TL;DR: Adding a small deliverable, especially one that functions as “proof of life,” to your hiring process helps you differentiate real people from AI slop and filters out unfit candidates before you ever get to an interview. How someone completes the task can reveal even more than a resume: the way they think, their curiosity, and their ability to follow instructions.
Intro
It’s no secret that AI has altered how people and companies function. Today, AI slop is flooding job applications- making it harder than ever to find real, interested candidates. Not only do you need to review the quality of an application, but, now, you also need to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.
Especially in the startup world, it’s essential you find the right fit for you and your team. Purposely making the application process harder by asking for different deliverables can help you save time finding that perfect fit.
What we recommend: add friction. A small, easy to complete assignment that demonstrates genuine interest and proof-of-life.
Many job applications today look the same: upload your resume, answer a few standard questions, and depending on the role, submit a cover letter as well. This process has made it easier than ever for AI to identify patterns and successfully take over the application process for an applicant. We’ve seen it firsthand. Candidates submit applications with stolen profiles, fully AI generated cover letters, and even fake people in interviews.
Break the pattern by adding friction to your hiring process.
What Should You Ask For
It’s important that you make a deliverable practical for both you and the applicant.
Be thoughtful about the time it takes. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive unpaid take home exercise. It’s something someone should be able to put together in <10 mins.
Make it relevant to your company. Create an assignment that can be tied back to your company and the role. For instance, if you sell sports equipment and are hiring a brand manager, you might want to ask candidates to explain a current trend in the sports industry that they find interesting. A relevant task, like this one, can reveal how excited a candidate is about the industry, if their interests align with your company, and what kind of insight they might bring to your company.
Attempt to AI-proof it. Give candidates an assignment where the answer can’t be copy and pasted from AI. The best assignments require real human touch, something that AI can’t easily fake. One example could be asking candidates to record a Loom video. This forces the candidate to speak to a camera and actually read, understand, and deliver on what you ask of them, rather than blindly submitting whatever AI spits out. Real people will find this easy- an AI assisted candidate will fumble.
Evaluating the Deliverables
Let’s say you’ve gotten your candidates to send you a Loom video, a slide deck, or different type of deliverable. Great. Now what? Evaluating each deliverable is a lot simpler than you’d think. You don’t need to search for the most incredible, jaw-dropping submission. Instead, analyze how the applicant thinks and conveys information. You can teach anyone basic skills like making a slide deck, but what makes each applicant unique is their work style and genuine curiosity.
Bottom Line
AI has changed the hiring landscape which is why, today, it is more important than ever to add friction to your hiring process. Weed out applicants who are not interested in your company’s mission or are unfit for the role itself. Without it, time that could have been spent working on things like product or sales is spent dealing with and interviewing candidates who aren’t aligned with your company and are simply “spraying and praying” applications.
