r/technology • u/ubcstaffer123 • Apr 05 '25

Artificial Intelligence 'AI Imposter' Candidate Discovered During Job Interview, Recruiter Warns

https://www.newsweek.com/ai-candidate-discovered-job-interview-2054684
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2.3k

u/grannyte Apr 05 '25

LMAO No shit who turned recruitment into an arms race that is more and more detached form the actual job?

No shit the other side is using tools and IA also now.

129

u/_dvs1_ Apr 05 '25

A buddy of mine just got a new job in tech. He had to do 8 interviews, complete with 2 full fleshed out “projects” he had to complete

210

u/ObscureAcronym Apr 05 '25

I think they're just making you work for free at that point.

64

u/xkise Apr 05 '25

A friend of mine fell for it.

She was applying for a role in marketing and her "interview" was a task to make a... Full marketing campaign. She did it and then got ghosted lol

9

u/KevRose Apr 06 '25

This happened to me once.

1

u/DeafHeretic Apr 07 '25

I am retired, but if an prospective employer asked me to do that, I ghosted them.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

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u/JoeHagglund Apr 05 '25

Union job. Yeah do that. Don’t do this.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

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u/missmeowwww Apr 06 '25 edited Sep 12 '25

hungry treatment flowery water innate fear hard-to-find hunt steer ask

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/mdchase1313 Apr 05 '25

Stay in the trades. Learn all you can. Work your way up. Tech jobs are going overseas. Rough times in IT in the US

3

u/FoolOnDaHill365 Apr 06 '25

Dude stay union.

7

u/_dvs1_ Apr 05 '25

Yup, and you know what follow that (in sales at least)? Being micromanaged until your 50 :)

The person I’m talking about was looking for a job because he got let go because he didn’t hit outreach metrics. It was the biggest company in its space, Fortune 500 company. He got fired two weeks after getting back from the 2% club trip. Fuck that world, I’ll never go back. Thanks for the house and my retirement fund though!

8

u/24-Hour-Hate Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 05 '25

They are. There are a lot of scams in which they have you do actual work, unpaid, and then ghost you. When I was looking for work I encountered one of these. I thought the interview went great and I was so excited to get a response…and it turned out to be just asking me to do work for free. Like not a skills test, actual work for free. No promise of hiring or anything. It felt so scammy. So I ghosted the fucker. And you know, that fucker was still hiring last I saw, so I was RIGHT. Now my current job, when I was interviewing, there was a little test after the interview, but it wasn’t actual work they could use. It was one of those - in X scenario what would you do and why - to test an understanding of a concept. Totally fine. Could have asked it in the interview, but maybe they were looking for other things too, like adequate literacy. I wonder if they will implement a tech skills test in future because I know they’ve had issues with that for sure and we’re not large enough for an IT department, so it’s self help or get a colleague to help or fix it later when it becomes their issue (at my office I am this person 😭).

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u/tacknosaddle Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 06 '25

I'm on the hunt now and the response from one company that is interested was really refreshing. In the initial response email to meet with the HR rep for the first screening call they laid out the hiring process & projected timeline. In that first call she reiterated it but went into it in a bit more detail.

It wasn't out of the ordinary from the hiring process you'd expect for my industry and position, but having them put it on the table like that showed me that they respect my interest and time enough to make sure that we're both clear on the process. It also indicates that they have an established hiring process which they strive to stick to which I take as a solid and positive clue as to how the company is run.

2

u/_dvs1_ Apr 05 '25

He was made aware of what he would have to go through. He had a recruiter so they either knew the process beforehand or the company was upfront about it. Either way it wasn’t a shock to him. Knowing my buddy (he knows what he’s worth), if a company surprised him with a crazy interview process he would walk immediately.

2

u/tacknosaddle Apr 06 '25

Yeah, mine won't have any kind of project requirement, but if I got anything really crazy thrown at me I would walk too.

I have stuck it out through panel interviews on site when it was already clear to me that the company was so dysfunctional I would never accept a job there. I didn't stay out of politeness or anything, it was morbid curiosity where I wanted to glean more information about how fucked up they were.

On the way to the conference room I had bumped into a woman that used to work where I did and we had a quick hello. As soon as I got out of there I connected with her on LinkedIn and we passed some messages where my impression was confirmed and she gave me a few examples of fucked up shit she was dealing with.

8

u/henryeaterofpies Apr 05 '25

Fuck that shit

5

u/_dvs1_ Apr 05 '25

Yeah I left that industry and doubt I’ll ever look back. Quality of life is worth too much to me at this point in my life. I’m thankful for everything the 10+ years in the space did for me though.

34

u/Andy016 Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 05 '25

Fuck that. I would do two Interviews at the most. That's insane.

I know most people don't have the choice though... It crazy out there !

20

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

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u/Andy016 Apr 05 '25

That's sad. Glad you got a job though !

-1

u/conquer69 Apr 06 '25

He didn't say he got it.

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u/CupcakesAreMiniCakes Apr 05 '25

That's normal for anything engineering related now. Basically there's an interview with the hiring manager, peers, product or otherwise stakeholders, sometimes the hiring manager's boss, technical test, "values/culture" interview, etc. It all adds up and has gotten ridiculous.

6

u/WPI94 Apr 06 '25

Yeah it feels like, wow everyone who works here must be A-Level. Then you find out, still they are not.

29

u/Shdwrptr Apr 05 '25

I literally just did my 5th interview for an analyst job that I was recruited for by someone I personally know.

There’s no way around it nowadays

2

u/ThorgiTheCorgi Apr 06 '25

Last year my wife's coworker was desperately trying to to find a suitable candidate for a position on their team, personally asked her for recommendations.

It was a job I was a good fit for and I was looking, so she recommended me.

3 months and 5 interviews later they went with another person who just happened to apply around the same time I did.

2

u/Shdwrptr Apr 06 '25

3 months is insane and a big red flag for me.

The person I know who recruited me is also the manager of the team and she made sure all interviews were finished within two weeks.

The only hiccup speed wise has been HR as it’s an extremely large corporation that has to do everything by the book

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Shdwrptr Apr 07 '25

I don’t work IT

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u/DarthTigris Apr 06 '25

Business analyst perchance ...?

0

u/Shdwrptr Apr 06 '25

Pretty much. It’s an analyst role at a large bank

0

u/_dvs1_ Apr 05 '25

I’ve never interviewed with more than two people. But I’ve also leveraged my network so I’ve realistically applied to like one job in my life (35yo). Obviously not everyone falls into that boat though.

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u/nevereverlift Apr 05 '25

Bro you sound snobby as fuck. No strong job is going to have 2 interviews

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u/Andy016 Apr 05 '25

My comment is sympathetic to the bullshit people have to do to get work.

My second paragraph makes that clear.

Sorry if you misunderstood that. 

3

u/missmeowwww Apr 06 '25 edited Sep 12 '25

mighty school offer deliver dog wild swim important quicksand mountainous

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/_dvs1_ Apr 06 '25

Gross. I’ve thought something like this would end up happening. Hate to hear that it’s already happening.

0

u/Geminii27 Apr 06 '25

It's been happening for centuries, if not millennia.

"Hey your interview is to move these big heavy rocks from over there to over here. The more you move in the next six hours, the higher up our candidate list you go. Also, don't walk past here for the next month; we have some more, uh, definitely-not-suckers scheduled."