AI interview agents ease hiring strain in Australia

Australian workers say poor communication and delays in recruitment are deterring them from changing jobs, as new research highlights growing frustration with traditional hiring processes and the first large-scale use of AI interview agents in the local retail and hospitality sector.

A survey of 1,000 Australians, commissioned by employment platform Employment Hero and conducted by OnePoll, found that 56% of job seekers regard never hearing back from employers as the most frustrating part of applying for roles. A further 42% are dissatisfied with long gaps between interviews or hiring decisions.

The findings suggest a cooling of enthusiasm for job moves despite ongoing labour demand. Six in ten respondents said the hiring process is so frustrating it stops them applying for new roles. Among 18 to 34 year olds, that figure rises to 69%, indicating a particular barrier for younger workers.

Against that backdrop, Employment Hero has rolled out an AI interview agent that automates first-round screening. The system has run in production for six months at fast-growing charcoal chicken chain El Jannah, which is preparing a significant expansion programme.

El Jannah, which began with a single store in western Sydney, now operates 50 locations and plans to open another 25 restaurants in 2026. Each new site requires between 60 and 80 staff, which the company says had become an operational strain on managers.

El Jannah estimates that AI-run interviews will save between 1,000 and 1,400 hours of recruitment administration over the next 12 months as it hires more than 1,800 people. The business forecasts more than AUD $500,000 in savings and benefits over the same period from the technology and associated process changes.

Recruitment pressure

Michael Oliverio, Senior HR Business Partner at El Jannah, said rapid growth had stretched the company's hiring processes.

"The experience of our people and our guests sits at the heart of El Jannah. As we grew to 50 restaurants and more than 2,800 employees, the scale of hiring began to stretch our restaurant managers and risk the consistency we pride ourselves on, from the amazing fresh food we serve to the positive experience we want every team member and guest to have," said Oliverio, Senior HR Business Partner, El Jannah.

He said the group had already used Employment Hero's SmartMatch technology to shortlist and connect with applicants, but first-round interviews remained a bottleneck.

"With such high volumes, we were already saving hours by shortlisting and connecting with quality candidates through Employment Hero's SmartMatch system. But as our growth accelerated, first round interviews had become a real pain point. It was a challenge to keep up with the pace of applications while still giving every candidate a consistent, positive experience," added Oliverio.

The new AI agent conducts initial interviews, asks role-specific questions and scores candidate responses. The system then generates ranked shortlists for hiring managers, who review videos and scores before making decisions.

AI interview agent

Employment Hero describes the Recruitment Agent as the first in a series of AI-based tools embedded in its Employment Operating System platform. The company said it works with 350,000 small and medium-sized businesses worldwide, many of which receive large volumes of applications for relatively small HR teams.

Dave Tong, Co-Founder and CPTO at Employment Hero, said screening delays were common among such employers.

"We work with 350,000 SMBs every day and many of our customers have a significant amount of candidate volume coming through to small teams - tens, hundreds, even thousands of applicants for roles. It's a huge challenge to sort through that and it was taking customers up to months to even screen these candidates. While we were already supporting with a best in class ATS and providing instantaneous candidate sourcing with SmartMatch, we saw the biggest opportunity to drive efficiency and savings for customers by first focussing on the interview feature of the Recruitment Agent. Specifically, we wanted to reduce screening time, which can take 30 minutes per call, with the majority of calls spent on candidates that are not a good fit. With AI-powered sourcing, scoring, video screening and more, we can improve candidate quality and make the entire recruitment process faster," said Tong, Co-Founder and CPTO, Employment Hero.

The AI agent generates tailored interview questions for each role and presents an associated review rubric that sets out how responses will be evaluated. Recruiters receive the recordings and scores and retain control over who progresses.

Employment Hero positions the system as aligned with what it calls a "Responsible AI" approach, under which humans make final hiring decisions and maintain oversight of automated assessments.

Impact on managers

Oliverio said early results at El Jannah show a material impact on recruitment timelines and internal workload.

"With Employment Hero's AI, we're already hiring and onboarding around 45% faster than competitors, giving us a clear advantage in what is an increasingly competitive market. With SmartMatch and the Recruitment Agent fully integrated into our existing Employment Hero system, we expect these efficiency gains to deliver over $500,000 in savings and benefits to El Jannah's bottom line over the next 12 months. More importantly, it's giving our managers back valuable time to focus on what really matters, their people, their teams, and their restaurants," said Oliverio.

He said the changes have also altered the experience for younger and first-time workers.

"Around 30% of our new recruits are starting their first job, so making that experience positive is really important to us. In the past, the sheer volume of applicants made it almost impossible for restaurant managers to communicate with everyone, which could be stressful for both sides. AI interviews have made the process fairer and less intimidating for young people. Every candidate now gets an opportunity to be heard, and our managers have the time to focus on welcoming, training, and supporting their teams from day one," said Oliverio.

"The combination of SmartMatch and the Recruitment Agent has completely changed the way we hire. It's taken a huge administrative weight off our managers and given them back time to focus on their people. You can feel the difference in morale across the restaurants, the pressure and anxiety that used to come with hiring have dropped, and our teams are more engaged and energised than ever."

A case study from El Jannah Tuggerah highlights the impact on individual outlets. Restaurant Manager Shannon said the platform has shifted how they allocate their time.

"Now the Employment Hero system takes care of that part for me. It finds the right people faster, and the new Interview Agent handles the first round of screening. That means I can spend my time where it really matters, on the floor with my team, supporting their growth, and making sure every guest gets the best possible experience. Since introducing Employment Hero's AI-powered recruitment solution we have cut time to hire nearly in half and seen a noticeable lift in team engagement and retention. The process is smoother, the hires are stronger, and our focus is back on the food and our guests, exactly where it should be," said Shannon.

Candidate experience

Some candidates have reported shorter timelines as the AI system filters applications and triggers faster human follow up. One recent hire, Jessica, applied for a front-of-house role at El Jannah Randwick and completed the process in days rather than weeks.

"I'd worked in other restaurants before, but this was different. The process was quick and friendly. I did everything on my iPhone, and someone called me the next day. By the weekend, I was in uniform learning the ropes. It made me feel valued before I even started. Now I get to work with a great team and serve guests who genuinely love what we do," said Jessica.

Tong said the El Jannah deployment marks an early step in a broader programme of AI tools across employment workflows.

"AI's greatest potential isn't in replacing humans - it's in unlocking human capabilities that were previously impossible or uneconomical. Our vision is to amplify human capabilities, create new opportunities and ensure every worker thrives in the AI age through meaningful collaboration between humans and AI colleagues. The Recruitment Agent is the first of many.

"We want to empower SMBs with the tools and training to outsource time-consuming, repetitive tasks within major employee workflows. Where others use AI to complete a single task, Employment Hero is fundamentally opposing a one-to-one replacement model with a vision to create a powerful workflow engine that frees people to focus on human-centric work that truly matters," said Tong.

Employment Hero has now extended the Recruitment Agent beyond El Jannah following an alpha deployment and beta programme with other partners, and plans additional AI agents across HR, payroll and employee experience from 2026.