By Claudia Fernández Sainz, Head of People and Culture at work orchestration platform Shakers
AI voice interviews are gaining popularity, but businesses are right to be cautious about letting AI run the hiring process.
Concerns about bias, depersonalisation and overreliance on algorithms can’t be underestimated, particularly when it comes to final-stage interviews. We’ve seen too many examples of AI going rogue to trust it to make final decisions, especially when it comes to new hires. But there’s a middle ground that’s being overlooked.
Conversational AI, while unsuited to final-stage decision making, is ideally placed to manage the initial stages of recruitment – particularly screening and skill verification – and quickly surfacing candidates worth meeting face to face. As CVs and cover letters, increasingly AI generated themselves, continue to lose credibility, HR teams need a more practical, scalable way to shortlist applicants and move forward to human interviews quicker.
Businesses must accept that the traditional model of manual CV screening and drawn-out early-stage interviews is no longer sustainable. To maintain access to top talent in a competitive market, they need to embrace tools that speed up and simplify these first steps without compromising fairness.
Clearing the path to real conversations
AI-generated written materials reveal little about a candidate’s genuine strengths, making first impressions increasingly unreliable in the initial hiring stages (not to mention being a huge time sink for those that want to put the effort in). HRs are increasingly forced to sort fact from fiction as part of the traditional recruitment process.
AI-powered voice tools can cut through this noise. Instead of relying on written first-stage applications, recruiters can instead offer all applicants an initial structured, automated conversation to assess personality, experience and skills.
This approach allows HR teams to identify promising candidates much faster. Rather than spending weeks organising initial interviews that often reveal basic mismatches, they can move straight to meaningful face-to-face discussions with individuals who have already demonstrated core competencies and demonstrated cultural fit.
Replacing self-promotion with practical assessment
When it comes to skill assessments, Conversational AI can level the playing field by giving every applicant the same opportunity to demonstrate what they can do, regardless of how much time and resources they have to market themselves for a particular role.
Because each candidate is assessed against the same set of criteria, the process becomes more consistent and less vulnerable to unconscious bias. Instead of subjective first impressions based on writing style or personal networks, shortlists are built on demonstrated competence.
What makes AI voice interviews even more powerful is their ability to adjust in real time to each candidate. They can shift the depth, tone, and complexity of questions based on responses, helping candidates showcase their strengths in ways that static assessments cannot.
This adaptive approach makes the process a far more accurate demonstration of a candidate’s capabilities than a CV or cover letter ever could. Candidates can showcase not just what they know, but how they work, whether it is discussing how they use specific tools, collaborate in teams, or approach problem-solving.
This can be a huge time-saver for jobseekers, who are being bogged down by lengthy skill verification tasks just to get a foot in the door. AI voice gives candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves quickly and authentically, in place of a written assessment that HRs don’t have the time to properly review.
Keeping candidates engaged in a shrinking job market
The recruitment process is becoming increasingly demoralising for candidates, particularly at the entry level. Automation and outsourcing have reduced the number of junior roles, while prolonged screening processes often result in lengthy silences between application and response. Strong applicants frequently abandon searches or accept other offers before reaching the interview stage.
Conversational AI can help maintain engagement by making the process quicker and more convenient from end to end. Automated tools can act as a much-needed intermediary between HRs and applicants, able to conduct first-round assessments within hours of an application, provide instant feedback to both parties and arrange next steps – something that can take days or weeks traditionally. This momentum reassures candidates that their time is valued, and frees HRs up to conduct the rest of the interview process in good time.
Quicker progression benefits both sides. Employers avoid losing high-quality candidates to competitors, while applicants spend less time navigating a process that can otherwise feel opaque and drawn out.
The future of recruitment: blended, not automated
The debate about AI in recruitment should not be polarised around extremes. The most practical future of recruitment is not fully automated, nor is it stuck using outdated processes, but lies somewhere in between.
A blended approach allows organisations to hire more efficiently without sacrificing fairness or personal connection. AI does not need to replace HR professionals to make recruitment better – it simply needs to work where it adds value.
Businesses that continue to favour outdated recruitment models risk falling behind in a talent market that increasingly favours speed, flexibility, and fairness. Businesses that adopt blended models now will be the ones that continue to attract and retain the strongest candidates in the years ahead.
