AI job interviews are driving workers crazy

This fall recruitment season, the "interviewer" that job seekers encounter most often may be AI.

As soon as you submit your resume, an assessment link and AI interview invitation will arrive in your mailbox, requiring completion within a time limit. A lifelike human face on the screen stares at you, reading questions, timing your responses, and raising follow-up questions. If you lower your head, it may pop up a reminder; if your answer is too short, you may not get enough points.

AI interviews have almost become a regular part of the recruitment process. Some are placed in the first round of initial screening, some are inserted between the HR interview and the business interview, and some are arranged at the very end, just like an English proficiency test. Companies hand over the work of screening candidates to AI, while job seekers have to spend more time proving that they deserve to be noticed by a real human being.

During the interview, some scenarios leave people at a loss. When applying for a mechanical engineer position, the AI keeps pressing you with endless questions about C++; some people are asked to take off their coats and upload full-body photos; some people attend the interview in pajamas, and some only find out after getting hired that even their appearance and demeanor are scored. To pass the AI check, some job seekers first let AI act as an interviewer to practice with them; others let another AI generate answers while the AI interviewer asks questions, and read the answers directly.

A graduate of the class of 2027 submitted 600 resumes, attended 15 AI interviews, only met 7 real human interviewers, and has received 0 offers so far; some people have attended 30 AI interviews, with only about 5 real human interviews. Many people talked to the screen for dozens of minutes, only to receive a "not passed" notice in the end, without any reason given.

We talked to 5 job seekers: in front of AI, how they answered questions, speculated about the scoring rules, tried to please the algorithm, and gradually turned into question-answering machines little by little.

01. I didn't know until I got hired that even appearance and demeanor are scored in the AI interview

Shen Yang | 25 years old, graduate of the class of 2026 in Hangzhou

In April this year, I joined a car company and took a functional post.

Last fall recruitment, I didn't seriously look for a job and kept doing internships. I originally hoped to get a full-time offer after the internship, but was finally told that the department had no headcount, so I had to quit the internship and fully prepare for the spring recruitment.

Anyone who has looked for a job knows that by the spring recruitment, most of the good positions have already been taken in the fall recruitment. In March and April, I interviewed with more than ten companies one after another, accumulating experience while interviewing. In April, I saw that the car company I interned at before released a new position that matched my experience very well, so I resubmitted my resume and finally got the offer.

When looking for a job this year, almost all large and small companies have AI interview sessions, and the differences between them are quite big. Most of them are Chinese Q&A, with a short English section at the end.

The AI interview of the company I joined is quite special. The whole process is in English, including English Q&A, oral essay writing, and retelling of Chinese-English translation, which takes 20 to 30 minutes in total. There is a digital human in the middle of the screen, taking up about two-thirds of the picture.

There is another difference. The AI interviews of other companies are basically placed at the front of the recruitment process, but this one is placed at the end. After talking with HR and passing the business interview, you will get to the AI interview. It feels more like an English proficiency test that grades the English ability of job seekers.

Real human interviewers have their own preferences, some value confidence, some value logic. AI does not. The questions it asks will not be impossible for you to answer, and it will ask follow-up questions after you finish speaking, keeping you thinking. I think no matter you are a nervous person or not, your performance in front of AI is closer to your real level.

There is one thing I only found out after I got the job: AI pays great attention to appearance and demeanor, and the overall state of the whole person is scored. I am quite glad that even though I did the interview at home, I still tidied up my basic appearance.

To talk about experience, I summed up a few points.

First, stay positive. Many people think AI interviews are casual, but in fact it largely determines whether you can enter the next round.

Second, express yourself confidently and logically. For example, when talking about an experience, it is best to first summarize what you did, and then expand on it one by one. In this way, AI can more easily identify the key points of your answer, and it is easier for it to ask follow-up questions along your train of thought.

