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June 13, 2025
Will AI Elevate Job Recruitment at Retail?
Showing the potential of artificial intelligence to reimagine the job-recruitment process, Walmart is piloting a new AI Interview Coach tool to help prospective candidates prepare for their interview.
Simulating a realistic Walmart interview, candidates answer up to 10 questions, are scored for each response on a 1-10 scale, and receive pointers on structure, clarity and confidence.
“Whether you’re preparing for your first hourly job or aiming for a leadership role, this practice environment with actionable feedback builds skill and self-assurance,” said Walmart. “This will give talented candidates a better chance of landing jobs they’re qualified for but might miss out on due to interviewing poorly.”
Walmart said the tool, currently being piloted with associates, will be offered to all applicants, both internal and external, if it performs as expected.
AI Increasingly Becoming a Regular Part of the Job Hunting and Hiring Process, Despite Concerns
The 2025 Market Trend Report from recruitment firm Career Group found 65% of job candidates using AI at some point in the job application process. Of those using AI in their job hunt, the biggest use case was for cover letter, 20%; resume writing, 19%; for their headshot, 9%; and for interview practice, 7%.
For hiring professionals, AI adoption has shifted from experimentation to full-scale implementation globally, according to hiring platform HireVue’s 2025 Global Guide to AI in Hiring.
The poll of more than 4,000 HR leaders and employees found AI adoption among HR professionals surged to 72% in 2025, up from 58% in 2024. Of the HR leaders, 63% cited greater productivity as an AI benefit, with 55% automating manual tasks and 52% improving business efficiency. Respondents trusting AI-powered hiring recommendations rose to 53% versus 39% last year.
HireVue’s survey still found HR leaders had numerous concerns, including about misinformation and job replacement, both cited by 51% of respondents; security risks, 47%; legal compliance, 45%; candidate perceptions, 42%; and biased recommendations, 41%.
Employees responses to the HireVue survey found mixed sentiment about the potential of AI in hiring with 57% thinking AI use in hiring would reduce racial/ethnic bias and 46% believing AI would treat applicants more fairly than humans.
A survey of 1,000 Americans conducted for Newsweek last October identified skepticism from applicants around AI with 43% expressing discomfort with the idea of AI conducting a job interview, 32% comfortable with it, and 26% unsure.
“Certain AI applications, like scheduling or data analysis, are welcomed because they simplify life without stripping it of its human touch,” Lars Nyman, chief marketing officer of CUDO Compute told Newsweek. “In contrast, when AI steps into roles requiring empathy and judgment, like job interviews, the reception is chillier.”
Discussion Questions
What do you think of the potential for artificial intelligence to support the job-recruitment process, including interviewing applicants and determining hires?
What role will humans still have to play in picking the right candidates for retailers?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
David Biernbaum
Founder & President, David Biernbaum & Associates LLC
Gary Sankary
Retail Industry Strategy, Esri
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I think AI can help with recruitment, especially in the screening and routine questioning phases. AI can probably also do things like summarize CVs and make some assessments around who should be shortlisted. All that said, human oversight is still very much needed. And, as ever, HR teams will need to be on the lookout for any bias in AI tools.
AI can enhance the job-recruitment process by automating tasks like initial candidate screening and resume analysis, focusing on relevant keywords and experience. It can also help schedule interviews and provide data-driven insights into candidate performance. However, final hiring decisions should remain in human hands to account for cultural fit and interpersonal skills.
AI will be helpful for filtering resumes, looking for specific attributes, and weeding out “inaccuracies” in a candidate’s CV. It is important to remember that candidates are also using AI to enhance their resumes and attract attention. I do not see AI replacing face-to-face, human interaction in an interview. Let’s leave the “our AI” interviewing “your AI” scenarios to Sci-Fi, where they belong. Making a decision on a candidate without that candidate ever interacting with a human being is bound to lead to bad hires, and from the candidate’s perspective, what are you telling the candidate when you use AI to make your HR decisions? Tells me what I need to know about that company!
AI is becoming a valuable tool on both sides of the hiring process. Interview coaches can help build confidence and surface talent, while AI brings structure and efficiency to hiring teams. I don’t think AI should replace human oversight, but it’s a great tool to support the process.
Having recently utilized ChatGPT to refine and update my LinkedIn profile, as well as created a new version of my resume based on a template that is reported to make it through Applicant Tracking Systems more effectively, I have more than a few emotional scars on the use of digital tools to toss out applicants that don’t fit a given criteria. As someone who had a front-row seat in the birth of eCommerce, the personal computer category, and the SMART TV business, I believe myself to be as open to the use of technology for the benefit of humans as anyone. That said, I was also taught throughout my career that Hiring and Developing Future Leaders is the most important job of any leader in any industry, including and especially in Retailing. I have encountered many a recruiter who kept legitimate candidates from the objective eyes of hiring managers for less than optimal reasons. Please know that I don’t wish to paint all recruiters with the same brush. However, Behavior Interviewing and other objective forms of evaluating talent may require a combination of qualitative as well as quantitative analysis. AI has a role to play in evaluating talent, to be sure. However, we really risk passing over viable and potentially high-performing candidates for a lack of human oversight of digital tools.
This is already happening and will continue to grow. That said, AI is more appropriate for some portions of the process of finding the right candidates and not as much for others. Can it screen for desired experience and inaccuracies or inconsistencies. Sure. But in the end, candidates need to be evaluated by a human for cultural fit and interpersonal skills, among many other things.
Retailers hiring front-line associates for their stores are awash in job applications. And for years, systems have worked to implement algorithms, machine learning and other technical means to try to differentiate applicants who will succeed in a store environment from all the others. AI represents another iteration in this evolution.
The key risk to be on guard against here— as in all AI applications but most especially where hiring practices are concerned— is introducing any kind of bias that could expose the retailer legally.