Using AI to cheat in job interviews - it's a thing

[masraum]

I heard from a friend of a friend the other day that was interviewing some sort of engineer that they were interviewing someone that was probably using AI to cheat on their interview. The interviewee would ask them to restate the question for each question, and then since it was a virtual video (zoom, I assume) interview, they could see the person's eyes going back and forth across the screen as they read the answer.

Then I got this email today.



Years ago, a group that I was a member of hired a guy that interviewed really well. Then when he arrived, he seemed OK. It was a complex environment so the guy asking tons of questions wasn't a surprise. He took lots of notes as various folks on the team showed him how to do things. THe problem was that no matter how many times someone showed him how to do a particular task (with him taking copious notes) the next time that task came up, he was at square 1, like he'd never seen that same task before. I eventually stopped helping him after demonstrating, explaining, and instructing on a particular task multiple times, I was just done. He was eventually fired. The guys that interviewed him swore up and down that the interview went well, but are thinking, since it was done over the phone that he must have had someone else do the interview. He was a nightmare, and we all expected him to come back and shoot up the place after he got canned. It was funny, because within a week or two of him getting canned, we had mandatory "active shooter training" which we all were fairly sure was a coincidence, but could have been intentional and it wouldn't have been a bad call.

[Rick Lee]

This is long before AI, but I have a family member who fudged a lot of stuff on his resume. He actually "joined" a place that looked like a real job, but was, in fact, a front that would vouch for you and farm out to a few subs to also vouch for you if you put it all on your resume. This got him his first job, which he kept for a few years and then he was on his way. I guess, once you've had four jobs that lasted at least five years each, they stop looking at the real early stuff.

There was an old SNL sketch with Billy Crystal about a bogus college called Winston University that kicked back 50% of the tuition to the kids, gave them a bogus degree, etc.

[john70t]

1). I'm assuming that 'app' just keeps the eyeballs forward?


2). Next level up.
There is 100% AI interviews (this one designed to infuriate spam callers):
https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/daisy-the-ai-granny-is-here-to-answer-calls-from-scammers-and-waste-their-time


3). Or if you want to doxx the human interviewer, "friend up" nice and cozy, with your shared similar interests...

Do a facial recognition, social media background search, home address, friends, etc:
"Oh what a coincidence. In my spare time I also like to bicycle in the state park!"

You can even have a chat with random strangers on the street. Find out everything about them. Look up the test videos
https://www.androidauthority.com/meta-smart-glasses-facial-recognition-3487046/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lindseychoo/2024/10/04/meta-ray-bans-ai-privacy-surveillance/
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260262/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-doxxing-privacy

It's all out there. I tol u bois a long time ago to reject FB and stay anon.

[Dixie]

Companies are already using AI to conduct interviews, so fair is fair. Heck, I'm surprised they don't simply have "your AI call my AI."

[john70t]

Remote video interviews are now the standard?

Funny thing is my father thought of this idea back in the 80's/90's. The very start of home computing.
Lots of time and money spent.
His life dream.
To improve the hiring process and customer service using trained/learned responses.
Couldn't get a patent on the idea. The big companies were not interested. Couldn't get past lower management usually.

-He created a portable box with camera, mic, electronic innards, and beta/vhs recording hardware activated at steps.
-Portable. Take it to every local node or major HR department in the country.
-The "interviewee" sits at the box and is asked typical customer complaint questions on the cathode tv.
-The camera and tape records their answer.
-These answers can be trained and modified to fit the situation if needed..
-The tapes can be mailed anywhere for further review and higher level employee screening.

So if you are still out there Pops, within electricity range, your dream is now the standard.

[Arizona_928]

Remote video interviews are nice. I had some army interviews that were a conference call…that was a ducking dumpster fire.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by john70t

Remote video interviews are now the standard?

Yes. Almost ubiquitous - especially for early screens.
Final round is in person for senior positions - otherwise it’s all remote all the time.

[hcoles]

Originally Posted by Dixie

Companies are already using AI to conduct interviews, so fair is fair. Heck, I'm surprised they don't simply have "your AI call my AI."

That is funny. However we may not be too far away from it happening.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Ironic that technology is forcing us back to doing things face to face.

[Otter74]

I don't really understand the thinking behind doing this. You cheat your way into the door, and then...you do what with your lack of knowledge and understanding?

In 2008, when I got laid off from Chrysler in the crash, I interviewed with Volkswagen. Interviews were in-person and included what was basically a test of your understanding of relatively basic things like the principles of IC engines. A few years before that one included a phone interview with a plant SQE in Mexico to check my Spanish. The former could certainly be cheated very easily using AI in a remote interview, but if you make it you're still left not knowing what you're doing. My current job of many years is not engineering but sort of engineering-adjacent; it does not require an engineering degree now, but did when I got it. One of my colleagues in the same position has some practical experience but lacks understanding of basic engineering principles. It doesn't seem to hurt him but makes me wince when it shows up.

