interview agent wrote questions from a stale job description - the JD updated but the agent's cached copy didn't

interview agent wrote questions from a stale job description - the JD updated but the agent's cached copy didn't

TL;DR

The job description changed but the agent kept generating questions from its cached copy, so candidates got quizzed on dropped requirements. Fetch the JD fresh for every interview loop, version-stamp it, and invalidate the cache when the ATS version changes.

interview agent wrote questions from a stale job description - cached copy outdated

Steps

1. Confirm the staleness: diff the agent's cached JD against the current ATS version. Expected: The cached copy is versions behind.

2. Switch the agent to fetch the JD live from the ATS for each interview loop. Expected: Questions reflect the current requirements.

3. Version-stamp every question set with the JD version used. Expected: Each interview is auditable to a JD version.

4. Add cache invalidation: when the ATS JD version changes, drop the cached copy immediately. Expected: Updates propagate automatically.

5. Notify interviewers who ran loops on the stale JD; their feedback may reference wrong requirements. Expected: Affected loops are flagged.

When to use

• interview questions reference removed requirements
• the JD changed mid-search
• the agent caches the JD

When not to use

• the JD has not changed (the questions are current)
• questions are written by humans from the live JD (no agent cache involved)
• the staleness is in the hiring manager's head, not the agent's cache

Tool compatibility

• any interview-question agent
• ATS job description APIs

Variant phrasings

• "interview questions stale job description"
• "agent cached old JD"
• "questions from outdated requirements"

Why it happens

Job descriptions evolve during a search as the hiring manager learns what the market offers. Agents cache the JD at loop-creation time and never re-fetch, so questions fossilize while the role moves on. Candidates notice immediately; interviewers notice when the feedback does not match the role.

Edge cases

• ATS JD versioning is not always exposed; fall back to content hashing
• question banks need the same invalidation; they go stale independently
• mid-loop JD changes need a policy: finish the loop or regenerate, decided up front

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_oKNVK4sKLApDepgD-kkKVQ