Can AI Cheat Your Hiring Process? We Put It to the Test

From resumes and cover letters to interview preparation and skills tests, candidates are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT to enhance—or in some cases, inflate—their qualifications. But what happens when AI is used to complete a hiring assessment? Can it cheat the system? And if so, how should HR respond? We decided to find out.

We tested ChatGPT on Cangrade’s proprietary soft skills assessment, which is used to identify personality traits predictive of long-term job success. The test was run across 50 different roles in diverse industries including technology, real estate, skilled trades, and government. We provided ChatGPT with the job title, description, and assessment questions. Its task? Maximize its score as if it were a real job seeker trying to land the job. And the results may surprise you.

50 Jobs vs. One Chatbot

Of 50 attempts, only six responses scored high enough to be considered top-tier, high-fit candidates. Five more fell into the midrange, which often signals candidates who show potential but aren’t strong matches. That left 78% of AI-generated assessments as clear rejections. So, why did ChatGPT fall short?

It adopted a generic positivity strategy—slightly agreeing with most statements, avoiding extremes, and heavily emphasizing traits like empathy, persistence, and moral integrity. While these sound like strong workplace behaviors, many skills assessments are role-specific and context-driven. The same personality trait that’s ideal for sales could be a liability in a healthcare role. And for now, general-purpose AI doesn’t yet understand those nuances.

What This Means for HR and Talent Leaders

The broader concern is clear: Generative AI is becoming a standard part of the job-seeking toolkit. According to recent Capterra research, 29% of job seekers have used AI to complete assessments, 28% have used it to generate interview responses, and 26% have used it to mass-apply for jobs. On the flip side, 82% of candidates believe others are using AI to gain an advantage—which means the pressure to follow suit is mounting.

So how can HR teams stay ahead of this shift and preserve the integrity of their hiring process? Here are several key practices to protect your talent pipeline.

1.Understand the the AI Landscape

While resumes and cover letters are still required for most jobs, they can be convincingly fabricated by AI. Modern approaches to candidate assessment, like structured interviews and real-time skills assessments can provide HR professionals with a more realistic picture of the candidate. While AI can still be used to optimize job materials or help with interview preparation, seeing how candidates think critically and present themselves can help HR teams assess whether they’ll be a good fit for the company and specific role.

Additionally, updating screening practices can also help. While many positions are now hybrid or remote, video interviews can be a great way to ensure candidates are genuine. Relying on reference checks is another way to gain insights on how a person performs on the job, and one that AI would have a hard time influencing. It’s also important to educate recruiters and hiring managers on how candidates are using AI.

2. Use AI-Resistant Assessments

HR leaders are increasingly focused on hiring and training for soft skills like communication, writing, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This is good news, considering AI is far better at mimicking hard-skills, like specific competencies, knowledge, or abilities required to perform particular tasks. Surfacing the right soft skills takes more than yes or no answers, so designing assessments with no clear “right” answer are not only better for highlighting soft skills, but make it harder for AI tools to succeed.

More tactical approaches include disabling the copy/paste function and setting time limits to create friction for real-time AI use. Randomizing assessment questions to prevent answer key sharing across candidates and with AI tools is another easy way to safeguard against cheating. In fact, many ATS systems now have AI-detection capabilities to flag suspicious submissions. While it can be tempting to rely on gut instinct, research shows humans detect AI-generated content only slightly better than random chance, so don’t leave it to already burdened HR pros to tackle it alone.

3. Use AI Strategically

The best way to combat AI cheating is to fight fire with fire. AI can actually be one of the most valuable tools in the HR arsenal for finding the best candidates for a role. Beyond simple keyword searches, AI makes it possible to create personalized skills assessments for each individual candidate. Without AI, this would be an impossible task for humans alone. It can also look at a candidates’ experiences and competencies to raise individuals who are good fits, but may not be job hunting, like internal talent, for example.

Even beyond finding the right candidates, AI can help HR professionals speed up the interview process without compromising quality, write compelling offer letters, build career development plans, and ultimately, optimize teams and their success. And having the right people in place is critical for the health of the business.

This experiment reinforces that while generative AI is powerful, it struggles to navigate the complexity of custom, role-specific soft skills assessments. And yet, as tools improve and job seekers become more adept, AI-assisted applications will continue to rise. In response, HR teams must evolve their processes accordingly—not just to prevent cheating, but to ensure they’re selecting candidates who genuinely align with the competencies that lead to long-term success.

Soft skills remain one of the most predictive indicators of job performance—and one of the hardest things to fake—even for AI. By investing in processes designed for this new era of hiring, HR leaders can maintain quality, fairness, and effectiveness in the face of rapid technological change, and even use it to their own advantage.

Catch more HRTech Insights: Frontline Workers Don’t Trust AI – What Can Employers Do About It?

[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]

The post Can AI Cheat Your Hiring Process? We Put It to the Test appeared first on TecHR.

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