[Alan A]

learn on the job.
pretty common thing in all industries.

as an example you'd be surprised how long you can get by with posting on roseindia and stackoverflow as a junior-mid level developer. we've had a few...

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by Otter74

I don't really understand the thinking behind doing this. You cheat your way into the door, and then...you do what with your lack of knowledge and understanding?

In 2008, when I got laid off from Chrysler in the crash, I interviewed with Volkswagen. Interviews were in-person and included what was basically a test of your understanding of relatively basic things like the principles of IC engines. A few years before that one included a phone interview with a plant SQE in Mexico to check my Spanish. The former could certainly be cheated very easily using AI in a remote interview, but if you make it you're still left not knowing what you're doing. My current job of many years is not engineering but sort of engineering-adjacent; it does not require an engineering degree now, but did when I got it. One of my colleagues in the same position has some practical experience but lacks understanding of basic engineering principles. It doesn't seem to hurt him but makes me wince when it shows up.

Get the foot in the door and hide out. It’ll take years (if at all) for an incompetent manager to catch on. Normal people don’t like to fire people due to guilt. These parasites understand the psychology and exploit for their gain.

Often times employers are looking for a warm body instead of competence and this further complicates the dynamic… “They’ll come around” or “they’re just a slow learner” is the logic… one bad apple spoils the whole orchard.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Otter74

I don't really understand the thinking behind doing this. You cheat your way into the door, and then...you do what with your lack of knowledge and understanding?

In 2008, when I got laid off from Chrysler in the crash, I interviewed with Volkswagen. Interviews were in-person and included what was basically a test of your understanding of relatively basic things like the principles of IC engines. A few years before that one included a phone interview with a plant SQE in Mexico to check my Spanish. The former could certainly be cheated very easily using AI in a remote interview, but if you make it you're still left not knowing what you're doing. My current job of many years is not engineering but sort of engineering-adjacent; it does not require an engineering degree now, but did when I got it. One of my colleagues in the same position has some practical experience but lacks understanding of basic engineering principles. It doesn't seem to hurt him but makes me wince when it shows up.

I've been happy/lucky to only have to deal with 2 total deadbeats like that. Both were very similar to the story that I told above. I know the one got "laid off" (fired for being incompetent), but I can't remember what happened to the other one. I think he may have seen the writing on the wall, realized that he wasn't up for it and everyone knew it, and found another job.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Get the foot in the door and hide out. Often times employers are looking for a warm body instead of competence and this further complicates the dynamic…

At a former job, a new guy just like this was given the cubicle next to mine. He hired on as an engineer but refused to learn the CAD software necessary for the job, or take any other type of direction. He would sit there day in & day out just perusing golf websites and contributed absolutely nothing to the group. It took the company three months to finally get rid of him.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rcooled

At a former job, a new guy just like this was given the cubicle next to mine. He hired on as an engineer but refused to learn the CAD software necessary for the job, or take any other type of direction. He would sit there day in & day out just perusing golf websites and contributed absolutely nothing to the group. It took the company three months to finally get rid of him.

Wow, I've never seen or heard of anyone that bad before.

Now what we need is AI to start doing this to folks trying to use it for interviews

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/13/2349245/ai-coding-assistant-refuses-to-write-code-tells-user-to-learn-programming-instead

[zakthor]

I have a friend that has been interviewing 10-15 people per week for the past few months. She says every single resume is full of ai generated fake stuff that makes them look perfect for the job. The recruiters are overwhelmed and oblivious.

The good news is that the fakers don’t know enough to know when a question is a trick and their ai just spouts nonsense. she says she generally lays into them and hangs up in less than 5 minutes without even getting into coding and man does she hold a grudge.

I interviewed a few fakes myself in my time. I still have one guys resume who worked 22 jobs in 25 years. Didn’t know anything. He deflated in my office in two minutes when he realized I wasn’t buying his finesse - I guess he’d seen a lot of rejection. Frustrating though we paid for his plane ticket and hotel, I wanted the money back. His resume is a record of how long it takes a company to fire a completely incompetent person.

[HardDrive]

AI is simply a new tool to cheat, but this is not new at all. I’ve interviewed hundreds of contractors remotely for software engineering positions. Cheating is pretty obvious. You can see them reading from the screen as someone is typing out an answer. There will always be a long pause, where they are like, ‘let me think about that’. It’s always great when you ask a contracting company to send you resumes, and the exact same experience verbiage is used across multiple resumes. 100% AstroTurf. The jokers that slip through are typically walked out the door inside of 3 months.

[Rodsrsr]

[Arizona_928]

So, these are tech jobs…?

I’ve used ai to polish my resume and cover letters. Polish being the key word, never for a first or final draft.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by rcooled

At a former job, a new guy just like this was given the cubicle next to mine. He hired on as an engineer but refused to learn the CAD software necessary for the job, or take any other type of direction. He would sit there day in & day out just perusing golf websites and contributed absolutely nothing to the group. It took the company three months to finally get rid of him.

I’ve never played with cad before and was ecstatic when the NL had available licenses... spent my spare time just putting bolts and holes (double entendre) in things.