Going to a job interview, it is already nerve wrecking, but what about if the interviewer is a robot?

Sophie (btw, stupid name for a robot) is cute but don’t be fooled by her looks because she could soon be conducting your toughest-ever job interview, monitoring not just what you say but tiny twitches in your eyebrows that give clues about how you really feel.

Sophie and her fellow “human-like” robots Charles, Matilda, Betty and Jack plus two as yet unnamed robots are the product of a research joint venture between La Trobe University Business School in Melbourne and global electronics giant NEC Corporation in Japan.

A multidisciplinary team of 22 La Trobe staff and students from management, health sciences, sociology, psychology and education worked on the robots. Their aim is to create machines that emotionally engage withhumans using “human like communication modalities”.

Khosla, the director of La Trobe’s Research Centre for Computers, Communication and Social Innovation, argues that robots could actually humanise workplaces.

Sophie was already involved in trial interviews of candidates for sales jobs, asking 76 questions about selling.

Some have mixed emotions about robots in the workplace. Paul Zauch, director of business development at recruiter Talent2, says the robots might drive efficiency in the early stages of recruitment but “at some point you want to be engaged by a human”.

“It’s a very emotive process. There will be a sector of candidates who would find it unusual”, he says.

Khosla insists robots will not replace humans conducting later stage interviews or employers making final hiring decisions. 

Would you accept to be interview by a robot for your dream job? Please leave a comment.

Please visit my profile for more information about Women In Tech