I had an AI interview me for a job. It wasn’t fun

AI + ML

If your employer requires you to do this, ask for a trial so you can learn the rules of this strange new world

A startup called Job Bolt has created an AI avatar that conducts job interviews. register I couldn’t resist trying it, and I can report that it was an unsettling experience.

Jobbolt’s pitch is that resumes and CVs are full of lies and exaggerations that will come out in interviews, but busy human resources professionals don’t have time to talk to many job applicants. The company believes AI can solve that problem in three ways.

Job Bolt first asks users to write a job description, and the AI ​​converts it into a list of interview questions.

Job Bolt then unleashes an automated avatar, an “AI video presenter,” to ask candidates questions during an online interview, much like a one-on-one Zoom call.

Once the interview is over, Job Bolt uses AI to summarize the candidate’s answers and compare them to other interviewees. HR professionals can get a summary to help them determine who is suitable for a second interview with a real person.

Here is a video of a typical AI-hosted interview. There is a slight problem because we removed unnecessary logo placement.

To help you experience AI interviewing for yourself, Job Bolt put you in the role of the editor of a fictional local newspaper, the Riverton Chronicle, and prepared a series of questions about how you find news, work with a team of reporters, and engage with your audience.

I found this experience disconcerting, primarily because the avatar’s nonverbal behavior was neurotic, repetitive, and came from much deeper in the uncanny valley. The uncanny valley is a place where simulations that aren’t realistic enough appear to be inhuman and creepy attempts at verisimilitude.

In the video above, the avatar digests the answer for 6 seconds without responding. The problem is said to be because the interviewee did not press the button to indicate he had finished answering.

During the interview I had, Avatar processed things a little faster, but her responses were mediocre. Most people started by saying, “Thank you for sharing,” referring to my previous answer, and summarizing my answer (“Sounds like you…”) before moving on to the next question. The experience felt more like attending an infomercial than an interview.

The results didn’t feel conversational at all, as the avatars didn’t react in real-time to answers. You can’t nod, raise your eyebrows, or make other gestures, sounds, or reactions that give clues about what the interviewee is saying. So I was trying to find some guidelines for my response, but I couldn’t figure out how to speak convincingly.

The result was the worst for me, leaving me with an uncertain, incomprehensible mess that no recruiter would consider a strong candidate.

Job Bolt isn’t the only startup using AI to “improve” the hiring process. Earlier this year, we met Megan, an AI recruitment agent. Other companies are definitely exploring this space, and since it’s 2025, some HR managers will adopt these AIs.

If you are asked to interview with an AI, we recommend requesting a test run to experience the platform and learn how to do it best. That’s a fair question, considering this kind of thing is new and strange. If an organization doesn’t allow you to practice, it’s probably a sign that it’s not a place you want to work anyway. ®