For the past two years, navigating the job market has been demoralizing, especially for those who are just now graduating college and entering a tumultuous workforce rife with ghost jobs, smug artificial intelligence agents and disturbing “blue people.” As a result, spraying and praying — the act of blasting out hundreds or even thousands of AI-generated resumes to job postings out of desperation — is becoming the norm. Now, according to career experts who spoke with SFGATE, overwhelmed employers are rescinding job offers and ghosting applicants, creating even more pain, confusion and regret among recent college grads.
Per a June 2026 report from Resume Builder, which included survey responses from 1,000 respondents between the ages of 20 and 28 who graduated with a bachelor’s degree within the last year, 34% percent said that they had a job offer rescinded right after accepting it. Among that 34%, 21% said this happened to them once, while 13% said it happened to them multiple times. Sixty-eight percent of applicants in the June report said that they were ghosted by employers after interviewing, and 65% believed that AI led to cuts in entry-level jobs in their departments.
While ghosting has always been an issue, “today, it’s totally out of control,” Stacie Haller, Resume Builder’s chief career adviser who was quoted in the report, told SFGATE. Spraying and praying is inundating recruiters, she said, and the chances are that many entry-level applicants aren’t qualified. But bills need to be paid, and “people are getting desperate,” she said, adding that while this method might seem to make sense at first, it’s also “the quickest way to get depressed.” Many organizations that overhired during the pandemic and that are trying to find ways to implement AI may have no idea how many employees they actually need, either, Haller said.
This was always the goal with AI. Hell, some jackass even tried to set up AI as an attorney in court.
when I was interviewing people, sure I was getting paid to do that in the sense that I was being paid hourly. but I had other shit to do, and all of the interviewing was overtime, of which I was already doing plenty.
I certainly didn’t have the power to change the fact that we have way too many applicants to sort through. I’m just a dude at a small company who rose just high enough to have to deal with this. I think I did a pretty good job with the interview process and respecting candidates, but the other user’s point about shitty candidates taking spots away from others is valid. I’ve definitely been through a good handful of interviews that were a complete waste of time where the candidate clearly did not give a fuck, and I went out of my way to treat them respectfully and give them a chance when what I should have actually done was just end the call once it was clear they didn’t care. because of those shitty applicants, I had less time for other applicants.