'I've had to Botox my CV': Are AI recruitment tools affecting women's careers?

AI recruitment screening tools have been flagged by employment researchers and career advisors as potentially filtering out candidates with employment gaps, a pattern that disproportionately affects women returning from caregiving breaks. The phrase "Botoxing a CV" — concealing gaps in work history — has emerged among career coaches discussing strategies for navigating automated hiring systems. A 2024 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found resume screening algorithms showed measurable bias against resumes containing unexplained employment gaps of six months or longer. Some companies including Unilever and IBM have adjusted their AI hiring tools after identifying disparities in screening outcomes between candidates with continuous versus interrupted employment histories.

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