I completed my first job interview with an AI agent
BlackTechLogy: Are hiring managers and HR reps being replaced by artificial intelligence?
This post is part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts.
Artificial intelligence is here to stay, whether we like it or not. It’s not spicy like Rosie from “The Jetsons,” but it does have some perks. It can decrease busy and boring job duties, speed up work tasks that need to be completed much faster, help improve a work-life balance, and team up to cross off our to-do lists.
Technology has even advanced so much that we can have robot dogs and automated feeders in case we don’t get home in time to feed our live dogs. We’re living in a time where AI can do chores like vacuuming, make our coffee and wash our dishes on a scheduled timer. (Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson insists we always make our own beds though.)
Others are more hesitant about the increasing use of AI. They still want human-to-human contact at all times. Job seekers’ opinions of AI may be somewhere in the middle. According to the ACLU, recent reports indicate that 70% of general companies and 99% of Fortune 500 companies are already using AI-based and other automated tools in their hiring processes, especially within lower-wage job sectors such as retail and food services where Black and Latino workers are disproportionately concentrated. However, AI is also being used in mid-level jobs, including within the news writing and editing industry.
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A LinkedIn post recently caught my interest for a remote news position. I met all of the qualifications and decided to give it a shot after rewriting my cover letter and reviewing my resume. I clicked “apply” and expected to do all the usual things job seekers do with LinkedIn job postings.
However, I realized fairly quickly that this job interview was going to be a little different. It wasn’t just AI sifting through my resume to see if I had the desired skills and experience in my resume and cover letter. It wasn’t even commands to press record to answer and submit a few prepared questions the way someone would upload YouTube videos. Instead, an AI bot handled the entire initial interview, including a 45-minute vetting process that required sharing my screen and interacting in a video discussion as if I was on a Google Meet or Zoom call.
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
For job seekers who have grown exhausted from submitting their resumes and not being able to get to the first interview, talking to a bot may feel like a breath of fresh air. My opinion on this non-human job interview was neutral. I answered each question from the bot (who pronounced my name correctly just like Copilot Voice). I was then directed to open a link and take a written test in real time with strict instructions to not use AI — while (ironically) still talking to an AI bot.
Recommended Read: “Copilot versus ChatGPT: Which is better for job inquiries ~ BlackTechLogy: Could artificial intelligence help to reduce the time-consuming process of writing cover letters?”
What did I learn from this AI job interview? After all the technical errors and submission malfunctions during this job interview, human hiring managers should feel confident that their jobs are secure. Here’s what worked, what didn’t and why I did a 180.