You Talk, EMMY Searches - New Zealand And Australia’s First Voice-led Job Search Agent Launches

Auckland, New Zealand __Reruitment technology innovator Empathix has launched EMMY, the first voice-led job search agent in New Zealand and Australia. EMMY was designed to change how people discover jobs by replacing keyword searches and CV uploads with real conversation.

No more feeling ‘ghosted’

Founder and CEO of Empathix Olivia Dyet says the idea for EMMY came directly from conversations with candidates who felt exhausted by and disillusioned from traditional job search. “Candidates repeatedly told us they were spending hours searching multiple job boards then applying for roles and hearing nothing back. On top of being ‘Ghosted’, some felt like their experience could not be adequately captured by a traditional CV. EMMY was built to give people a way to be seen and heard.” It is also hard for recruiters not to ghost candidates when the volumes of people applying for a single job are often in the hundreds, if not thousands of candidates.

Launched in December 2025, EMMY enables candidates to simply talk about what they are looking for in their next role. There are no long, repetitive forms to fill out and no CVs required. EMMY listens, asks simple follow-up questions and searches thousands of jobs across more than 1,000 career sites every minute to surface suitable opportunities based on intent, preferences and fit rather than keywords alone.

Conversations that lead to hiring outcomes

In January 2026 alone, EMMY has had hundreds of conversations with candidates across various industries such as  technology, product, design and customer roles. Candidates who have chatted to EMMY describe the experience as radically different from job boards, highlighting how personal and human EMMY feels compared to scrolling through hundreds of listings and submitting applications into a void.

A brand new way of finding employment

Empathix was selected as one of ten companies from more than 1,000 applicants to take part in the Startmate Accelerator. Dyet says the recognition came at a critical moment for the employment sector where AI is advancing at break-neck speed but meaningful human connection is being lost along the way. 

“We’re at risk of optimising hiring for efficiency alone and forgetting that employment is deeply personal and highly emotive. AI should help people feel seen and supported, not invisible or filtered,” she believes. Dyet brings more than 15 years’ experience in HR, recruitment and employee experience design and has consistently combined human-centred practice with technology throughout her career, including working for the likes of adidas and The Warehouse Group.

How it works

EMMY starts with a conversation. Candidates simply tell EMMY what they are looking for, what matters most to them and what they want to achieve next in their careers. EMMY listens, asks clarifying questions and builds an understanding of the person behind the search. EMMY then surfaces opportunities based on intent, preferences and fit rather than just keywords or rigid criteria. Along the way, EMMY can also support candidates with career guidance and interview preparation, offering the kind of advice many people never get access to during a traditional job search. EMMY is trained on Olivia’s career experience to support people into jobs in a way that feels ironically more human, even though EMMY is an AI.

Connected to a wider network

EMMY is not a standalone product. She is deeply integrated into the Empathix platform, where recruiters post roles and access talent from across the market including LinkedIn, GitHub, X and Facebook, alongside candidates discovered through EMMY’s conversations where consent is given to become part of the Empathix talent pool.  Emmy talks to candidates and learns what they're looking for. She searches 1,000+ company careers sites  daily and shows them their strongest matches for the companies that work with the system directly through Empathix. When Emmy finds a strong fit with one of  them, she introduces the candidate - with their consent - to the recruiter on the other side. So Emmy isn't just searching; she's connecting.

“The goal is not to replace recruiters, but to create space for better human relationships on both sides of the hiring equation. EMMY  uses AI to reduce friction, but retain connection, and to help people access opportunities without being filtered out by algorithms that rely on key words,” explains Dyet.

Looking ahead, Dyet believes the future of hiring will be defined by how thoughtfully AI is applied. Rather than cold, automated systems that strip away nuance, she is championing a shift toward tools that support trust, understanding and conversation. 

“There's a big difference between AI that filters people out and AI that helps them in. Emmy is built to do the second,,” she concludes. 

EMMY is free and publicly available to use. Anyone looking for a job or thinking about their next move can talk to EMMY at https://www.empathix.xyz/emmy

About Empathix

 Empathix is a New Zealand AI company changing how people find work, founded by Olivia Dyet, who brings more than 15 years' experience in HR, recruitment and employee experience design. Its AI agent Emmy helps candidates find work through conversation instead of applications, and connects employers to matched talent through the Empathix platform. Empathix was selected from more than 1,000 applicants for the 2023 Startmate Accelerator. Emmy is free to use at empathix.xyz/emmy.

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