5 Tips for AI-Powered Interview Success

5 Tips for AI-Powered Interview Success was originally published on Firsthand.

AI-powered interviews are quickly growing in popularity due to their ability to save employers time and money during the recruiting process. And if you’re apprehensive about your upcoming AI-powered interview, you’re not alone. In-person interviews can be nerve-wracking enough, and when you also have artificial intelligence looking over your shoulder, analyzing your every word and facial expression, your anxiety can ramp up quickly.

The good news is you don’t need to learn all the ins and outs about artificial intelligence to succeed in your next AI-powered interview and reduce your anxiety. You just need to follow the below five tips.

1. Find a suitable backdrop for your interview

Most AI-powered interviews happen via your webcam in the comfort of your home. So, it’s important to use an appropriate backdrop. Your interview background is important to AI-interview software, which scans the elements in your space to come to certain conclusions about you. Through computer vision, AI interview software can “translate” what various items say about you as an interviewee. So, you want to keep your interview background clear of objects and distractions to avoid AI-interviewers from coming to the wrong conclusions.

A blank wall with a nice shade of paint—white variations are an excellent option—is perfect for your interview background. Also, a position next to a window or some other ample source of natural light is desirable, so that the AI algorithm can make accurate deductions about what’s around you. An added benefit of minimizing the distractions in your backdrop is you’ll likely concentrate and perform better in your interview.

2. Speak succinctly and include essential keywords

In AI-powered interviews, you don't want to talk in the same way you would when interviewing with human interviewers. There’s no room for small talk, for example. Instead, it’s key to head straight to the point while throwing in important keywords for the job. To find keywords, check out the job description and the company’s career page of its web site.

Also, you want to find a nice conversational speed. If you’re too fast or slow, you can come off as being nervous or unsure about yourself. Your “AI interviewer” will likely have speech analytics software that breaks down your speech into segments to derive various meanings. It then uses semantic analytics to determine your grammatical competency and how you’re feeling from your tone or pace of replies.

3. Don’t forget about non-verbal cues

Since AI software can draw conclusions by analyzing your body language and posture, it’s important to observe body language etiquette like you would in an in-person human interview. For example, keeping your hands visible in the frame of the video avoids the perception of distrustfulness that arises when you hide them. And sitting up straight emphasizes your confidence (but it’s permissible to lean in a little into the camera). A nod, smile, or gesture here and there also goes a long way, especially in indicating that you’re an active listener. However, you want to keep these gestures at a minimum—don’t overdo it. Keep in mind that in addition to your “AI interviewer,” a human interviewer might also watch your interview at some point.

4. Do a trial run by recording yourself

Practice makes perfect, and the only way to know what mistakes you would make in an AI-powered interview is by conducting a mock interview. You can do that by recording yourself and playing back the recording to see what you’re doing right or wrong. This allows you to straighten out any issues, instead of diving headfirst into your AI-driven interview.

For example, take note of whether you’re maintaining eye contact with the video camera. It can be a little weird looking into a lens when you’re doing all the talking yourself, but it is necessary. Remember, your AI-powered interview will be aiding a human hiring manager, who’ll likely see the recording should you pass the preliminary stages.

What’s more, certain AI software can pick up on consistently straying eye contact and flag this down as a point of concern in the assessment report. So, you want to fix your gaze in the specific direction of the camera for the most part. Additionally, the video recording will help you realize what errors in grammar you’re fond of making.

5. Dress the part for your interview

There’ll be no one at the other end of the camera, so surely there’s wiggle room to dress down, right? Wrong, you still need to look the part. The general rule of thumb for dressing up for an AI-powered interview entails going business casual, with plain-colored clothes, preferably with an absence of stripes or flamboyant patterns. Your attire, just like your background we talked about, can affect assessments that AI recruiting software make about you. Play it safe with something that doesn’t glaringly stand out. Light shades of blue and white are good options.

There’s another reason why you need to dress up as well. Again, your recorded video responses could eventually land on a hiring manager’s desk. If you didn’t take you’re dressing seriously then, chances are your prospective boss will return the favor when assessing your competency. An added benefit is dressing professionally can increases your self-confidence. When you’re feeling good about yourself, usually you put your best foot forward.

Lerma Gray is an experienced data analyst and SEO writer. His experience is in technology, software documentation, and artificial intelligence. Recently, he has taken a deep dive into cybersecurity and internet privacy. 

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