AI in Hiring: The Human Case

AI may have changed what a job application looks like. It hasn’t changed what a good hire looks like. 

We’re seeing it every day. Candidates are using AI tools to tailor their CVs, rewrite their cover letters, and frame their experience against the exact language in a position description. The applications that come through from direct advertising are full of five-star-looking high achievers who, when a recruiter picks up the phone, turn out to be something else entirely. 

One candidate I spoke with recently had applied for close to 40 roles in a month. That’s desperation, not targeted job searching. There’s a name for it now: ‘doom jobbing’. Keep clicking ‘Easy Apply’ and hope something sticks. 

This becomes a volume problem for organisations running their own recruitment processes. They post a role, they get 150 to 200 applications, and they spend weeks sorting through them. Their internal TA team, which may be one or two people, is doing top-of-funnel screening that takes more time than they budgeted for, only to find that many of the most polished-looking applicants don’t have the experience they claimed. 

There’s a quality problem too. Astoundingly, only 15% of hiring leaders report feeling fully confident in their decisions at the point of hire, according to a 2024 survey of HR and talent professionals across Australia, the UK, and the US (SmartRecruiters, 2024). 

This is the environment we’re working in. And it is exactly why the value of specialist recruitment has increased, not decreased. 

We use AI. We don’t let it do the hiring. 

At The Next Step, we use AI to create efficiencies in the parts of our work where it makes sense: research, documentation, transcribing, market mapping, drafting. It saves our consultants time that goes back into relationships — with clients who need a trusted partner, and candidates who deserve honest conversations and support. 

Our screening and interview process is 100% human-led. Every candidate on a shortlist we present has been spoken to by a consultant who knows the brief, knows the business, and has a view on fit that goes beyond keywords. 

Lisa Hammond, who leads senior HR searches for our Victorian team, recently filled two executive-level roles in a quarter without advertising on Seek. Both placements came from her network. Everyone on her long list was someone she already knew; their track record, their working style, the kind of organisations where they do their best work. 

"It is who you know and who is going to be the right fit for that business and that leader. We already know.

Save yourself the headache of dealing with hundreds of applications from people who are just carpet-bombing the market." 
— Lisa Hammond, The Next Step 

This is the product of 20 years of relationships, built one conversation at a time. 

What organisations can do differently at the top of the funnel 

If you’re running your own recruitment process, the single biggest shift you can make is to assess for the right things early. Hard-skills assessments can be gamed; anyone motivated enough can use an agent to pass a test. Soft skills are harder to fake. 

Screen for learning mindset. For how a person navigates ambiguity. For whether they’re genuinely curious about your organisation or just spraying applications. 

How talent managers can hone their process 

Beyond what you assess, think about how you assess it. 

Start with a real conversation earlier in the process. A 15-minute exploratory call will tell you more than a perfectly written CV. Ask candidates to talk through their experience without prompts. Get them to explain decisions they’ve made, trade-offs they’ve navigated, and what they would do differently. Depth of thinking shows up quickly when they can’t rely on pre-written answers. 

Build in live problem-solving. Instead of sending take-home tasks that can easily be outsourced or assisted, present a scenario in real time. It doesn’t have to be complex, what matters is how they think, how they ask questions and how they structure their response under a bit of pressure. 

Test authenticity by picking one or two key claims from their CV and go deep:

• “Talk me through exactly how you led that project.” 
• “What went wrong?” 
• “How did you measure success?” 
  

Candidates who have truly done the work will provide the detail; those who haven’t will stay high-level. 

And finally, tighten your entry criteria. Not every applicant deserves equal time. Be clear on the non-negotiables and use them to filter quickly. Beware the volume trap: the more applications you feel obliged to review, the less time you spend assessing the quality ones. 

The organisations that win in this market are not the ones with the best job ads or the slickest process. They’re the ones that can create early, human moments of truth in their hiring, because real capability, intent and fit shouldn't be able to hide behind a polished application.