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Weekly Newsletter Vol. 115 - November 12, 2025

When your AI Interviewer forgets how to introduce themself

* Checks notes *

Generating your Lead Story…

When AI Crosses the Line: Why Interviews Should Stay Human

Lately, I’ve been hearing something that’s becoming more and more common in the hiring world:

“I turned down the interview. They wanted me to talk to an AI chatbot.”

And every time I hear it, my response is the same:

“I wouldn’t attend either.”

We’ve reached a point where the efficiency of technology has started to blur the lines of what should and shouldn’t be automated. AI has proven it can review resumes, schedule interviews, and match candidates to roles faster than any human could but when we start replacing the interview conversation itself, we’ve gone too far.

This is where we need to draw the line.

The Human Signal in the Noise

Recruitment at its best is about connection. It’s about people understanding people—motives, strengths, potential, and personality.

An AI chatbot can process words, but it can’t feel the subtext. It can’t recognize genuine curiosity, humility, humor, or ambition. It doesn’t see how someone handles uncertainty, or how they light up when talking about work they’re proud of.

And these are the moments where the best hiring decisions are made.

Think about how many great hires have been made because someone saw something in a candidate that wasn’t obvious on paper? A tone of voice, a story, a spark. These are the subtle, human cues that don’t fit neatly into a dataset but make all the difference.

When we hand over that part of the process to AI, we’re not making it more efficient—we’re making it less human.

Efficiency vs. Empathy

It’s easy to understand why companies are trying this. AI interviews promise speed, consistency, and scale. A single chatbot can handle hundreds of interviews simultaneously. No scheduling conflicts, no burnout, no small talk.

But here’s the problem: hiring isn’t a factory process.

When candidates talk to a machine instead of a person, it sends a message that says we value efficiency over empathy. And candidates notice.

In a world where talent has options, that’s a dangerous message to send.

We’re seeing more candidates, especially experienced professionals, simply opt out. They don’t want to be reduced to text prompts and keyword scoring. They want to have a conversation.

The irony is that in trying to make hiring faster, many companies are actually slowing it down. Because when candidates feel disconnected from the process, they drop out earlier, withdraw their applications, or disengage altogether.

Soft Skills: The Real Hiring Edge

There’s also something deeper at stake here, our ability to identify soft skills.

Soft skills are what make people effective beyond their technical knowledge. Leadership, communication, empathy, adaptability are the traits that drive culture, collaboration, and long-term success.

But AI, by design, struggles to measure them. It can analyze language, but not sincerity. It can simulate listening, but not understand emotion.

A good recruiter or hiring manager, however, can spot these things instantly. They hear the difference between a rehearsed answer and genuine self-awareness. They can sense how someone would fit into a team dynamic.

That’s why interviews need to stay human. Because soft skills are what differentiate a strong candidate from a great one—and no algorithm can replace the intuition it takes to see that.

How Outplacer Is Approaching This

At Outplacer, we’re not against AI. We’re building with it. But we’re building around people.

Our mission is to make hiring smarter, not colder.

We use AI to automate what should be automated—resume tailoring, feedback, insights on missing skills—but we draw a hard line where human connection begins.

Our vision is that every candidate walks into an interview with confidence, knowing their resume is optimized, their skills are clear, and their story is ready to be told. But that story should always be told to another person.

Because the moment we remove humans from interviewing, we remove what makes work worth doing—the relationships, the empathy, the trust.

The Future of Hiring is Still Human

Technology will continue to evolve. That’s inevitable. But the companies that will win the war for talent are the ones that remember why people work for purpose, for connection, for growth.

AI can make the process better. But humans make it meaningful.

So to every recruiter, HR leader, and hiring manager: use AI to enhance your process—but keep the conversations human.

Because no matter how advanced technology gets, it will never replace the power of two people sitting down and saying,

“Tell me about yourself.”

Question for you: Would you attend an interview if it was led entirely by AI?

You can’t make this stuff up

_{(*Disclaimer: these are real experiences provided by RME's community of job seekers and hiring managers)}

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_{*We do not receive any compensation for these promoted products/services, nor for any offers or discounts listed. Rather, we provide a platform for recruiters, hiring managers, and companies to present opportunities to job seekers.}

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Find your next job with: The Wohl Group

As strategic recruiting specialists, The Wohl Group offers a full range of recruiting and consulting services for businesses and hiring managers. We strive on a daily basis to provide each client and candidate we speak with the best resources for the hiring process.

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