When it comes to graduate job interviews, like most things in life, how much you prepare is related to how well you do. Once that might have been doing research into the company, trawling the job description for keywords, and practicing your responses to common interview questions with a friend or even just by yourself. Not only can the job search be stressful, it’s time consuming!
But AI is changing many industries, and with the interview it’s changing how they are conducted on both sides of the screen. Forty-three percent of companies plan on adopting AI interviews by 2024 and two-thirds of them believe it will improve hiring efficiency. There’s a future where human to human interviews will be less and less common. Instead, the early stages of the hiring process may be with an AI searching your pre recorded responses for keyphrases and body language.
But AI can also help you.
In this article we’ll discuss how AI is changing how graduates can prepare for interviews. From helping with the time consuming work of researching the company and finding keywords in the job description to mock interviews with instant feedback AI can make your prep easier and more productive.
Why can’t AI be a replacement for your own grad job interview preparation?
AI is a tool, just like your oven, and you wouldn’t expect your oven to make you dinner so you shouldn’t expect AI to do all your preparation, right? Nor would you want it to.
Your personal touch, your personality, can’t be replicated by an AI. Hiring managers will likely be able to tell if what you’re saying doesn’t feel genuine, or sounds overly rehearsed.
Instead, AI is there to assist you in reaching the best outcome by being a tool for research and practice. Think of it as amplifying and showing the strengths you already have!
Tools to practice interviews
As a recent graduate you’ll likely find your university has a suite of AI-powered tools for practicing interviews and your resume you may still be able to access after graduation. Interview360, for example, is offered by many universities and provides instant feedback on your responses to questions under time pressure. Prepper is advertised to work similarly allowing you to practice job specific questions and receive feedback.
Hone your elevator pitch
Tools such as Interview360 and Prepper are able to coach you through your interview preparation plus, by providing it with your career history, AI can help you hone your elevator pitch for early interviews.
Background research on companies
You can prompt AIs, such as ChatGPT, to guide you on what you should be researching about a company. Tools such as ChatGPT likely won’t go into specifics, but can help give an excellent foundation for your own research.
Get keywords on the job description
You can also prompt your chosen AI with questions about a job description you provide. For example, you can ask about important keywords you should look out for, or questions that may be asked based on the job description.
This process is important so you can prepare yourself for the upcoming interview specifically, instead of just interview technique as a whole. That way you can put your best foot forward in for why you’re a good fit for the position.
How can you prepare for interviews involving AI?
Graduate interviews are being shaken up by AI on both sides of the hiring process and is expected to continue. For example, more than half of companies surveyed believe AI will replace human hiring managers entirely. While the AI interviewer is expected to grow in popularity, what better way to prepare yourself as a recent graduate than to be taught by an AI.
The Harvard Business Review warns job seekers to keep an eye out for terms in emails about the interview including: machine learning, predictive analytics, decision algorithms, recommendation engines, or data driven-decision. This will give you the best opportunity to prepare and not be taken by surprise.
When faced with an AI it can be easy to react to an impersonal situation by not acting like your usual self. Maybe you’re more unsure, or respond robotically, because you haven’t been in this situation before. Practicing your interview responses with AI not only can hone your interview responses but your performance in unprecedented ways of interviewing.
Grad job interviews are an evolving experience
While the world of interviewing is bound to change drastically year on year as AI continues to develop, that's not a reason to despair. Your hard work, your preparation, will help you succeed in your future interviews. AI after all is a tool, a tool hiring managers are beginning to use, but one you can use too.