Job seekers have criticised Olive Garden after discovering the restaurant chain uses an AI-powered personality test as part of its hiring process. The test, provided by recruitment software company Paradox.ai, features animated characters with blue skin and neon hair acting out hypothetical scenarios.
A recent TikTok video by user Jackson Haws, which has amassed over 900,000 views, shows the assessment he completed while applying for a server position. In the clip, Haws questions the relevance of the scenarios, including one where a character takes multiple slices of pizza, leaving none for a colleague. “What kind of dog s*** test is this?” he said. “This is not science.”
Haws told The Independent that after completing the assessment, he was told he was a “strong leader” but received a rejection email a week later without an interview. “The experience felt disrespectful and dehumanising,” he said.
This is not the first time the tests have sparked controversy. In 2024, another TikTok user, Katrina, shared a similar experience while applying to Olive Garden. Social media users have criticised the tests as “degrading” and “insane”, with one commenter joking: “This looks like a test the Sims would take to get matched to a career.”
Olive Garden is among several companies using the assessments, including McDonald’s and FedEx, as reported by 404 Media in 2024. Critics have questioned the purpose of the tests, with one Reddit user writing: “Are they trying to profile you without asking for a photo? … Whatever it is, it seems super sketchy.”
