# AI Can Write the Résumé. It Can’t Vouch for the Person.

> 39% of candidates used AI to apply, and only 26% trust AI to judge them fairly. Why construction and real estate hiring will reward verification and people.

- Canonical: https://praxagency.com/blog/ai-hiring-trust-construction-recruiting
- Author: Prax Agency
- Published: 2026-11-01
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Topic: Hiring

## The short version

- Gartner found 39% of candidates used AI in the application process, while just 26% trust AI to evaluate them fairly.
- Gartner predicts one in four candidate profiles worldwide could be fake by 2028. Remote roles carry the most exposure, but credentials still need checking in the field.
- Use AI to save time on paperwork. Keep humans on judgment, verification, and the final call.

Picture the same inbox from both sides.

On one side, a hiring manager gets a stack of résumés that all sound alike, each one a suspiciously perfect match for the job posting. On the other, a candidate who has run real work sends out a real résumé and never hears back, wondering if a person ever read it.

Each side has started to suspect the other is a machine. They’re sometimes right.

## How many candidates use AI, and how many trust it?

[Gartner’s surveys of job candidates](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them) put numbers on the mistrust: 39% of candidates said they used AI during the application process, just 26% trust AI to evaluate them fairly, and 6% admitted to participating in interview fraud.

**Candidates and AI in hiring**

Gartner candidate surveys: 39% from 3,290 candidates in 4Q24, and 6% from 3,000 in 2Q25. Gartner’s release doesn’t name the survey wave for the 26%.

| Measure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Used AI during the application process | 39% |
| Trust AI to evaluate them fairly | 26% |
| Admit to participating in interview fraud | 6% |

Source: [Gartner, July 31, 2025](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them)

[Gartner also predicts](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them) that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake. That’s a forecast rather than a measurement, and the sharpest cases so far involve [remote technical roles](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fake-job-seekers-are-flooding-us-companies-are-hiring-remote-positions-rcna200199). Nobody is deepfaking their way onto a concrete pour.

Don’t relax just yet. Construction and commercial real estate have plenty of roles where this matters: remote estimators, accounting staff, project coordinators, and business development hires who’ll be handling client relationships.

There’s a further problem. A well-written résumé tells you much less than it used to.

## Why does this hit construction differently?

Polished language was never much of a signal for a superintendent. It’s even less of one now. What matters in this industry is mostly the stuff a chatbot can’t generate: did they actually run that job, did the owner hire them again, and would their last crew work for them again?

Credentials matter too. In the [2026 AGC and NCCER survey](https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/users/user21902/2026%20Workforce%20Survey%20Analysis%20%284%29.pdf), half of contractors say candidates lack needed skills, certificates, or licenses, and 36% cite missing credentials like a driver’s license, work permit, or clean background check. Those can be checked, and they’re exactly where an inflated résumé runs into reality.

Contractors, for their part, aren’t anti-technology. In the same survey, 51% expect AI and robotics to have a positive effect on the industry over the next five years, and just 8% expect a negative one. They expect the biggest impact on estimating and bidding, document review, and scheduling. In the [Texas results](https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/users/user21902/2026%20AGC%20WFS%20TX2.pdf), a small sample, 27% named human resources and recruiting as an area where AI will have one of its largest effects.

That sounds about right. AI will change how recruiting paperwork gets done. Whether it can tell you who to trust is another matter.

## The screening tool has its own costs

Automated screening seems like the obvious fix for a flood of AI-written applications. It has downsides that don’t appear on the vendor’s slide.

**Candidates notice.** Only 26% trust AI to judge them fairly, and [Gartner’s research](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them) found that a quarter of candidates say they trust an employer less if it uses AI to evaluate them. In a market where [87% of firms with salaried openings](https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/users/user21902/2026%20Workforce%20Survey%20Analysis%20%284%29.pdf) say those roles are as hard or harder to fill than a year ago, you can’t afford to put off the people you want. Gartner says uncertainty about AI could make candidates more selective still: 51% accepted a job offer in their most recent application process in 2Q25, down from 74% in 2Q23.

**Unusual careers can get filtered out.** Filters tend to favor people who look like the template. The best foreman-turned-project-manager in Houston may not have the right keywords, because their résumé describes buildings and not “stakeholder alignment.”

**There’s legal exposure.** In Texas, [the Responsible AI Governance Act](https://www.duanemorris.com/alerts/texas_new_ai_law_is_now_in_effect_what_employers_need_to_know_about_traiga2_0526.html) took effect on January 1, 2026. Duane Morris explains that it prohibits deploying AI with intent to discriminate, and that unequal outcomes alone don’t violate it. But the firm warns that the same tool may still run afoul of federal laws like Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which do allow claims based on unequal outcomes. Talk to your employment counsel about your own tools.

