Being that 2026 is coming up in less than 4 months, you may be on the lookout for your first full-time job if you are a senior in college and are going to graduate in December. In that regard, I remember something my career counselor said to me when I was a senior in college, “Sometimes applying for a job can be a job in itself.” That was over 20 years ago. However, her statement regarding job searching is even more relevant today, now that employers rely on AI during key steps in the recruitment process. One of these is the interview. You’re going to learn how to ace an interview after AI.

It Helps to Rehearse

You do plenty of rehearsals if you’re going to be in a play because you want your actions and lines to conform to your character’s personality perfectly. The play could be a disaster if this is not the case. The same is true of an interview. You’re more likely to crack your next job interview if you think of it as being like the perfect play you’re putting on for the recruiter and the company that he or she represents.

For starters, download a list of questions that recruiters frequently ask. You can Google them if you want or ask the ubiquitous ChatGPT. But you’re likely to be more successful if you go to your college’s career center and ask the director there for a list of questions. As for the answers, sure, you can ask Google or ChatGPT, but it’s always best to ask the director at your career center for the best answers.

You should also attend lots of job fairs. While there, do much more than hand out various customized versions of your resume and collect business cards. You want to ask the recruiters and reps there how you should answer commonly asked interview questions. Of course, be as subtle as possible. Yes, believe it or not, you’re most likely to get an offer after an interview (or several rounds of interviews) if you understand why recruiters ask certain questions and how they want you to answer them.

Internalize the interview questions and answers. Don’t just memorize them. Most companies, even after the rollout of AI, don’t want robot workers. They could just use AI tools if they wanted that. They want workers who can think innovatively, solve problems creatively and effectively, and work independently while being professional, among other things.

Remember that while the answers tend to be standardized, you have to tailor them to the companies that you are interviewing for. That’s because every company is different and belongs in different industries. So it will face unique challenges and issues. You should practice asking questions and answering them in front of a mirror initially. Then rehearse with a friend as you get better. Finally, rehearse with an employee at your career center to polish your performance.

Plenty of rehearsal will give you profound insights into key factors that recruiters look for and weigh on when deciding who to extend an offer to: tone, eye contact, body language, etc. You may want to do mock video interviews if you know that your recruiter will be doing an AI-powered or video interview.

You Will Be Using AI Tools if Hired, So…

You should understand why companies like OpenAI designed AI tools and how they work. You should also understand what companies do and don’t want you to use AI for when using tasks. You should also understand how you should be using AI in your role (if hired). Finally, internalize why and how companies use AI to become more profitable by boosting productivity.

Communication and the STAR Method are Still Important

It doesn’t matter how heavily reliant the company that you are interviewing with is on AI tools. You will still be working with many humans. That means that traditional communication methods are still important. Be sure to maintain eye contact during your interview. Make sure that your tone and body language are pleasant, easy-to-understand, and professional.

Use power words that are professional and have a positive connotation. Also, put a smile on your face and in your voice throughout the interview.

You’ll want to use the Situation, Task, Action, Result method when answering technical and behavioral interview questions. When you use the STAR method in interviews, you describe a particular situation that you were in when a certain issue arose. Be as detailed as possible when describing your situation.

Then, you describe the Task or your responsibility in the situation. You move to the action phase, where you describe the steps you took to resolve the issue. Finally, you move to the result phase and describe what the outcomes of your action were.

You know you need to use the STAR method to answer a particular question if it begins along these lines:

• “Tell me about a time when…”
• “What do you do when…”
• “Have you ever…”
• “Give me an example of…”
• “Describe a situation…”

You need to answer these questions confidently, use clear and layman’s words, and you need to get to the point quickly. There is absolutely no room for endless rambling when you’re answering a question using the STAR method.

You Can Rely on AI Tools for Feedback

Asking an AI tool like ChatGPT 5 for feedback regarding your mock interviews and performance can be a real game changer when you’re prepping for the big day.

Acing An Interview in the AI Age Isn’t Rocket Science

It’s not impossible to ace interviews now that we live in the AI age. You are more likely to do so now that you have read this article and understand which angles to best approach a potential upcoming interview from.