How to Use ai in job interviews?

So, you're looking at all that AI fever going on and thinking: Huh, can it help me with getting a new job? More specifically, can it help me with nailing those pesky job interviews? Or, maybe, reduce the time spent on preparation, research and practice?

Well, yes it can! But AI can also completely derail your chances in the interviews, if used carelessly.

Here I'll break down two effective ways to use basic, free AI tools to give yourself an edge in job interviews.

Also, I'll explain how you should NOT use AI in the interviews and why. So, by the time we're done, you should be well-prepared.

INTERVIEWS

Now, the labor market is a very competitive place and searching for a new job can be an arduous and stressful process with a kaleidoscope of applications, rejections, rounds after rounds of interviews. In other words, searching for a job is like a hard full-time job itself, only you don't get paid for it.

Interviews are arguably the most critical and certainly most time-consuming and stressful part of the process.

Strong candidates with great experience can get so nervous during interviews that they come across as inept, just to kick themselves afterwards and get even more anxious. And the more people fail, the less motivated they feel to research and prepare for the next ones and then they fail again and down the spiral we go.

The advent of AI in our lives presents us with new tools to mitigate some of those issues. And the beauty of it is that you don't have to be a master in prompt engineering to make use of them.

And you also don't have to use any specialized tools behind a paywall.

So, here are the two main tasks for which you could use AI to give yourself an edge.

Task No 1. Research

I would say that this is the best way to use AI for job hunts. Even with free versions of some apps and basic use of common sense, you can dig out summaries of businesses and individuals within seconds and as long as you follow-up with sensible queries, you can get a well-rounded overview, which can prepare you for questions like:

What do you know about our business?

Who are our main competitors?

What is our core product, service or advantage?

What do you think is the biggest challenge for our organization in the next 5 years?

These are just general examples and actual questions will, of course, depend on the role you're going for, the industry, company's profile and so on.

And such questions may seem basic, but they're important for your interviewers as they help to determine if you actually took the time to do some research and also have a basic understanding of their business. Not answering them well may result in you losing the job to someone else, even if you nail the rest of the interview.

The tools that I would recommend here are: ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity AI. They all have functional free versions, which are quite sufficient for the task.

Perplexity is probably the best overall as it gives the best breakdowns as well as shows sources it used.

In regards to prompts, I encourage you to play around and keep it simple. It is often about follow-up questions, rather than initial prompt.

As a simple example try:

“I am interviewing for a job at XYZ. Give me a concise breakdown of XYZ's business, its main areas of growth, biggest competitors and main challenges in the next three years.”

Then follow-up on things that require more details.

Task No 2. Questions prep

Exactly what it says on the tin. You employ AI to prepare the list of potential questions and answers for you, using the job description.

The best free tools are again ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity AI:

And here is a simple prompt for you to try:

“I am interested in applying for the INSERT JOB role at INSERT COMPANY. Generate 10 potential interview questions for this job and provide an example of a great answer for each one. Use the job description copied below:”

Then use some follow-up questions again.

This can be a very useful sounding board and a practice partner for you, but use it thoughtfully. It is very unlikely that you will get the same questions during the actual interview. So, for your own sake, do not try to memorize them.

If you do, you may get caught up in trying to remember what those answers were, get nervous, maybe even try to look at a cheat sheet, which will be obvious.

Also, it will strip your answers of your most important competitive edge, which is your own unique personality and life experience. You just won't come across as genuine.

And none of the above will help you to make a good impression.

What you should do instead is take some of the better talking points from what AI gave you and try to answer the questions yourself, attaching your own personality and experiences to it.

This will also prepare you for more unexpected questions from interviewers.

DON’T BE A ROBOT

Now, let's talk about when you should absolutely NOT use AI for job interviews.

For the love of all you hold dear, and specifically your career, do not use AI during video-call interviews.

God forbid, you start typing in questions and then reading out answers from AI while you're speaking to someone on camera.

We've seen people doing it and it never ends pretty.

In 90% of cases it will be obvious and you will be caught, which would mean an immediate fail and a strike to your long-term reputation with the company you applied to.

And also, even if people on the other end are half-blind and dumb, and don't catch you using AI, you will still come across badly. You will be distracted and nervous and you will come across as ingenuine and robotic and vague.

Intentionally going off-camera won't be of much help as there will still be awkward pauses, weird off-key answers, which will give you away. At a minimum, you'll come across as an idiot, who can't get his camera to work before a job interview.

You may think you're good at hiding these things, but you're likely wrong. And on the off-chance that you are that good, I would ask yourself was it really the best way to spend all that precious time learning how to fake it? Don't you think it would be more valuable for you long-term to spend that time to actually improve your skills and industry knowledge?

The AI revolution is an exciting thing, no doubt about it. And people, who know how to use AI are likely to flourish more than those who don't. However, there is a flipside.

The more AI becomes a part of our lives, the more value will be placed on genuine human interactions.

People, who excel in facing and communicating well with other human beings, build relationships and make decisions on the fly will be very valuable. Such skills will be considered a premium competitive edge. So, you're not doing yourself any favors if you start discounting them.