As developers, you probably use AI every day, – whether it’s asking Copilot for a hint or debugging with ChatGPT. So it’s only natural to turn to the same tools when looking for a job. And you know what? Most recruiters are actually completely fine with that.
AI is a great assistant that can take a lot of stress and tedious work off your shoulders. The problem arises, however, when you hand over 100% of the control. Let’s see how to use this tool wisely (to score points) and how you can easily make a bad impression.
1. Best practices. AI as your practice buddy
Let’s start with what AI is best at. Treat it like an understanding assistant that will help you prepare for upcoming interviews – both HR and technical.
Mock interviews. You’ll get much more out of a mock interview if you give the AI enough context. Don’t just type ‘act as a recruiter.’ Share your CV, the job description, and a few details about the company. Then ask it to mix common interview questions with more challenging ones. You can also try voice mode on your phone – it makes the practice feel closer to an actual interview.
Remembering your achievements when your mind goes blank. Stress during an interview can wipe the best projects from your memory. Do a brainstorming session with AI beforehand. Loosely describe your recent tasks and ask it to extract a list of concrete achievements. You’ll have a ready mental “cheat sheet.”
Practicing tough questions and the STAR method. Once you’ve brainstormed your achievements and challenges, it’s time to turn them into clear examples. Here, it’s worth referring to my previous article and practicing the STAR method. Ask AI to throw tough behavioral questions at you and ruthlessly evaluate whether your answers fully cover the points: S (Situation), T (Task), A (Action), and R (Result).
Decoding intentions. Got a difficult question from AI and don’t know how to navigate it? Ask the bot to explain where the question is coming from and what its purpose is. Once you understand what the interviewer is trying to find out, it’s easier to answer the question in your own words.
CV structure and proofreading. AI can help you organize your CV, group your skills, or catch typos. Just review the final version yourself and make sure everything is accurate and still sounds like you.
Tailoring your CV to a specific job posting. You can feed the job description and your CV into the bot to check if you have properly highlighted the required skills. Do it wisely, without artificially forcing keywords in. See what we care about the most and simply move those skills to the very top of your CV. You can also mention them in your bio or in an additional section of the application form. With a large volume of candidates, this often helps you stand out.
Preparing questions for the interviewer. The interview is also time for you. You can use AI to generate a list of questions for the recruiter, but remember one thing: general questions are fine, but we want you to think about what really matters to you in your day-to-day work with us. Ask the bot for questions focused on those specific areas. You should leave the meeting with as many relevant answers as possible, not just ask questions to tick a box. The goal is to leave the conversation with a clearer picture of the role, the team, and whether the job is right for you.
2. Bad practices. When you lose your authenticity
Assistance is one thing, but blindly delegating the entire recruitment process to a machine is the fastest way to get your application rejected. When do we start getting suspicious?
Generating most or 100% of your cover letter or bio. AI has a very specific style of writing and speaking. Those flowery, grandiose sentences in the ‘About me’ section can be spotted a mile away. Instead of learning something specific about you, we get a cookie-cutter paragraph that could describe almost anyone. Think of AI as a way to prepare and polish your application, not as a substitute for your own experience or judgement. Whatever you submit or say in an interview should be something you can stand behind.
Fabricated CVs and AI hallucinations. One of the biggest problems is submitting a CV without checking what AI has added. It might include technologies you haven’t used, responsibilities you didn’t have, or experience that never happened. When I ask for details about a point from your own CV during an interview, and you don’t know what it’s about, the gap becomes clear very quickly. It’s hard to build mutual trust on such a foundation, because we inevitably start wondering what else in the document strays from the truth.
Spamming applications (Quantity over Quality). Having AI generate hundreds of applications and sending them out blindly is rarely a good strategy. From the perspective of our ATS (Applicant Tracking System), we immediately see when a candidate is applying for positions completely unsuited to their experience. We also see candidates applying multiple times for the same role within the same hiring cycle, despite receiving negative feedback in the meantime. When you try to make one CV fit every vacancy, it’s easy to end up with a generic document that doesn’t clearly show where your strengths lie. Rather than applying everywhere, focus on roles that genuinely match your experience and tailor your application to each one.
Using AI LIVE during the interview. I already mentioned this in my previous article, but it bears repeating – using AI to feed you answers during an interview, without the interviewer’s knowledge or permission, can seriously undermine your credibility. It can be easier to spot than you might think. Your eyes may stay fixed on one spot, or your answers may suddenly sound different from the way you normally speak. You might start reading faster than you would naturally speak, and if the bot gives you an inaccurate answer, you may struggle to explain your reasoning or respond to follow-up questions. The conversation can quickly become less natural, making it harder for the interviewer to get a clear picture of your skills. In the end, you risk making a worse impression than you otherwise would, even if you have all the skills we’re looking for.
Of course, using AI during an interview isn’t automatically a problem. If the interviewer explicitly allows you to use AI or other tools during a task, go ahead and use them within the agreed rules. The key is to be transparent about it and make sure you can explain and stand behind your answers.
A quick takeaway
Remember that AI is there to help you prepare, not to replace your own thinking. You should always be able to stand behind what you submit and what you say during an interview. At the end of the day, we are hiring you – not an algorithm. We want to see your actual experience, your personality, and what makes you a great teammate.
Keep your prep smart, keep your interview human, and happy prompting!