A new wave of change is sweeping through the job market. The person you might face across the interview table could now be an AI rather than a human. However, job seekers' reactions to this shift are far more negative than expected. Some are even declaring they'd rather remain unemployed than go through an AI interview.
The Reality of AI Interviews: Candid Experiences from Job Seekers
According to Fortune's reporting, job seekers are showing overwhelmingly negative reactions to AI interviews. Debra Borchardt, a veteran writer and editor who has been job hunting for three months, expressed her frustration: "Job searching right now is already so demoralizing and soul-sucking, and to add this additional insult on top of it is just crossing a line."
Her experience resonates with many job seekers. What seemed like a normal interview start quickly turned disappointing when the robot simply repeated questions from her resume. She ended up walking out in less than 10 minutes.
Allen Rausch, a 56-year-old technical writer with experience at Amazon and Electronic Arts, had similar encounters. During his two-month job search, he experienced AI interviews three times—all featuring female character avatars in 25-minute sessions. However, the AI couldn't answer any of his questions about company culture or specific details.
The Corporate Perspective: Why Companies Need AI Interviews
On the flip side, companies and HR professionals are embracing AI interviews out of practical necessity. Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor at Indeed, explains: "It's becoming more common for initial screening in high-volume hiring. You see this more in customer service, retail, and entry-level tech positions."
With HR teams shrinking, recruiters are facing the daunting task of reviewing thousands of applicants for a single position. In this context, AI becomes a lifesaver, handling tasks like filtering optimal candidates, scheduling interviews, and automating follow-up communications.
Adam Jackson, CEO of Braintrust, an AI interview solution provider, puts it bluntly: "The truth is, if you want the job, you have to go through this process. If a significant portion of the job-seeking community outright rejects this, our clients won't find this tool useful."
Current State and Limitations of AI Interview Technology
The quality of AI interviewers currently on the market varies dramatically. While job seekers have encountered systems with monotonous robotic voices and awkward female avatars, companies like Braintrust offer solutions using faceless bots with more natural-sounding voices.
CEO Jackson clearly acknowledges the role and limitations of AI interviewers: "If an AI conducts 100 interviews, it passes the top 10 candidates to human recruiters, and humans take over from there. AI excels at objective technical assessments—it can even be better than humans. But when it comes to cultural fit, we wouldn't even attempt to leave that to AI."
The Fundamental Issues Job Seekers Face
Job seekers' rejection of AI interviews isn't simply about technical inconvenience. More fundamentally, it raises concerns about company culture. Alex Cobb, currently working at Murphy Group, states: "If I found out they were using AI interviews, I wouldn't waste my time. It feels more like a cost-cutting measure."
He also expresses deeper concerns: "It makes me feel like the company doesn't value my learning and development. It makes me question the company culture. If robots can already hire people, will they cut jobs in the future? What else will they outsource?"
This reaction is completely understandable. Interviews aren't just about evaluating skills and experience—they're crucial communication opportunities for assessing mutual cultural fit. No matter how advanced AI becomes, it struggles to fully understand human emotions, motivations, and values.
Expert Perspective on the Future of AI Interviews
From a computer science expert's standpoint, AI interview technology can certainly be a valuable tool. Automating initial screening processes for high-volume hiring offers significant efficiency advantages. However, current AI technology clearly has limitations in fully understanding complex human emotions and cultural nuances.
More importantly, it's about implementation. Many current AI interview systems remain at the level of simply repeating resume content or asking standardized questions. This fails to leverage AI's true potential.
For truly effective AI interview systems, they need to generate appropriate follow-up questions based on candidates' responses and explore individual experiences and capabilities more deeply. They should also provide basic information about company-related questions that candidates might have.
Ideal Approaches to AI Interview Implementation
For AI interviews to succeed, I believe several conditions must be met.
First, transparency. Companies should inform candidates in advance that AI interviews will be conducted and clearly explain their purpose and subsequent processes. As Rausch mentioned, there needs to be assurance that "this is for initial information gathering, and human interviews will definitely follow."
Second, technical sophistication must improve. Instead of simply reading resumes, systems need to develop to the point where they can understand candidates' responses and ask appropriate follow-up questions.
Third, proper integration with human interviews. A hybrid approach where AI specializes in objective technical assessments while humans handle cultural fit and creativity evaluation remains the most realistic solution.
Conclusion: Finding the Balance Between Technology and Humanity
The adoption of AI interview technology is an inevitable trend of our times. However, looking at current implementation methods and job seekers' reactions, it's clear we still have a long way to go. Companies should consider candidate experience alongside efficiency, rather than pursuing efficiency alone.
Job seekers' concerns aren't simply about rejecting technology—they stem from a desire for human treatment. Interviews are precious opportunities for companies and candidates to get to know each other, and completely delegating this to machines could be a loss for both sides.
I expect these issues to gradually resolve as AI interview technology advances. However, until then, companies implementing AI interviews should listen more carefully to candidates' voices and develop in directions that don't lose the human touch. Ultimately, finding good talent and connecting with good companies starts with trust and understanding between people, not technology.