More virtual candidates are using AI tools to cheat by feeding them answers off screen, especially in technical interviews, recruiters say. So companies are returning to the retro idea of in-person job interviews. Via the Wall St. Journal:

Companies are responding by going old school. Cisco and McKinsey are among a growing number of companies bringing back or adding face-to-face meetings with candidates at various stages of the interview process. Google also has brought back in-person interviews for some roles this year, in part to ensure interviewees have the proper skills, for instance, in coding.

“We are making sure we’ll introduce at least one round of in-person interviews for people, just to make sure the fundamentals are there,” Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said on the Lex Fridman podcast in June.

Interviews for software-engineering and programming jobs, which typically involve real-time coding challenges, have become one of the biggest concerns. Many of those jobs, especially at smaller tech companies, are remote, one reason the interview process has become largely virtual.

Yet, it has become relatively easy to use AI tools off camera to write the code job candidates are being tested on, recruiters say.

“Everything’s come full circle,” said Mike Kyle, managing director of technology recruitment at Coda Search/Staffing in Dallas. He estimates the share of the company’s employer-clients requesting in-person interviews has risen to 30% this year from 5% in 2024.

I will point out, however, that YouTube is full of videos with young people who are FURIOUS that they're being interviewed by robots, and are using AI to fight back. So maybe that door swings both ways.