Hired by an Algorithm

Sammanfattning

This study investigates how candidates perceive and experience artificial intelligence-driven recruitment processes, and how these experiences shape their broader impressions of hiring organizations. Drawing on 11 semi-structured interviews with individuals from diverse professional backgrounds who had firsthand experience with AI-assisted recruitment, the research adopts a qualitative, abductive approach and analyzes the data through thematic analysis. Three interconnected findings emerged from the data: mistrust, dehumanization, and disengagement. Candidates frequently encountered opacity regarding how AI systems processed their data and influenced hiring decisions, generating skepticism toward both the technology and the organization deploying it. The loss of meaningful human interaction, combined with generic feedback and the unnatural demands of AI video interviews, left many candidates feeling unable to present their authentic selves. Which in turn prompted behaviors such as keyword optimization and algorithmic performance. These experiences ultimately led to varying degrees of disengagement, from emotional detachment to full withdrawal from the application process. The central contribution of this study implies that candidates do not evaluate AI-tools in isolation. Instead, they interpret an organization’s use of AI as a signal of its underlying values, culture and integrity, using recruitment as a window into the company.