AI and the Return of Old-Fashioned Hiring; India Inc Takes It Slow
The growing use of AI in recruitment is prompting companies to rethink how they assess candidates, with hiring processes increasingly combining remote screening with supervised assessments and face-to-face interviews. The shift is particularly visible as employers look for ways to assess candidates beyond what online tests and AI-assisted responses can reveal.
The shift, however, is not happening uniformly across the hiring process. Pasupathi S, Chief Operating Officer, HirePro, an AI-powered recruitment platform, says many companies are increasingly using a tiered approach: early screening may still happen remotely, but shortlisted candidates are then called in for supervised assessments or face-to-face interviews. For these roles, the physical interaction also helps employers judge motivation, communication and fit beyond what an online test can reveal.
At the same time, hiring platforms are trying to make digital assessments harder to game. Pasupathi says HirePro and its peers are using screen and audio monitoring, AI-based proctoring and other behavioural signals to detect suspicious assistance. In some cases, interviewers may even ask questions outside the knowledge normally expected of someone in that role; an unusually precise answer can become one of several clues that an external AI tool is being used.
Some assessments are also adapting to AI rather than trying to keep it out altogether. Candidates may be allowed to use an AI tool to generate code and are then tested on whether they can identify gaps, correct errors and make the output work. “It’s like an open book,” Pasupathi says.