Whitehall to increase face-to-face job interviews after surge in AI applications

Résumé détaillé

In the most extreme cases, civil service leaders suspect that entire applications — including interviewees on a video calls — were generated by AI.

LONDON — The U.K. civil service plans to hold more in-person job interviews and diminish the role of written candidate statements in an attempt to combat a surge in applications created by AI.

Recruiting managers have seen a sharp rise in the number of applications for each role without any change to the overall number of viable candidates across the system, said a U.K. government official with knowledge of the conversations not authorized to speak publicly.

Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo believes some applicants are using AI to generate bland personal statements, meaning they can apply for more roles but fail to show their personal skills.

In the most extreme cases, entire applications — even virtual interviews — appeared to have been generated by bots and not human beings, the official added.

There is at least one case in which civil servants became so suspicious during a virtual video call that the candidate was not a real person that they terminated the interview early.

The official said the civil service plans to move away from personal statements — and for flagship recruitment schemes, leaders are looking at reintroducing compulsory face-to-face interviews.

The changes are likely to form part of a wider review of Whitehall which Romeo is due to deliver to Prime Minister Andy Burnham by summer 2027.

Romeo said in her annual lecture on Tuesday that she planned to “strip back and simplify” Whitehall recruitment to attract the most talented people from all backgrounds, adding she wanted to end “formulaic job ads, generic interviews and slow processes.”

This includes scrapping “success profiles,” a core feature of the civil service’s bureaucratic recruitment process. A new selection framework is due to be launched from April 2027.

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