I’ve been watching a curious trend unfold: companies banning AI tools during interviews while simultaneously seeking candidates who can leverage cutting-edge technology.
Does this contradiction strike you as odd? It should.
The Resistance Mindset
Most hiring managers today view AI assistance as “cheating” – a way to bypass genuine skill evaluation. They create elaborate systems to detect and prevent AI use, convinced they’re preserving the integrity of their process.
But let’s be honest about what’s happening here.
This isn’t protecting standards – it’s resisting inevitable progress. It’s equivalent to universities in the 1990s banning internet research or schools in the 1970s prohibiting calculators.
The Evolution Mindset
The forward-thinking approach recognizes that AI isn’t going away – it’s becoming an essential extension of professional capability. Just as we don’t force accountants to do calculations by hand or researchers to use physical libraries exclusively, why would we evaluate candidates without the tools they’ll actually use daily?
In graduate school, I wasn’t told I couldn’t use search engines for research papers. Instead, I was taught how to use them effectively, evaluate sources critically, and attribute properly. The focus was on the quality of my output and the soundness of my thinking, not restricting my methods.
A tech leader I worked with recently transformed their interview process to include AI tools. Their reasoning? “I don’t need people who memorize solutions. I need people who know which problems AI can solve and which require human judgment.” Their team performance has improved dramatically since making this change.
The simple truth is that evaluating someone without AI today is like testing a driver without allowing them to use the steering wheel. You’re not measuring job readiness – you’re measuring an increasingly irrelevant skill set.
What if instead of asking “Is this candidate using AI?” we asked “Does this candidate demonstrate sound judgment in how they apply AI to produce excellent results?”
The future belongs to those who can thoughtfully integrate technological assistance into their workflow. Should we really be hiring based on a skill set that’s rapidly becoming obsolete?
Finding clarity in the chaos,
Christopher Grant
Founder, Nebari Consulting
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Spotted a typo? Consider it a feature not a bug. Now you know I’m not an AI 🤖