This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Radhika Sharma, a 35-year-old product manager in New Delhi. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I started my tech career in 2015 and spent the last six years working for a small-scale organization where I worked my way up to product owner. In February, I quit that job to spend more time with my young daughter.
After just a two-month break, I started hunting for jobs again. This time, I aimed to get into product management.
During my job search, I submitted my application to a SaaS company and received an email inviting me to take an AI-powered screening interview. The email clearly said that AI would ask some screening questions to measure my product management skills and experience.
The whole experience was equal parts fascinating and unsettling.
The interview link took me to a screen with interview dos and don'ts
When I clicked the link, I remember the written instructions told me to sit in a quiet space with no one else around and not to switch between tabs. In fact, I had to share my screen during the interview to monitor how I was using my laptop. Once I agreed to the dos and don'ts, I entered the interview.
As soon as the interview started, a timer counted down from about 20 minutes, which I found to be a little distracting. A blank screen with a female voice greeted me and began asking me highly specific questions about product management. It would've been great if there was a face to it, but it was just a prompt.
I even remember it asking me how I planned product roadmaps and how I dealt with conflicting stakeholder requirements.
I received a detailed evaluation of my performance immediately after the interview
To my surprise, the AI ranked my technical knowledge along with my engagement, eye contact, facial expressions, posture, and attire. My evaluation felt extremely accurate, but I underestimated what the AI was capable of scoring me on, so I didn't think to wear a collared shirt.
I ranked highly on technical skills, but the report said that I was not professionally dressed and that my usage of eye contact was "occasional," which was true.
There are pros and cons to an AI technical interview
In a typical human interview, when I ask for feedback, I'm told it'll be shared with HR, but it never reaches me. It's a frustrating reality. So, receiving an instantaneous analysis of my performance was helpful. It gave me the chance to know my strengths and weaknesses going forward.
The biggest con is that the interview wasn't bidirectional, meaning I didn't have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions. For example, it asked me how I would manage conflicting priorities between stakeholders. If I had the opportunity, I might've asked if I could share a past instance to make my response more impactful and understandable.
If I were to do another AI interview, I'd focus on being more prepared
The next round was a human interview, but I chose not to move forward with the company for other reasons. I'm still interviewing for jobs, and I've used the insights from my AI interview to be more conscious of the aspects it ranked me positively and negatively on.
Based on this experience, if I were to do another AI interview, I would focus on being more prepared.
While humans generally involve some level of subjectivity in their assessment of someone, AI is objective. It has a clear set of parameters on which it evaluates you, so you need to be prepared to confidently and clearly share your knowledge.
My advice is not to underestimate the AI interview system: Be prepared, be real, and, per my experience, dress well.
Do you have a unique job interview experience that you would like to share? Contact the editor, Manseen Logan, at mlogan@bjinnox.com.
