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The ultimate guide on using AI to ace an interview at Monzo

We think there are lots of benefits associated with AI, but we have a human approach to hiring. At every stage there is a person reviewing and making decisions to ensure we're able to bring the best people to Monzo.

AI tools, like ChatGPT, are creating new ways for people to put their best foot forward when applying for roles. We believe making the most of these tools can help with inclusion and making people feel more confident in preparing for interviews, but we want to balance the benefits while still getting to know you as a candidate.

Using AI to support your application is totally up to you - we won’t be assessing you based on whether you’ve used AI or not. But, if you are planning to use any AI tools, we encourage you to use them effectively.

This is our stance when it comes to using AI during the hiring process.

A summary of our guidance to using AI during the hiring process

A list of AI dos and don'ts when interviewing at Monzo. Do use AI for gathering information for research and market trends to help prepare for your interview. Do use it to help articulate your own thoughts and examples. Don't copy things from ChatGPT and don't use AI to answer questions live in an interview. Don't use AI to come up with imaginary examples that don't reflect your actual work

Job applications - Using AI when submitting your application 🚀

We want to get to know you, authentically ⭐️ We think a good rule of thumb when using AI in your application is: Refine, not replace. Using AI to spell check, reformat etc is a-okay.

We ask that you do not use AI to generate scenarios that didn’t actually happen. We want to hear about your individual experiences, perspectives, and skills that make you, well - you - as you're the person we'll be working with! While AI tools can help guide you, nothing beats your own personal touch and creativity. Show us the real you, not the AI-generated version.

Using AI to support your real life examples 🤩

This is a great use of AI to help you craft a better narrative. Let’s take an example application question ‘Tell us about a time you’ve used your creative thinking skills to solve a customer problem at work’.

  • Think of real life scenario where you’ve helped solve a customer problem creatively and write down what you would normally say.

  • You can also ask AI to review the phrasing and formatting, and suggest improvements.

  • Then proof-read this and edit with your own personal touches, before using this in your application.

  • Occasionally AI responses can be quite formal. We encourage applications that sound more human, check out our Writing Principles for inspiration 🖊️

If the question is something like ‘Tell us why your skills and experience are suited to the Team Leader position’

  • Ask AI to list relevant skills for a Team Leader, or copy relevant parts of the job description and ask AI to extract the key skills which have been identified.

  • Then, think of how you’ve demonstrated these key skills through your own past experiences.

Using AI to generate imaginary examples 🤥

You should not use AI to invent imaginary examples to make yourself look good. In that same question ‘Tell us about a time you’ve used your creative thinking skills to solve a customer problem at work’.

  • Asking AI to write you an example of solving a customer problem using creative thinking skills

  • Then copying and pasting this example into your application with no relevance or relation to your own experience.

Or, ‘Tell us why your skills and experience are suited to the Team Leader position’

  • Asking AI to list the key skills of a Team Leader, then saying you possess these skills without providing any examples of your own individual experience.

Using AI during the assessment / interview stage 🧑‍💻

Our hiring team handpick individuals to move forward in our hiring process. We're passionate about bringing people to Monzo who have the skills, behaviours and ways of working to enhance our high performing culture and to continue delivering a magically simple experience for our customers. If you're moved forward to the next stage in our process we're excited to meet you.

Guidance on AI use for interview preparation 🧠

  • AI can be a great tool to help you prepare. It's perfect for doing research and getting ready. For example, you could copy the job description into an AI tool and ask it to give you some example interview questions to help you prepare for what might come up.

  • AI can also help you frame your answers to a STARR format for competency based questions.

  • You could also use AI tools to gather information on relevant market or industry trends.

  • AI is just one of the tools you can use to help you prepare, you can also use it alongside the information we’ve provided you about the interview already 💡

  • Be mindful of inputting confidential information about you or a company into an AI-tool - you can’t guarantee how the information will be used or stored 🚨

Guidance on AI use for take home tasks, live tasks and interviews 💻

  • Depending on the position you’ve applied for, we might ask you to complete a take home task before your interview, or jump straight into a call with some members of the team. Some roles could involve a live task or scenario which we’ll go through on a video call as part of the interview.

  • If you follow the principle of using AI to refine and not replace your own work then you’re doing it right 🙌

  • If you’re considering using AI tools to complete a task, think about what AI tools (if any) you’d be using in the role day to day. You can always check with your recruiter if there’s any specific guidance for the process you’re in when it comes to the use of AI. In fact, we really value transparency and would much rather you do this if you’re unsure 🙌

  • Interviews are designed to gauge your suitability for the role, and we believe it’s important to showcase your full skillset. When it comes to answering questions live in an interview, we definitely want to keep this conversational 🗣️ Having a few notes to support you is fine, but please do not use AI live in the interview. It breaks the connection and prevents us from getting to know you!

  • The misuse of AI may not accurately showcase your strengths, and as a consequence, you may even land a role which isn’t a good fit or you may lose a role because you’re not showcasing your personal strengths and experience, and won’t stand out against other candidates.

AI for reasonable adjustments during interviews 💛

Before your interview, your recruiter will check if there’s anything we can do to support you with any reasonable adjustments. If you plan to use AI tools, for example to take notes during the call, please raise this with your recruiter before the interview so we can discuss how we’re able to support you 🙌

You’ll have the chance to speak to our recruitment team throughout the process. If you’d like to ask a question sooner, email [email protected]. Please also use that email to let us know if there's anything we can do to make your application process easier for you, because of disability, neurodiversity or any other personal reason.