Recruiters are already turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to sort through resumes, but some are now taking the next step: Using it to conduct the job interview.
Companies such as Google are creating specialised AIs to interview candidates at the screening stage either through phone calls, video chats with on-screen avatars, or by text message.
More candidates are walking away from interview processes that involve AI, according to a research study by hiring platform Glasshouse of almost 3,000 job seekers in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Australia.
In Germany, 57% of workers have undertaken an AI interview, but of these respondents, 42% withdrew from the process, which the study says is the “highest rate of any market”.
More than half of those who did these interviews did not hear anything back, either because they were “ghosted” by the company or because they are still waiting for a reply.
Here’s what a jobseeker can expect if they decide to take one of these interviews and how to best prepare for them.
Practice, practice, practice
Some of the best interview advice, whether it’s AI or human-led, is to review the job description, research the organisation, and understand what they are looking for, according to Amanda Augustine, a career coach at Careerminds, which helps companies support laid-off workers with resume writing and job search services.
“The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to tailor your responses, even when you’re interacting with AI instead of a person,” she advised.
During the interview, there might be less warm-up chit chat or ice breakers to build a rapport with the recruiter.
The best way to get over that is to prepare “out loud … by say[ing] the actual answers out loud”, because the chatbot needs to record what is being said, according to Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor at online job board Indeed.
Candidates should also tailor their answers knowing it is less about the conversation, more that they are providing information about themselves to a machine.
An AI interviewer “cares less about my tone and more about what it is that I’m saying,” Rathod said.
“You have to be particularly descriptive and a very clear communicator in your language so that they can pick up on things that a regular interviewer might pick up through your facial expressions and tone,” she added.
One way to prepare is by using an online interview simulator to prep, which record answers and provide instant feedback on the content of a candidate’s answers, delivery or pacing, Augustine said.
These tools can also help candidates get used to speaking to a camera, manage time limits and give answers in a structured way without conversation, she added.
Before the interview, candidates are also encouraged to have a good physical setup of their desk and computer, including functioning audio and video beforehand, good lighting, and making sure the laptop is at eye level.
How to structure answers
AI interviewers rely “heavily” on behavioural questions, like asking candidates for specific examples of how they handled work situations with numbers and metrics, Rathod said.
“You want to use numbers as much as possible,” she said. “Even if you’re not in a revenue driving role, there are ways in which you can say (how) you influenced something or impacted something within a group.”
Candidates should be using the STAR method – situation, task, action, result – when answering these types of AI interview questions, and should be practicing them beforehand, Rathod said.
Jobseekers might be tempted to use AI to help come up with answers, but Rathod said that is a “pretty obvious” tell to the AI interviewing tool and anyone reviewing the recording, and can often “immediately disqualify” a candidate.
Some questions by the AI recruiter are asked in a convoluted way to see whether a candidate is cheating, according to Mehak Chowdhary, head of marketing at TestGorilla, a Dutch skills-based hiring platform.
“We do that intentionally to understand whether you are running an AI alongside, because the AI will then try and optimise for the length of the question,” she said. “But if you know your skill set, you will understand what’s being asked.”
If you’re having difficulty answering, you can always ask it to clarify or repeat the question, she added.