Another point is to use up the given time. If the system gives you 5 minutes, don't end the recording after only 1 minute. You can slow down your speaking speed, speak for a while, pause for two or three seconds to sort out your thoughts, and then continue. If you end too early, your answer may not be sufficient enough to meet the scoring requirements.

Now some people "fight AI with AI". As soon as the AI interviewer finishes asking a question, Doubao generates an answer, and the job seeker reads it directly. Is this cheating? I think it depends on the definition.

In my opinion, AI is originally a kind of tool. Companies can use AI to improve recruitment efficiency and screen job seekers, so why can't job seekers use AI to improve their interview success rate?

02. I submitted 600 resumes, attended 15 AI interviews, and still got 0 offers

Mo Mo | Post-2000s, graduate of the class of 2027 majoring in Human Resource Management at Sichuan University

Since the fall recruitment started on September 1, I have submitted about 600 resumes. Every day when I open my eyes, I fill in forms, do exercises, and wait for messages.

In two months, there are so many online assessments that I can't even remember the exact number. I have participated in about 15 AI interviews, and only met 7 real human interviewers. Up to now, I still have 0 offers.

The first time I did an AI interview, I didn't take it very seriously. I wore clothes that I usually wear when going out, didn't specially tidy up the background, sat in my usual position, and clicked on the link.

My "AI interview skills" were basically learned on Xiaohongshu on the spot. For example, speak loudly, keep smiling all the time, and say in a clear and standard voice before answering: "Hello interviewer, next I will tell you about...". I adjusted myself to a state of "forced excitement", as if this could make AI give me a higher score.

But some questions still caught me off guard.

Once, AI asked me: "You made a talent portrait when you were recruiting new members on campus, and synchronized it to other recruiters. Why do you attach so much importance to talent portraits?"

I froze immediately. In my opinion, this was a matter of course, and I never thought of explaining it. I stared at the face on the screen, spent 40 seconds organizing my language, and then explained: because there is more than one interviewer, and many students do not have a professional background in human resources. Only by unifying the talent portrait can we screen according to the same set of standards as much as possible to ensure fairness.

What tests your mentality even more is that the AI that has been asking questions in Chinese all the time suddenly throws out an English question. I was completely unprepared and got stuck on the spot. The first thing I did after pressing the end button was to pick up my phone and complain to my friend. I didn't even want to check the progress of that interview, because I thought I must have failed.

There are even more outrageous things. A classmate told me that when she interviewed with a food company, the AI asked her to take off her coat and upload a full-body photo. I was very shocked after hearing that: what does this have to do with investigating work ability?

After so many interviews, I even feel that AI interviews are not as scary as real human interviews. It has no micro-expressions, will not show impatience, and will not give me a strong sense of oppression. But once I sit in front of a real human interviewer, I will still be nervous. After being rejected many times, I slowly adjusted my mentality.

There are "AI interview cheats" sold online that can identify questions in real time and generate answers. Some people have asked me about it, but I haven't used it. I think it's cheating. I didn't buy any courses or question banks either. The only money I spent on interviews during the whole fall recruitment was on formal clothes and a computer camera, which added up to less than 200 yuan.

If I have to complain about the AI interviewer, what I can't stand the most is its lifelike human face. It is clearly not a real person, but it insists on staring at me like a real person, which brings an indescribable sense of discomfort.

It can also use a cartoon image, why must it use a fake human face?

03. To pass the AI interview, I even have to learn to please AI first

Aken | 23 years old, graduate of the class of 2027 at a university in Guangzhou

Since the fall recruitment started in September this year, I have submitted many resumes one after another. Including the early batch, I have participated in more than 20 interviews in total, two-thirds of which are AI interviews.

The first time I received an AI interview invitation, I was a little surprised. Shortly after submitting my resume, an assessment link and recording entry arrived in my mailbox, requiring completion within 48 hours. Most of the AI interviews I have participated in are the first round of initial screening, and several companies inserted an additional round of AI interviews after the HR interview, before I even met the business supervisor.

To be honest, I think most AI interviews are a waste of time.

