Tech Explained: Why some companies are returning to in-person interviews in ‘AI-free zones’ in Simple Terms

You must have seen Reels on Instagram where some people use AI chatbots to generate answers to crack a virtual interview. A report by The Financial Times has said that this is happening in real life and recruiters are now pushing for in-person interviews before any candidate joins them. For example, a recruiter at L’Oréal noticed something odd during a video interview recently. The candidate they were interviewing gave technically correct answers but strangely disconnected as if the answers being read from a screen rather than spoken from genuine experience. The jobseeker had been using an AI tool to generate responses in real time and simply repeating them out loud.“The answers didn’t come naturally,” explains Michael Kienle, L’Oréal’s global vice-president for talent acquisition, as per a report by the FT. The report said since AI has made it easier for candidates to generate polished CVs, there has been a flood of applications that look impressive on paper but reveal very little about the actual person behind them.This has also led employers – about 40% of them – to extend probation periods because they are struggling to accurately assess candidates’ real skills during the hiring process.“AI has widened the gap between how candidates present themselves and how they perform. Employers are telling us they can only understand real capability once someone starts the job,” Matt Monette, UK and Ireland lead at Deel, was quoted as saying.

Companies’ ‘AI-Free Zone’ solution

L’Oréal’s drew a hard line around the interview and is mandating at least one round of face-to-face interview before joining the company. “It will be in person, person to person — 45 minutes or one hour — that is an AI-free zone,” the company said.Accounting giant EY has taken a similar approach. While it actively encourages candidates to use AI when preparing for interviews, once they are in the room the rules change entirely.“When you’re in an interview and assessment we want to hear the real you,” says Irmgard Naudin ten Cate, EY’s global head of talent acquisition. “We don’t want to know what you’ve done, we want to know how you think, how you make decisions, how you handle conflicts. It’s that type of question where we can detect rehearsed answers,” she explained.Meanwhile, some companies like British carrier Virgin Group and Advertising agency VML have introduced new hurdle in the process to filter out the least serious applicants before a human being has to spend time on them.VML asked candidates to submit a 60-second video explaining why they were a good fit, 40% of applicants simply dropped out.“Anybody who’s got the commitment to make a video likely has some degree of commitment to us as a business,” says Graham Powell-Symon, VML’s talent acquisition director. Virgin Group is asking candidates to build profiles using tools developed by startups like Vizzy. Sarah Lock, Virgin Group’s recruitment lead, says the approach means that by the time a candidate reaches the interview stage, recruiters already have a far more rounded picture of who they are dealing with.“We’re seeing more applicants than ever before, but less real differentiation. It helps us cut through the sameness,” she says.