## Where should you use AI, and where should you keep people?

Our view is practical. AI is useful, and refusing to touch it just makes your process slower. The line we’d draw is between paperwork and judgment.

| Good use of AI | Keep a person on it |
| --- | --- |
| Drafting and cleaning up job descriptions | Deciding what the role really needs |
| Scheduling interviews | Holding the interview |
| Summarizing long résumés for a human to review | Rejecting a candidate |
| Organizing notes and candidate records | Calling references |
| Finding gaps in your own process | Making the offer and setting the relationship |

## Six habits that hold up

1. **Be upfront about your rules.** [Gartner recommends](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them) employers explain how they define acceptable AI use and emphasize their fraud detection efforts. Tell candidates what’s fine (polishing a résumé) and what isn’t (having someone else answer in your interview).
2. **Verify the work, not the writing.** Ask for project names, contract values, owners, and dates, then check a few. Real experience holds up under specifics.
3. **Interview about real problems.** “Walk me through a job that went sideways, and what you’d do differently” is hard to fake, and you’ll learn more from it anyway.
4. **Check credentials at the source.** Licenses, certifications, and OSHA cards can be verified. Build it into your process rather than leaving it to the last day.
5. **Meet in person when you can.** For anything field-based, walk a site together. Ten minutes on a job will tell you what an hour of video can’t. It may help you recruit, too: [Gartner found](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them) 62% of candidates are more likely to apply if the employer requires in-person interviews.
6. **Call references you found yourself.** The people listed on a résumé are the ones the candidate chose. A mutual contact in a small industry tends to be more candid.

## And if you’re the candidate

Using AI to clean up your résumé is reasonable. Letting it invent your experience will catch up with you, and construction is a small world.

Make sure it still sounds like you. Keep the real numbers in: crew sizes, contract values, schedule results. Then try to reach an actual person, whether that’s through someone who knows your work, an industry event, or a recruiter in your sector.

## The oldest signal is getting more valuable

The cheaper it gets to look good on paper, the more it’s worth to have someone who knows you and will say so. That has long been how a lot of this industry hires. AI is only making it more obvious.

That’s the whole idea behind relationship-driven recruiting, and it’s how [we work at Prax](https://praxagency.com/about). If your inbox has stopped telling you much, [let’s talk](https://praxagency.com/hire).

## Common questions

### How many job candidates use AI to apply?

Gartner found 39% of candidates used AI during the application process, in a 4Q24 survey of 3,290 candidates. Just 26% trust AI to evaluate them fairly, and 25% say they trust an employer less if it uses AI to evaluate them. Source: [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them).

### How common is candidate fraud?

In a 2Q25 Gartner survey of 3,000 candidates, 6% admitted to participating in interview fraud. Gartner also predicts that by 2028, one in four candidate profiles worldwide will be fake, which is a forecast rather than a measurement. Source: [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them).

### Is it legal to use AI to screen job applicants in Texas?

Texas’s Responsible AI Governance Act took effect on January 1, 2026. Duane Morris explains that it prohibits deploying AI with intent to discriminate and that unequal outcomes alone don’t violate it, while federal laws such as Title VII may still apply. This is general information, so talk to your employment counsel. Source: [Duane Morris LLP](https://www.duanemorris.com/alerts/texas_new_ai_law_is_now_in_effect_what_employers_need_to_know_about_traiga2_0526.html).

## Sources

1. [Gartner Survey Shows Just 26% of Job Applicants Trust AI Will Fairly Evaluate Them](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-07-31-gartner-survey-shows-just-26-percent-of-job-applicants-trust-ai-will-fairly-evaluate-them), Gartner, July 31, 2025.
2. [2026 Workforce Survey Analysis](https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/users/user21902/2026%20Workforce%20Survey%20Analysis%20%284%29.pdf), Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER, September 2026.
3. [2026 Workforce Survey Results: Texas](https://www.agc.org/sites/default/files/users/user21902/2026%20AGC%20WFS%20TX2.pdf), Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER, September 2026.
4. [Texas’ New AI Law Is Now in Effect: What Employers Need to Know About TRAIGA 2.0](https://www.duanemorris.com/alerts/texas_new_ai_law_is_now_in_effect_what_employers_need_to_know_about_traiga2_0526.html), Duane Morris LLP, 2026.
5. [Fake Job Seekers Are Flooding U.S. Companies That Are Hiring for Remote Positions, Tech CEOs Say](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fake-job-seekers-are-flooding-us-companies-are-hiring-remote-positions-rcna200199), NBC News, 2025.

This article is general information, not legal, financial, or employment advice. Statistics are as published by their sources on the dates shown.