Vetting in the Age of AI: What Principals Need to Know Before They Hire

Ben W: Hello there, podcast listeners. In today’s Morgan and Mallet episode, we are speaking with Eric.

Eric works in the New York office, and today’s topic is about using AI in recruitment and Eric’s role. It’s going to be a super interesting episode.

Whenever I have questions about AI and the ATS, I’m usually pinging Eric. So Eric, welcome to the Morgan and Mallet podcast.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us what you do here?

Eric: Sure, nice to be here. Thank you for having me.

My name is Eric. Right now, I’m the lead for the people and operations side of Morgan and Mallet.

I originally started as an HR assistant working in talent acquisition, and I still do some talent acquisition.

For my first year at the company, it was all about interviewing candidates, registering candidates, and making sure their application goes smoothly.

For the past six months or so, my role has shifted to the internal side.

I work on the database, make sure all the data is secure, implement AI within our system, and look ahead to make sure the experience of using our internal and external ATS works well for both our consultants and the candidates.

Every day I’m taking feedback from consultants and candidates, and based on that feedback, we create a roadmap of what we’re going to improve going forward.

Ben W: When I joined Morgan and Mallet, I was quite interested to hear about this ATS.

I think I’d been writing content for about a month or two when I discovered it.

I remember Laurine telling me it was custom-built because the standard solutions available at the time just weren’t working for luxury household staffing.

They tried a UK solution that didn’t work for the French market. They tried another software that didn’t have all the fields needed for a specific housekeeper profile.

In the end, they said, we’ll build our own.

According to Laurine and Morgan, it has been an absolute asset, especially as the company has grown and expanded into new jurisdictions.

Just before we go further, which do you prefer: working on the ATS or your previous role working with candidates and doing interviews?

Eric: I still speak to some candidates, and I’ll always enjoy doing interviews.

That’s something I’ve done for so long.

But I have to say I love the internal part too.

Working on the ATS is my most enjoyable part.

In my previous role at the company, I would give suggestions here and there, and that’s kind of how I got the ball rolling to move into this position.

Creating documents and identifying things we can improve has always kept me motivated.

Now I can actually make those improvements directly with the software engineer.

I’ll be dreaming about the ATS.

If an idea comes to me, I’ll go straight to my notes app and write it down so I can present it to our software engineer and we can get working on it right away.

From Google to Morgan & Mallet: how AI in recruitment has changed

Ben W: Before Morgan and Mallet, you were at Google. What were you doing there?

Eric: At Google, I was a software engineer intern recruiter.

I was working with bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD students for summer, winter, and sometimes spring internships.

At that time, about three or four years ago, AI wasn’t as prevalent as it is now.

We weren’t really using any AI in recruitment.

There was a team outside of Google that would pre-screen resumes in a way that AI does now, checking minimum qualifications.

But after that pre-screen, it was all manual.

I would look at the resume, see if there was a match, set up the interviews, and be their point of contact all the way through to their offer.

Ben W: And now, what strikes you most about how AI is being used in the process at Morgan and Mallet?

Eric: Right now, it’s very minimal.

We’re looking into ways to use it more, but the way I see AI in our ATS, or any use of it in the future, is more as a tool than a thinking device.

It cannot think for you.

I could look at minimum qualifications, but to really see if a candidate is a good fit, it would take a recruiter to look at the resume and make the final decision.

Beyond that, we’ll use AI to help us search for candidates faster and help candidates find roles faster by implementing it as a search tool.

We’ll also use it for formatting resumes.

But the best approach is for candidates to write the resume themselves and then use AI to help make it look more presentable.

We will never use AI to think as a consultant or to do the job for us.

We want to stay hands-on.

Ben W: Can you explain why you’d prefer to stay hands-on?

Eric: Because AI cannot think like a consultant does.

The consultant is the one who meets with clients, hears what they are looking for, and based on that conversation goes and finds a candidate.

Sometimes you have to read between the lines of a resume in a way that an AI tool may not be able to.

The biggest match is not necessarily the experience on paper.

There are minimum qualifications you need.

But to match a client with a candidate, the most important thing is personality.

A consultant needs to get a feel for the candidate’s personality before they can present them to the client.

AI, as of right now, I do not think it can do that the way a consultant can.

The signals that only humans can read

Ben W: I wanted to pick up on what you said about reading between the lines and getting a feeling.

Other recruiters have mentioned this too.

When we talk about the feeling, is it tone of voice, energy, enthusiasm, those kinds of signals? Is that what Morgan and Mallet wants to keep capturing through a human, because those are some of the strongest signals a recruiter can use?

Eric: Yes, exactly.

It’s really important to get to know the candidate.

Even if the resume does not look like a perfect match right off the bat, it’s still really good to meet with them and see how they present.

Are they professional? Do they have a personality that seems like it would mesh with the client?

That is the most important part of the process.

