The Interview Process Is Dead — Here’s How to Get Hired in 2026

McKinsey & Company just added an AI collaboration test to its final-round interviews. Candidates sit down with Lilli, the firm's proprietary AI tool, and work through a real business problem. The interviewers aren't grading the AI's output. They're grading you — how you prompt, how you push back, how you apply judgment to what the AI produces.

If you can't work productively with AI, you don't get the offer.

This isn't a niche experiment. McKinsey processes nearly one million applications per year with a sub-1% acceptance rate. When they change their hiring process, the rest of the corporate world tends to follow. And they will — because the old interview process is already broken.

Two Paths Forward

James Perkins sees the hiring landscape splitting in two directions. The first is the way it's always been done: you know someone, they vouch for you, you get the interview. Internal promotions, warm referrals, the familiar network-driven machine. That system still exists, but as James points out, it has significant problems — not least that it rewards proximity over performance.

The second path is merit-based hiring powered by AI and skills assessments. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 50% of organizations will require AI-free skills assessments to evaluate critical thinking without AI assistance. Meanwhile, 75% of hiring processes are expected to include AI proficiency testing by 2027. And 87% of companies already use AI to screen resumes before a human ever sees them.

The resume that used to get you the interview? It's losing its grip. When generative AI can produce a polished resume in seconds, the document stops measuring capability and starts measuring who has the best templates.

The Resume Is Being Replaced

Sean Boyce sees a future where the resume isn't even the first step anymore. Instead of leading with your work history, you lead with a skills assessment — prove what you can do before anyone reads where you've been.

The data supports this shift. 85% of employers now rely on skills-based hiring, up from 56% in 2022. TestGorilla reported a 61% increase in critical thinking test completions and a 69% jump in personality assessments in early 2025 alone. And Gartner is explicitly telling CHROs to combine “high touch” approaches like in-person interviews and experiential skills assessments with AI tools.

As Sean puts it: “Gartner is predicting that greater than 50% of organizations are expected to be issuing and leading with more skills assessments — and even those that don't have you interacting with AI to complete those assessments. Could we see a future where the resume isn't part of the first step any longer?”

James's response is unequivocal: “Yes, I 100% could see that happening.”

What “AI Ready” Actually Means

Being AI ready for a job interview in 2026 doesn't mean being an AI engineer. McKinsey explicitly stated they're not looking for technical AI expertise. They want to see how you think with the tool — how you manage context, exercise judgment, and communicate your reasoning.

Sean describes a real client example that illustrates this perfectly. A coaching client was given a practical test during their interview process — a spreadsheet that needed to be imported into a system. The company didn't say whether to use AI or not. Based on our advice, the client did something smart: they asked if it was okay to use AI, then solved the problem faster and more effectively than any other candidate.

But here's the crucial part — they also walked the interviewer through how they would have solved it without AI. That dual demonstration was what sealed the deal. As James summarizes: “I know how to do it. I have the experience and the skills. But I can do it 10 times faster. Why wouldn't I?”

The Job Market Reality

The backdrop to all of this is a job market that's significantly tighter than it appears. James shares what recruiters and staffing agents are telling us directly: they're seeing roughly a quarter of the job openings they'd normally expect, while the number of people looking for work through them has tripled or quadrupled.

That imbalance is only going to intensify. As AI enables companies to operate with fewer people and as more workers get displaced, the candidate-to-job ratio will keep climbing. Companies will need better ways to filter through that population, and resumes alone won't cut it.

The silver lining? If you develop real AI proficiency now, you have an asymmetric advantage. Most people still haven't moved beyond surface-level use. James shares a powerful tip from our coaching work: “A lot of folks now in the interview process are asking questions about AI, but they don't understand it themselves. If you can actually teach the person interviewing you something during the interview process, your chances of getting hired go up significantly.”

We've had several clients get hired exactly this way.

Candidates Prefer AI Interviews (Surprisingly)

One of the more counterintuitive findings from our consulting work: when we helped a recruiting client evaluate whether to introduce AI into their interview process, the candidates actually preferred interacting with AI over humans for certain interview steps.

As James explains: “AI may not actually have emotions, but it certainly demonstrates empathy better than many people can.” The AI doesn't rush you, doesn't have a bad day, doesn't make snap judgments based on appearance. For certain structured evaluations, candidates found it to be a more comfortable and fair experience.

How to Prepare Right Now

Whether you're currently employed, between jobs, or just planning ahead, here's how to position yourself:

If you're employed: Start learning AI tools now. Don't wait until you're job searching. Every AI skill you build while employed becomes interview ammunition later. Stay current on what's new — the field moves fast enough that even basic awareness puts you ahead of most people.

If you're job searching: Lead with demonstrations, not descriptions. Show what you can do with AI, but always be ready to explain how you'd solve the problem without it. That combination — proficiency plus depth — is what separates the best candidates.

For everyone: Think of AI as a junior teammate, not a magic answer engine. The companies testing for AI readiness want to see structured reasoning, iterative refinement, and sound judgment under pressure. That's consulting-speak for: think clearly, use the tool wisely, and know when to push back on its output.

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