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Author: Larry Medina (Head of Career Services, Alumni & Corporate Relations) at ESSEC Asia-Pacific
This week, I will discuss a major trend that has been sweeping the hiring process for more than a few years now — automated, AI-driven interviews.
With the desire to make the hiring process more efficient and many startups digitizing the hiring process, AI is becoming a regular feature in screening interviews, especially for large companies.
Automated, AI-driven interviews are online, one-sided interviews with pre-selected questions. The two most common platforms are HireVue and Pymetrics, but there are others with more being developed.
While the algorithms are proprietary, the platforms work by analyzing non-verbal cues like facial expressions, voice patterns, and eye movements.
This type of analysis has drawn criticism of bias to which the companies have rightfully pointed out that human-to-human screening has always involved the interviewer’s biases.
How to prepare for this type of interview? First of all, the preparation tips for the past few weeks are still relevant, but let me build on a couple of important items.
Pre-setup
You need to create an ideal space to do the interview. Make sure that you have a quiet room with appropriate light on your face and sound IT infrastructure.
Ensure that your camera is at eye level as well. A common mistake is that the camera is too low — not ideal for seeing your eyes and facial expressions.
On a side note, all of these recommendations are relevant for any video interview.
Practice
Also, practice answering interview questions in front of your camera. It can be pretty unnerving to look at yourself while answering questions, especially since there is no interviewer to focus on.
The more you practice in front of the computer, the more you will get comfortable. If you are having a hard time getting comfortable seeing yourself on screen, you can use post-it notes to cover yourself on the screen but make sure you are not blocking the camera.
Precision
Finally, you need to prepare the length of your answers carefully. For all interviews, it is crucial to be conscious of the length of your answers.
In this scenario, it is critical because there will be a fixed length for the answers. The company can set the length of the answer and can vary depending on their requirements.
The more you practice your answers, the more you will have a better sense of working within the required time.
Conclusion
To recap, automated, AI-driven interviews are growing in prominence. Much of the preparation for these types of interviews is the same: researching, practicing answers, planning the logistics.
While it can be unnerving talking to a camera only, you can overcome it by practicing in advance and be conscious of the length of your answers.
Even though receiving some criticism, this type of interview is here to stay because of the efficiencies that large companies can reap.
Larry Medina is the Head of Career Services, Alumni & Corporate Relations at ESSEC Asia-Pacific Business School. For more career tips, follow #careertipswithlarry. Read previous tips from this series.