Burnham warns online interviews and AI screening hurt young jobseekers

Andy Burnham said companies should stop relying on virtual interviews and AI CV screening because online hiring can flatten character into polished, formulaic answers. He said Zoom and Teams meetings make it harder for young people to show the personality and passion employers say they want.

Burnham described that approach as “not right to me” and argued that online interviews can work against applicants who need a chance to make a human impression. “How does a young person shine in that situation? How do you get over some of your personality, your passion?” he said.

His warning came as he outlined a youth training overhaul aimed at helping young people into work while artificial intelligence changes how jobs are filled. Reuters reported on July 28, 2026, that nearly 1 million young people in the United Kingdom are not in education, employment or training, a figure that has sharpened pressure on policymakers to improve the route from school into work.

Burnham’s criticism goes to the centre of a new fault line in recruitment. Employers gain speed and convenience from video interviews and automated CV filtering, especially when candidates are spread across different places and schedules. But the same tools can strip out the informal cues that often matter in a first job hunt: confidence, warmth, ambition and the ability to build rapport quickly.

That tension has drawn mixed reactions. Some social media users argued that virtual interviews make hiring more accessible and easier to attend, particularly for jobseekers who may struggle with travel costs or time off. Others sided with Burnham, saying AI screening and online interviews can hide personality and passion behind scripted answers and keyword matching.

Burnham has linked that critique to broader proposals to expand technical education routes and prepare pupils for work earlier. His intervention places recruitment practice inside a wider economic debate in the United Kingdom: how to move more young people into employment at the same time that employers are adopting tools designed to reduce cost, speed up screening and standardise hiring.