After reading a recently pubished article by the Marketing AI Institute about “The AI Cheating Crisis in Higher Education Is Worse Than Anyone Expected,” I was left wondering about our future leaders and the skills they will not possess unless companies change their hiring and discernment tactics. The article mentions that employers now face a challenge where candidates might use AI tools during remote interviews, and there’s a need to test for critical thinking skills without devices. A quote that stands out is, “If you’re conducting interviews over a computer, there’s a reasonable chance these students are using AI while you’re talking to them to answer you.”
So what do we do about this?
Remote interviews, up to a point, are the norm. When I add team members to my company team and chapter leaders to my non-profit, I give them ‘writing’ prompts to see how they communicate, since they represent my brand and non-profit. Here are some ideas to help highlight the human. I’ve used many of these methods, and they work. I am fond of asking people for their reasoning, even when it comes to programming. Programming “artists” are proud of their creations and the tiny elements they built into solve an unseen problem. AI answers won’t know this, the candidate’s face will show it – they light up. Consider some of these ideas (greens are my favorites).
1. In-Person Components
- Whiteboard sessions: Ask candidates to solve problems in real-time without devices
- Handwritten assessments: For roles requiring writing skills, include a brief handwritten component
- Unplugged discussions: Conduct portions of interviews in settings where technology use is visible and controlled
2. Process-Focused Questioning
- “Show your work” approach: Ask candidates to explain their thought process, not just provide answers
- Follow-up questioning: Probe deeply into initial responses to test understanding
- Scenario variations: Change parameters mid-discussion to see how candidates adapt without preparation
3. Real-Time Collaboration Tasks
- Paired problem-solving: Work through a challenge together to observe unfiltered thinking
- Rapid prototyping: Ask candidates to sketch solutions to problems on the spot – storyboarding, “And then…..” approach – a light scope of work.
- Role-playing exercises: Create situations that require spontaneous responses
4. Testing for AI Literacy and Ethics
- Prompt engineering assessment: Evaluate how candidates would approach using AI tools (shows both technical understanding and ethical awareness). Tell them a problem you want solved and, through a screen share, watch how they resolve it and refine the results, then finally create the final presentation of the idea. How much of THEM did they add to it? Was it fluff?
- AI collaboration scenarios: Present situations where candidates must decide when to use AI and when to rely on human judgment
- Questions about AI limitations: Assess whether candidates understand where AI fails and human skills remain essential, and have them explain how they came to these ideas—dive deeper.
5. Cultural Fit Assessment
- Values-based interviewing: Focus on scenarios that reveal whether candidates align with company values around learning, intellectual honesty, and collaboration
- Learning mindset evaluation: Assess candidates’ approach to continuous development and knowledge acquisition
- Personal projects discussion: Explore candidates’ self-directed work to gauge intrinsic motivation
As Mike Kaput covers in his article, “employers must now consider a broader range of competencies: not just how well someone can use and prompt AI tools, but whether they can reason, write, and reflect without them.” The ideal interview process should evaluate both a candidate’s ability to work with AI and their capacity to think independently.
Email me your ideas on how your company is using to combat this snafu of hiring great candidates.