But more and more, before we can even get to those questions, we have to answer something much more basic:

Is this candidate a real person, and is this the same person who actually applied?

Welcome to hiring in the age of AI!

AI has introduced some great tools for job seekers. Candidates can use it to improve their resume, prepare for an interview, research a company, or help work through a technical problem.

None of that is a problem.

What does concern me is how much easier technology has made it to create a candidate who may not actually be who they appear to be, both on paper and even in an interview.

Over the past several months we’ve been seeing profiles that don't hold up when you look more closely. LinkedIn profiles can be fabricated. Phone numbers can be unreliable or disconnected. And with deepfake and voice technology continuing to improve, even seeing and speaking with someone through a video interview doesn't necessarily mean the person on the screen is the person who submitted the application or even a real person (yes, we have had this happen!).

That changes the hiring process.

Before moving someone through interviews, assessments, and conversations with the team, we first need some confidence that we're dealing with a real person and that the information we're being given is legitimate.

One of the simplest ways to do that is also one of the most old-fashioned:

Pick up the phone!

We see that initial conversation as an important verification step. Call the candidate directly. Have a real conversation. Make sure the person on the other end matches what we've seen in the application and that the basic details hold together.

I think of it as: 2FA for Humans

But there is another side to that phone call that is just as important.

Hiring can be a pretty cold process. Candidates apply through a platform, receive automated emails, and schedule through another system, sometimes without actually speaking to anyone at the company until an interview. Why not have candidates feel like they are joining a team of people as opposed to slogging through a cold system?

By picking up the phone early, we're validating the candidate, but we're also introducing ourselves. There's a real person on the other end who can answer a question, explain what comes next, and have an actual conversation. That first interaction says something about how an organization  operates and how it  treats its people.

In technology, we're used to not relying on a single point of verification. A password by itself isn't always enough, so we add another step. Hiring is starting to feel very similar.

This isn't about trying to catch somebody doing something wrong. It's about starting the hiring process from a place of trust and confidence on both sides.

And that's where AI is creating an interesting shift.

As technology gets better at creating resumes, profiles, answers, voices, and even people on a screen, the actual human conversation becomes more valuable. Ask a few questions. Talk through someone's experience. Make sure the details line up, but also give the candidate a chance to get to know the company and the people behind it.

One of the reasons why Two-factor authentication became the norm in software was that one form of verification was not enough. Hiring is heading in the same direction.

 

That extra step is simple: Pick up the phone!

In an increasingly automated hiring process, that human connection matters.