The application flood: why early careers employers need to rethink the candidate experience

07/04/2026

Applications are up. Way up. And for many early careers employers, that’s not as good as it might sound like.

Over the past two years, AI-assisted tools have made it easier than ever for candidates to generate and submit applications quickly, with minimal effort. For students and graduates entering the job market, these tools lower the barrier to applying significantly.

The result? A sharp rise in application volumes — but no corresponding rise in the quality of those applications, or in the genuine intent of the people sending them.

“57% of students intend to apply for as many jobs as they can.” – Bright Network Report 2025

This is not a criticism of candidates. They are doing what any rational person would do when worried about securing a position. But with AI to support them, it does create a serious problem for employers: how do you identify the candidates who are genuinely interested, genuinely suited, and genuinely ready — when they are buried in a pile of applications that looks ten times larger than it did a few years ago?

Most organisations are trying to solve this problem after the application has landed. Better screening tools, sharper assessments, faster rejection processes. And while there is a place for all of these, they are treating the symptom rather than the cause.

The real opportunity is earlier. Much earlier.

The pre-application problem

Think about what happens before a student decides to apply for a programme. In most cases, very little. They might visit a careers page. They might see a post on LinkedIn. They might chat briefly to someone at a campus event. And then they apply — or they do not.

There is rarely a meaningful period of engagement between first awareness and hitting submit. No real opportunity for a candidate to understand what joining your organisation actually looks like. No chance for them to meet the people they would be working alongside, ask questions, or get a genuine feel for the culture.

The result is a mismatch in both directions. Some candidates who would have loved the role do not apply because nothing has captured their attention. Others who are not a great fit apply anyway, because the application itself costs them nothing.

What better looks like

The organisations getting this right are not waiting for candidates to apply. They are creating structured, engaging experiences that give prospective candidates – particularly students and early careers talent – a genuine window into life at their organisation before they ever fill out a form.

This might include access to curated content about the role, the team and the culture. It might mean connecting with a mentor who joined the programme a year or two ahead of them. It might involve short tasks that help someone understand whether the role really is for them.

The goal is not to make applying harder. It is to make the decision to apply more informed. When candidates understand what they are getting into – really understand it – the best fit ones commit. The others self-select out. Application volumes drop. Quality goes up.

Engagement you can actually measure

One of the challenges with pre-application engagement is knowing who is genuinely interested and who is just browsing. But it does not have to be a guessing game.

When employers use Eli as part of their pre-application or pre-boarding experience, Eli Insights gives a real-time engagement score for every individual – tracking the depth and consistency of their interaction with content, community and tasks from the very first touchpoint. That means HR teams can see, at a glance, who is actively engaged and who has disengaged – before anyone has submitted an application, and long before day one.

For early careers employers managing large cohorts, this kind of insight is genuinely powerful. It allows them to reach out to the most engaged candidates at exactly the right moment, spot potential reneges before they happen, and focus their resources where they will have the most impact.

The early careers employers who do this well are not just solving an application volume problem. They are building a more engaged, better prepared and more committed pipeline of talent – and giving their own teams the insight and tools to manage it without drowning in admin.

A final thought

The rise of AI-generated applications is not going away. Neither is the pressure on early careers teams to do more with less. But the employers who will come out ahead are the ones who start building real relationships before someone clicks apply.

If you would like to talk about how Eli could support your early careers candidate experience, before or after someone if offered a job, we would love to hear from you.