interviews Archives - usatoday24

in your job interviews

October 28, 2025 by usatoday24

Every time a developer participates in a job interview they must pass a technical testthe routine seems clear: demonstrate your programming skills and advance in the selection process. However, behind these common dynamics, there is a risk that many had not stopped to analyze: cyber attacks that take advantage of the context of these interviews with developers. to steal sensitive data. Cybercriminals have perfected their techniques, using routine, seemingly legitimate personnel selection processes to deceive the most experts and access a bounty of data especially valuable. Deception in the job offer. At this point, I believe that there is no one left who has not at some point received a call from InfoJobs, Indeed or any other supposed employment platform indicating that their resume had been chosen to fill a vacancy. Obviously, it’s a scam of which the platforms themselves they have disengaged. This is what we could consider a “trawl fishing” in which the objective is to increase the possibilities of stealing data by increasing the database potential victims. However, the software developer David Dodda has alerted from your blog of a much more elaborate attack than the one he was about to be a victim of: a selective attack on computer experts camouflaged in the technical test of a job interview. As he tells it in the first person, “I was 30 seconds away from running malware on my machine.” A semblance of normality. Dodda is a freelance programmer with several years of experience and received an unexpected offer on LinkedIn that offered him work part-time at a startup dedicated to software development. “It seemed legitimate. So I accepted the call,” said the developer. The company’s LinkedIn profile seemed legitimate, had previous publications, employees, recent activity and everything verifiable on the platform. The same was true with the person who had contacted him. After scheduling the interview, his contact assigned him a technical test “to get ahead” before the interview. something routine for any developer, especially in processes where practical mastery is expected to be assessed before the interview with the recruiter. This apparent normality of the offer and the acceptance of the technical test reinforce the climate of trust, one of the most exploited elements in social engineering campaigns aimed at deceiving candidates. Code hidden in plain sight. The technical material of the test also did not raise the developer’s suspicions. Before executing the code, he reviewed it in detail, correcting some defects in a test without major complications for an experienced programmer like him. However, just as he was about to run it, and almost out of professional habit, “I had one of those paranoid developer moments.” The expert decided to ask his AI Cursor assistant to review the code. The surprise was capital. “Integrated between legitimate management functions, ready to run with full server privileges when accessing management routes,” is how the developer described the snippet. malware ready to run on your computer. Free access to all your data. The first phase of the malware was designed to extract critical information: passwords, personal files, system credentials and access to cryptocurrency wallets. But the scope of the attack went far beyond the victim’s personal data. According to a report From consulting firm Unit 42, developer teams host data from third-party servers and projects, which multiplies the value of the attack if the fraud is successful. In some cases analyzed, the malicious code used apparently legitimate code and Python backdoors, to ensure unrestricted remote access by the attacker. Analysis of an attack on the elite. According what was published by Telefónica Tech, the main objective of these attacks is not to capture basic data from ordinary users, but rather to access high-value resources managed by active programmers. The deception is structured in several phases where elements such as urgency, psychological pressure and the trust generated in the selection process are exploited. Technical tests, especially when required under time pressure, can lead candidates to skip security steps that they would normally execute in a more relaxed environment. This gives attackers a direct route to assets such as confidential documents, access to client servers and cryptocurrencies. According to the analyzes from Securonix, these methods have evolved since 2022 with targeted and persistent attacks on relevant targets in professional environments. In Xataka | People couldn’t stop hacking virtual job interviews with AI. Solution: we want to meet you in person Image | Unasplash (Joan Gamell)

The AI has converted work interviews into a cheat circus. So companies are returning to the face -to -face

