No call. No email. No stone-cold text. No acknowledgement of all the work that goes into submitting that resume and all the materials you needed to complete your application. So why didn’t you hear anything back after you submitted your job application?
You would think in the glorious age of artificial intelligence (AI), someone could send you an automatic message so you could move on. Instead, all you get is the howling emptiness of the Great White North of Unemployment.
Which is strange. The unemployment rate for veterans is 2.8%, while the civilian unemployment rate is 4.1%. You would think employers would be jumping for joy at the prospect of your application.
What does all that silence mean after submitting an application?
Usually, silence is not hard to interpret. As the transition master coach for Military.com, I tell job seekers the volume of applications is so high for employers that they do not respond as a rule. Best to submit and let the application ride for two weeks. If you don’t get a request for an interview, take it as a soft no and move on. But things are different in 2025.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
In 2025, we are going through a time in which a ton of factors are converging that increase your chances of getting the cold shoulder from employers in the months to come. Since so much silence is bad for a job seeker’s soul, I want you to know the factors that are outside your area of control.
The problem could be you -- and I will get back to that -- but it is not always you. Start here:
1. It’s the AI
Thanks to ChatGPT and other AI tools, employers tell me that they are getting AI-written resumes that exactly match -- no, clone -- their job listings. AI tools will include bullet points about a candidate’s experience that they simply do not have. People submit those anyway.
One hiring manager told me that the candidate they were most excited about had every experience they were looking for on their resume. Amazing! But when they brought her in for an interview, it turned out she had none of the experience. When they questioned the candidate about the resume, she reportedly just shrugged. “It’s ChatGPT.”
2. Again, it’s the AI
Employers are turning more and more to AI tools to manage applications and the candidate experience and laying off recruiters in order to save money. The quality in these ATS tools greatly varies.
One hiring manager told me that she looked at more than 200 resumes before the holidays. The “ideal candidates” their applicant tracking system pulled did not have the right experience. In fact, the best, most qualified, hire-me-now candidate was rated a 0% match by the ATS system before she pulled his application. Reader, she hired him.
“Maybe it is our settings. We are meeting with the sales rep this week,” the hiring manager told me. “But honestly, I think you need a human being to find a human being.”
3. Let’s Wait and See What Happens with the AI
AI is expected to disrupt the market so much that companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Employers are tighter than they were during the Great Resignation, offering fewer raises and promotions to current employees, and being more reluctant to offer remote work arrangements.
The trend to cut middle management positions with the expectation that AI will fill that role continues. It also means that employers are slow to hire in data analysis, administration, simple contract generation, basic financial reporting and content creation. The defense industry and government are also adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward hiring until the new Trump administration begins.
4. Don’t You Know How to Do AI Yet?
Much of the job creation in 2025 is, not surprisingly, expected to be in AI-related roles. In LinkedIn’s recent report about the fastest-growing jobs for 2025, three of the 25 required AI skills most veterans do not have, including large language models (LLM), natural language processing (NLP), PyTorch, prompt engineering and deep learning.
How Do Job Seekers Overcome AI in 2025?
If AI is going to be such a big factor in the disruption of the marketplace, how are you supposed to battle against it?
Like that hiring manager I mentioned earlier said: It takes people to hire people. Start with us at the Veteran Employment Project. We already like you. We can teach you how to use AI tools to identify the keywords you need to get past the AI tools without copy-and-pasting the job listing verbatim in our free master class video library.
After you have your documents ready, steel your nerves and start warming up your network. The winter is a bleak time for everyone, and people want to talk to you. If you are leaving the military this year, plan to attend one of the defense industry’s professional conferences such as WEST, AUSA and the Surface Navy Association. Or adopt one of our strategies for introverts.
Don’t be discouraged. In every employment market, there are challenges to face. Luckily, you are equal to the challenge.
Find the Right Veteran Job
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