Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I was chatting with some human resources professionals recently and the subject shifted to artificial intelligence (AI). We started talking about the different things that we were using AI for like job description updates and revising company policies.
Someone in the group mentioned that it was important to be curious with artificial intelligence and test the ways that AI can help us. It reminded me of the experiments I’ve been sharing here on HR Bartender like photo creators and icebreaker suggestions.
After the conversation, I decided to do another experiment. This one was focused on curiosity. Organizations want employees who are curious. I found an old Harvard Business Review article that cited research showing curiosity leads to high performance and better adaptability. I don’t know that things have changed. Curiosity can certainly lead to innovation.
So, I asked GPT – 4o (powered by OpenAI) and Gemini (powered by Google) the same question.
Tell me a job interview question related to curiosity.
The good news is that both AI tools provided a behavioral based interview question. And they both explained what the answer to the question should indicate. For example, GPT – 4o said the question would help gauge the candidate’s intrinsic motivation which can be an indicator of growth and innovation. Gemini outlined how the response was connected to problem solving, agility, resourcefulness, and critical thinking.
What was different in the two responses is that GPT – 4o provided follow-up questions where Gemini did not. Granted, I didn’t ask for follow-up questions, so Gemini did what it was asked. But GPT – 4o took that extra step.
If you’re interested in reading both replies from Gemini and GPT – 4o, we’ve put them side by side on a one-page PDF download.
In this experiment, I liked the GPT – 4o response better. It was also a reminder to me that I need to learn how to prompt artificial intelligence better. Kinda ironic that I’m learning this lesson with an interview question.
If we want candidates to tell us good information during the interview, then we need to learn how to ask good questions. In addition, we need to learn how to ask good follow-up questions. We shouldn’t assume that the candidate knows exactly what we’re looking for and will automatically share that with us. This is nothing new.
But this could be a very interesting experiment when it comes to interacting with AI to design interviews. What kind of responses do you get when you specifically ask for behavioral interview questions? What will you get when you specify that you’d like follow-up questions as well? And in this case, I only asked for one question. What happens if you ask AI to create a screening interview or an in-depth interview?
There’s still so much we need to learn about artificial intelligence. The way to begin is by being curious and asking good questions.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while curiously exploring the streets of Lake Buena Vista, FL
