Leadership wants to use AI to screen 20,000 applications a year. How would you design the process to be fair and compliant?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Define job-related criteria first
- Assess vendors for bias testing and transparency
- Run adverse impact monitoring regularly
- Keep meaningful human oversight and appeals
- Meet legal duties on notice, audits and data
Model answer
I would start with the criteria, not the tool: job-related requirements agreed with hiring managers and tested against what predicts performance. Then I would assess vendors on how they validate their models, how they test for bias, what data they train on and whether they provide audit results. Before full launch, I would run the tool in parallel with human screening and compare outcomes, including adverse impact using measures like the four-fifths rule across groups where data is lawfully available. In live use, humans review borderline and rejected samples, and candidates can request human review or adjustments. Legally, AI screening is high-risk under the EU AI Act, NYC requires bias audits and notices, and data protection laws apply everywhere. I would monitor results quarterly and pause the tool if we see unfair impact.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed hard round and get scored on every answer.
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