Hiring with Confidence: How to Assess Real Expertise in the Age of AI

AI is becoming an increasingly common topic of conversation in hiring, whether that's how candidates use it in applications, how organisations approach interview assessments, or how hiring managers can confidently identify genuine expertise. We explored these questions in a recent LinkedIn Live with Katie Thorn, VP International Sales & Marketing at Macmillan Learning, and Chantel Hayward, Founder & Director at Fox & Fable, who shared their perspectives on balancing innovation with effective hiring practices.

The hiring landscape has undoubtedly evolved. AI can help candidates refine applications and, as Chantel observed, "enhance the way that they position themselves". She also noted that "using AI is a skill in itself", particularly when candidates can demonstrate they are using it critically, ethically and with an understanding of data privacy. At the same time, AI can sometimes mask a candidate’s capabilities, making it harder to understand where their true strengths lie. This therefore places greater importance on HR and hiring managers to design selection processes that create opportunities for candidates to demonstrate their authentic capabilities rather than simply how effectively they use AI tools.

Ultimately, an effective selection process is about understanding people, their potential and how they'll contribute and add value in a given role.

What does keeping the hiring process human look like in practice?

It's not about avoiding AI or trying to outsmart it. It's about creating opportunities for candidates to demonstrate who they really are, how they think and their capabilities.

Katie highlighted one of the biggest "power shifts" in hiring processes: the CV over the cover letter. While applications still need to showcase experience and achievement, she suggested employers are increasingly looking for evidence of thoughtful engagement, strong prompting and distinctly human qualities. For Katie, the strongest applications combine brevity, gravitas and a personal story intertwined with the skills required for the role.

How to assess real capability:

The answer lies in creating opportunities for human interaction and observing capability in action throughout a hiring process. Some suggestions that came from the panel discussion included the following important points:

• Look beyond the application: collaboration, curiosity and cultural fit matter and are aspects best assessed and demonstrated through genuine human interaction.
• A human-centred hiring approach: Chantel explained that CVs assess skills match, while interviews reveal motivation, thinking and interest in the role. Ultimately, it's sometimes less about the answer itself and more about how candidates interpret questions, prioritise information, communicate and deliver their approach. 

• Recognise that interviews aren't natural environments: traditional interviews often reward confidence under pressure, which doesn't always correlate with capability. Katie suggested creating a welcoming experience through comfortable settings and informal conversation to put a candidate at ease, enabling them to show their true selves.
• Live assessments vs. take-home tasks: on-the-spot tasks in the right environment can give hiring managers greater insight into candidate's “raw thinking”, as Katie phrased it, as well as their problem-solving and communication style. A live task also alleviates the pressure candidates may feel when balancing take-home assessments alongside work and personal commitments. 
• Introduce candidates to a range of people: Katie highlighted the importance of candidates having the opportunity to meet different members of the team throughout the process, giving both sides a clear, holistic and unbiased sense of capability and the role.
• Prioritise fairness and inclusion: the panel highlighted organisations such as John Lewis, which shares interview questions with candidates in advance. This approach helps reduce anxiety, creates a more inclusive and equitable experience, and allows candidates the opportunity to prepare thoughtful, tailored responses. In turn, it enables interviewers to gain a more accurate understanding of a candidate’s skills, experience and potential.

All of the pointers above allow for valuable insight to be revealed around how candidates approach challenges, and supports them in showcasing their true selves. 

Importantly...

The conversation isn't about whether AI is a good or bad thing in hiring, it is about adapting our approach and creating selection and interview processes that give candidates the best possible opportunity to demonstrate their genuine strengths, thought processes and potential, rather than having these obscured by technology. As Chantel noted, the key challenge for employers remains understanding whether someone can think critically, solve problems and continue to learn - qualities that are often far more important than the tools they use.

The best hiring processes are those that give candidates the opportunity to shine, enabling managers to identify not only who can do the job, but who will contribute to the team and thrive within the wider organisation.

With huge thanks to our speakers, Chantel and Katie, for sharing their incredible insights and experience on this LinkedIn LIVE. To hear the full discussion, including the examples and practical tips e.g. on live interview tasks and hiring best practice shared by our panel, you can catch up with the recording on LinkedIn Live or watch it back on our YouTube channel. 

If you're reviewing your hiring process or navigating your next career move in publishing and looking to discuss more on this topic please do get in touch with any one of the team; we'd love to share what we're seeing across the market and explore with you how hiring can continue to evolve while keeping people at its heart.