AI Recruitment: What you need to know
And why smiling at the algorithm will not save you
Artificial intelligence is now appearing at almost every stage of recruitment when interviewing for large firms.
It may read your CV, ask you screening questions, invite you to play a series of rather mysterious games, analyse a written answer or conduct an interview without a human being anywhere in sight.
This can feel unnerving. Job interviews are strange enough when there is an actual person present. Talking enthusiastically to a small green light on your laptop is not something most of us were raised to regard as normal.
However, these systems are not going away. The Information Commissioner’s Office reports that 70% of employers expect to increase their use of AI and automation in recruitment over the next five years. Candidates therefore need to understand what the technology is doing, what it is not doing and how to prepare properly.
I remain firmly in favour of human beings playing a central role in recruitment. A machine cannot fully understand humour, courage, unusual potential, a complicated career story or why somebody who looks slightly unconventional on paper may be exactly right for a business.
Nevertheless, AI can process large numbers of applicants quickly and, when used sensibly, may give more candidates an opportunity to demonstrate what they can do.
The important words there are when used sensibly.
AI is not one single recruitment system
There is no universal “AI interview”.
Employers use different platforms for different purposes. Even two companies using the same platform may have chosen completely different questions, tests and scoring methods.
You may encounter AI or automation in:
CV screening
Application forms
Recruitment chatbots
Recorded interviews
Spoken AI interviews
Written chat interviews
Psychometric assessments
Game or task-based assessments
Situational judgement tests
Coding and technical tests
Work simulations
Interview scheduling
Not every online test uses AI. A traditional numerical reasoning test may simply be automatically marked. That is not quite the same as a system analysing your language, behaviour or decision-making patterns.
For candidates, the platform’s name matters less than understanding exactly what you have been asked to complete.
Before you click “begin”
Do not open an assessment at 11.43 pm on the evening of the deadline merely to “have a quick look”.
First establish:
What the assessment contains
How long it should take
Whether it must be completed in one sitting
Which sections are timed
Whether practice questions are available
Whether you can record an answer again
Whether you need a camera or microphone
Which browser or device is recommended
Who to contact if the technology fails
How to request a reasonable adjustment
Some links allow you to read introductory material without starting the assessment. Others are less forgiving. Read everything before pressing buttons with cheerful names such as “Let’s get started”.
The computer is ready. You do not have to be.
The platforms you may encounter
There are many recruitment-technology companies and the market changes continually. These are some of the principal names UK candidates may see.
HireVue
HireVue is probably the best-known video-interview platform.
You may be shown a series of questions and asked to record your answers. The employer decides:
How much preparation time you receive
How long each answer can be
Whether you can try again
Whether a recruiter watches the recording
Whether automated scoring is used
HireVue says that its current AI-scored video assessments analyse the transcript of what you say. They do not use facial analysis, the video itself or audio information to evaluate the answer. HireVue has also introduced a voice-based AI Interviewer that can hold a spoken conversation and ask follow-up questions.
This is important because there is a great deal of outdated advice online telling candidates to smile constantly, make exaggerated facial expressions and maintain terrifyingly unbroken eye contact.
Please do not do this.
Speak clearly, answer the question and use specific evidence. You are attending an interview, not auditioning to play a delighted newsreader.
Sova
Sova offers ability tests, personality assessments, situational judgement exercises, virtual assessment centres and one-way video interviews. Employers can choose to have recorded video answers initially scored using AI.
A Sova invitation may therefore contain several different exercises. Read the full invitation and do not assume that “online assessment” means a single 15-minute test.
Sapia.ai
Sapia.ai uses structured chat and video interviews.
In its chat interview, candidates write answers to a set of questions and the system analyses the content of those responses. Sapia says it focuses on what candidates say rather than how they look or sound.
Some people prefer this because it removes the awkwardness of appearing on camera. Others find writing under pressure more difficult.
The same rule applies: answer the question properly, use an actual example and do not pad the response with impressive-sounding phrases that say very little.
