The average job seeker has a resumé ghost writer: artificial intelligence.
Many Manitoba businesses are flooded by AI-generated resumés and, in turn, use AI to filter the tide. In response, Manitoba Innovates — a startup incubator — is launching an initiative to lead more in-person networking.
“We’re still looking for authenticity in people,” said Ron Cantiveros, manager of the incubator’s new career catalyst program.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Ron Cantiveros, with Manitoba Innovates, at their offices on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Ron is starting a career program for Manitoba Innovates, which works with tech start-ups. For Gabby story. Free Press 2026
“We’re looking for innovative ways to … attract talent, but also verify and qualify talent.”
Manitoba Innovates counts roughly 100 startup members, according to chief executive Paul Card. Burgeoning companies use desks and programs at the organization’s downtown Winnipeg office.
The entity also hosts Tech Thursdays, a popular weekly gathering for people in the tech sector.
A barrier for some job seekers is a lacking social network — a hindrance in a “sea of AI-generated content,” Card said.
He’s noticed tech companies increasingly leaning on word-of-mouth hires.
“We’ve seen in the market that job seekers are struggling in finding roles,” Cantiveros said.
“At the same time, with employers — when they see 1,000 resumés and the majority of them are either duplicates or individuals from different countries … They need help.”
“We’re still looking for authenticity in people.”
Cantiveros has spent eight years as a hiring recruiter. During that time, he’s come across identical resumés minus the name attached — something he attributes to AI.
The technology can make resumé-padding easy, he noted.
He’s asking Manitoba Innovates members what they want from a career program. Events bringing companies and workers together, such as so-called hackathons, are being considered.
Manitoba Innovates will more frequently showcase companies looking to hire at Tech Thursdays, Cantiveros said. It recently spotlighted PolicyMe; the event drew roughly 120 people.
A panel of hiring recruiters will answer audience questions at a Tech Thursday on July 30.
Manitoba Innovates’ new program could include targeted hiring fairs and career mentoring services, among other things, Cantiveros said. He expects the program to roll out this fall.
ConstructionClock — a time tracking app business that’s been growing — listed a job on LinkedIn last week.
Within 15 minutes, LinkedIn had paused the application portal because of the volume of applications, ConstructionClock’s chief executive said.
“It’s important to filter because you get so many — because we live in a world where you don’t have to live in the city where you work anymore,” David Peters continued.
The company has hired around 10 people over the past year. Two-thirds of its hires come through word of mouth, Peters estimated.
“Stuff like organizational fit, stuff like personality, being able to gauge somebody’s level of ambition … AI’s not really gonna be able to do that.”
Applications from the latter third — via LinkedIn or third-party headhunter — are first screened by artificial intelligence tools. AI looks for non-negotiables, such as level of education, said Nate Jackman, ConstructionClock’s chief revenue officer.
From there, ConstructionClock employees review resumés and hold interviews, Jackman said.
“Stuff like organizational fit, stuff like personality, being able to gauge somebody’s level of ambition … AI’s not really gonna be able to do that,” Jackman added.
Word of mouth is ideal because trusted sources vouch for candidates, Jackman said. ConstructionClock cares less about how a resumé was created — using AI or not — than the quality of person on the other end, Peters added.
“It’s something you have to do,” Gursahib Virdi, 21, said of using AI to build a resumé.
He’s written his own resumé and four to five versions of cover letters. He uploads those and the job posting he’s after into Claude, an AI assistant, with a request to make a tailored application.
It’s the difference between getting an interview and not, the electrical engineering student said.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Virdi said. “What really matters is keywords.”
Resume Genius, an AI-powered resumé creation website, found 87 per cent of hiring managers use AI while recruiting. It surveyed 1,500 U.S. hiring staffers in June and July 2026.
Seventy-two per cent of respondents considered AI helpful in making recruitment more efficient. However, 82 per cent said they were concerned about applicants using AI.
More than half — 58 per cent — had received AI-generated applications.
Ameer Hussain, 23, has used AI to tweak his resumé. Because many people are doing it, he said, resumés generally look the same — which makes dropping off in-person more important.
“Talking to the guy who’s in charge, that helps me. That’s how I get jobs,” Hussain said. “CVs and stuff — the paperwork — I take help from ChatGPT. The rest of the stuff I have to do.”
“It’s always been a challenge in the hiring process, trying to understand a candidate’s true skills and experience and separate fact from fiction.”
Using ChatGPT makes job hunting less time consuming, and it writes a better resumé, Hussain said. Still, he credits his in-person presence and his network as reasons he’s employed, as of two months ago, at a mobile repair shop.
“It’s always been a challenge in the hiring process, trying to understand a candidate’s true skills and experience and separate fact from fiction,” said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.
“AI complicates that.”
Artificial intelligence makes it easy to inflate qualifications, especially when the job seeker isn’t uploading their own resumé to start, Remillard said. Hiring via word of mouth isn’t new, he noted, adding it’s good for employers to not be over-reliant on any one form of hiring.
“I don’t think AI has to be seen as bad or something that should be avoided,” said Jaysa Toet, who runs HR consulting firm Lively Consulting.
“(The) job search is really intensive. You’re spending weeks and months, potentially, of daily work,” she said, adding job seekers shouldn’t use AI as a “crutch” but as an accessible tool.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.