{"id":41241,"date":"2024-10-24T07:17:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T14:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/?p=41241"},"modified":"2024-10-28T00:50:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T07:50:28","slug":"genai-for-technical-hiring-friend-or-foe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/blog\/hiring-developers\/genai-for-technical-hiring-friend-or-foe\/","title":{"rendered":"GenAI for Technical Hiring: Friend or Foe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Your proverbial office watercooler might be awash with panic about candidates cheating on technical interviews using GenAI \u2013 but is the pearl-clutching justified? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, the stakes are high. That\u2019s why there\u2019s so much handwringing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiring the wrong person. Not hiring the right person. Wasting time and money.\u00a0Wasting engineers\u2019<\/em> time and money. Exacerbating recruiter-manager conflict. Declining slowly into irrelevance as the company struggles to hire the technical rockstars who power brilliant products and services\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is GenAI genuinely such a threat? We don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, we think it\u2019s an opportunity. An opportunity to put your recruitment process under the microscope and build a more modern, more future-proof hiring function that\u2019s better placed to hire badass devs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s talk about that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How prevalent is cheating really? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One transformation expert commented recently to Business Insider<\/a> that AI in recruitment is \u201can arms race that is just going to keep accelerating\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an explosive image, with talent professionals on one side of the battlefield pitted against a new generation of wily jobseekers who want to win at any cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not necessarily a helpful image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, AI is changing some of the ways we recruit. And it\u2019s changing some of the ways jobseekers seek jobs. But are candidates flocking en-masse to GenAI to pull the wool over interviewers\u2019 eyes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s inherently a hard question to answer, because candidates who are really cheating are also unlikely to crow about it. But we think not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This combative image of HR versus candidates belies the truth, that most candidates genuinely want to find a job where they\u2019ll thrive. Most candidates don\u2019t want to start a job where they can\u2019t, <\/em>any more than you want them to. Poor performance and eventual turnover aren\u2019t good for anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our CEO Amanda Richardson puts it<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trust that 99% of candidates believe in themselves enough to show their real skills, and the other 1% was always going to be undeterred.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, yes, GenAI offers new possibilities for cheating. But possibilities have always existed, for the 1% who\u2019re determined to cheat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example:<\/p>\n\n\n

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(Source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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(Source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The fact there are new possibilities doesn\u2019t mean cheating\u2019s becoming more prevalent. And we don\u2019t need to blow the problem out of proportion, in an echo-chamber of pearl-clutching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruiters need what you\u2019ve always needed. An awareness that cheating can <\/em>happen; an understanding of the warning signs; and then rolled-up sleeves to get on with hiring-as-usual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another more pertinent question around the use of GenAI in technical interviews though, and that\u2019s this: is using GenAI actually cheating in the first place<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a much more interesting question, because it pertains to the fundamentals of how you assess and hire the best people for the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is using GenAI during technical interviews even cheating? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Say you\u2019re interviewing for a job as a baker. It\u2019s reasonable that the interviewer might ask you to bake some bread, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then imagine they refuse to let you use rising agents, even though rising agents are standard practice, because they want to see how you bake bread without artificial support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s lose, lose. From their side, they aren\u2019t actually assessing you on the skills you\u2019ll use daily. Maybe you\u2019re an excellent baker using rising agents but without, won\u2019t do yourself justice. So they miss out on an excellent hire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And from your side, how long before you abandon hiring processes like that entirely? It\u2019s borderline offensive. You\u2019re a serious baker, you want to work somewhere that values your skills; somewhere that doesn\u2019t place arbitrary restrictions during recruitment just because a tiny minority of lesser bakers might take advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s exactly the risk with GenAI.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

AI is fundamentally changing how developers work, and that\u2019s a great thing. McKinsey research last year found that developers can complete coding tasks up to twice as fast with generative AI, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n

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(Source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Likewise, our State of Tech Hiring 2024<\/a> report found that 70% of developers think AI will help reduce their workload, and 60% would like to use more AI at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, meeting rooms are alight with concerns about AI. Business likes certainty, not change, and anything that potentially impacts productivity is high stakes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the direction of travel is towards embracing AI. Ultimately that\u2019ll mean your developers increasingly using these tools day-to-day\u2013so eventually, you\u2019ll need to be hiring for those skills, just as you would any other job requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, even if GenAI isn\u2019t yet a priority for your organization, this has an impact today<\/em> \u2013 because recruitment\u2019s fundamentally future-looking.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is: let\u2019s presume you\u2019re hiring with a view to developers staying, say, three-plus years. That means you need to hire people now with an eye on tomorrow. Building a future-ready workforce means understanding how skills needs could evolve and building them into the organization proactively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us back to baking. It just doesn\u2019t make much sense, blocking candidates at interviews from using tools that they either already<\/em> or almost certainly will<\/em> use on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, there\u2019s a strong argument to say GenAI is an incredible acceleration opportunity for diversity<\/a>, democratizing skills that have traditionally been guarded and gatekept. Improving inclusiveness and widening the talent pool are major priorities for approximately everyone. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GenAI: friend. Right? But then we come full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because if you authorize GenAI for technical interviews, what about the candidates who will take the opportunity to cheat? And how can you build an accurate understanding of candidates\u2019 abilities, if they\u2019ve used AI?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it\u2019s only 1%, you still need to protect against the risk of hiring the wrong people. Or missing out on the right people, because you chose someone ahead of them who used GenAI to puff out their feathers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know this stuff is a big concern. But luckily, we\u2019re not advocating the wild, wild west. You can accommodate GenAI in a sensible, measured way that safeguards your process and protects the organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to have your cake and eat it: mitigated<\/em> GenAI <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How can you harness GenAI in the recruitment process but also protect against cheating? There\u2019s a simple answer and a longer, more nuanced answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simple answer is to choose assessment and interview tools<\/a> that allow candidates to use GenAI \u2013 but also have built-in functionality to discourage, detect and respond to suspicious activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, CoderPad has a heap of features to help mitigate cheating<\/a> and prompt areas for further discussion, to help you get under the skin of a candidate\u2019s approach. Like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n