Employers are facing a growing wave of automated AI submissions, fake applications, and low-effort spam. It’s not unusual for recruiters and hiring managers to receive thousands of resumes within hours of posting a job. Qualified candidates can easily get drowned out by all the noise.

Permanym introduces just enough friction into the application process to make automated abuse impractical, without getting too much in the way of legitimate applicants. As a former hiring manager, the idea of adding friction to hiring, rather than removing it, goes against every fiber of my being, but the current situation is simply unsustainable and erodes trust across the board.

The core idea is to ensure there is a human behind the keyboard during application submission, primarily via a video liveness check. This verification can be completed in under 30 seconds, from start to finish. You can experience it here: https://permanym.com/verify/jJAiul58nF7kJ5FS/

No ATS integration is required. Simply include the verification link in your application instructions to get started. Then look up applicants by email to see whether they've been verified. Filtering spam is the primary benefit today, but a proper ATS hookup can help stop it at the source in the future. Liveness data is only visible to the hiring company, with time-limited access.

I think there are many opportunities for deeper ATS integrations and additional signals, but I wanted to start by solving the most immediate problem: verifying that every application comes from a real person. The end goal is to help both sides of the hiring process by taking bad actors out of the equation. If this goal resonates, let’s talk!

In the meantime, any and all feedback is sincerely appreciated.