Arctic Shores
Arctic Shores uses task-based assessments designed to measure aspects of how people think, behave and approach decisions.
Candidates may complete up to nine interactive tasks. The company advises candidates to practise first, read the instructions and approach the tasks naturally. It also states that there is no single way to “pass” because different employers seek different qualities for different roles.
The exercises may look like games, but they are assessments.
This is not Candy Crush with a pension at the end.
Do not spend the entire exercise trying to work out which personality trait is being measured. You are likely to distract yourself and perform less naturally. Read the instructions, concentrate and respond consistently.
Harver and pymetrics
Harver owns pymetrics, which is particularly associated with game-based behavioural assessments.
These may examine patterns connected with attention, learning, decision-making, effort and risk. You are not necessarily being assessed on a simple collection of right and wrong answers.
Do not search online for the supposedly perfect pattern of clicks. Most jobs do not require somebody to be maximally cautious, recklessly bold or relentlessly competitive at all times.
Employers are usually looking for a combination of characteristics, not a cartoon superhero.
SHL
SHL is one of the most established assessment providers and is widely used in Britain.
Its assessments can include:
Numerical reasoning
Verbal reasoning
Logical or inductive reasoning
Personality questionnaires
Skills tests
Situational judgement
Job simulations
Video interviews
Practise the official sample questions before completing a timed reasoning test.
Familiarity with the format matters. You may be perfectly capable of interpreting business information but still lose time because you have never seen the particular style of graph, table or deliberately awkward wording used in the assessment.
Cappfinity and Talogy
Cappfinity and Talogy provide psychometric assessments, strengths questionnaires, job simulations and situational judgement exercises.
You may be placed in a fictional but realistic working situation and asked to respond to messages, prioritise tasks or decide what you would do next.
Approach these exercises as you would the actual job:
Identify the real problem
Consider the people affected
Separate urgent matters from merely noisy ones
Take appropriate ownership
Gather facts before making assumptions
Escalate when necessary
Avoid creating a crisis where none exists
The best answer is not always the most dramatic one.
Running immediately to the chief executive because two colleagues disagree over a spreadsheet is rarely the mark of emerging leadership.
TestGorilla and Vervoe
TestGorilla and Vervoe are commonly used for skills testing and practical work samples.
You might be asked to:
Analyse information
Write a customer response
Complete a coding task
Create a short presentation
Review a document
Solve a commercial problem
Record an answer
Explain your reasoning
Treat these exercises as real work.
Read the brief carefully and follow the instructions. An elaborate answer to the wrong question remains the wrong answer, however attractive the PowerPoint.
Paradox and recruitment chatbots
Paradox and similar systems act as recruitment assistants. They may answer questions, screen applicants and arrange interviews through a website or text conversation.
A chatbot may ask about:
Your right to work
Location
Availability
Qualifications
Licences
Shift patterns
Salary expectations
Do not treat these exchanges as casual messaging. An answer may decide whether you continue.
Be accurate. If a question is unclear, ask for clarification or contact the recruitment team rather than choosing the nearest answer and hoping for the best.
Your CV may be screened before anybody reads it
Many employers use applicant-tracking and matching systems to organise or screen CVs.
The software may extract information about:
Skills
Qualifications
Job titles
Previous responsibilities
Length of experience
Location
Eligibility
Industry knowledge
This does not mean you should copy the entire job description into your CV.
Use the employer’s terminology where it accurately describes your experience, then support it with evidence.
If a role requires stakeholder management, do not rely on the reader to deduce this from a vague sentence about “supporting the wider team”. Explain whom you dealt with, what you were responsible for and what happened as a result.
Do not make the recruiter or the computer join the dots. They may not bother.
Use a straightforward structure with clear headings. A highly decorative CV containing five columns, floating shapes and a graph describing you as 87% creative may look clever but can be difficult for screening software to read.
It may also be difficult for a person to read.
How to answer an AI or recorded interview properly
The central task is exactly the same as in a human interview: provide clear evidence that you can do the job.
