Job interviews are not fun when you are young. I will never forget the first question I was asked in my first interview for the Financial Times graduate scheme, which was, "So, apart from the week before your interview, do you ever actually read the FT?"
Young people are facing a different challenge. They find themselves smiling nervously into their laptop webcams, answering questions as a timer ticks down with no human to chat with.
Large employers are using video interviews to narrow down job applicants to a smaller group. Modern Hire and HireVue record applicants answering pre-determined questions with a time limit for each answer. The recordings will be watched by the hiring managers. The platform will assess the candidate based on what they say and their facial expressions.
AVIs are becoming more and more common. The Institute of Student Employers says that of the employers that used video interviews in the UK in 2019/20, 46 percent were doing them with an interviewer, 30 percent were using automated video interviews and 24 percent were using a mix of both.
One grocery chain in the US had as many as 15,000 interviews per day during the Pandemic, according to HireVue. The platforms say the process is more fair than human recruiters and leads to better and more diverse candidates.
There is a fierce debate about whether the use of technology could reinforce biases rather than eliminate them. Some argue that some artificial intelligence products are just digital snake oil.
Employers need to pay more attention to how the process affects prospective employees, in addition to interrogating whether the technology works as intended. The Institute for Employment Studies and the University of Sussex Business School have warned that young jobseekers feel confused, dehumanised and exhausted by automated recruitment systems.
In the past two years, Jimeet Romen Shah, who is in his final year at the University of Sussex, has done seven or so AVIs. He tries to make eye contact with the camera, but it's hard not to see his face on the screen. It doesn't feel right. I can smile in an interview, but in a video it doesn't look right.
He is concerned that if he looks down or up it will look like he is reading a note. He says it feels robotic. He wasn't told if a human or a machine would judge him in most cases. After a rejection, he has never received detailed feedback.
It is hard to communicate in such an unnatural situation, but the platforms encourage jobseekers to be authentic to have the best chance of success. HireVue says to get excited and share your energy with the camera. Job applicants share tips on how to cope, such as to stick a face next to the camera.
Some platforms are making improvements. The ability for applicants to practice questions and re-record their answers is one of the features HireVue told me was best practice. Candidates are always told if the responses will be evaluated.
Dr Zahira Jaser, an assistant professor at the University of Sussex business school, says students are led to believe the technology is flawless even as they struggle with it. She knows students who find the video interviews very difficult because they are their second language. She says that this is a recipe for disaster for the students. I am looking at myself in the mirror in the crucial stage of my life, trying to enter the job market, and then I am told all the mistakes are mine because this is perfect technology.
Employers will lose too. People who can talk into a void are more important than people who can interact well with others. An interview is a company's first real interaction with prospective employees, some of whom it will want to hire. It should be a chance to learn about each other.
It is easy to get excited about new technology, but employers should listen to the voices of the digital natives now subject to it. Shah told me that he would always do a telephone call if he was on the other side of the table.
sarah.oconnor is a reporter for the Financial Times.
