Job interviews are already stressful enough without feeling like you are being interrogated by a surveillance system. But one candidate says a recent virtual interview left him genuinely stunned after he was allegedly instructed to keep his hands visible on camera, answer questions with his eyes closed and was later accused of using AI anyway.
The bizarre experience, shared on Reddit, has now triggered a wider conversation online about how far companies should go while trying to prevent cheating and AI-assisted responses during virtual hiring rounds. Because somewhere between “maintaining fairness” and making candidates feel deeply uncomfortable, the line seems to be getting blurry.
Candidate shares strange virtual interview experience
The candidate detailed the incident in a Reddit post titled, “Interview Experience after 7 years. Asked me to hold my hands to the camera.”
According to the post, the individual had spent seven years in the professional world, including five years working in audits and Record to Report services at a mid-tier consultancy as a semi-qualified Chartered Accountant.
He explained that he had recently started looking for new opportunities and was hoping to transition into a multinational company role.
However, things reportedly became strange during a virtual panel interview with the BPM division of what he described as a “massive, global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting.”
Before the interview properly began, the candidate claimed he was instructed to keep his hands visible on camera throughout the session.
“Before we even started, they asked me to keep my hands up and visible to the camera. I complied,” he wrote.
According to him, the panel later warned that moving his hands could lead to the interview being stopped and his candidature getting cancelled altogether.
To avoid creating issues, he said he kept his hands folded and visible during the interaction.
Candidate says he was asked to answer with eyes closed
The interview allegedly became even more uncomfortable midway through the session.
According to the Reddit post, a second interviewer then instructed him to close his eyes while answering questions.
“He literally asked me to close my eyes before he asked a question and keep them closed while giving my reply,” the candidate wrote.
He initially followed the request despite finding it strange.
As the questioning continued, frustration reportedly started building up. The candidate joked that he spent nearly 20 minutes sitting with his hands raised in what he described as a “Namaste position”.
“If anyone had walked into my room out of context, it looked like I was praying to my tablet and chanting,” he wrote.
Eventually, he said he stopped responding to the panel entirely.
Candidate says he was later flagged for using AI
What appeared to upset him the most came towards the end of the interview.
According to the candidate, the panel informed him that the system had flagged him for allegedly using “agentic AI” while answering questions.
“I am a professional who takes integrity seriously. If I don't know an answer, I openly say ‘I don't know, but I'm willing to learn,’” he wrote.
He added that after complying with every unusual instruction during the interview, being accused by what he described as “broken proctoring software” left him feeling deeply frustrated and disheartened.
Take a look at the post here:
Internet debates AI monitoring in job interviews
The Reddit post quickly sparked discussion online, with many users debating whether companies were beginning to take AI-monitoring measures too far during virtual interviews.
Some users felt organisations were becoming overly paranoid about candidates secretly using AI tools during online assessments and interviews.
One commenter said there were likely far more professional ways to verify authenticity than imposing what they described as “nonsense” restrictions on candidates.
Another user pointed out that while cheating during interviews may have become more common in the AI era, the measures described in the post sounded unnecessarily extreme and humiliating.
Others argued that using AI itself should not automatically be treated like misconduct during recruitment.
One commenter suggested that if a candidate can use AI tools efficiently while still demonstrating actual understanding and productivity, that may even be considered a useful professional skill today rather than a red flag.
The incident has now fuelled a much larger conversation online around hiring culture, remote interviews and how companies are struggling to adapt to the rapid rise of AI tools in workplaces.
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