Virtual interviews: from convenience to problems

Online interviews have become the norm in recent years. Companies saved resources, and candidates could interview from anywhere in the world. But generative AI has changed the game: along with new opportunities came new risks.

Today many candidates use AI to:

  • get real-time hints during a video interview
  • write code in seconds in technical assignments
  • create résumés and cover letters with a "perfect" presentation
  • even generate deepfakes and pass off someone else's skills as their own

As a result, employers face a situation where a candidate's real level and the picture on the screen can differ dramatically.

Fraud is becoming systemic

According to a Gartner survey of three thousand job seekers, 6 percent admitted to cheating in an interview. By 2028, analysts predict that a quarter of all applications will be fake. These are not just isolated cases: an industry of "fake candidates" is taking shape.

A telling example: in the US, the FBI is investigating a scheme in which thousands of specialists from North Korea posed as Americans and got remote jobs at IT companies. Deception on this scale confirms that the problem is no longer local.

How companies are responding: back to offline

To restore trust, employers are bringing back in-person stages of selection.

  • Google introduced a mandatory in-person interview for some technical positions. According to Sundar Pichai, it is the only way to be sure of programmers' real skills.
  • Cisco and McKinsey have expanded in-office meetings, and Deloitte brought back offline interviews in its UK graduate program.
  • According to Coda Search Staffing, the share of clients insisting on an in-person interview grew from 5% in 2024 to 30% in 2025.

An in-person interview does several jobs at once: it tests professional skills, lets you assess soft skills, and instantly filters out those who hoped to hide behind a screen.

A new technology race

We are watching a kind of arms race:

  • employers are introducing biometric verification algorithms and deepfake analysis, and demanding in-person attendance
  • candidates are using GPT systems to prepare résumés and answers, and creating ever more realistic fake profiles

Who will win this race is still unclear. But one thing is clear: companies are increasingly putting the human factor back at the center of the hiring process.

What this means for business

  1. Higher recruiting costs: the savings from online stages are now offset by the cost of organizing in-person meetings.
  2. A bigger role for employer brand: in-person interviews require more trust, so companies must be transparent and attractive to candidates.
  3. Tighter data verification: biometric authentication services and anti-fraud solutions are in demand.

What this means for job seekers

  1. Honesty becomes the main advantage: employers are getting better and better at spotting deception.
  2. Soft skills matter more: the ability to communicate, build rapport and make an impression is valued even more than brilliantly rehearsed answers.
  3. Preparation has to be deep: it is important to be able to prove your skills live, not only on a screen.

Outlook

  • In-person interviews will not completely replace the online format, but they will become a mandatory part of the process for business-critical roles: IT, finance and management positions.
  • Companies will increasingly combine online stages (initial screening) with offline stages (final check).
  • New professions and services for "verifying a candidate's identity" will appear, similar to the banking sector.