Robots interviewing graduates for jobs at top city firms as students practice how to impress AI - ‘don’t apply for a job, just do an interview and we will match you to the best job’."
Robots interviewing graduates for jobs at top city firms
as students practice how to impress AI
Prestigious city graduate schemes are increasingly using
robots to conduct interviews
By Camilla Turner, education editor 21 APRIL 2018 •
5:21PM
As a nervous university student keen to make a good
impression, you would be forgiven for wanting to comb your hair, polish your
shoes and maybe even clean your teeth before a job interview.
But this kind of preparation could soon become a thing of
the past, as prestigious city graduate schemes - including Goldman Sachs and
Unilever - are increasingly using robots to conduct interviews.
Rather than sitting in front of an interviewer, students
are asked to set up a webcam on their computer or phone. Questions pop up on
the screen, and they are asked to make a video recording of their answers.
Thousands of videos are then scanned by powerful
algorithms that can pick up what kinds of words or phrases you are using, how
concisely you present your arguments, and how confident you sound. Computer
programmes using artificial intelligence (AI) can also detect
“micro-expressions”, which could be how much you blink, smile or frown.
The AI interviews are typically used at an early stage of
the application process, in order to whittle down tens of thousands of
applicants to a smaller pool that can move on to assessment days and finally,
in-person interviews.
Derek Walker, who used to run the graduate recruitment at
Meryll Lynch and Barclays bank, said that most big firms have been using
automated online tests for the past decade.
“What we are seeing now is the role out of a much more
sophisticated set of tools, including interviews delivered by a computer,” he
said.
“They might have an actor or a graphic asking questions,
or a pre-recorded voice, but they are not there listening to you. You have no
ability to build a rapport with a machine and this can really throw people.”
Mr Walker, who now works at Finito, a company which gives
career advice to students, went on: “Your answers are being analysed against a
set of quality and criteria determined by the employer. It is more
sophisticated than throwing in certain words. It can be the ability to
articulate in a concise way, there can be an assessment of body language.
“Some employers have taken characteristics from
successful employees and used those characteristics to create a profile of what
is desirable.”
The technology is popular with firms as it allows them to
see a wider pool of applicants than they would normally recruit from, Mr Walker
said.
“The reason most companies give as a reason for doing
this is that it improves the diversity of applicants and removes unconscious
bias,” he added.
Joshua Pauk, a 21-year-old graduate from Bristol
University, said that when he applied for graduate schemes in the banking
sector, he was asked to record webcam interviews for around ten different
companies.
He said: “They ask very traditional interview questions,
like why do you want to work here, and
what are your strengths and weaknesses. You’re just talking into a blank
screen, it’s really unnerving.”
A number of companies are using the AI interview
technology developed by HireVue, a firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“We were set up 13 years ago by a university student who
couldn’t get an interview and couldn’t get a job,” said Kevin Parke, HireVue’s
chairman and CEO.
“He wanted a job at Goldman Sachs, and he could see their
offices from his campus room. But they didn’t come to his college to do
interviews. He wanted to democratise interviews to make the process fairer and
more consistent. Now Goldman Sachs are one of our biggest clients.”
Unilever is another firm that uses HireVue's AI
interviews for their graduate scheme.
“They believe many graduates are applying for the wrong
jobs,” Mr Parke said. “They are now saying ‘don’t apply for a job, just do an
interview and we will match you to the best job’."
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