AI interviews are here. Here's how IT contractors can ace them

It’s all very well to advise that professional job-seekers with niche technical expertise, strong personal branding, and “the ability to navigate AI-assisted recruitment processes” are the best-placed IT contractors of 2026/27.

But without any practical guidance on how to pass what’s increasingly at the heart of those processes – the AI interview— the advice may be easier said than followed.

Is AI changing how IT contractors are being assessed for work?

We agree that something is definitely shifting in how temporary IT job-seekers and other professional candidates are being assessed. And it seems significant, because the use of AI in recruitment is moving faster than most people in the UK’s professional labour market have caught up with.

We’d go so far as to say that AI-assisted hiring processes (including the AI interview) are no longer an experiment being run by a handful of large enterprises — they are now mainstream, writes Ben Broughton, the founder-owner of Primis Talent, a specialist technology recruitment agency placing permanent and contract professionals across several markets globally.

Key Takeaways

• Almost half of UK job-seekers have sat an AI interview, which 66% of recruiters are set to scale up, but candidate dislike of AI interviews may be why 8 in 10 were not told they face one
• IT contractors harm their prospects if they reject any of the four main types of AI interviews, of which Asynchronous Video Interviews are the most common for temporary jobs
• Structure, spacing, specificity, keyword use, verbal content and pacing are key AI interview considerations for candidates, who must prioritise giving results-based answers with specifics
• Your chosen environment for an AI job interview is vital, as is recording an AI practice interview, despite ‘no interview prep required’ claims by some employers using AI to screen candidates
• ATS is still the critical first stage of the AI-assisted recruitment process, with CV applicants needing to realise that AI matching is literal, and keyword-led, if they want to make it to the AI interview stage

What’s a common IT contractor reaction to AI interviews?

Firstly, an acknowledgement.

For any contractor who has spent years relying on their strong CV, solid references, and good face-to-face conversations to win their next contract, the rules of engagement quietly shifting in this AI-led way can feel disconcerting.

But the data is blunt about where we are.

AI-conducted interviews have more than tripled in two years, from 10% of hiring processes to 34%, according to CoverSentry citing Q4 2024 data by ResumeBuilder.

Are AI interviews set to grow?

Meanwhile, two-thirds of recruiters plan to expand their use of AI pre-screening interviews (“candidate assessments”) in 2026.

As a specialist staffing company that places IT contractors every week, we are seeing some downstream effects of the algorithm taking over a bigger chunk of the hiring process.

And those effects are adverse, because ‘strong’ professional job candidates are being filtered out — not because of what they can or can’t do, but because they did not understand the Artificial Intelligence-facilitated process that they were in.

Is suspicion of AI interviews understandable?

We understand why contractors might be wary of AI interviews.

The mistrust is well-founded and well-documented.

Research published in April 2026 by Greenhouse (in what appears to be the most comprehensive study of candidate attitudes to AI hiring to date) found that 30% of UK candidates have already withdrawn from a hiring process after discovering it involved an AI-led interview.

Are employers being transparent about AI interviews?

The same study (covering 2,950 job seekers across five countries) found that 47% of UK job-seekers have now been interviewed by AI, and out of those, 82% were not told beforehand.

In addition:

• Nearly a quarter only realised AI was involved once the interview had already started.
• Only one in ten candidates reported that employers had clear AI disclosure policies.

Are AI interviews worth it for IT contractors?

But here’s the practical reality. Withdrawing from the hiring process because it includes AI screening is becoming increasingly untenable in the UK’s IT contractor job market.

With two-thirds of recruiters planning to expand their use of AI pre-screening in 2026, the contractor who refuses to engage with AI hiring processes is narrowing their options significantly.

The right response to an AI interview is not avoidance. It is preparation.

Which type of ‘AI interview’ is this?

The phrase "AI interview" covers several distinct formats, and knowing which one you are facing changes how you prepare.

Broadly, at the time of writing, there are four main types of AI interview:

1. Asynchronous Video Interviews (AVIs) 

This is the most common type of AI interview standing between you and the job.

Platforms (like HireVue and Spark Hire) present questions on screen, giving the interviewee 30 to 60 seconds to prepare, and they record your answers, typically for two to three minutes.

There is no live interviewer. And as this AI Interview Guide by shortlist.io correctly observes, the AI analyses verbal content,keyword use, response structure, and pacing.

2. Voice AI screening

These are phone or voice-based interviews, whereby AI assesses what you say without video. They’re often used as a ‘first-pass’ filter before any human contact.

3. Chatbot screening 

Here, you’ll face text-based question-and-answer formats. This third type of AI job interview is typically used for high-volume roles or initial application stages.