Prepare six to eight examples covering:
An achievement
A difficult problem
A mistake or setback
Teamwork
Leadership or initiative
Conflict
Prioritisation
Learning something quickly
Working under pressure
Influencing somebody
Dealing with a customer or stakeholder
Acting with integrity
These examples do not all need to come from formal employment.
You can use:
University or school
Part-time work
Volunteering
Sport
Clubs and societies
Caring responsibilities
Personal projects
Travel
Community involvement
What matters is your behaviour, judgement and contribution.
Use STAR, but do not become imprisoned by it
The STAR method can be very helpful:
Situation: What was happening?
Task: What were you responsible for?
Action: What did you personally do?
Result: What happened?
I would add a fifth point:
Reflection: What did you learn?
The action should normally be the longest part of the answer.
Candidates frequently spend 90 seconds explaining the background, mention their own contribution in one hurried sentence and are cut off before reaching the result.
Do not bury the evidence beneath a lengthy tour of the scenery.
STAR is also not appropriate for every question. If you are asked why you want the job, answer why you want the job. Do not force an anecdote about a university group project into it merely because somebody once told you every interview answer must follow STAR.
Say what you did
Candidates often describe everything as “we”.
Teamwork is important, but an employer still needs to know your personal contribution.
Instead of:
We had a difficult deadline, but we all worked together and completed the project.
Say:
I identified that two stages of the project were going to overlap, reorganised the timetable and agreed additional support from another team. We delivered two days early and the client extended the contract.
Give other people credit, but do not remove yourself from your own story.
The machine cannot admire your contribution telepathically. Neither, incidentally, can most interviewers.
Make the evidence obvious
Use clear phrases:
“My responsibility was…”
“The problem I identified was…”
“I decided to… because…”
“The action I personally took was…”
“The result was…”
“What I learnt was…”
This is not unsophisticated. It is effective communication.
Employers are not persuaded by unsupported descriptions such as:
Hard-working
Resilient
Commercial
Creative
Organised
A people person
A natural leader
Prove them.
Anyone can describe themselves as a “dynamic strategic thinker”. The world is already overrun with them.
Use the job description, but retain your own voice
Look for the qualities repeatedly mentioned in the job description.
These might include:
Collaboration
Analysis
Accuracy
Customer focus
Initiative
Commercial judgement
Adaptability
Communication
Use this language naturally where it genuinely fits your experience.
Do not cram keywords into every sentence. You should not sound like someone reading the job description aloud while being held hostage.
A strong answer connects your real experience with the employer’s need. It does not merely repeat the employer’s vocabulary.
Do not memorise a script
Prepare your examples, but do not learn complete answers word for word.
A memorised answer may sound polished until the question is phrased differently. At that point, candidates often deliver the prepared answer anyway and hope nobody notices.
People notice.
Keep brief prompts nearby where allowed:
Context
My responsibility
Three actions
Result
Lesson
Use them to remind yourself of the structure. Do not read from them.
Practise talking to a camera
Speaking to a laptop is unnatural. It improves with practice.
Record yourself answering three questions and watch the recording back.
You will probably dislike doing this. Do it anyway.
Check:
Did you answer the actual question?
Did you begin directly?
Was your example specific?
Did you explain your own contribution?
Did you include a result?
Did you speak too quickly?
Did you go on long after making the point?
Most candidates are not rejected because they paused to think. They are more likely to weaken an answer by continuing to talk after it was finished.
Once you have made the point, stop.
The camera and the room
For a video assessment:
Put the camera at eye level
Sit somewhere quiet
Make sure your face is clearly lit
Test the microphone
Turn off notifications
Close unnecessary applications
Charge the device
Tell other people not to interrupt
Have water nearby
Check your internet connection
Dress as you would for an initial interview with the company.
You do not need a professional studio, a ring light the size of a satellite dish or a strategically placed shelf of serious books you have never opened.
A tidy, calm background is sufficient. No one has ever been appointed because their houseplant looked especially capable.
