The AI Human Resources Manager

Going through a completely automated hiring process.

Much of my main freelance writing working has dried up (thanks AI) and business is very slow (thanks, inflation), so I applied for an online tutoring job at one of the bigger companies for some extra side work.

I won’t name the company as they have you sign a non-disparagement clause in the contract. (Though I don’t think I’m disparaging them too much otherwise, other than to complain about their crappy pay scale.)

The hiring process was completely automated. I don’t think a human being was involved at all in any step of my hiring process.

I filled out an online application and then was given the go-ahead to do an online interview. This was a recorded interview with written questions using a company called HireVue. Within an hour of my recorded interview, I passed and was moved on to the next part of the process, an automated background check.

Mind you, this was a Sunday afternoon. I am convinced that it was AI that passed me - no human reviewed my video interview on a Sunday!

Once my background check went through, which took a couple of hours, I was officially hired and onboarded via emails and pre-recorded videos.

In no part of this process did I have any contact with a real human.

The process was fast but not clear enough in many respects. It was only after I was given a greenlight that I was notified of the pay scale, which has not changed in at least seven years (based on online comments) and is ridiculously low: $15/hour for one-on-one online tutoring, when clients are charged perhaps five times more for. Certain groups and classes are a little more, as well as live chats (I think).

Once hired, you are dumped into an algorithm matching system that prioritizes existing, high-rated tutors over newbies (fair enough) but how do you get started if you can’t get any work? Apparently this is seasonal work and things have slowed down for the summer (a bad time to pick this job for some quick extra cash).

Yet, I’ve seen numerous “instant chat” opportunities come up in the past few days. The problem? You have to click on a button to view the details and are given a 15 second countdown to read the information before you can join a session.

Despite clicking on multiple opportunities almost immediately, I have never gotten one. A quick search revealed these are almost impossible to get based on online comments, and I suspect people are using bots and AI to grab the opportunities, and perhaps use AI bots to respond to them as well.

(I also wonder if the company itself is perhaps testing internal AI to take some opportunities for themselves, since they save money that way.)

So I click on the chat help button to complain about this, and here’s how the conversation went once I was connected with a “live” agent:

Hi there! 👋 I’m your tutor support virtual assistant. How can I help you today? You can say things like, "How do I invoice?", or "I need to reschedule a session with a student". To minimize our chat at any time, just click the blue circle with the downward arrow at the bottom right of this window.

it is impossible to get an instant chat sessions

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble getting an instant chat session. Instant tutoring opportunities can be less common than standard 1:1 tutoring opportunities. Have you been receiving notifications for instant tutoring opportunities?

yes and I click on it right away and someone else always takes it. this is humanly impossible and very likely someone is using bots to get these opportunities

I will transfer you to a live agent. It may take 1-2 minutes for the agent to review our conversation before they respond. Please do not close the chat. The agent will respond to you here.

Thank you for contacting ____! My name is Ann, how can I help you today?

I'm just writing in to complain that someone is probably using bot/AI software to get the instant chat opportunities. It is humanly impossible that these would go so quickly otherwise. Multiple times I have clicked on it almost immediately and then clicked as soon as I could join. If you go through accounts and find that a small number of accounts are getting the bulk of these assignments then you might check to see if they are using bots/AI not just to get the assignments but to answer them.

It would be nice if you have a fairer system for getting these assignments, and not always make it first come first serve

Rest assured you are receiving all opportunities which you are eligible to receive. Bear in mind that tutoring, including instant chat, is seasonal and many schools are winding down for the summer holidays.

Are you a human? Did you read what I just said?

Unfortunately, I do not have any additional information I can provide at this time regarding your request and will be ending the chat.

Your conversation has ended

Look, I don’t have a problem with companies using AI to automate things, but if there isn’t a value placed on the human beings within the company, what’s the point? This tutoring company is clearing saving a lot of money by automating hiring as well as chat support, you think that they could raise their tutoring rates to be at least equivalent to what a hamburger flipper makes in California.

I do suspect this company is developing AI to handle instant chat interactions with students. Will they be able to totally replace their human tutors with AI generated ones? At least for now, the technology isn’t quite there to substitute humans in a complex video interaction, but it’s coming soon.

As for me, I realize this gig is not going to help me much with my financial crunch, so I’ll be looking elsewhere for work. I may keep an eye on their opportunities if I have nothing better to do, but for now the automated system and low compensation is not appealing. I also wonder what quality of tutoring the kids are actually getting if no humans are involved in vetting or overseeing anything.

Welcome to our Brave New World.