Amid AI transformation, Indeed bets on more human connection in hiring

In the job market, the last several years have largely been an AI arms race.

Candidates are using generative AI tools like ChatGPT to tailor their résumés to job descriptions in seconds, and many are bulk applying to open roles with the help of AI. Recruiters are leveraging AI to help screen, match, and rank applicants at scale. And vendors are automating every stage of the funnel.

But Indeed’s newest beta tool, Interview on Demand, takes a different approach: bring humans together earlier.

“AI is dominating all facets of the hiring journey right now,” John McMahon, a product director at Indeed overseeing its interviewing products, told HR Brew. “Interview on Demand is saying, let’s go the opposite direction and say humans are in charge again.”

While Indeed continues to invest in AI-driven screening, sourcing, and scheduling tools, the idea here, McMahon said, is about task allocation.

“We want to free up people from doing those things that they aren’t really interested in, aren’t really passionate about, and we want to give them those tasks that humans are really good at and require judgment,” he said.

Indeed released its Interview on Demand in beta for employers through its premium sponsored jobs in August 2025, according to the company. The feature allows employers to make themselves available for real-time conversations with candidates immediately after they fire off their application. If a job seeker meets employer-defined screening criteria, they can move directly to a live video interview with a recruiter or even a hiring manager, often within 30 seconds, according to the company.

Early humans. “Now interviews are more important than ever. The résumé is going to tell me something, but I don’t know if this is ChatGPT representing the job seeker or if this is really the job seeker,” he said.

Recruiters are staring at mountains of applicants for open recs, and even with AI screening tools, it’s hard to quickly suss out viable candidates from résumés designed with the help of ChatGPT to look like they’re viable.

“We’re actually hearing from employers that they’re losing trust in these artifacts,” McMahon said of résumés.

Employers can make specific roles available for live interviews and define a set of screening questions to help winnow the applicants before connecting. If candidates meet that bar, they’re invited into a real-time video interview, with a recruiter or someone from the company.

Employers start their first interview, on average, about 28 minutes after launching a session. A job seeker who applies for a role tagged as “Recruiter Online Now” can join an interview in under four minutes, on average, according to Indeed.

McMahon said employers have even issued offers during that first conversation, pointing to a beta client who shared a photo of a new hire who applied through Indeed and used the tool working the very next day. He noted some roles are better served by the tool than others, pointing to roles with high “liquidity” as prime contenders: Remote roles have more liquidity than a highly specialized one in specific locations.

Higher-quality candidates also appear to be self-selecting. Those who opt into a live, immediate conversation tend to be highly motivated, he said.

“Employers are positively rating these job seekers [in] 74% of all interviews,” he said. “We thought that maybe quality would be a problem if we’re just allowing this connection to happen so fast, that was just anybody going to come in and try to get this job? And that’s not the case at all.”

ATS black hole. Though the tool offers applicants an option to connect at a human level with the business the day they apply (gone are the days of the black hole and radio silence after applying?), TA pros can schedule something akin to a professor’s office hours, set themselves live for video calls when it works for their schedule.

McMahon said each additional step in the hiring process introduces more potential for drop off. Qualified candidates can speak same day and preserve the momentum often slowed during résumé reviews, recruiter screenings, and hiring manager interviews.

“There’s opportunity for misconnection and drop off. Every time you add a step or add a new person, fall out happens…This cuts all that out too.” he said. “Responsiveness is the core problem we’re trying to solve.”

Interview on Demand is available in beta to employers through premium sponsored jobs; the general rollout is set for later this year.