8M interviews, 11M words of feedback show candidates feel heard and respected

Sapia.ai, the pioneer in AI-native hiring, released a new research report today, finding that AI can humanise the hiring process, countering a common belief. The report found AI chat interviews restore dignity for candidates while connecting companies more effectively with people who are the right fit for their brands. The average satisfaction of candidates was 9.05/10 and 8 out of 10 left written feedback voluntarily.

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Sapia.ai Candidate Feedback Sentiment on AI Chat Interviews

Faceless processes, resume bias, and ghosting leave candidates dehumanised in a scarce job market while employers struggle to find talent. According to JobScore, 65% of candidates don’t receive consistent communication during recruitment. Sapia.ai’s AI Chat Interviews eliminate those issues. Instead of reducing candidates to data points, the research captures their voices at one of the most stressful moments of their lives: applying for a job.

"Sapia.ai has been truly transformational for our candidates, our recruiters, and our brand. We can now deliver on our promise to give everyone a fair go at working for Australia’s most trusted brand,” said Michael Eizenberg, Group Global Head of Talent Acquisition at the Qantas Group.

These experiences go beyond the Qantas Group. The interviews show that responsibly designed AI can help global brands create fairer, more human hiring while building trust with their candidates.

Sapia.ai’s Humanising Hiring Report is the first large-scale scientific analysis of over one million candidate experiences. Unlike traditional surveys, the report analyses more than 11 million words of voluntary candidate feedback from Sapia.ai’s conversational Chat Interview. Key statistics include:

• 6.7M+ Chat Interviews completed across 30+ countries
• 81.8% feedback rate: 853,000+ candidates left written comments
• 30% more women apply when told AI will assess them, closing the gender gap by 36%
• 98% hiring equity for people with disabilities thanks to blind, untimed, mobile-first design

The AI Chat Interview is based on a contextual dataset of more than 8M responses, making it the only automated structured interview of its kind. The depth of feedback shows candidates want to be respected and listened to when applying for a role, and being given an interview at first interaction enables that. The unusually high engagement rate signals that people see the AI Chat experience as meaningful.

“Too often, candidates are left in the dark and resumes fall into a black hole. Applications are ignored and communication is inconsistent, with ghosting a common complaint. At our core, humans crave to be heard. We’ve built AI that gives candidates space to tell their story,” said Barb Hyman, CEO of Sapia.ai. “Engagement at this scale is unheard of. Millions of people are choosing to leave feedback on their interview, which is proof that responsible AI doesn’t take away dignity; it restores it. At the same time, companies using Sapai.ai’s AI Chat interviews are solving their recruiting challenges while finding candidates that better fit their brands.”

In 2025, Express Employment Professionals reported that 34% of companies with 500+ employees experienced annual turnover costs of $100,000 or more. Companies using Sapia.ai report significant drops in turnover. Wellbeing retailer Holland & Barrett’s turnover fell 89% in two years after switching to AI chat interviews.

“If you believe people are your greatest asset, don’t make the hiring process the weakest link,” said Hyman.

The Humanising Hiring Report makes a clear case: AI, when designed responsibly, is not the end of human connection in hiring. It is the path to restoring it. By designing AI around people, Sapia.ai shows that technology can do more than streamline workflows: it can restore the basic human right of being heard.

“This study stands out as one of the most comprehensive examinations of candidate experience to date. Analyzing over a million interviews and 11 million words of candidate feedback, the findings make clear that responsibly designed AI has the potential to fundamentally improve hiring - not just by increasing speed, but by advancing fairness, enhancing the human aspect, and leading to stronger job matches,” said Kathi Enderes, SVP Research and Global Industry Analyst at The Josh Bersin Company. “Sapia.ai’s AI chat was developed with the intent to provide every candidate with a fair interview experience, benefiting companies and candidates alike.”

Sapia.ai’s Chat Interview is structured, untimed, and text-based. Every candidate answers the same role-relevant questions at their own pace and in their own words, ensuring consistency, fairness, and comfort.

The approach is grounded in decades of industrial-organisational psychology, reaffirmed by peer-reviewed research such as Sackett et al. (2022), which found structured interviews to be the most predictive and fair hiring method. By embedding its proprietary FAIR™ framework (bias monitoring, inclusivity, validity, explainability), Sapia.ai ensures ethical AI use in recruitment at scale.

About Sapia.ai

Sapia.ai is the pioneer in AI-native hiring. Built on the world’s largest structured interview dataset, our platform delivers scientifically validated insights from real conversations, not resumes or self-assessments.

Our intelligent agents JAS™, Chat Pro™, SAIGE™, and TIA™ help enterprises define, measure and discover brilliant talent with speed, fairness, and precision.

With 8M+ interviews completed in 50+ languages, Sapia.ai powers skills-based, inclusive hiring and internal mobility at a global scale for brands like Joe & the Juice, BT, Starbucks, and Concentrix.

To learn more or book a demo, visit Sapia.ai.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250918436413/en/

“This study stands out as one of the most comprehensive examinations of candidate experience to date," said Kathi Enderes, SVP Research and Global Industry Analyst at The Josh Bersin Company.