August 14, 2025 by usatoday24

The virtual work interviews They are already normal in job search processes. The problem is that in certain areas, such as software and programmers engineers, candidates usually take advantage of AI tools to cheat. The trend is so worrying that some companies are already returning What always worked: Interviews in person. Google wants to meet you in person. SUCTAR PICHAI, CEO of Google, He explained in June In the Lex Friedman podcast that renewal of the company’s policies at the time of Hire certain profiles. “We are making sure that we introduce at least one round of the candidate for the candidates, just to ensure that the fundamental aspects are fulfilled.” Return to the face -to -face. Pichai’s message is the same as They are adopting other companies such as Apple, goalCisco or the consultant McKinsey, who are among a growing number of companies that are recovering the interviews face to face with the candidates in various stages of the selection process. Mike Kyle, from the Coda Search/Staffing Employment Agency, explained how the quota of companies that have the requirement to make face -to -face interviews has become 30%, when in 2024 it was only 5%. If you want what salary I offer you, I need to meet you. That return to face -to -face interviews usually also focus on the last part of the selection process, but in reality it can occur at any time. If you do not present yourself physically at some point in that process, You won’t know what conditions (Salary included) offers you the company. Cheat programmers. As we said, that is especially true for profiles such as programmers. During some phases of the interviews, real -time sessions usually consider in which candidates must solve a programming problem. In virtual interviews, what has happened is that the interviewees cheat And they use AI to solve the problem, which is not clear whether or not those candidates meet the requirements. AI has become a problem. The resurgence of interviews in person tries to mitigate the problem that AI has raised. Companies that offer jobs have ended up using AI systems for Filter candidateswhich usually flood those offers because they also use AI to generate their CVS adapted to each position and automate the request for various positions quickly. THE ART OF THE TRAPS A few months ago we counted how a student managed to overcome a Amazon technical interview Thanks to the use of AI. That gave him a disturbing idea, because he created a startup called Cluelly to help others do the same or to make exams. One that in fact advertises with an unusual message: “Cheat everything.” The idea seems to have liked, because the investment firm A16z has already injected 15 million dollars In the project. Deepfakes that are interviewed for you. That is a good example of a dangerous trend. It is not that candidates try to deceive companies about their real capacities thanks to AI: there are people who are using these methods much more worrying. The FBI already warned in 2023 of a fraud that involved thousands of North Koreans that simulated being North Americans seeking to work remotely in US companies. His way of doing so was really striking and complex. Be careful with murmuring. Companies that use virtual interviews in their selection processes are also paying special attention to these traps. In fact, some try to detect them by monitoring indications that can aim at fraud: muttering out of the screen or typing and then pauses before answering (waiting to see what the chatgpt tells them on duty to read that answer) It is usually a clue to hunt checkery. Image | RAD MINE In Xataka | Hide the holes in the curriculum of an intermittent work career: the art of not deceiving without telling the whole truth

More and more work interviews are with an AI and more and more candidates refuse to have them

August 6, 2025 by usatoday24

One of the sectors in which AI is penetrating more quickly is in human resources. We have been talking to you for months that many candidates looking for employment were surprised that His interviewer was an AI. They were not isolated cases, more and more companies are using in their selection processes and there are already those who are refusing to be interviewed by a bot. What’s happening. If you are looking for work, it is possible that the interview is made by a bot fed by AI. It is a growing trend that arises from a problem: the departments of human resources are increasingly limited They often have to interview hundreds of candidates. Using AI to filter the best profiles is presented as a solution. The problem is that candidates are not liking anything. Candidates against. They tell it in Fortunethere are more and more interviews made by AI and the reaction of the interviewees is being quite negative. “I do not want to work for a company in which the RRHH head does not even take the trouble to spend some time to talk to me,” said Debra Borchardt, one of the interviewees. He did not have to wait long to form an opinion, as soon as he connected he caused him rejection: “I don’t like this. It’s horrible,” he recalls. The truth is that the experiences describing some candidates are quite mediocre, with bots that limit themselves to reciting the curriculum and ask questions, but are not able to answer if the candidates have a doubt. Sometimes they even begin to hallucinate and They repeat questions without stopping. This makes many candidates get out of the interviews before they finish and others reject participating in selection processes with AI. Companies in favor. For companies that are using these interviewers, the experience is being more than positive. Adam Jackson, CEO of Braintrustthe company that is dedicated to creating these bots, assures Fortune that there is no generalized rejection by the candidates. If “our clients would not find the tool useful (…) and we are not seeing that, but quite the opposite.” For those responsible for hiring, AI saves them having to interview hundreds of candidates “ago 100 interviews and tells you what have been the best ten, there the human takes control,” says Jackson, although he also recognizes that the interviewers are limited. Increasingly. According to summarize data91% of those responsible for hiring used AI in their work especially to summarize curriculum and schedule interviews. IA interviewers are the next step and more and more companies are adopting them. Although most cases reach us from the United States, there are Spanish companies that They are using the Telefónica Tech And there is also startups creating solutions of this type. It seems that we like it or not, the interviewers AI They have come to stay. Candidates also use AI. It is not just a human resources thing, there are also candidates Using AI to overcome selection processes. In Reddit we can read from cases of people who admit to having used chatgpt in an interview even human interviewers who have encountered candidates who They responded with the help of a chatbotwhich caused him to discard it from the process. Image | Julia M Cameron, Pexels In Xataka | Someone used AI to overcome an interview on Amazon. His success has made Google see his candidates face to face

