Oliver Sheer No Comments

When recruiting, one issue seems to echo louder than the rest at the moment: artificial intelligence, and not without good reason.

Many organisations have faced challenges finding the right talent in recent years, driven by an array of societal and political factors. However, a new challenge is upon us i.e. assessing AI-savvy applicants.

It’s not necessarily a yes or no topic. On one hand, we all seek talent who are capable of leveraging the tools at their disposal, however on the other hand, in an increasingly tech-driven world, we need creative and lateral thinking more than ever.

You’re no doubt asking yourself the question: How do I navigate this talent labyrinth and ensure I find the diamond in the digital rough?

The double-edged sword of AI assistance

Picture this: A candidate facing a complex problem during your assessment whips out their AI tool, types in a query, and voilà – a ready-made solution right in front of you. It seems like a slick move, right?

But here’s the twist – are we inadvertently assessing talents that excel at finding quick fixes but lack the true grit of independent thinking?

Increasingly for businesses, agility and creativity are nothing else but a must-have. And, in this world, the danger lies in candidates becoming reliant on AI as a thinking crutch.
Think about this as handing someone a half-charged GPS for a journey into unknown lands, and realising afterwards they’ve forgotten how to read a map.

The ability to navigate uncharted territory with raw intellect is a skill hiring companies yearn for. So, while the convenience of AI is undeniable, when recruiting, you should tread carefully, ensuring that candidates possess not just answers, but the ability to think critically and navigate the unknown with finesse.

That’s easy to say, but how do you go about it?

Designing questions beyond the reach of AI

Well, let’s flip the script. What if, instead of fearing the AI surge, we took it as a challenge to redefine our approach to candidate assessment?

Imagine crafting questions that defy the capabilities of AI, questions that aren’t a mere Google search away. This is more than just asking candidates to repeat facts; it’s about asking them to use their knowledge in new and unexpected ways. We have listed some of these strategic questions in this article, but even these are the tip of the iceberg.

Your recruitment experience, in this perspective, becomes an art form.

When designing scenarios that demand creativity, emotional intelligence, and a nuanced understanding of context, you can separate the wheat from the chaff. You are not testing who has memorised the most information; you are now discovering who can dance through the intellectual hurdles with finesse.

This shift in approach will challenge candidates to step out of their comfort zones and showcase their true potential beyond the immediate reach of AI.

Balancing capability and creativity

In tomorrow’s recruitment universe, where the lines between human ingenuity and technological prowess blur, the question isn’t whether AI is a friend or foe. It’s all about recognising the dance between the two.

The rising AI-powered candidate prompts us to be cautious, ensuring we’re not inadvertently sacrificing independent thinking at the altar of convenience. Simultaneously, the idea of crafting living experiences and questions that surpass the capabilities of artificial intelligence opens a door to a recruitment experience that goes beyond surface-level evaluations.
For these deeper levels of evaluation, our DISC assessment and strategic thinking and problem solving programs are a perfect fit.

Einstein once said, “Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”. Applied to recruitment, we then can say that the most effective assessments are those that spark the imagination, both for you and the candidates.

At Be Challenged, we engineered specific programs around soft skills and creativity assessment, where human connection is at the forefront of every step. So we invite you to step into a new era of hiring, one where soft skills take centre stage in your recruitment journey.

Are you ready to redefine your recruitment game? Let us help you design a recruitment approach to find the most capable and creative candidates out there. Get in touch, we’d love to connect.

Thanks for reading.

Oliver Sheer

Managing Director, Be Challenged

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