Across the industrialized world, a quiet transformation is underway in how human beings first present themselves to prospective employers — not to another person, but to an algorithm. In the United States, Germany, Australia, and beyond, more than half of job seekers now encounter AI-driven screening before any human ever reads their name. This shift reflects a deeper tension in modern work: as technology lowers the barriers to applying, it simultaneously raises new barriers to being seen — ones that reward clarity and structure over charm and spontaneity.