Job applicants now have to impress AI

The Future. If you thought landing a job interview was already hard, it’s only getting harder — AI chatbots are now conducting preliminary interviews. While the system may be more efficient for hiring companies, they have the potential to lead to major headaches for applicants. But it seems like Pandora’s Box is already wide open… and the only way to combat the rise of chatbots might be to use one yourself.

The chatbot will see you now
AI is increasingly becoming companies’ first line of defense in hiring.

• McDonalds, Wendy’s, CVS Health, and Lowe’s all use Paradox’s Olivia chatbot.
• L’Oréal and Deloitte use one called Mya.
• Sears, Dell, and Sony use text-message chatbots created by Sense.
• Some companies are even using a system called RecruitBot, which scrapes LinkedIn and other job databases to surface potential candidates (like swiping on Hinge).

While companies view the use of chatbots as a great way to cut costs (HR is usually the first to go), labor analysts worry about the biases these systems could have against applicants of different ethnicities or genders, or against anyone who has a disability, a medical condition, or trouble speaking English. In fact, a new law in NYC is trying to combat this very thing.

And those biases are a huge deal, especially when many of the chatbots are used to screen applicants for entry-level positions. When things get buggy — as Forbes details — job seekers don’t have a flesh-and-blood person to turn to for help.

But maybe that’s the point — ChatGPT is coming for those entry-level jobs, anyway.