Are Your Ready?

Are you ready for an automated video interview (AVI)?  You better be.

AVIs are job interviews involving AI to one degree or another.  There are various types of these sessions, ranging from ones that are AI-Assisted to others that are AI-Led.  In AI-Assisted meetings, AI interprets interviewee’s facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, vocabulary, and other factors to make a recommendation for HR or other personnel.  In the AI-Led interviews, AI makes a decision, such as which candidates to reject.

We can argue the merits of conducting AVIs, but that discussion would be strictly academic.  AVIs shorten the hiring process and cut costs; they are here to stay . . . at least until a new technology comes along.

So, what should job candidates do?  As with any interview, preparation is key.  Try to determine if your upcoming interview is an AVI by scrutinizing the communications you receive.  Do those missives include any of the following terms?

• Predictive Analytics
• Decision Algorithms
• Machine Learning
• Data Drive Decision
• Natural Language Processing
• Recommendation Engines (my personal favorite!)

If any of these terms appear in application forms or emails received, you can assume yours will be an AVI.  Visual, verbal, and other data will be collected during your interview.  What visual data?  AI will analyze your eye movements, facial expressions, hand motions, blinks, nods, and the like.  AI will also evaluate your verbal performance, from your tone of voice, vocabulary, key words, pronunciation, pauses, and use of filler words (ums, ahs, and you-knows).

What can you do?  Firstly, don’t fret.  Experts recommend acting naturally.  Be yourself.  Staying rigid in an attempt to avoid changes in facial expressions, for instance, is not a good plan.

Experts also recommend this AVI specific practice: Get used to speaking to your screen.  Ask a friend to interview you on Zoom.  Some experts even suggest having that friend turn off his/her video, so you get used to speaking to a blank screen.

After practicing, make sure your interviewing location is work-like.  Using a green screen with a generic office background works.  Be sure to check your audio and video equipment beforehand and, most importantly, block out enough time to be comfortable.  If you’re worrying about your next meeting, it will show.

Good luck.

Note:  AI rejected this blog.  I kept shaking my head and swearing under my breath while writing it.