Each generation plays their cards in work interviews

May 4, 2025 by usatoday24

The Work interviews They represent a thermometer to discover what attitudes present the candidates of the different generations before a work environment as competitive and changing as the current one. Each generation conceives use in a very different way and that is being done especially evident with the arrival of the Z generation to the labor market. The report of the Hays consultant ‘Keys to succeed in a job interview according to the generation‘, puts the focus on how each generation present in the current labor market faces the challenge of a job interview. Each of them Show notable differences that go beyond age and affect communication, preparation and ability to adapt to change. A quality encompassed between Soft skills highly valued by companies. Generational weights The coexistence of four generations in the Spanish labor market is a reality that forces both candidates and employers to rethink their strategies. A candidate of the Baby Boom generation who barely has a few years of professional activity but that treasures an enormous experience, Does not face work interviews in the same way that someone from the Z generation who has barely started their career. According to Study data ‘The generational mix in Spanish companies’Prepared by PLUXEE, the 2021 Active Population Survey (EPA) drew a generational composition of 19% of the active population in Spain belonging to the Baby Boom generation. Generation X adopts a predominant role with 45%, followed by 31% of millennial employees and 5% of professionals from generation Z. The forecast of this study by 2025 is that Boomers and generation Z are equated at 8% presence in the labor market, but with very different strategies. Active population according to its generation. Source: Pluxee More experience vs. Better preparation The experience and commitment It is one of the greatest treasures of generations that, at best, has already exceeded the equator of its careers, and play that letter to maintain their value in the labor market. As stood out from Hays, boomers tend to show a flexible attitude and a constant update in digital skills in their work interviews, while generation X strives to remain in force and adapt to new work dynamics. For their part, millennials and gene generation compete In a saturated labor market, where the abundance of very well qualified profiles generates constant pressure and significant anxiety levels. This competitiveness forces the youngest to differentiate not only by Your technical knowledgebut also for its ability to adapt and alignment with the values of the company. “Baby Boomers usually extend too much on their answers or focus exclusively on their last experience. Generation X can be excessively conservative. Some millennials tend to trust more on their technical skills than in the impact generated. And generation Z, sometimes, sin of informality or insecurity,” said Silvia Pina, director of Perm & Temp Recruitment Services in Hays Spain. As Hays’s report stands out, the most senior profiles are evaluated for their leadership capacity and strategic vision, while the youngest are measured by their growth potential. According to Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, beyond the knowledge or preparation of young people, the most important thing is that demonstrate a positive attitude when acquiring new skills. Differences in what is expected of companies The Differences between generations Not only are they offering, but they also change in what they expect from the companies that hire them. Baby Boomers value FORMAL SELECTION PROCESSES and structured where a clear order is perceived that does not waste their time. For its part, generation X seeks clarity in the selection processes and development opportunities of your career. It is an approach close to that of the Baby Boomers in terms of valueing their experience, adaptability and teamwork skills, but does not forget that this generation still has decades ahead of the work career. Millennials and gene generation, on the other hand, are perceived as generations of the future of work. According to Hays, they prefer nearby interviews with continuous feedback and a strong alignment with the company’s values. This is collected by the ‘Labor Market Guide 2025 ‘which reveals that 64% of young professionals prioritize working in companies that have a defined purpose, and that offer learning opportunities to grow in their professional career above promotions. In Xataka | “I am very perfectionist”: the answer that recruiters no longer want to hear in work interviews Image | Unspash (VITALY GARIEV)

