Stella Mapenzauswa wrote something in Business Day recently that put into words what I’ve been seeing in my own practice for a while now [Business Day, Tuesday 28 April, 2026]. Her piece on how the lack of basic AI skills is undermining job seekers hit close to home because I’m watching it happen in real time.
And it’s not just happening to entry-level candidates.
At TSR, we work across the spectrum. Graduate professionals, mid-career professionals, senior leaders. And increasingly, across all these levels, our clients are probing and testing AI understanding during their hiring processes. Some are even using AI to drive parts of the interview itself.
Candidates who are not prepared for this are falling over. Whether it’s nerves around the format or simply not knowing how to engage with the tool, the impact on their performance is visible. And in a competitive market, visible gaps get you rejected.
So, here’s what I’d tell any candidate right now, regardless of where you are in your career:
Get yourself on a course. There are plenty of options out there, many of them are free. A good starting point is Anthropic’s course library, the company behind Claude. I have started on this series of courses and have really learned something new with each course I complete.
Always double-check what you submit. AI is genuinely useful, but it is not always accurate. If you’re using it to prepare for interviews or case studies, verify everything before you submit it.
Know when not to use it. We’ve had candidates removed from interview processes for using AI during assessments where it was explicitly prohibited. That’s not a small mistake. That’s a trust issue, and trust is very hard to rebuild once it’s gone.
Watch your language. If your written responses sound like they were generated rather than written, experienced hiring managers will notice. Read it back. Make sure it sounds like you.
And above all, keep it human. Use AI to prepare better, think sharper, and show up more informed. But the version of you that walks into that room, or joins that call, needs to be genuinely you.
The one thing that we are not talking enough about is that technology is moving fast, and so is access to it. What cannot be replicated, what no model can manufacture, is the trust that builds between a real person and the people choosing to hire them. That’s still yours to earn. Make sure you’re showing up ready to earn it.
Get in touch with me if you’d like to chat – theo@tsrecruitment.co.za
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