A panel of experts got together for ISE’s second webinar on ChatGPT. The fast-paced discussion focused on how AI continues to impact early careers recruitment.

Stephen Isherwood, ISE’s joint CEO, was joined by Manny Contomanolis, director at the Office of Career Services at Harvard University, Helen Dovey, chief assessment officer at Cappfinity, and Zac Williams, director at Careerpass Network.

They discussed how students are using AI, how employers can ensure that recruitment remains robust and fair, and what we should tell students about AI in the recruitment process.

The panel kicked off by discussing the unprecedented pace of ChatGPT’s advancement, and how this was causing concerns regarding ethics and governance of generative AI.

However, they were also highly optimistic that ChatGPT provides significant opportunities for innovation in recruitment activities for the benefit of students, academic institutions, and employers.

Academic context

Manny Contomanolis offered insights into the student and academic perspectives on the use of ChatGPT.

This included how students and universities are embracing the technology such as for coursework and course content.

He noted that the same code of professional standards apply to the use of ChatGPT in the academic context. It was suggested that human interventions are required to ensure it is used accurately and appropriately.

Vulnerability of assessments

Much of the wider discussion looked at candidate authenticity and how the use of ChatGPT might be used to cheat the recruitment process.

Helen Dovey and Zac Williams talked about the vulnerabilities of certain types of assessments to ChatGPT, particularly knowledge-based questions.

They were keen to remind the audience that candidates attempting to cheat, or project themselves as something other than their authentic selves, is sadly not new news in the assessment processes.

Best practice

The panel discussed how best practices and robust design principles can help mitigate the impact of ChatGPT for cheating assessments.

Helen Dovey explained Cappfinity’s 3D Model – Design, Deter and Detect. They have been using this with clients for a number of years to describe how organisations need to implement a range of interlocking, multi-layer approaches to support the prevention, deterrence, and detection of cheating, The process starts with the fundamentals of assessment design.

It was suggested that assessments should focus on understanding the individual candidate and how the use of ChatGPT, just as with any other form of cheating, distorts that picture.

It can lead to employers’ mismatching candidates to roles, and ultimately those candidates finding themselves in jobs or careers which don’t suit them.

Mitigating inappropriate use

In discussing the measures employers can take to attempt to mitigate the inappropriate use of ChatGPT in the assessment process, the panel spoke about the need to balance interventions with the wider priorities of the employer, such as diversity and inclusion.

For example, the use of timed assessments has a negative impact on certain diversity characteristics, while proctoring can be seen as invasive to the candidate’s privacy.

The panel agreed that ChatGPT has, and will continue to have, significant and far-ranging impact on recruitment processes and that employers need to consider this in the context of their own organisation and be clear to students where they stand on the subject.

For example, where the use of ChatGPT is widely accepted in an organisation, it makes sense to be transparent about this and even assess candidates in their abilities to use it.

Conversely, some sectors view the use of tools such as ChatGPT as inappropriate and therefore look to actively discourage students from using it during the recruitment process and beyond.

Just as we have search engines at our disposal to help answer all our day-to-day needs, the ubiquitous use of ChatGPT in the future is undeniable.

What this webinar demonstrates is that we should embrace the opportunities it brings while continuing our diligence in ensuring that its use is appropriate and authentic for both the candidate and the employer.

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