We applied to a job at Kmart. An AI bot did the interview

August 9, 2026 — 2:08pm

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For more than 600,000 Kmart applicants each year, the CV is dead. In its place, people seeking jobs at the national retail chain face an AI screening tool that promises to offer personalised feedback, bias-free assessments and – perhaps most importantly for the company – speed.

But as experts and politicians warn that AI hiring tools risk entrenching biases and locking unorthodox candidates out of the job market, this masthead decided to test the Kmart tool. It applied for a “holiday casual” role at Kmart and went through the interview process designed by Australian AI chat interview software provider Sapia.ai.

After putting in standard details on Kmart’s job application webpage, we were invited via email to complete an interactive chat interview.

“We’ll ask you five thought-provoking questions that will reveal your strengths and help you identify areas for growth,” the email read. “And don’t worry, there are no right or wrong answers.”

That’s despite the tool giving recommendations to the employers based on the answers given, which employers adopt about 90 per cent of the time.

Upon entering the interview screen, there was a slew of “chat window” style information and pointers given to us.

“You’ve got plenty of time to work through this!” one message read. “Most people wrap up within 20 to 25 minutes, so feel free to take it at your own comfortable pace.”

Ironically, it also warned that answers that were “plagiarised, copied from others or using artificially generated content” would be automatically detected and flagged. “This may impact the progression of your application with us.”

The questions covered standard topics such as........

© Brisbane Times