Just half an hour after she applied for a care job, Mollie Cole-Wilkin’s phone rang.<\/p>\n
Sitting at home, she answered it. But the voice on the line was not a human’s.<\/p>\n
She was speaking to \u00ab\u00a0Ami\u00a0\u00bb, an AI\u2011powered telephone interviewer developed by homecare company Cera.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It didn’t sound like AI at all. My mum was in the other room. We thought it was just another person. We just couldn’t believe it,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
The call lasted about five minutes, and at the end, Cole-Wilkin, of Long Stratton, Norfolk, was told she had passed the screening.<\/p>\n
It then made her an appointment for a one-to-one interview, with a real person. After successfully passing this, she was told she had the job.<\/p>\n
The system, which is audio-only, has already screened 14,600 applicants in total, recruiting 1,028 carers.<\/p>\n
Cera, one of England’s largest homecare providers, supports 2.5 million visits a month and says its AI system helps speed up hiring in a sector facing rising demand.<\/p>\n
The adult social care system is likely to need almost 440,000 more care workers by 2035.<\/p>\n
Ami conducts initial interviews using the same script every time, scoring applicants out of 100 based on their attitude and experience.<\/p>\n
Cole-Wilkin, 23, had previously left a job in a GP’s surgery after a difficult experience and moved into administration, but missed \u00ab\u00a0being physically helpful for other people\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0making people smile\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
When she tried applying for care roles again, the AI felt unexpectedly encouraging.<\/p>\n
As someone who stammers occasionally, she found it less intimidating than a human.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It was nice to know that I wasn’t going to be judged… I get very anxious, especially face to face,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It did give responses like ‘I’m happy you shared that with me’ and it was quite a rewarding conversation.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Cera says Ami has halved the time from application to first interview and doubled job offers for the same recruitment spend since its launch in August 2025.<\/p>\n
It says standardised questions reduce bias and give candidates like Mollie, who find traditional interviews stressful, a fairer chance.<\/p>\n
The system is built to meet Care Quality Commission standards, it adds.<\/p>\n
Not everyone is won over, however. Critics say algorithms cannot read the subtle cues that matter in care.<\/p>\n
Janet Beacham, director of Swift Care Solutions in Colchester, is a former nurse with more than 45 years’ experience in the healthcare sector and believes only a human can judge genuine empathy.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0If they haven’t got care in their heart then they’re not going to be a good carer… They’ve got to have the right personality and have the right skills,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
For Beacham, human intuition still matters.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The first screening should be a review of the CV and then an initial telephone conversation, but actually a person\u2011to\u2011person one,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
She argues that care workers enter clients’ homes as guests, and only a person can sense whether someone is genuinely suited to such a role.<\/p>\n
But Lucy Kruyer, branch manager at Cera’s Colchester office, says the technology is now essential.<\/p>\n
Speeding up recruitment, she argues, helps unblock hospital discharge delays.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0People don’t want to be laying in a hospital waiting for care because they can’t come home without the care,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
Human recruiters still run checks and lead in\u2011person training before anyone starts work.<\/p>\n
So, what is a phone call with a robot recruiter like? I decided to put Ami to the test.<\/p>\n
The system uses a soft, calm female voice; a familiar choice in tech, though evidence that female voices build trust is limited.<\/p>\n
She asks why I want the role and checks my experience, right to work and driving licence.<\/p>\n
When I push her about car insurance costs, she says they vary but that some carers pay about \u00a330 to \u00a360 extra per year. Questions about training receive clear answers.<\/p>\n
To see how she handled pushback, I tested her. When Ami asked about shifts, I said I couldn’t work Saturdays because I’m essentially a taxi service for my child.<\/p>\n
Nor could I work Friday nights, I told her, because I liked fish and chips on a Friday.<\/p>\n
Ami stayed perfectly calm. Fish and chips, she said, sounded like an important family tradition, but stressed that carers did need to work at least one weekend day.<\/p>\n
I offered Sundays instead. She checked: Sundays yes, Friday nights and Saturdays no. I confirmed \u2013 and I’d passed the screening.<\/p>\n
Large language models such as Ami work through patterns and associations. In this case, that is enough to move a candidate forward before a human picks up the process.<\/p>\n
Cera receives 500,000 applications a year. Traditional recruitment, it says, leaves applicants waiting days or weeks \u2013 long enough for many to drop out or find other jobs.<\/p>\n
Founder and chief executive Dr Ben Maruthappu argues he is expanding, not reducing, the workforce.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We’re using AI to recruit more people faster, not replace them\u2026 Recruitment and staffing remain major challenges for health and social care,\u00a0\u00bb he says.<\/p>\n
Ami can call multiple candidates at once, he says, so cuts waiting times \u00ab\u00a0from days to seconds\u00a0\u00bb, freeing staff to supervise carers and focus on training and safety.<\/p>\n
Cera also uses a separate AI tool to arrange cover when carers call in sick. Kruyer says this used to involve hours of phoning around.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I’ve got 177 carers out on the floor today so for me the phones are constantly ringing,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We can’t be answering phones and trying to get cover at the same time… We know it’s working in the background, giving us a green light when we’ve got a carer that’s saying yes.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Carers then confirm details with staff. Preventative AI is also used in the Cera app to help workers log clients’ symptoms and pick up issues such as urinary infections, and it has also helped the government roll out a predictive falls tool.<\/p>\n
Maruthappu believes the bigger risk is standing still.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The real question shouldn’t be whether we use AI \u2013 it should be how we use it to widen opportunity,\u00a0\u00bb he says.<\/p>\n
Cera is now licensing its recruitment agent to companies in other sectors, including dentistry.<\/p>\n
In March 2025, the government announced it would take a \u00ab\u00a0test and learn\u00a0\u00bb approach to funding AI in the public sector, to \u00ab\u00a0push innovation\u00a0\u00bb but has yet to develop a legal framework for its use in care.<\/p>\n
What do others think of the use of AI in recruiting care workers?<\/p>\n
Gavin Edwards, head of social care at trade union Unison, says technology can play a valuable role in freeing up staff time, allowing for better care.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0With major workforce shortages across the social care sector, help in increasing capacity and easing workload pressures is welcome,\u00a0\u00bb he says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But AI can’t wash or clean anyone, issue medication or carry out the many complex tasks care workers do.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Nor would it be wise to use it to make decisions about the care needed by each individual. Those are tasks for trained, skilled professionals.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0There are also important considerations for recruitment. Any use of AI must be transparent, fair, and fully compliant with equality and employment laws.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association says technology can help build capacity in care when used alongside human support but warns that care is \u00ab\u00a0fundamentally person-centred\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
It says AI must be co-designed with people who use care services and that \u00ab\u00a0a human in the loop\u00a0\u00bb should always oversee decisions, with strong safeguards in place.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health and Social Care has been asked to comment.<\/p>\n
Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just half an hour after she applied for a care job, Mollie Cole-Wilkin’s phone rang. Sitting at home, she answered it. But the voice on the line was not a human’s. She was speaking to \u00ab\u00a0Ami\u00a0\u00bb, an AI\u2011powered telephone interviewer developed by homecare company Cera. \u00ab\u00a0It didn’t sound like AI at all. My mum was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}