The AI dilemma:
Keeping the human touch in hiring
About this webinar
Applications are up. In some firms, they’ve doubled in three years. And most of them now look polished, tailored, and hard to tell apart. Which makes screening harder, not easier. The old ways of sorting them weren’t built for this.
In this 45-minute session, Bright Apply CEO Kirsten Barnes is joined by Tom Wicksteed, Head of Talent at Mishcon de Reya, who has run an AI pilot on the firm’s graduate recruitment; Matthew Jeffery, former Head of Recruitment at EY; Olivia Sanchez, Product Director at Bright Apply; and Sophia Lieuw-Kie-Song, a candidate who came through the Mishcon process and now has a training contract.
The conversation covers what the Mishcon pilot taught the team, what candidates think about AI-led screening from the other side of the process, the four safeguards the ICO expects for any organisation embedding AI in hiring, and the one piece of advice the panel would give any TA leader planning the coming season.
WHAT’S IN THE SESSION
00:00
Setting the scene
Why 70% of employers now report a sharp rise in Al-assisted applications – and what that’s doing to the shortlist.
06:11
Inside the Mishcon pilot
Tom Wicksteed on running an Al pilot for volume graduate recruitment. What worked, what didn’t, and what he’d do differently.
20:26
The candidate’s view
Sophia Lieuw-Kie-Song, who came through the Mishcon process, on what a good hiring experience actually feels like from the other side.
34:37
The four ICO safeguards
What the regulator expects when embedding Al in screening – transparency, human review, contestability, clarity of reasoning.
44:11
One piece of advice
Matthew Jeffery and Tom on what they’d tell any TA leader planning next year – and why it’s not what most vendors will say.
SHARE THIS SESSION
READ MORE
The application used to tell you something
Why Al has changed what an application actually signals – and what to do about it.
The panel
Moderator
Kirsten Barnes
Chief Executive Officer at Bright Apply
Kirsten leads Bright Apply with 15+ years at the intersection of careers and technology, and a conviction that done right, it can make hiring better for recruiters and candidates alike.
Speaker
Matthew Jeffery
Global Talent Acquisition Leader
One of the most respected voices in global talent acquisition, Matthew has spent decades at the forefront of how organisations find and keep the best people. He brings a frank, industry-wide perspective on what AI is really doing to hiring.
Speaker
Tom Wicksteed
Head of Talent at Mishcon de Reya
Tom leads talent at one of the UK’s most prominent law firms, where he’s navigating the challenge first-hand: how do you maintain hiring standards when the volume of applications has fundamentally changed? He’ll share what’s working, what isn’t, and what he’d do differently.
Speaker
Olivia Sanchez
Product Director at Bright Apply
Olivia leads Product at Bright Apply, working out what’s worth building, how it’ll create value for our customers, and making sure it gets built properly. She has ten years across financial services, technology, and AI products, and is experienced in bringing products to life.
Candidate speaker
Sophia Lieuw-Kie-Song
Sophia is a Law graduate from Durham University who is currently completing a Masters in Law and Technology at King’s College London. She’s been applying for roles this year and was successful in securing a training contract with Law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP
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Screen better. Screen faster. Screen fairly.
If your team is receiving more applications than it has time to review properly, that’s the problem Bright Apply was built to solve.
Bright Apply is a conversational AI screening tool for talent acquisition teams running volume hiring. Built on over 15 years of hiring insight by Bright Network.
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