How to prepare for the rise of the robot university interview

“Why do I have to be interviewed by a robot?”

As I subsequently tried to explain to the student, it isn’t a robot but a dive into the new and exciting world of asynchronous AI-assessed virtual interviews.

Asynchronous because the interview is a recording that will later be assessed; AI-assessed because the responses will be analysed according to an algorithm; and virtual because rather than a “real” interviewer, the candidate will be required to respond in real time to questions that appear onscreen.

Of course, not all asynchronous interviews are assessed using AI. Although this is becoming more and more common for job interviews, universities have been slower to go down this path than their counterparts in industry and business. However, it is common practice in business schools for master’s and MBA courses and so will increasingly filter down to undergraduate applications.

Some medical schools use them as part of their multiple mini interviews or as a pre-screening. Many universities (such as Caltech) are running trials of AI-assessed interviews, and some UK universities (such as Surrey and East London) are using AI to assist with visa-related issues. In Asia, many Japanese universities (including Doshisha and Kyoto universities) have adopted “video essay” interviews or video-screening, but have not yet started to use AI to assess these interviews.

Asynchronous interviews: pros and cons

For a university, the main advantage in using asynchronous virtual interviews is cost, financially and in terms of time demands on admissions personnel. They also offer a more level playing field for assessing candidates, as they remove any inconsistencies in style or reaction between different interviewers.

But are there advantages for the applicant? On the face of it, yes. Alongside the obvious advantage of flexibility – being able to schedule the interview at a time and place of their choosing – it lessens the likelihood of any unconscious bias by the interviewer. And (this is from one of my students who has had virtual and “real” interviews) it is easier to concentrate on the actual questions rather than being distracted by any off-putting mannerisms, accents or reactions from an interviewer.

However, on the other side of the coin, I have another student who found the process stressful because of the lack of reaction to her answers. She much preferred the encouraging nods and “Yes, tell me more about that…” from her flesh-and-blood interviewer.

Coping without a kitten filter

Our students spend a significant part of their leisure time making videos of themselves to post on social media, and are confident with the technical and creative aspects of filming themselves. So we might expect them to embrace virtual interviews and to find these much less stressful than a real-life meeting.

But without the support of filters, graphics and background music they can feel exposed and vulnerable. In dramatic contrast to their relaxed and natural (if using a kitten-face filter can be thought of as natural) social-media performances, they can come across as wooden, over-rehearsed and nervous.

Practice is, of course, the key to producing confident and convincing virtual interviews. But often the students try to anticipate questions and learn scripted answers, which they then deliver regardless of the question being asked. In the worst cases, they have the scripts stuck to the side of the computer screen and try to read it, so that they are recorded staring to the left or right of the camera. I have even seen recordings where, because of the lighting set-up, you can actually see the reflection of the script in the interviewee’s eyes.

What works better is to get the students to make bullet points of the things that they really want to bring into the interview – reasons for choosing the course or subject, research into the course and university, links to their current studies, outstanding achievements or passions, work in the school and outside communities, future plans – and then get them to improvise around these.

For those nervous students who really need external prompts, a small Post-it note as close to the camera as possible is going to be much less obvious than the whole speech taped to the screen or on the desk in front of them.

Another thing to avoid is to be in the room with the student during the interview, particularly if you might feel tempted to whisper suggestions during the interview.

Tips for successful virtual interviews

• Help the student to practise in front of a screen by running mock interviews from another room, using Google Meet, Zoom or Teams.
• In many cases, these virtual interviews require the student to respond to onscreen prompts, so practise this by sharing questions using PowerPoint or Google slides.
• This should go without saying, but check the set-up – audio and video – well before the actual interview. Ensure that the camera is level with the student’s face. If using a laptop, put it on a stack of books so the camera is not looking up the candidate’s nose.
• If using a separate camera, ensure it is placed centrally above the screen rather than to one side.
• If using a separate microphone, make sure that it is not placed in front of the student’s face.
• Be aware of distracting backgrounds, either real or those generated by your software. An AI-generated tropical beach in the background won’t do anything to improve the chances of an offer.

Adopting these methods will, we hope, keep the robots happy.