Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers • Hacker News Board

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#481

Post by gwbas1c » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #409

Job-seekers are also guilty of this type of thing. I interviewed a candidate for a cyber security position, and it became painfully clear by the end that I was just talking to a ChatGPT proxy the entire time. He wouldn't remember key concepts or technologies when asked, only to "remember" a few minutes later and give a stellar response to the original question. It's an AI arms race... I'm inclined to just regress bac…

What that actually an interview, or just a screening?

Someone like that should be knocked out at the screening stage. Assuming this was an interview, you need to send feedback up the chain that this kind of candidate should be filtered out quickly.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#482

Post by sumtechguy » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

margalabargala wrote: post #444

sumtechguy wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Admitting right off the bat that you're going to waste the time of 90% of your applicants without these stakes is just wildly disrespectful. They were already doing this. Now it is just more automated. You didnt have the right keywords. 2pts into the basket. Too long (meaning old/bad team fit), gone. You worked for a company that might have some sort of backend NDA, gone. Wrong school, gone. Wrong whatever, gone. Y…

> They get 300 resumes. 299 of them need to go away. It has been like this forever. That AI is doing it does not change anything really. That's not really true. From the candidate, there's the effort to submit a resume (low), and then the effort to personally get on a video call and spend 45 minutes talking (high). Discarding 290 out of the 300 resumes without talking to the candidate is way more acceptable, because…

> Asking the candidate to do an interview with an AI flips this; the company can en masse require high effort from the candidate without matching it.

I don't disagree. These systems are already awful to get into. Some have dozens of pages you have to fill in for your 'resume'. Just for at the end to ask for docx file of your resume. So we probably will get that PLUS this AI stuff (you know just in case /s).

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#483

Post by gchamonlive » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

9rx wrote: post #397

gchamonlive wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No

Then why did you claim the argument falls apart, but then proceed to retell the very argument you claim fell apart? If you read the comment in isolation I could at least understand your confusion, but you state that isn't the case.

Because "But if I don't need anything from you — because, say, magical AIs are already giving me everything I could ever hope and dream of — I have no reason to become indebted to you" and "With no need for someone else to do something for him, there is no need for him to sell to anyone else" implies that consumption is purely transactional which I argued against.

In other words, AI can't ever give you everything you need and hope for.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#484

Post by Manuel_D » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

mystraline wrote: post #373

Workaccount2 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having recently come off a micro-binge of the rise of USSR and it's history, the common theme in keeping a state communist through change of leadership is "The system works great, they just didn't know how to run it properly." Then they also proceeded to just continue the devastation. The fundamental problem of communism is that everyone needs to play along, but the rewards for not playing along grow as more people d…

Chinese socialism is interesting and I think works quite well. Absolutely new stuff is basically unrestricted. Go build, have fun, make money. Intermediate stuff is partially state controlled, including cost, profits, pollution, and more. Essentials are effectively state owned, cost controlled, and 'very stable'. Also, the USSR was the first time it was tried. It succeeded some ways, but failed in others.

Unless you're referring to Mao's rule, "Chinese socialism" is another word for "capitalism".

The US, too, has some fields of the economy that are almost entirely state owned. E.g. roads, K-12 education, public safety, transit. The existence of a few public industries does not make a country socialist.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#485

Post by SoftTalker » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:05 PM UTC

> Still, stretched-thin HR teams say it’s the only way to handle thousands of applicants.

You're doing it wrong if you're considering "thousands" of applicants.

First of all ask your current good employees if they can refer anyone.

If you need to go to resumes, sort by qualifications. Screen out obvious robo-applications, you know them when you see them just like you know spam email from the subject line alone.

Hint: if you're an insurance or financial services company in Chicago and getting applications from people with a degree from Stanford and 10 years of amazing experience at FAANG companies, they are fakes.

Hire the first candidate that has acceptable experience and interviews well. Check their references, but you don't need to consider hundreds or even dozens of people. Most people are average and that's who you're most likely going to hire no matter what you do.

Your job is also nothing very special. Have some humility. Very few companies need to be hiring the top 1% type of person, and your company is almost certainly of no interest to those people anyway.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#486

Post by whynotminot » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:06 PM UTC

6031769 wrote: post #109

whynotminot wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20 a month for a nearly unlimited stream of high intelligence isn’t really undemocratic imo

"High intelligence"? Excuse me while I ROFL.

This attitude will not serve you well in the years to come.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#487

Post by gs17 » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:06 PM UTC

NVHacker wrote: post #85

Are these jobs even real ? I suspect they are using desperate candidates to train and calibrate their models.

I've seen at least one "job" listing on LinkedIn that was exactly that. I forget the company's name, but once you clicked in, there was obviously no real position, it was simply for them to get data.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#488

Post by Henchman21 » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:08 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #365

pluc wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most job seekers don't have the luxury of choice.

Well, not with that attitude, they don't. Boycotts are not pain-free. They require everyone to stick together and refuse to participate in behaviors that are not acceptable. I'd argue that most job seekers don't have the luxury to allow themselves to be diminished into irrelevance.

So how do we boycott the entire US business community? The "business community" -- as an aside I have a real fucking hard time describing this as a _community_ -- has been working overtime to drown the US federal government in a bathtub since Grover Norquist uttered the phrase.

The behavior of this "community" is abhorrent. Many in the C-suite deserve a life in prison -- looking your way "healthcare industry"!

The pursuit of profit above all else, that is: basic human _greed_ is a VICE, not a VIRTUE.

Boycotts won't stop this madness.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#489

Post by codingdave » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:09 PM UTC

forgotoldacc wrote: post #434

codingdave wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, not with that attitude, they don't. Boycotts are not pain-free. They require everyone to stick together and refuse to participate in behaviors that are not acceptable. I'd argue that most job seekers don't have the luxury to allow themselves to be diminished into irrelevance.

Most of us on HN are definitely much better off than the average person, so we have the freedom to not desperately pursue any possible chance that comes our way. A lot of people here also have very in demand skills and have companies begging them to work for them, not the other way around. For the people just starting out with no experience, and those wondering whether they should get their car fixed, buy new shoes t…

And that logic would hold up if AI interviewing was being deployed equally across all jobs. But it is not. Go ahead and take the example from the original quote - Braintrust - their web site explicitly caters to technical talent.

Entry-level jobs have already been converted to automated Q&A sessions that take place right alongside your application on the jobs site. They have been that way for years. These new AI interviews are targeted at later career roles.

Re: Job-seekers are dodging AI interviewers

#490

Post by 12_throw_away » Mon, Aug 04, 2025, 6:09 PM UTC

corps_and_code wrote: post #279

throwawayoldie wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed the word "bullshit" is making a big comeback, which is encouraging to me. Because, good Lord, is there ever so much bullshit.

You might enjoy this paper on how ChatGPT is Bullshit: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5

Thank you. Applying this applet to TFA honestly improves its accuracy tenfold:

  Bullshit interviewers are only the newest change to the hiring process that has been upended by the advanced bullshit. With HR teams dwindling and hiring managers bullshitted to bullshit thousands of applicants for a single role, they’re optimizing their jobs by using Bullshit to filter top applicants ...