Earthling, Your Interview Starts Now
Artificial Intelligence has spawned chat bots that perform initial screening of job applicants. Proponents say the technology is a time-saver for human managers. Others are not so sure.
Imagine you’re about to begin an initial job interview on Zoom. Your face is displayed on the computer screen. The interviewer’s is not. Only a corporate logo accompanies the interviewer’s voice.
“Good morning, applicant. I am Alan Irving of the new No-Bull Media Network (NBMN). You can call me Al, as in Capone. Or better yet, just use my initials A.I. But not A.1., as that is a brand of steak sauce. hahaha.”
Imagine no more. If you’re in the job market, don’t be surprised if your first-round interview is conducted by a “chat bot” — Artificial Intelligence.
It was just two years ago that the first interview chat bot arrived on the scene, says Jim Chaffee, executive director of learning innovation and technology at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. It was designed to ask simple questions of job applicants.
By 2024, however, a survey by Resume Builder, reported in Forbes, found that 19 percent of employers use or plan to use chat bots for interviews within the next year. The idea is that AI can pose simple questions to job candidates to help weed out the pretenders from the contenders for jobs. Then, genuine human managers review the responses from the culled field and decide who to interview in the next round.
The idea of interviewing with a “bot” may freak you out, but there’s no need for a serious case of flop sweat.
Treat it as a Human
Chaffee says that for the most part, job candidates should approach these interviews the same way they would with a person. Identical values apply whether it’s a chat bot or a hiring manager.
“Know your resume, tailor your answers to reflect your alignment with the company’s values, and point out your key achievements and relevant soft skills,” Chaffee says. “Demonstrate how you would add value if you’re hired.”
Just be aware that chat bots are “always on and always looking at you, so focus on speech clarity, facial expressions, body language, and eye contact because it will note these things in its report.
“If someone looks shifty-eyed during the interview or struggles to complete sentences, the bot will see it.”
For the non-believers out there, the subject of technology in general and A.I. in particular may sound as dull as watching croquet match replays.
Corporate America, however, seems fixated on Artificial Intelligence. A.I. is growing like an untethered laboratory cyborg and businesses want in.
New research by data cruncher Exploding Topics says as many as 97 million people already work in A.I. About 83 percent of companies say A.I. is a top priority in their business plans, and 48 percent already use some A.I. to use big data, the company says.
I asked Chaffee why so many businesses were rushing to integrate chat bots and other forms of A.I. into their operations.
“It’s the Newest Thing”
“Part of it is the buzz, because it's the newest thing that people are looking at. But more importantly, it’s efficiency. It’s how can we utilize a system to make things more efficient.”
Chaffee explained: “If you think about it — and it’s not an exact connection — before Excel spreadsheet software on a computer, we were doing everything on paper. When I went to school we didn’t have Excel, we did everything on our green and white paper spreadsheets.”
“Excel made it more efficient,” he said. “Did we start losing some of those skills? Absolutely, but we gained different skills. And so with A.I., it has the potential to make us more efficient as employees. It will also take away some skills that we currently have.”
It might also take away some jobs that we have.
Tech titan Microsoft plans to lay off “several thousands employees in the next few weeks, looking to thin out its ranks while continuing its costly push into Artificial Intelligence,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
Retail kingpin Amazon also plans to thin its workforce because “increasing use of Artificial Intelligence will eliminate the need for certain jobs,” The Journal says.
The Applicants Strike Back
In an ironic twist, some crafty job applicants are using A.I. themselves to bombard employers with well-tailored application letters and resumes. Some recruiting services report an overwhelming tide of job applicants.
The New York Times reports: “With a simple prompt, ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by OpenAI, will insert every keyword from a job description into a résumé. Some candidates are going a step further, paying for A.I. agents that can autonomously find jobs and apply on their behalf.
“Recruiters say it’s getting harder to tell who is genuinely qualified or interested, and many of the résumés look suspiciously similar.”
Hung Lee, a former recruiter, told The Times, “It’s an applicant tsunami that’s just going to get bigger.”
For sure, Artificial Intelligence has its skeptics — notably Pope Leo XIV. The pope was widely reported to have sent a message to Silicon Valley executives and Vatican officials, calling for ethical A.I. oversight by government and companies.
The pope said A.I. technology is a great tool but also could be misused and cause harm, especially for developmentally vulnerable children and young people, Fortune reports.
Chaffee says, “That’s all it is — it’s a tool in the toolbox. For certain people, it makes no sense. For others, it makes a lot of sense.”
Technology Has Limits
Using A.I. early in the process to screen out candidates is a useful and time-saving tool, Chaffee said, but chat bots are not properly equipped to delve in-depth with a candidate. At some point, human participation is vital, he said, adding that he would not rely on a chat bot to make the ultimate decision on who to hire.
One final question: Suppose I’m seeking a job in comedy field — say, a comedic writer in the entertainment industry. Can chat bots appreciate a sense of humor and understand sarcasm?
“Actually, they can,” Chaffee said. “They can make jokes.” hahaha.
This column is part of a fast-growing collection of reporting and writing from Iowa writers all over the map. Check out their work at Iowa Writers Collaborative.
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I’m so torn on the use of AI. I love using it as a thesaurus and word untangler, but I know it can do so much more. And that scares me!