| To | CHROs and Agency ATS Contacts |
| From | Shared Services Center (SSC) |
| Area | Applicant Tracking |
| Subject | Update – PeopleAdmin Applicant Spamming Concern |
| Date | October 23, 2026 |
In response to the potentially fraudulent applications associated with the @apply.jobassist.com email domain, PeopleAdmin has increased their security measures. Since last week, we have received no new unverified accounts or applications generated by bots or AI. We will continue working with PeopleAdmin to identify additional measures to prevent unverified and spam applications.
To manage the occasional unverified application that we may receive, we have created two new applicant workflow states/dispositions:
- Spam/Unable to Verify – final disposition for confirmed AI/bot-generated or other unverified or fraudulent applications. Because applications with this disposition are assumed to be spam/not valid applications, no notification will be sent to the email associated with the application to alert them they are no longer under consideration.
- AI/Bot Hold – Do Not Open – Pending Verification – temporary workflow step to identify suspected applications and prevent others on the search committee from opening them until ATS and/or IT has been consulted and you are able to make a determination. If an application that was placed in this temporary status is able to be verified as an authentic applicant, please move it to the normal workflow step where your search committee would normally receive them. If the application is confirmed to be spam and/or its authenticity cannot be validated, the final disposition of Spam/Unable to Verify has been created for you to use.
For your convenience and so they are easy to spot, we have dispositioned the currently-identified, duplicate spam applications that were received from the @apply.jobassist.com domain to AI/Bot Hold – Do Not Open – Pending Verification. It will be up to College HR to make the final determination and move the application to the final disposition of Spam/Unable to Verify, or move them to a different workflow state if you would like to consider them anyway.
It should be noted that as we navigate this uncharted and rapidly changing bot/AI challenge, ensuring the legitimacy and safety of applications and the documents attached to them will prove itself to be a moving target. We will be discussing this topic during the next HR Ops Workgroup call on Tuesday November 3 and encourage you to join the discussion if you have concerns or ideas on the best way to manage this new challenge. If you encounter a suspicious application, please move it to the AI/Bot Hold – Do Not Open – Pending Verification workflow state and notify ATS so we can investigate. Do not open attachments or click links contained in the suspect application until they have been verified to be safe. If you already have opened an attachment or clicked a link in a suspicious application, contact your IT department immediately to help mitigate potential security risks.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email ats@ssc.vccs.edu.