Do not try to beat the algorithm
There is a flourishing industry in online advice promising to reveal the secret of AI recruitment. Do not believe it all, particularly when told to do the following:
Candidates may be told to:
Smile continuously
Avoid blinking
Use particular hand movements
Repeat keywords
Maintain constant eye contact
Speak without pausing
Adopt a different personality
Choose a particular pattern in assessment games
Most of this advice is either outdated, oversimplified or invented.
Different platforms assess different things. Some examine written language. Some assess a transcript. Some score practical work. Some measure responses across multiple tasks. Others merely record information for a human reviewer.
There is no universal trick.
Do not turn yourself into a slightly alarming corporate robot in an attempt to impress a corporate robot.
Prepare properly, answer honestly and make your evidence clear.
Can you use ChatGPT to prepare?
Yes, sensibly.
AI can help you:
Research an organisation
Understand an unfamiliar industry
Compare your CV with a job description
Generate possible interview questions
Practise follow-up questions
Identify missing evidence
Improve grammar and clarity
Condense your notes
Test whether an answer makes sense
However, AI should be your assistant, not your impersonator.
Do not use it to invent achievements, manufacture enthusiasm or create opinions you do not hold.
You must be able to discuss every sentence in your application without assistance. If ChatGPT has apparently transformed you overnight into an expert in derivatives, sustainable aviation fuel or medieval ecclesiastical architecture, somebody may eventually ask a second question.
For assessments and work samples, check the employer’s rules. Some organisations permit AI and want to see how candidates use it. Others prohibit it because they are testing unaided ability.
Never assume.
Where AI is allowed, be prepared to explain:
How you used it
How you checked the output
What you changed
Which decisions were your own
Ask for reasonable adjustments
Candidates can request reasonable adjustments for any part of a recruitment process. This may include additional time, rest breaks, an alternative format, captioning, screen-reader compatibility or another way of completing an assessment. Ask as early as possible.
Explain the practical adjustment that would allow you to demonstrate your ability fairly. You do not need to apologise for doing so.
There is no gold star for struggling in silence through an assessment that places you at a substantial disadvantage.
What are your rights?
Employers should explain when automated systems are being used and how they may affect recruitment decisions.
The ICO has identified risks around transparency, unfair exclusion, bias and the handling of candidates’ personal information. It expects employers using automated decision-making to provide appropriate safeguards and make their processes fair and understandable.
Where an automated decision has had a significant effect, you can reasonably ask:
Whether automated scoring was used
What part it played in the decision
Whether a person reviewed the result
How you can challenge an error
Whether additional information can be considered
A useful message might be:
Please could you confirm whether automated scoring or decision-making was used when reviewing my application? If it played a significant part in the decision, I would be grateful if my application could be reviewed by an appropriate member of the recruitment team.
This does not guarantee a different result. It does mean that an unexplained computer-generated rejection should not automatically be treated as the word of God.
If the technology fails
If the screen freezes, the recording disappears or the assessment will not load:
Take a screenshot
Note the time
Record the question or section affected
Contact the recruitment team promptly
Explain what happened clearly
Do not restart repeatedly unless instructed
Technical problems happen. Report them calmly.
Do not send a six-paragraph email announcing that the platform has destroyed your future. It probably has not.
The BNC view
AI recruitment is not automatically good and it is not automatically bad.
It can give employers a consistent way to consider large numbers of candidates. It can also reject very good people because the questions are poor, the criteria are crude or the employer has placed too much faith in a score.
Candidates cannot control the quality of the system. They can control how well they prepare.
Remember:
Find out exactly what you are being asked to complete.
Research the organisation and role properly.
Prepare strong examples from your real experience.
Explain what you personally did.
Give clear results.
Practise the format.
Follow the instructions.
Ask for adjustments or clarification when needed.
Use AI to assist you, never to invent you.
Do not waste your energy trying to trick the machine.
The purpose is not to learn how to perform for an algorithm.
It is to make sure that, however complicated the technology becomes, the evidence of what you can do remains impossible to miss.
Good luck and be yourself.
Katharine Landale
Bold New Recruitment and Bold New Career