AI Takes Over First: Job Candidates Screened by Algorithms Before Human Eyes

Lumier Rodriguez flipped on the “open to work” setting on the professional social network LinkedIn to show that she was actively looking for contract work in April. She thought she’d instantly get responses from recruiters.

She was met with silence.

So she started actively applying to jobs. But rather than hear back from human recruiters, she received emails, calls and texts from artificial intelligence agents called virtual recruiters seeking interviews. By late June, she had been screened over the phone and via video by AI four times, leaving her to wonder: “Where are all the people?”

“It felt a little bit like when you have a blind date and you don’t get enough information before going,” said Rodriguez, a Central Florida resident. “You don’t want to be rude and hang up … but I also felt catfished a little bit.”

Increasingly, job candidates are running into virtual recruiters for screenings. The conversational agents, built on large language models, help recruiting firms and hiring companies respond to every applicant, conduct interviews around-the-clock and find the best candidate in increasingly large talent pools. People who have experienced AI interviews have mixed reviews: surprisingly good or cold and confusing.

“I realized I have to get ready for AI versus” humans, Rodriguez said. “I know it’s here to stay.”

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a growing number of organizations use AI for recruiting to automate candidate searches and communicate with applicants during the interview process. Job applicants also are increasingly turning to AI to quickly tailor their résumés and cover letters, and to apply instantly. LinkedIn said applications for job openings have jumped 30 percent in the past two years, partially because of AI, with some jobs receiving hundreds of applications within a couple of hours.

There’s a high likelihood that people will someday get a call from AI, said Nichol Bradford, SHRM’s executive-in-residence. “We’re going to move from assuming it’s human and surprised by AI to assuming it’s AI.”

How AI interviews work

In cases where AI is used, job candidates are often informed that they may be contacted by a virtual recruiter during the application process. Shortly after, they may be sent a text message or email with further instructions, which may include a link to the interview or a request to schedule. Interviews, hosted by phone or video, can last anywhere between a few minutes to about 20, depending on the candidate’s experience and the hiring firm’s questions.

Questions may be basic to more complex, such as asking to describe specific scenarios and resolutions. Agents can end an interview if the candidate doesn’t meet minimum requirements. Some allow questions, though agents may not be able to answer all of them. (During a test call The Post conducted, one agent couldn’t provide any information about hours or the hiring company.)

The agent then passes on summaries or transcripts, and sometimes video or audio recordings, to human recruiters. Staffing firms said some also have sentiment indicators that can flag issues, such as when a candidate gets frustrated. The firms that spoke to The Post said candidates can opt out of AI interviews without consequences. Agents collect information from screening calls to help human recruiters pick which candidates to push through to the next step, three companies that use the bots said.

Job applicants say they are hearing from agents called Recruiter Jamie, Robin, Angel and Raya, all virtual recruiters from different companies. For many, this is a first, and some are taking to social media to ask their networks whether these agents real.

But recruiting firms say it’s just a matter of time before AI recruiter calls become the norm.

“The best way to describe Angel is 24/7/365 technology that augments our human capital’s recruiting efforts,” said Adam Samples, president of talent solutions at Atrium, which uses the virtual recruiter called Angel. “It’s not making hiring decisions. Those are left for the recruiting team.”

Some candidates who have been interviewed by virtual recruiters say agents interrupted or misunderstood them or felt impersonal, and they worried that their responses weren’t going to be accurately transcribed or evaluated.

Jen Glaser, an instructional designer and Charlotte resident, tried to bypass the AI. But the agent told her that it was best to complete the virtual interview first and that she would then be routed to a human. The process sounded easy — five minutes with an agent. But she says her experience left her baffled.

The agent asked questions she thought a human wouldn’t have after reading her résumé. And while the bot sounded humanlike and responsive, it lacked empathy. After asking about her job experience, the bot cut her off midsentence. Then, after asking her to repeat an answer it didn’t understand, it replied, “No problem. I’ll call you back,” and hung up.

“I thought it was silly,” she said, adding that it never called her back. “I just dropped it because I couldn’t get to a human.”

Nisha Kaushal’s virtual recruiter seemed to have time limits, cutting her off when she spoke too long and leaving dead air if her answer was short. It left her concerned about how the AI might summarize her answers and whether a human would vet.

“Because AI isn’t perfect, who knows what it got,” said Kaushal, a Bay Area data scientist. “It did say a human recruiter would reach out if they liked me, but am I being filtered out by a human or AI?”

Some virtual recruiters, such as Raya from IT consulting and staffing firm Akraya, score and rank candidates on criteria set by the employer. Human recruiters can review rank, as well as AI summaries, transcripts and video recordings. Raya can also detect when a candidate is distracted or reading another screen based on eye movement. Agents like Angel from Atrium and Anna AI from recruiting firm PSG Global Solutions mostly serve as information gatherers, requiring humans to do the evaluation.

Sometimes a screening agent may be better than a human, such as in customer support or seasonal retail gigs, some staffing firms said. Recruiters scramble on a tight deadline, which can cause burnout and lower effectiveness.

Virtual recruiter “Anna doesn’t get tired,” David Koch, chief transformation and innovation officer at PSG, said.

Candidates who meet Raya via video interview won’t have to dumb down their answers or translate technical terms because the AI is trained on subject expertise, said Amar Panchal, CEO of Akraya.

“The quality of interviewing has improved,” he said. “You’re interviewing with an expert, so talk like one.”

Tiffney Keller, who runs a professional training and coaching firm in Allen, Texas, said she was surprised to interview with AI but thought it was a good experience.

“It makes you think with your instincts based on your knowledge,” she said, saying that a live transcript made her aware of the filler words she used. “I was very conscious about being polished and taking a second to think out my responses before just blurting it out.”

Jobseekers asked to interview with AI should be ready to demonstrate their skills and experience but also their authenticity, said Jackie Watrous, an analyst in the HR tech practice at Gartner. Those worried about scams should verify the agent’s legitimacy with the hiring firm. Often, firms will mention the bot on their website or application. If you’re uncomfortable being interviewed by AI, find out whether it’s necessary, say experts.

As for Rodriguez, her worst experience was with an AI agent that didn’t understand her request to repeat the question. She found that hanging up made the agent call back and repeat itself. She says she has since had better AI interviews.

“I’m trying to do work-arounds to get me that face-to-face interaction. I would actually still give [AI] another shot,” she said.