An increasing number of technology companies are requiring job applicants to use or display proficiency with AI tools, including coding assistants, during technical tasks in the recruiting process, according to an Australian recruitment firm.

Ellis Taylor, director of IT recruitment agency Real Time, told Information Age the organisation had seen “more and more” tech companies ask job applicants to complete interview tasks with help from AI, indicating “a clear shift” towards firms wanting to see how applicants use the technology to increase their effectiveness.

For software engineers, this included tests involving peer-to-peer coding in which a developer works on code alongside an AI model or AI agent.

The shift comes as Australian graphic design giant Canva revealed earlier this month it was now insisting engineers use AI tools during its interview process.

Taylor said Real Time, which has worked with the likes of Canva, Atlassian, Google, and Oracle, expected the prevalence of AI-assisted tasks in job interviews to continue increasing and “get more embedded” as hiring managers refined their assessments and saw efficiency gains.

"Candidates are asked to show their working, how they use AI tools thoughtfully, how they debug or review AI-suggested code, [and] how they pair it with their own judgment,” he said.

“And perhaps most importantly, how they interact with the interviewers’ feedback and challenges in order to replicate real-working interactions.

“… The expectation is no longer just technical ability — it’s all about smart tooling.”

Taylor said companies were using AI-assisted coding for repetitive tasks so engineers had more time for complex work such as problem solving and strategic thinking, making AI skills critical for job applicants.

“Engineering candidates who haven’t embraced AI, or at least have not explored it meaningfully, are not getting an interview — period,” he said.

AI-assisted interview tasks not just for software devs

Candidates in other roles such as marketing, sales, operations, and leadership were also “increasingly expected to show proficiency with AI tools in interviews”, Taylor said.

“For example, marketers are expected to be familiar with AI-driven analytics, content tools, and automation platforms; sales candidates with AI CRMs [Customer Relationship Management tools] or prospecting tools.”


Real Time director Ellis Taylor (top right) says companies are increasingly asking job applicants to use AI in interview tasks. Image: Supplied

Perth-based lawyer and software developer Michael Paterson said he had begun suggesting job applicants use AI tools to complete certain tasks during his recruitment process.

“I’m interested to see how they are using it, and that was part of the exercise — I said, ‘Feel free to use AI, but tell me how you used it,'" he said.

“I’m just trying to see how other people are using it at the moment, because there are all sorts of different ways of using AI systems.”

AI had done “pretty well” in assisting with the legal task during the interview process, but could not be solely relied upon to check applicants’ AI-assisted answers yet, Paterson said.

“Our philosophy here is you treat [AI] like a very junior solicitor or junior paralegal, and you basically don’t trust anything that comes out — so you do vet it pretty closely," he said.

“To date, I’ve got a reasonably high level of confidence in its output, but there are plenty of lawyers who have come unstuck by relying on it too greatly — we’re very wary.”

There have been numerous examples of lawyers making errors in recent years amid the rise of ChatGPT and other popular AI large language models (LLMs), after the technology produced inaccurate results or made reference to legal cases which did not exist.

Paterson said he would continue to encourage job applicants to use AI during his practice's interview tasks, and he “wouldn’t be surprised” if other law firms were doing the same.

“The tools are there, you may as well use them, as long as you’re careful and you don’t trust blindly the output,” he said.

The ‘teething phase’

Canva said it faced some "internal concerns” from several of its software developers when it began insisting job applicants use AI-assisted coding tools during technical interviews.

But Taylor and Paterson said they were yet to receive any pushback from job applicants about being encouraged to use AI during interview tasks.

"It’s early days, so there’s room for improvement in how technical assessments incorporate AI tooling,” said Taylor from Real Time.

“But generally, everyone understands we’re in the ‘teething phase’.

“Most candidates accept that using AI is now part of an engineer’s toolkit — and if they haven’t embraced this, they’re simply not going to stack up well in front of employers.”

Some candidates had expressed resistance, however, when asked to interact directly with an AI bot or AI agent during an interview instead of a human, Taylor said.

"It’s often clunky, impersonal, and doesn’t create a positive candidate experience,” he said.

“It makes employers look tone-deaf to the human side of hiring.”

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), which represents 38 affiliated unions, called for the “removal of any impediments or barriers to workers determining how they will interact and work with technology including AI” at its triennial congress in June 2024.

“This may include workers deciding, in the public interest, that they will not adopt AI for certain applications — such as medical decision-making,” the ACTU wrote.

The job market, however, was just beginning to incorporate AI into job applicants’ recruitment tasks, Taylor said.

"Employers who help candidates show how they collaborate with AI, rather than just asking ‘do you use it?’, will attract the strongest talent and stay ahead of the curve,” he said.

“The best teams are those that have deeply embedded AI not just in code, but in how they plan, design, test, and ship.”