AI Is Changing How Businesses Recruit for Open Roles — and How Candidates Are Gaming the System Picture answering a call with a recruiter — and getting a Siri- or Alexa-like voice on the other end.
By Sherin Shibu
Key Takeaways
- A Resume Builder survey projected that 40% of companies will use AI to "talk" to candidates this year.
- Candidates are using AI tools in response, from auto-apply to resume writers.
AI is gaining a foothold in recruiting, with Jobscan research finding that 99% of Fortune 500 companies use the technology to automatically filter out applicants, and a Resume Builder survey projecting that 40% of companies will use AI to "talk" to candidates this year.
Now, a new report shows that job applicants are adapting to employer AI use — even if they don't particularly like it.
According to The Guardian, AI has reached into recruiter calls, with employers using the technology to conduct preliminary screening interviews with strict time limits for answers. Candidates are often surprised to answer a call and hear a voice that sounds like Siri or Alexa on the other end or to click on a video invite and see no one there — especially because some of them aren't aware that AI will be conducting the interview.
"I expected a person or a panel," Adele Walton, a 24-year-old journalist, told The Guardian. "When I clicked on the call, I was surprised to enter a chat room with just myself."
Walton had to type out answers within a minute for each question, while only seeing herself on the screen. She was distracted by how her face was moving, and she felt like she could've done better with the social prompts that a person-to-person interview would have provided.
Related: JPMorgan Says Its AI Cash Flow Software Cut Human Work By Almost 90%
How Candidates Are Responding
As AI tools that benefit employers become widespread, tools for candidates are catching up. AI can help job seekers hone their resumes, auto-apply to jobs, and even write cover letters, according to The Guardian.
On video calls with AI, applicants can use AI teleprompters such as Final Round AI, which listens to questions and generates answers during an interview in real-time based on a resume and cover letter.
Companies use AI for recruiting because it can take care of repetitive and time-intensive tasks, per Forbes, but the software has its downsides.
AI probably won't handle executive decisions, like selecting the next CEO of a company, but it could affect hiring decisions for lower-ranked workers, according to Rory Mir, associate director of community organizing at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
A report published last week in the arXiv preprint server by researchers at Stanford University, the University of Chicago, and the Allen Institute found that AI did not eliminate the danger of bias in hiring.
The researchers found that AI made negative assumptions about the authors of a set of documents based solely on patterns of speech.
