[hn_throwaway_99]

What's worse about these anecdotes is that they ignore the obvious. I guarantee you some people are still getting hired for those open job reqs, it's just that when you have a big contraction and now have a ton more applicants for each open role, you're going to have many more anecdotes with people lamenting that "AI has broken the process" or "there are a ton of scams" or "insidious tech trends", because the real answer is just a lot more painful: there were tons of applicants for that job, and the person who was picked wasn't you. And (saying this from experience), that can just really, really suck, and when it goes on for a while it can be very difficult to come to terms with.