4. Game-based assessments

These AI interviews centre on cognitive and behavioural tools, whereby AI infers capability from how you solve problems or navigate simulations.

Game-based assessments are less common in tech contractor hiring circles, but increasingly the AI job interview of choice at large organisations (you can read more about game-based assessments here, via the HireVue Interview Guide and Tips).

What AI job interviews do tech/IT contractors typically face?

Currently, for IT contractors, the AVI format is the most commonly encountered AI Interview.

Understanding how the AI scores your responses is not gaming the system. It is basic preparation.

AVI Interview: How to prepare and perform?

The single most important thing that we tell contractors facing an Asynchronous Video Interview (AVI) is this —  the AI is not assessing whether you are likeable. Instead, it is assessing structure, specificity, and relevance.

Therefore, unstructured, rambling responses score poorly even when the underlying answer is good!

Here are our five additional top tips for how to prepare for an AI interview as an IT contractor:

1. Use the STAR method (multiple times) during your AI-powered Q&A  

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result.

For every behavioural question, and the majority of AVI questions are behavioural, it’s shrewd to structure your answer in the ‘STAR’ format.

The AI keyword analysis is sensitive to structured, relevant responses.

2. During an AI interview, use some key outcome-centred phrases

AI picks up on phrases that signal clear thinking, with a focus on achievements, such as:

• "The outcome was…"
• "As a result of…"
• "The stakeholders needed…"

Use such phrases deliberately to make clear your actions lead to ‘quantifiable outcomes’ and, (perhaps ironically, given that you're in an AI interview), that ‘real people depended on your output,’ as advocated by HireVue’s Free AI Practice tool.

So, quantify everything you can with specifics.

For example, "Reduced deployment time by 40%" will score higher in an AI interview than "significantly improved the process."

3. Tell the AI interview bot about IT contractor-centric outcomes

As an IT contractor, you likely have results and strong quantifiable outcomes across your engagements, so check back to gather details relating to the following and then tell the bot:

• delivery timelines
• performance improvements
• project values.

Attending an AI interview? Build a bank of outcomes and results around this trio, before the bot starts firing its questions.

4. AI Interview Practice

Talking to a robot, with nothing coming back at you apart from the next question, might feel a bit odd the first time around. To banish algorithm awkwardness, IT contractors should practice their responses on camera, alone, before the actual AI interview.

Record yourself answering common interview questions with a three-minute timer.

Watch the playback. Look for, and then weed out, filler words.  

Train yourself to make eye contact with the lens, rather than the screen, and check to see whether your answers have a clear structure.

Research reportedly indicates that candidates who practise in a simulated AI interview environment achieve a 67% success rate, compared to 23% for those using general preparation tools.

5. Choose a sensible room / distraction-free environment

To optimise their chances of passing an AI interview, IT contractors should treat their technical environment as part of the interview itself. 

Lighting, background, audio quality, and internet stability are all within your control.

For IT contractors (those professionals who work in technology environments), a poorly configured video setup is a particularly damaging first impression.

Is preparation required for an AI interview?

So-called ‘No Preparation Required’ AI interviews are a bit misleading. We see this framing regularly. What employers mean by ‘no prep required’ is that no specific prior reading is required.

What they do not mean is that general interview preparation is unnecessary!

Treating an AI interview as something you can wing because no prep was specified is, in our experience, the most reliable way to fail it.

Are AI interviews just the tip of the iceberg?

There’s a wider AI hiring picture contractors should know about in 2026/27. In fact, while AI interviews are arguably now the most visible part of automated hiring, they are not the only part.

AI-powered Applicant Tracking Systems now screen CVs before a human ever sees them, parsing keywords, experience patterns, and formatting.

An IT contractor whose CV is not structured to pass ATS (Applicant Tracking System) screening may never reach the AI interview stage.

With ATS, what’s the key practical takeaway for IT contractors?

To pass ATS, your CV should contain the exact terminology used in the job description, not synonyms, not paraphrases.

If the job advert or contract brief says "Kubernetes", your CV should say "Kubernetes".

AI matching is literal.

The bottom line

The IT contractor jobs market in the UK is recovering. Demand for specialist technology skills is rising, and the contractor who is positioned to move fast and perform well at each stage of the hiring process will win the best engagements. However, AI hiring processes are now a permanent feature of that landscape, not a passing experiment.

The tech contractors who treat AI interviews with the same rigour they would apply to a technical test or a client presentation will consistently outperform those who walk in unprepared or, worse, walk out because of the format. The scepticism is understandable. The preparation is non-negotiable.