Recruiter Evaluation and Identification of AI-Written Versus Human-Written Cover Letters

Sammanfattning

Recruitment is a high-risk and costly process within companies. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more advanced. This makes it easier for job applicants to prepare application material. Recruiters may therefore no longer be able to trust the authorship of the cover letters and rely on the applicants’ abilities, which may affect hiring outcomes. The study has an experimental design and investigates recruiters’ evaluation of cover letters written by humans versus cover letters generated with AI in blind evaluation. It measures professionalism, writing quality, and hireability while also assessing recruiters' ability to identify AI. The study shows that AI-written cover letters generally received higher ratings on professionalism, writing quality, and hireability. It was also found that participants struggled with the identification of AI-generated cover letters and human-written cover letters. This study contributes to research about AI in recruitment settings and highlights the importance of conducting further research on the implications of AI in application material.