The Job Market Is Broken in Ways We Didn't Even Know

One of you sent me this article from The Markup and I had to pass it along. It shows how bad the job market has gotten - and why we built verified jobs.

What happened

The Markup posted a job for an engineer. Within 12 hours: 400 applications. Most were fake.

Identical email patterns. Same phone numbers across different candidates. LinkedIn profiles that didn't match resumes. Application answers following the exact same AI template.

Then came the scams. Someone cloned their email and sent fake tests to job seekers, leading to fake contracts requesting banking information.

The worst part: They interviewed one candidate whose former employer vouched for him. During the video call, he couldn't answer basic questions. Said it was "freezing" outside. The temperature was warm. It wasn't the same person the employer had hired.

Both sides are drowning in slop

65% of job seekers now use AI automation tools. Employers use AI to screen resumes. Both sides are drowning in slop. Nobody knows what's real.

This is why we built Kinship the way we did.

How Kinship helps

• Verified jobs only. Every job is verified. Real companies, real postings, real opportunities. No scams, no ghost jobs, no fake listings.

• Real fit scores. Your score isn't based on keyword matching. It's based on what energizes you, what drains you, what actually matters to you in a role. See how fit scoring works →

• Deep Dive. Spot bad actors before you apply. We analyze hiring trends, company patterns, and other signals to flag red flags you need to see.

We're not trying to help you apply to 400 jobs. We're trying to help you find the 4 that matter.