You’re hearing it everywhere. AI is being praised as the answer to almost everything and blamed for just as much—with good reason.
It can help people write better, work faster, and solve problems in minutes. It also raises questions about originality, critical thinking, and how much we’re relying on technology to communicate for us.
Whether you’re a job seeker trying to demonstrate your expertise or an employer trying to identify it, AI is rewiring the signals we’ve relied on for years, putting pressure on both sides. Candidates need to prove there’s substance behind the polish, and employers need to look beyond the polish to understand what someone can really do.
What This Means for Job Seekers
If you read our article last month about incorporating AI into your job search, you already know we’re big believers in using it to save time and strengthen your application materials. At the same time, employers know how easy it is to look good on paper, which means they’re placing more emphasis on the interview than ever before.
Here are a few ways to capture their attention out of the gate:
- Use specific examples. Anyone can say they’re collaborative, adaptable, or a problem solver. Bring your experience to life with real stories about projects, results, and even the setbacks you faced.
- Be comfortable saying, “I don’t know.” No hiring manager expects you to have every answer. They’d rather hear an honest, “I haven’t encountered that before, but here’s how I’d figure it out,” than a vague or made-up answer.
- Know your own resume. If AI helped organize or refine your experience, make sure every bullet point reflects work you can explain naturally. Employers will dig deeper to hear the human take on the accomplishments.
- Be curious. Don’t wait for the interviewer to ask the obligatory “Do you have any questions for me?” at the end. Ask thoughtful follow-up questions throughout the conversation to show you’re engaged and thinking critically about the role.
What This Means for Hiring Managers:
When well-crafted communication becomes easier to produce, hiring managers need to spend less time confirming what’s on a resume and more time exploring how a candidate thinks.
From the conversations we’re having with employers and candidates, these are a few approaches that consistently lead to better hiring decisions.
- Ditch the generic screening questions. Instead of asking, “How do you handle tight deadlines?“, try asking for a breakdown of a specific project that fell apart. Listen for details that a machine can’t fabricate, such as the messy logistics, the interpersonal dynamics, and the trade-offs they had to make.
- Test for live problem-solving. Present a scenario based on a current challenge your team is facing and ask the candidate to talk through their diagnostic process in real time. Pay attention to how they think, the clarifying questions they ask, and the energy they bring to the situation.
- Listen for the “I.” When candidates describe past achievements, ask exactly what they wrote, built, or decided. True experts speak about their work with granular precision.
- Value the occasional pause over smooth answers. A candidate who pauses, reframes your question, or pushes back based on their own experience is demonstrating critical thinking. Perfect, instantaneous answers often mean you are interviewing a memorized script rather than an adaptable mind.
AI can help people present themselves. It can’t replace experience, judgment, or the ability to think on your feet. For job seekers, that means making your expertise easy to recognize. For employers, it means looking under the hood to find that expertise.
At J2, we work with employers and candidates every day, giving us a unique perspective on how hiring is changing. If you’d like to talk through your hiring strategy or your job search, we’re here to help.