Man Shares His Bizarre Job Interview That Was Conducted By AI — ‘This Is What Interviewing Has Become’

Artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over more and more workplace tasks and responsibilities humans have conducted thus far. Now, a company called HireVue can even interview candidates for potential jobs. 

One man shared his experience with this software, and it was unsettling, to say the least.

The man was interviewed by AI for a new job instead of by a real person.

The man detailed his experience of being interviewed for a job by AI on Reddit. “In order to gain a real interview from a national grocery chain, I was required to perform a video interview with HireVue, an online, AI assessment tool,” he explained.

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The interview had some very strict guidelines the man had to follow. “To prepare, I was directed to wear a suit with no tie, headphones were prohibited, volume at a decent level with no external mic plugged in, and they said I should be in a well-lit, quiet area,” he recounted.

“The system asked me five questions and I had a minute to read each one and ready myself mentally before answering in three minutes or less,” he continued. “The system does not allow you to delete your recording and make additional attempts.”

The technology is very sophisticated and picks up on quite a bit, including facial expressions, eye movement, and the way candidates answer. The man was instructed to use the Situation, Task, Action, and Result method and speak as he would to a human being. This information is then used to score the candidate.

Dorde Krstic / Shutterstock

“If your eye strays away from the camera too much or for too long, your score will plummet because it’s been programmed to assume this action is the result of reading responses from printed cards or devices in the tester’s vicinity,” he explained.

“If your score is above a certain number, real humans may review your recorded answers if they wish,” he continued, “and you may be chosen to speak with additional members of their hiring team to continue the interview process.”

But his AI interview didn’t end there. After answering classic questions like “Describe a time when you had to make a hard decision within a tight timeline,” the man was instructed to play two games, one based on numbers and the other on shapes. It’s unclear what metrics these games were supposed to measure that were relevant to the position.

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Although this interview may sound strange, it’s becoming more and more common.

According to the Harvard Business Review, “During the isolation of the pandemic, many human resource management processes moved online. And even as life goes back to being more in person, many of these processes are here to stay.”

The Harvard Business Review identified three kinds of AI interviews that may be conducted in the search for a job. The first is an automated video interview or AVI. In this type of interview, the session is filmed so one can watch it later. However, all decisions are still left up to humans.

The second is AVI, AI-assisted, which sounds like what this Redditor encountered. This format is the same as AVI, except now reports generated by AI on things like movements and expressions are taken into account.

The third type of interview is AVI, AI-led. In this case, “technologies are used to make the hiring decision without human revision.”

It’s fascinating, and more than a little unnerving, to consider the fact that AI could not just be involved in making hiring decisions, but could actually be the final decision maker.

As the world becomes more automated and technology more advanced, it’s undoubtedly true that we will see more and more of this happening. But, the question that remains is whether or not we should let it. 

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.