and recruitment strategy consultant, Salopek and Associates. “AI won’t.”
Mr. Bergeron says many hiring managers sift through hundreds of applicants to build a list of candidates.
“It’s a huge time suck for one person to review every single resume,” he says. “AI tools can do a lot of that initial screening.”
AI screening evaluates candidates’ skills, experience, and responses using algorithms to predict which applicants are most likely to succeed in a role. However, job seekers are adapting as its use grows, says Greg Langstaff, a Toronto-based certified resume strategist and job search coach. Mr. Langstaff has built a TikTok following of 774,000 around his tips for navigating ATS and AI screening.
“It is important for job seekers to be aware of things like keywording and how we’re presenting ourselves,” he says.
Mr. Langstaff says keywording refers to the practice of tailoring a resume with specific terms drawn from a job posting to improve its chances of moving past automated screening systems.
“If you have the minimum requirements they’re looking for – enough years of experience, a background in that industry, educational requirements, your resume is most likely going to be read by someone,” he says.
But he’s quick to point out it’s not as simple as getting past scanners; once that’s done, you’re still in a pile with 50 other candidates, and your next review is going to be a hiring manager.
“You have to be very concise and work those keywords to appeal both to the human being and the software or AI,” he says. Mr. Langstaff uses a job posting requiring email marketing skills as an example.
“I’m making sure that each of the jobs where I’ve done email marketing, I have a bullet point (on the resume) that describes how well I’ve done it and my results,” he says. “You’re working the keywords in naturally, but more importantly, when someone reads it, they’re not only going to know you have that skill, but they’re going to see how good you are at it.”
While the technology is allowing hiring managers to be more efficient, farming out candidate screening to AI comes with risk, Mr. Bergeron says. He points to the so-called “black box problem,” which refers to the lack of transparency in how algorithms make decisions, leaving employers and candidates in the dark about why certain applicants are flagged, ranked, or rejected.
“That lack of transparency can erode trust among both candidates and hiring managers, given the potential for bias,” Mr. Bergeron says.
In the U.S., HR software company Workday is facing a collective-action lawsuit alleging its AI system discriminated against older candidates, people with disabilities and racial minorities – highlighting the legal risks.AI hiring systems learn from historical data – such as past resumes, employee performance records or hiring decisions – to predict which candidates might be a good fit. If that data reflects human bias (for example, favouring certain schools, genders, or backgrounds), says Mr. Bergeron, AI can internalize those patterns and replicate them in its screening.
Starting January 2026, Ontario will require employers with 25 or more staff to disclose on job postings if artificial intelligence will be used in the candidate screening process. Ontario is the first province to require this, following a recent update to its Employment Standards Act.
In response, some companies are turning to skills-focused platforms designed to reduce bias while helping employers identify talent more efficiently.
Jahanzaib Ansari, CEO and co-founder of Knockri, says he started the Toronto-headquartered company – an AI-driven candidate assessment platform – in 2017 after experiencing challenges in the hiring process due to his long, ethnic name.
A friend suggested anglicizing it.
“I used Jason, Jordan, and Jacob… In four to six weeks, I got a job,” Mr. Ansari says. “I felt like there must be so many people in the world being overlooked – there had to be a better solution.”
Knockri, which was built with input from both a machine learning scientist and an industrial organizational psychologist, evaluates candidates through video, audio, and written responses, scoring them on demonstrated competencies rather than keywords or resume formatting. The approach is intended to help employers assess applicants’ abilities more directly and reduce reliance on traditional proxies such as education or job titles.
Mr. Ansari estimates that about a million candidates have gone through the Knockri process since its launch, and the platform is used by companies such as IBM, Shopify, Hydro One and Deloitte.
He says the tool is not meant to replace resumes but to support them with additional data points. That approach, he argues, will grow in importance as job seekers adjust to AI-powered screening.
“In the age where every resume looks the same, how do you tell who is a good fit and who’s not?” Mr. Ansari says. “That’s essentially where we come in and help them do it at scale and in a very unbiased fashion.
”It’s a pitch that could become more urgent as employers face new disclosure rules and heightened scrutiny of AI in hiring.“It’s just going to grow more important,” Mr. Bergeron says. He points out that the mainstream applicant tracking systems such as Greenhouse already include AI features.
“Companies are getting these tools,” he says. “Whether they’ve asked for them or not.”