The answer that recruiters no longer want to hear in work interviews

April 25, 2025 by usatoday24

In each selection process, there is a moment That everyone fear And few know how to drive with ease because it implies facing personal weaknesses themselves: “What is your greatest weakness?”. The pressure to interpret the perfect candidate paper For the position, suddenly, he begins to make a dent and give a wrong answer can Make you lose points. The result is that, as the expert sociologist and Tiktoker Andrea Ramos (@Reclutidovoy,) counted In one of his videos: recruiters are already tired of always hearing the same. Although it seems impossible, there is an adequate answer for this question, and some recruitment experts have revealed the secret. Wonders for a good reason At some point in the selection process The inevitable question arises And candidates know that their words should measure a lot. They cannot answer simply with a: “I am Unable to wake up In time in the morning “or with a” I have a tendency to get out of problems“Because that, logically, would cause its immediate rejection. That weakness, clashes frontally with the responsibilities of the position and is not making amendment purpose. According to Sonia RodríguezSenior consultant in technical engineering in Randstad with more than a decade of experience in personnel selection, “the objective of this question is to know the level of self -knowledge that candidates have about their professional skills. What we are interested in knowing is what he would like to improve as a professional, not in the personal sphere.” For Lidia Sanz CostaTechnique of Selection, Development and Training in Companies IMAN, “The purpose of this question is not only to know what skills the candidate lacks, but to understand how he perceives himself, how he manages his weak points and if they can affect or not affect the role he will play.” “I am very perfectionist”: the answer that no longer works As Andrea Ramos pointed out in her video, the most common answer to this question is “I am very perfectionist”, and this is confirmed by the staff selection experts we have consulted. “‘I am very perfectionist’ or ‘I am very responsible’, I would say that 90% of the candidates comment one or both arguments,” says Rodríguez. According to the Tiktoker expert in human resources, This phrase has become a cliché So repeated that recruiters detect it instantly and discard it automatically. Simply, it doesn’t sneak. The problem of this answer is that it already sounds like a template taken from the Internet or LinkedIn, and does not provide real information about the candidate. “We expect sincerity. If a person comments that he is good to work as a team, but in the day to day he avoids participating in meetings, that is where we see that there is an incoherence with what he explained in the interview. That is why we value that the candidates can share a realistic weakness, but also to explain how it is minimizing it,” says Sanz. Common errors and the correct way to respond Among the most common errors When answering this question, it stands out to limit Respond with monosyllablesremain silent, or ensure that there is no weakness. “It’s about responding with sincerity and naturalness, in the end nobody is perfect and as I say in interviews to lead this issue: ‘We all have something to continue working to be better than yesterday,” says Randstad’s expert. For Lidia Sanz, the ideal is to show a real weaknessbut that does not directly affect the performance of the position. And the most important thing is to explain What is being done to improve it. Know recognize a weak point and be doing something to improve it It says a lot about a person at a professional level. “If someone says that it is difficult for him to speak in public, he can add that he is being formed or has begun to participate in meetings to gain confidence. It is also important arguments and positive speech,” the recruiter advised. In Xataka | If your chair holds in a job interview, it is no accident: they are evaluating more than your curriculum In Xataka | Bill Gates gave the right answer to the most critical question in a job interview: “Why should we hire you?” Image | Unspash (Christina @ wocintechchat.com, Jason Goodman)

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