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Recently, I have been casually exploring the job market – hedging my bets due to evolving family situations – and I have encountered something rather worrying that I hope is an isolated incident.

I had an “interview” with an AI chatbot for a company in Florida, and quite honestly, it left a bad taste in my mouth and quite grateful for my current company’s human touch and treatment.

“Please complete a pre-screening” — OK, that’s fine — no problem! A few short questions about competencies, I imagine, maybe some behavioral questions. Sweet!

After a couple of basic yes/no questions, it jumped into “This will be a voice interview now…..please get a headset / microphone and reply….we will transcribe and forward this to our recruitment team.”

….umm? OK…?

I begin, and even though I configured the correct mic + speaker to my headset and tested it, sound still came out of my PC, and no answer was detected because it doesn’t have an in-built microphone.

2-3 questions missed, unable to be redone, and I closed + re-opened on my phone instead.

Next couple of questions come, and I took a few seconds to think about my answer, but the AI cut off my answers before I could finish or before I could even start.

Out of perhaps 10 questions, I likely only gave 3-4 satisfactory answers, and it was an extremely infuriating and degrading experience.

This is not what interviews / “screenings” are. These were job interview questions, not pre-screening questions.

We created AI to help us out with low-level repetitive tasks such as data entry or things we are personally not capable of (such as creating graphics for blog posts like this), not conducting interviews…..interviews are to find people who fit into our organization.

We make eye contact, we shake hands, make jokes, establish rapport, and connect on a professional, but still human, level.

We don’t join companies as machines. We are people, and we deserve to be treated as such.

Not to put them on blast, but I feel an obligation to share this….I have to say…perhaps I am not interested in your company after all, iO Associates. I much prefer where I am at now.

Thank you for attending my TED talk and listening to my rant.