Curious Thing AI Phone Interview: What to Expect (2026)

You got an email inviting you to call a phone number, enter a PIN, and talk to an AI interviewer. If that feels strange, you are not alone — a lot of people describe this as their first interview with a robot. This guide walks through exactly how the Curious Thing phone interview runs so you know what is coming.

The Curious Thing AI interview is an automated voice screening delivered over a normal phone call. You are invited by email, you dial a toll-free number, enter a unique PIN, and an AI interviewer asks you a set of questions the employer picked. Most calls run 5 to 20 minutes, there is no camera, and you get one attempt.

A quick note on the company. Curious Thing is a Sydney, Australia voice-AI firm founded in 2018, and it was acquired by MaxContact in May 2025. Its recruitment product was widely used for high-volume and early-career hiring, so if you were invited to one, this is what to expect.

The flow is unusual because you place the call yourself. Here is the sequence.

1. You get an invite by email, and sometimes an SMS as well. It includes a toll-free number and a unique PIN.
2. You call the number when you are ready. Interviews are self-serve — you can do it any time of day between the open date and the deadline the employer sets.
3. When prompted, enter your PIN followed by the # key.
4. You are connected to an AI receptionist, then handed to the AI interviewer.
5. Before the real interview, the AI runs a short practice round with throwaway questions like "What is your favourite colour?" This test run is not recorded and does not count. It is there to check your audio and let you settle in.
6. When you are ready, you press 1 to begin the official interview. If you would rather not start yet, you can hang up and call back later.
7. The AI asks its questions one at a time. At the end it thanks you and ends the call. A confirmation email follows, though it can be delayed.

Two things worth knowing up front. You get only one interview attempt, so pick a time when you will not feel rushed. And the deadline is fixed by the employer — Curious Thing cannot extend it, so if you need more time you have to ask the company that invited you.

The employer chooses the questions, so the exact mix varies. In general you can expect three kinds:

• Screening or knockout questions, such as your location or whether you hold a driver's licence.
• Behavioural questions, such as how you deal with criticism at work.
• Motivation and situational questions, such as where you see yourself in five years.

Plan to answer each question in about two minutes or less. A pause of more than a few seconds tells the AI you are done and it moves on. You can also say "I have finished my answer" to advance, or "Please repeat the question" to hear it again.

On scoring, the vendor says the AI evaluates what you say, not how you say it. It states it does not analyse your tone of voice or accent, framing this as blind interviewing to reduce bias. The automated outputs include a communication score, a motivation score, and an English-competency score, and the platform is pitched as measuring soft skills like adaptability and resilience.

One honest caveat from independent testing. In a widely reported MIT Technology Review test, the tool gave a real candidate 8.5 out of 9 for English competency on a genuine attempt — but when the same reporter read a German Wikipedia article aloud instead of answering in English, it still returned 6 out of 9. In plain terms, automated voice scoring is imperfect. That is not a reason to game it, but it is a reason not to panic if the format feels rough around the edges.

Your results — scores plus a recording of the real interview, not the practice run — go straight to the hiring company. That employer, not Curious Thing, decides the outcome and follows up with you.

Because there is no screen or camera, preparation is different from a video assessment. A few vendor-specific pointers, followed by general advice.

From the vendor's own guidance:

• Find a quiet space. Background noise can interfere with the AI hearing you.
• Speak loudly and clearly.
• Do not use headphones or AirPods, which may stop the AI picking up your voice cleanly.
• Use a phone with a stable connection and enough battery for a call of up to 30 minutes. No app or webcam is needed.

General interview-prep advice that applies here:

• Budget a full 30-minute block even though the call itself may be shorter, so you are not rushed.
• Have a glass of water nearby and take the practice round seriously as a warm-up.
• For behavioural questions, a simple structure helps. Naming the situation, what you did, and the result keeps a spoken answer focused.
• Since you cannot see a progress bar, listen for cues and use the "please repeat the question" option rather than guessing.

That is the whole experience. It is a phone call, it is short, and the biggest adjustment is talking to a voice with no face on the other end.

Curious Thing AI phone interview — what to expect?

Expect a short automated phone call where you dial in, enter a PIN, and answer questions from an AI interviewer. Most run 5 to 20 minutes with no camera. There is a brief unscored practice round first, then the real questions the employer selected.

I got an email to call an AI interviewer with a PIN — is this legit?

Yes, this matches how the Curious Thing platform works. The real product invites you by email, gives you a toll-free number and a unique PIN, and connects you to an AI interviewer. If anything in your invite looks off, confirm directly with the employer who invited you.

How long is a Curious Thing interview and how many questions?

Interviews take 5 to 20 minutes depending on how many questions the employer sets and how long your answers run. The vendor recommends setting aside a 30-minute block so you are not rushed. The exact number of questions varies by employer.

Can I retake or redo my Curious Thing AI interview?

No. You get only one interview attempt, so choose a time when you can focus. The short practice round at the start does not count and is not recorded, but once you press 1 to begin the official interview, that is your attempt.

Do I need headphones or an app for the Curious Thing interview?

No app is needed and headphones are discouraged. It is a plain phone call to a toll-free number, and the vendor advises against headphones or AirPods because they may stop the AI hearing you clearly. Use a quiet room and a phone with a stable connection.

Want the employer-side view of how Curious Thing compares to other AI screening platforms, including our top-rated pick Tenzo AI? See our guide to the best AI recruiting software for 2026.