Workers are worried about AI taking their jobs—and it turns out they hate it when AI is involved in their screenings for roles, too. Now, virtual avatars and chatbots have made their way into interview rounds, and it’s triggering some candidates to drop out of the running altogether.
Around 63% of U.S. job-seekers have been interviewed by AI, according to a recent report from Greenhouse—a 13% increase from just six months ago. Sharawn Tipton, chief people officer of Greenhouse, tells Fortune HR professionals are deploying AI interviewers to “filter the flood” of applications trying to stand out in an intensely competitive labor market.
“Recruiters are inundated and they’re worried about being replaced. There’s a trust gap on both sides, and technology is outpacing change management. Nobody’s explaining to candidates that the process looks different now,” Tipton says. “The cost of all of this falls hardest on candidates.”
But it’s a serious professional turn-off: Around 38% of candidates have already withdrawn from a hiring process because it included an AI interview, and another 12% say they would drop out if they were required to do an AI interview. Even when they go through with it, the outcome doesn’t tend to be fruitful—about 51% of candidates who completed an AI interview were either ghosted entirely, or are still waiting to hear back. However, it should be noted the report didn’t provide data to compare against human interviewers, who have also been known to go dark on applicants.
Tipton says poor AI interviewer experiences could backfire on employers; job-hunters will talk to their friends about the bad encounter, or post about it on social media.
“Candidates aren’t walking away from AI. They’re walking from bad experiences caused by bad AI. They’re reacting to a feeling of being processed rather than considered,” the Greenhouse executive explains. “I talked to someone recently who’d just gotten a rejection email, and the wording of it made her feel like she was nothing.”
Tipton says that the AI-enabled interviewing process has become an “arms race, not a hiring process.” Job candidates feel that they have to play the numbers game just to be seen, while hiring managers deploy the technology to filter through thousands of applicants faster. In planning how to move forward with AI interviewing, the Greenhouse CPO advises employers to take a step back and assess their hiring process. She advises hiring managers to show that a person with judgment is reviewing AI assessments, alongside providing the option of a human interviewer.
“There’s a lot of focus on [AI] efficiency and productivity, but not enough on who benefits from that and who doesn’t,” Tipton says, also noting it could exacerbate the gap between talent who are coached on the tools, and those who don’t have that access. “If employers aren’t intentional about this now, AI hiring will scale the same inequities the industry has been trying to break, just faster.”
Written by Emma Burleigh for Fortune as “Nearly 4 in 10 job candidates have bailed on a hiring round because it required an AI interview” and republished with permission.
