Job seekers have discovered that Olive Garden requires an personality quiz that has AI characters acting out hypothetical scenarios as part of its hiring process.
Olive Garden is just one of a handful of restaurant chains that relies on the tests, provided by conversational recruiting software Paradox.ai. The quizzes have been discussed online before, but a recent TikTok video has reignited the conversation.
Last month, a TikTok user named Jackson Haws shared a video of the assessment he had to fill out while applying for a server job at the restaurant chain. Haws’s clip showed his computer screen displaying AI-generated characters — all of whom had light blue skin and neon navy hair — standing in a lunch room.
After showing one character with multiple pizza slices on her plate and her colleague walking towards the empty box without lunch, Haws had to reveal whether or not he identified with the pizza hog.
“For who? For what? What kind of dog s*** test is this?” he said. “Hey, guys, step it up. This is not science.”
However, some of the prompts got more confusing, with one showing an AI character looking at a painting and another asking if he wore costumes. “I’m trying to serve tables,” he said. “I’m trying to bring food to people’s tables.”
“This is crazy, how much they’re asking me,” he added, while indicating on his computer screen that he was only at the beginning of the long quiz. “Like, are any of these weighted at all? Are there ones where I could say something wrong to? I don’t get it.”
Social media users have criticized the quiz in the comments of the video, which has more than 900,000 views.
“It’s degrading honestly wtf,” one wrote, while another added: “Holy F*** the job market is shit. This is insane.”
“This looks like a test the sims would take to get matched to a career,” a third wrote while a fourth joked: “I feel like the test here is whether you’re willing to do the dumbest tasks on planet earth for a check, which actually is a requirement for working at Olive Garden.”
Haws shared a statement with The Independent, saying: “I finished the assessment, it told me I was a ‘strong leader’ and a week later I received an email of declination. There was never an interview or further interaction. The experience felt disrespectful and dehumanizing.”
The Independent has contacted Olive Garden for comment.
This isn’t the first time the AI quizzes have gained attention online. In 2024, a TikTok user named Katrina said she took the test while applying for a job at Olive Garden. Her video showed the same blue AI-generated character also standing in front of a painting.
“This one is particularly confusing. Is there a correct answer?” Katrina said in her video. “Were they not going to hire me if I said that I don’t understand paintings?”
Olive Garden isn’t the only company that has relied on these personality tests. In 2024, 404 Media reported that McDonald’s and FedEx were using the same evaluations.
At the time, social media users went to a viral, archived Reddit post to question and mock the viral tests, with one writing: “I don’t get what the goal is here. Are they trying to profile you without asking for a photo, video, or something? Are they trying to ask what your skills are? Whatever it is, it seems super sketchy to me.”
“Holy smokes. I’d probably pass on that place if I were subjected to something like that,” another added.