Winning over your chatbot interviewer and landing your dream job

“Hello and welcome to the screening process.

We will together find a better and most suitable job for you.

Let me get your personal details first.

Tell me, what is your full name?”

Sounds familiar?

Yes, you are being interviewed by a chatbot!

If looking for a job wasn’t stressful enough, imagine facing a “chatbot” for your interview.

Ahem, this is exactly what the future holds for you as more and more companies are employing AI tools as a way to size up the candidate pool. And chatbots are becoming more prevalent in early job screenings. Hence, learning how to interact with them is important.

Find out what it takes to beat the chatbot and get the job. Remember, your answers will be run through an algorithm. And that’s going to determine whether you would be a great fit for the role or not.

Conduct yourself professionally

The first and foremost tip is to be calm and relaxed, irrespective of whether a human takes your job screening interview or a machine. Refrain from forgetting your manners even though you are dealing with a bot. There is never any excuse to disregard your professional way of conduct. Be polite, responsive, precise and clear in your response to the questions asked. You never know how this could be part of the test!

Incorporate the most frequently used keywords

Avoid using short-form and too much of emoticons. Do not use heavy jargon too often or words that may bewilder the machine. When bots screens resumes, they do so with the hiring team’s carefully chosen keywords that are well accepted in the industry. So, use industry-specific terminology and never undermine the machine that can get you the much awaited job. Remember that they can eliminate candidates that they deemed to be unqualified.

Keep your responses to questions clear and concise

The chatbot technology has still not been the most advanced and perfected one. Lot of mechanics are being worked upon them to make them more sophisticated and error free. In fact, many of the bots used for job screening may have certain limitations in their ability to process complex answers. Over-explanations and non-contextual words or sentences may or may not be in its algorithmic memory bank. Hence, keep it simple and go with the standard form of descriptive words and phrases.

Avoid errors and do proof read

Watch your spellings in written responses. Never click the button without proofreading what you have written. Trying to express inappropriate skill sets or off topic responses can lead to rejection or elimination of your resume at once. Just take pause for a moment before submitting your response, re-read and then hit the send button. Make sure your responses align with your resume and the requirements stated in the Job Description (JD). You never know what algorithms are being used to select a candidate.

Be factual

Applicants and job seekers should always keep in mind that there are no better reasons than being truthful and ethical when it comes to representing self in an interview – be it human driven or machine driven. Having said this, the bots have been quite helpful in representing and solving this challenge. Technically, all conversations with a recruitment bot are a written record that go into the candidate’s file. And the company’s human recruiters anytime may vouch to refer what facts are presented by you which can then be cross verified at any given point of time. So, present facts, only the truth!

Be human in your actions

And lastly, feel free to ask the robot questions – of course the ones that need to be asked. Do not harass the chatbot or use it for fun sake even if you get a hint that you may not qualify the test. Interact with bots as if they were people or as you would if you were being interviewed by a person. Your words must be thought before your actions, as they may be all stored for future requirement and reference checks as well.

Chatbots are definitely a big deal right now in the recruiting space and you may need to impress them with facts to have a shot at your next job. They are already taking over a significant portion of the recruitment activities, including applicant screening and interview scheduling. However there is no explicit statement expressed in the beginning that you are being screened by the machine. It is left to the candidate to figure out whether they are not interacting with a human, or is that a bot. The quickest tip to comprehend is through the format of the questions. Non-human interaction or machine based screening often adopts a straightforward and uniform way of framing the questions.Hence, it’s imperative to figure out and understand the source before applying the above mentioned tips to best engage with these early screeners.

So, the next time you are interviewed by a chatbot, be sure to share your experience with us!