- Goldman Sachs is cautioning its young job-seekers against using AI during the interview process. Instead, the $176 billion bank is encouraging applicants to study up on the firm in preparation. Other businesses like Anthropic and Amazon have also warned candidates against deploying AI—and if they’re caught, they could be disqualified.
While many companies are boasting about all the efficiencies that will come with AI, some are dissuading potential hires from using it to get a leg up in interviews with recruiters and hiring managers.
Goldman Sachs’ campus recruitment team for the bank’s private investing academy in EMEA recently sent out an email to students reminding them of its expectations for interviews, as reported by eFinancialCareers. Goldman uses video interviewing platform HireVue to pre-assess candidates and maintains a set of best practices for job-seekers. Based on the best practices guidelines, the young applicants are encouraged to prepare for interviews by studying the $176 billion firm’s financial results, business principles, and core values. But they can’t bank on AI to help them out.
“As a reminder, Goldman Sachs prohibits the use of any external sources, including ChatGPT or Google search engine, during the interview process,” the email noted, according to someone who saw the message.
HireVue is an AI-powered talent evaluation platform, known for asking behavioral questions that reveal applicants’ skills. Gen Z job-seekers might be tempted to use ChatGPT or other chatbots to game the recruitment process—but it’s discouraged, and isn’t the most viable option.
The typical Goldman Sachs virtual interview allows for 30 seconds of prep after the question, followed by a two-minute response time, according to research from eFinancialCareers. That makes it hard for job-seekers to quickly type a prompt into the chatbot, churn out an answer, and decide what the line of attack is. Plus, the responses aren’t tailored and unique to the individual, potentially hurting the interviewee more than helping.
Goldman’s job-seeker AI policy could seem ironic, as half of the firm’s 46,000 employees have access to the technology. But other companies are navigating that same paradox as they try to fully flesh out their AI strategies in an ever-changing technological environment. The bank’s spokesperson, Jennifer Zuccarelli, confirmed with Fortune that the same AI policy applies to all campus recruits.
“This language is consistent with what we send to any of our campus applicants across all positions,” Zuccarelli said in a statement to Fortune. “We want to hear from our applicants in their own voice.”
Other companies dissuade applicants from using AI
Goldman Sachs isn’t the only major company warning its applicants not to use AI during recruitment. The $61.5 billion AI giant Anthropic went on a hiring spree last month, but told job-seekers that they can’t use the advanced technology to fill out their applications. The company argued that it wants to test the communication skills of potential hires, and AI use clouds that assessment.
“Please do not use AI assistants during the application process,” Anthropic wrote in the description for its hundreds of job postings. “We want to understand your personal interest in Anthropic without mediation through an AI system, and we also want to evaluate your non-AI-assisted communication skills.”
Retail giant Amazon also doesn’t like it when potential talent uses AI tools during the recruitment process. Earlier this year, the $2 trillion behemoth shared guidelines with internal recruiters, stressing that candidates who are caught using AI during job interviews should be disqualified. According to Amazon, the tools give an “unfair advantage” that masks analysis of someone’s “authentic” capabilities.
“To ensure a fair and transparent recruitment process, please do not use gen Al tools during your interview unless explicitly permitted,” the guidelines, as reported by Business Insider, noted. “Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in disqualification from the recruitment process.”
