Our writer let an AI interview him for a job. It wasn’t fun • The Register
A startup called Job Bolt has created AI avatars that conduct job interviews. The Register couldn’t help but give it a try and can report that it’s an unnerving experience.
Job Bolt’s pitch is that resumes and CVs are full of fibs that existing HR systems can’t detect, so HR people can save time by screening candidates with AI interviews that allow employers to write a set of questions for a human-like avatar to ask during a session that feels a lot like a one-to-one Zoom call.
Once the interview ends, Job Bolt uses AI to summarize the candidate’s responses so human HR folks can decide who gets a meeting with a real person.
Here’s a video of a typical AI-hosted interview. It glitches a bit because we excised some gratuitous logo placement.
So I could experience an AI interview for myself, Job Bolt created the role of editor at a fictional local newspaper, The Riverton Chronicle, and prepared a set of questions about how I find news, work with teams of reporters, and engage audiences.
I found the experience disconcerting, mainly because the avatar’s non-verbal behavior is twitchy, repetitive, and comes from way down deep in the uncanny valley – the place where not-real-enough simulations come off as inhuman and creepy attempts at authenticity.
In the video above, the avatar digests an answer for six seconds without responding. During the interview I took, it processed things a little quicker but its responses were banal. Most opened by referring to my previous answer by saying “Thank you for sharing” or referred to an answer by opening “It sounds like…” before offering a decent summary of a previous answer and trying to bridge to the next question.
Reg hack Simon (top right) during an interview with an AI avatar provided by Job Bolt
The result just didn’t feel in any way conversational because the avatar doesn’t offer a real-time reaction to answers. It can’t nod, raise an eyebrow, or make any other gesture or sound that indicates active listening or gives a clue about how it’s receiving an interviewee’s words. So I found myself groping for anything to guide my responses.
The results felt like my worst self, an uncertain and inarticulate mess no recruiter would consider a viable candidate.
Job Bolt is not the only startup using AI to “improve” the recruitment process. Earlier this year, we met Megan the AI recruiting agent. Others are doubtless exploring the field and, because it’s 2025, some HR managers will adopt these AIs.
If you find yourself asked to interview with an AI, I advise requesting a test run so you can experience the platform and learn how to put your best foot forward. That’s a reasonable ask given that this sort of thing is new and strange. If an organization won’t let you practice, it’s probably an indicator that it’s not a place you would want to work anyway. ®
