Job interviews are rarely fun, especially when you are young. I will never forget the opening question in my first interview for the Financial Times graduate trainee scheme: “So, apart from the week before your interview, do you ever actually read the FT?”
Young people today face a different but no less daunting challenge. They find themselves smiling anxiously into their laptop webcams, answering questions as a timer ticks down with no human to interact with at all.
Large employers are using these “asynchronous video interviews” to whittle down job applicants to a smaller pool they can meet in person. Platforms such as HireVue and Modern Hire record applicants answering pre-determined questions, usually with a time limit for each answer. In some cases, the recordings will be watched by the employer’s hiring managers. In others, the platform’s algorithms will assess the candidate based on what they said or even their facial expressions.