Especially those relatively "stupid" AI, whose questions are all the same, and there are no special requirements. Sitting in front of the computer, I just answer whatever it asks. The most frequently asked questions are about internship experience, what projects you are responsible for, what difficulties you encountered, how you solved them, and what results you finally achieved. These questions have been asked too many times repeatedly, and I can even predict what the AI will say next. Some systems will even rephrase the previously asked questions and ask them again. After dozens of minutes, I feel that I am not doing an interview, but repeatedly filling out a form.

Of course, not all AI are that simple.

In mid-October, I interviewed with a state-owned enterprise, and the requirements were obviously much stricter. The email stated the dress code in advance, and required dual-camera setup: the computer in front of you, and a mobile phone placed next to it, to capture both your upper body and the computer screen at the same time, which should be to prevent cheating. That interview was nearly 50 minutes long, with a fast pace and very detailed questions. Basically, each question was given 5 minutes to answer, with no time for thinking. But the result feedback of the interview was also very fast.

Recently, I interviewed with a large Internet company again. The first round was with a real HR, and the second round turned out to be an AI interview. The whole process was to keep answering questions, there were many technical questions and a lot of follow-up questions, and finally there was an English proficiency test that lasted more than ten minutes. Up to now, the result of this round of interview has not come out. If I pass it, I can meet the real person in charge of the business.

I can understand why companies like AI interviews. There are too many applicants, so using AI to screen first before arranging real human interviewers can indeed save recruitment costs. But from the perspective of job seekers, the feeling is the opposite: The time saved by the company becomes the extra time we have to spend.

In the past, preparing for an interview was nothing more than looking at interview experience sharing, modifying resumes, and finding friends to simulate interviews. Now, I will specifically open several AI chat tools, let them take turns to act as interviewers, ask questions and follow up around my project experience. Sometimes, I even record my own answers to check if my speaking speed is too flat, if my expression is logical, and if the key points are clearly explained.

It's quite absurd that I have to train myself with AI first, so that I can cope with the screening of another set of AI.

Moreover, compared with whether AI is smart or not, I actually care more about the feedback after the interview. During a real human interview, you can at least feel something from the other person's tone and expression. But AI will not show emotions, nor will it tell you where you answered poorly. Most of the time, I chatted with it for dozens of minutes in a daze, only to receive a "not passed" notice in the end.

Spending so much time, but not even knowing why you were eliminated, is the most frustrating part.

04. I attended 30 AI interviews in the fall recruitment, and I am more and more like a question-answering machine

Yang Yang | 24 years old, graduate of the class of 2027 in Shanghai

Since I started preparing for the fall recruitment in July this year, I have submitted applications to nearly 100 companies, attended 30 AI interviews, and only about 5 real human interviews.

Now, AI interviews are commonplace for me. Many companies regard it as a pre-recruitment assessment. As soon as you submit your resume, you will receive an online assessment in the next second, and immediately after finishing it, you will receive an AI interview invitation.

AI interview is more like an oral exam. An interview usually has 4 to 6 major questions, and each question will be followed by follow-up questions, so you need to answer more than a dozen questions in total. After the AI finishes reading the question, it will give you about 30 seconds to think, and each question can be answered for up to 5 minutes. Some systems will also detect your face. If you lower your head or don't look at the camera, a reminder will pop up on the screen.

In order to maintain a sense of "devotion", I will try my best to treat AI as a real person. But facing AI is indeed less stressful. During a real human interview, I will care about the interviewer's expression and worry about saying the wrong thing, while AI will only continue to ask follow-up questions along with my answer. Sometimes, I even attend the interview in pajamas, since the other side is not a real person anyway, I feel there is no need to pay too much attention to dressing.

The questions from different companies are mostly similar, basically centered on internship experience. The AI has pretty good comprehension ability, and most of the follow-up questions are to the point. For example, when I mentioned that I had docked with KOLs and formulated plans during my internship, it would continue to ask follow-up questions about how I communicated specifically and how the plan was formulated.