To A.I or not to A.I - that is the question…
There’s no doubt that A.I tools, when used for good and not evil, are powerful and instrumental in how we move into better workforce practices and better use of our time. However, it’s contentious as to how much we should be using A.I to help with written applications and online interview assessments. And the only reason I say this, is because we can tell when they’ve been used. We can tell almost immediately if some form of A.I program has been used to write a statement or competency answers. And once we can tell, we judge, haha. Whilst it might not always be this obvious as A.I gets better and stronger, but as a human being, I can definitely tell now.
Earlier this month, I was speaking to a director at DWP whose team had sifted and graded candidates for a role – those whose statements provided excellent examples of the essential criteria and matched the job description perfectly were progressed to the next stage. These candidates were invited to interview; however, it became apparent pretty fast that they, in fact, did not have the right level of competency or behaviours they’d listed in their statements - they had generated their responses with A.I to match the job description and failed the interview.
Such a shame because it’s such a huge waste of everybody’s time. I understand the attraction to wanting to use A.I - it’s faster, easier and can sound better - but is there anything more mortifying than attending an interview only to fail because you’ve lied on your statement (actually there was one time when my skirt was tucked up into my backpack and I cruised obliviously down Victoria Street, that was pretty mortifying).
However, the good news is, there are ways you can utilise A.I when it comes to writing a supporting statement, and for those candidates with disabilities it can be a brilliant way to reduce barriers!
Use A.I like a writing assistant, rather than that guy at uni who would do your assignment for cash and/or beer. Remember the purpose of the written statement is to showcase qualities and behaviours not evident on your CV – and it will become clear pretty quickly if you don’t evidence the same things in your interview! You do not need big fancy words or lengthy detailed sentences - the best statements I have ever read, are those with personality, humility and uniqueness (the three main things that A.I can take away).
(This blog post was not written with A.I - FYI.)
