Women in their forties and fifties are describing months of near-total silence from employers after submitting dozens of job applications, despite lengthy professional track records. The BBC investigation centres on accounts such as that of Stacey Duguid, 52, who spent 16 months sending what she described as "gazillions" of CVs following a career in senior fashion roles, receiving little more than automated replies. After posting about her experience on social media, thousands of women responded to say they faced similar difficulties.
The City of London Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce, which focuses on women in financial and professional services, has raised concerns about the growing use of AI in recruitment. Its chair, Caroline Haines, said the taskforce's research found significant concern that AI used to screen job applications and CVs does not recognise the skills many experienced women can bring.
AI lawyer Laura Holden, founder of the Bonsai AI and legal consultancy, said companies often do not understand how the tools they deploy actually work, warning this has the potential to cause "significant harm". She pointed to CV screening tools and AI-scored interviews as areas where bias can emerge. Some tools, she noted, grade CVs from A to D, while others flag factors such as a seven-year career gap as something to note potentially shaping decisions before a human recruiter ever sees a candidate.
A key complication is transparency. Employers rarely disclose whether or how AI tools influenced a screening or rejection decision, making it difficult for applicants to know what happened or to challenge the outcome. Holden argued the problem is compounded by a lack of regulation globally that requires providers to show how their tools work.
The BBC separately reported that some London-based companies have stopped using AI recruitment tools altogether, citing concerns about bias.
