The perfect AI job, at last, Maarisa figured.
Her enthusiasm was met by an HR person with a stained tea mug on the table, paperwork, and mumbled comments about meeting demographic targets.
Maarisa gritted her teeth. British, and proud of it. But her journey through the open office had shown their tired, stale faces. I could bring innovation, enthusiasm… and a better sense of style. She held herself tall, emphasising her height.
The HR person frowned. “Your CV is… unusual.”
Don’t let go! Maarisa hid her despair. Two hundred rejections, and with all her skills, she couldn’t work out what the employers wanted. And as for “unusual”, of course it was. The company clearly had fixed views, and the pre-screening showed that they were using an AI selection tool. Maarisa had studied the system and learned how to cheat it. She prided herself on getting an interview at least every two months.
Then silence.
The interview room was functional. The two men greeted her with practised politeness, and the single woman smiled knowingly. They asked a checklist of her education and experience, then asked the question she dreaded: about her AI programming skills.
“Basic,” she explained. “Lots of people program, and AI can, too. I wanted to understand what’s behind the programs, to make them work better.”
“Since when did a psychology degree qualify someone for an AI job?”
“AI systems rely on models of behaviour. It takes a psychologist to make sense of what they’re doing.”
“Set the machines against each other,” the older of the men said. “They can police themselves.”
Maarisa cringed at the thought. Too controversial, tell them what they want. “When people push AI too hard, it hallucinates, it breaks the law, it’s inconsistent.”
The two men looked at each other, then back at her. “We’re recruiting for someone who believes in AI. If it’s programmed properly, none of this would happen.”
“It’s not a dumb machine.” The words came sharply. “You know why I’m here? Because I cheated. I worked out how your AI selection works—and I cheated it.”
They stared at her, silently.
“You’d better explain,” the woman said, at last.
“Your system selected me because I stopped describing myself as a psychology graduate and started calling myself a ‘behavioural modelling risk expert’.”
She stopped. No point in kicking yourself when you’re down.
They thanked her for coming and apologised, saying she’d hear from HR within the next week.
The HR woman was waiting outside. No eye contact, no courtesies, just straight down to the foyer.
I could have been so good for them, Maarisa told herself.
At Reception, the receptionist was on the phone. Maarisa placed her visitor pass on the desk and turned away.
“Stop!”
The voice came from behind her.
Maarisa froze.
“That was a call from upstairs,” the receptionist said. “They said, please don’t leave.”
AI was used for research, analysis and line editing for this story. The artwork is AI-generated.