Startup rejects AI-generated cover letters for handwritten alternatives

The pivot occurred after the company received nearly 900 applications for four roles via the Handshake job board. Marlee Pelton-Fuentes, head of the internship program, noticed that standard submissions lacked personal connection, prompting CEO Danny Hogenkamp to enforce the handwritten requirement. The result was immediate: approximately 70% of applicants complied by uploading photos of their letters, while 200 to 300 individuals went further by sending physical documents through the mail.

This trend highlights a growing frustration in the modern job market, where recruiters struggle to distinguish candidates in a sea of automated content. Wharton professor Judd Kessler described the current hiring landscape as a cycle of "AI selecting AI," noting that methods forcing human participation are increasingly necessary to restore authenticity. For successful intern Ian-Karlo Krockel, the manual effort was the differentiator that finally broke his streak of rejection, proving that in an era of instant generation, the deliberate act of writing by hand remains a powerful signal of intent.