Have you ever done interviews with a chatbot before?
While many of us know chatbots from messaging apps or customer support automation, chatbots can actually be used in many different ways, such as influencing the job application process for job seekers.
There are pros and cons when it comes to these AI-enabled interviews:
The Benefits Of An Applying Through An Interview Bot
You can have everything planned out in your head, but once you walk into an interview room, your mind completely blanks out. You’re distracted by the interviewer, the office surroundings, the process, and more.
Compare this to an interview bot, which is accessed just like a messaging app on your phone. You can answer the interview questions in your pyjamas at home, during your lunch break, or in the middle of the night. Just imagine how many jobs you could interview for! The amount of time saved adds up once you take into consideration the travelling and preparation time you spend on each face-to-face interview.
At the same time, oftentimes the results of the interview can be based on subjective aspects instead of your resume. An interview bot helps to limit how much the interviewer can evaluate you based on your clothes and non-verbal behaviour instead of your work. At the same time, the lack of face-to-face interaction means that you can have your answers prepared and written to best highlight your accomplishments.
The Cons Of An Applying Through An Interview Bot
If you love talking to people and feel that your best feature is acing interviews with your charm, then you’ll probably enjoy face-to-face interviews more as compared to an interview bot. The lack of back-and-forth banter (and emotional connection) makes it tough to charm the interviewer. For example, if your current job includes a detailed backstory as well as career progression, it can be hard to explain that through text.
An interview bot also requires a basic level of understanding of both chatbots as well as messaging apps. In order to interview through an interview bot, you need to understand the process, which can be confusing for those who don’t know what to do. For example, you need to reply with exact words and terms that the AI is scanning for, and finish the interview in order for the answers to be sent to the potential employers.
Even if you are familiar with casual messaging apps, you need to approach an interview bot differently; typing in casual language would be a problem, akin to writing ‘LOL’ on LinkedIn. There’s a level of formality to the interview with the interview bot, even if you’re doing it at home. Those who forget this could inadvertently ruin their chances to get the job.
In the end, it’s up to you to learn which type of interview works best for you; however, since we can’t control what type of interview we get, it would be best to learn how to ace all types of interviews.