Even as AI gets stronger and stronger, which it probably will, to be a good recruiter you still need to be really hands-on with the whole process.

Ben W: I was just wondering whether AI will ever be able to pick up on those signals.

But either way, if I were a principal right now in 2026, I would prefer to have a human rather than just hand it off to a machine.

Can you give us some other examples of where M&M is using AI while keeping humans in charge?

AI tools being built into the M&M candidate experience

Eric: Sure.

AI isn’t just going to be implemented for consultants.

It’s also for candidates to use when they are doing an application with Morgan and Mallet.

This is something we’re hoping to implement very soon.

If you are a candidate and you don’t have a resume, or you feel like your resume isn’t up to the standard agencies are looking for, we want to implement an AI tool directly in the job application so that when you’re filling out your application, AI will assist you every step of the way to create a professional resume.

Through our website, it will already be Morgan and Mallet branded.

Another thing is when you’re using our ATS and you’re logged in, we want to implement a help bot that you can chat and interact with.

If you have any questions, the chatbot is there.

Ben W: Where would the chatbot get its knowledge from?

Eric: It will be built from us.

I’ve already completed an ATS walkthrough guide, and hopefully that will be a good starting point for the chatbot.

But the ATS is always evolving.

Every time there’s a change, we’ll need to update the help bot too.

That will come from the software engineer, myself, consultants, or anyone else who wants to contribute.

AI and the scrutiny of background checks and references

Ben W: A lot of principals worry that AI means less scrutiny, not more.

How is M&M using AI to strengthen background checks and reference verification rather than cutting corners?

Eric: It’s just a tool.

It is not going to be doing the work for us.

Background checks will still be done manually.

We’ll still need to look at the results and review everything ourselves.

Where AI can genuinely help is with reference checks.

Not by making the calls or sending the emails for us, but by helping us formulate the questions we should be asking references about a candidate’s work experience.

We do use AI, or recommend using it, to formulate a list of questions that are legally compliant and free from any discrimination issues, but that are also very useful for matching a candidate with a specific client.

For everything else, it will still be the consultants doing the work.

I do not think AI will ever replace them in that.

Ben W: Could you give me an example of a suggested question that AI might come up with for the recruiter to ask during a reference check?

Eric: Sure.

When a consultant speaks with the client, the client will go through the job and everything that’s necessary.

What a consultant can do is take that job description, take the notes from the client meeting, and ask AI to generate a list of questions based on that specific role.

So we’re asking the reference specific, job-related questions tailored to what the candidate needs to demonstrate for this particular client placement.

That makes sense to you?

Ben W: Yes, and I guess that also speeds up the process for the recruiter.

Eric: Yes, and it helps make sure they don’t forget to ask anything important, so they don’t have to go back to the reference a second time.

Every job description and every client is so different that there really does need to be a different set of questions for every single role.

Standardizing CVs and what it means for clients

Ben W: Going back to the CV formatting you mentioned, I was speaking with a recruiter last week and she was really frustrated.

Candidates are applying for six-figure salary roles and the CVs look like they’ve been put together for a fast food job.

She was genuinely bemoaning it.

The candidates will probably be happy to have help with that.

How close is that feature to being ready?

Eric: Very close.

I have a meeting with the software engineer in a couple of hours to try to finalize it.

I even had to write a ten-page document going step by step through the application process for candidates to get this right.

There are going to be two different ways for candidates to use it.

One is uploading an existing resume, so if you have a resume that’s not up to the standard we’d want to send to clients, you can upload it and the AI will take all the content and reformat it into a professional presentation.

The other option is for candidates who want to build a resume from scratch through Morgan and Mallet, with a step-by-step guided process.

Ben W: I can just imagine a client in the past receiving a pile of randomly formatted CVs from different agencies and having to compare them all.

If everything is standardized, it’s going to make the decision much faster.

Eric: That’s exactly the hope.

It’ll make it easier for the candidate to get a professional resume quickly.

It’ll make it easier for the consultant because they won’t have to edit every resume themselves.

And it’ll be easier for the client when they receive the applications, because they can go through them and look for exactly what they need without the formatting getting in the way.

Why AI will never replace the recruiter’s judgment on candidates

Ben W: What would you say to a principal who asks, why shouldn’t I just use a chatbot to find a nanny or a chef myself?

Eric: It’s a lot of what we’ve been talking about.

AI is just a tool.

It cannot think for you.

And if it is thinking for you, that’s not a good sign.

AI can help you set filters and find candidates, but you really need someone with recruitment experience who can speak to those candidates and get a genuine feel for them.

The more experience you have in recruiting, the better you are at reading people.

And the issue, for us and for other agencies, is that candidates can lie about their experience.

You need someone who can speak to the candidate, ask questions related to their experience, understand the industry, and know whether or not to believe what’s on the resume.

AI, unless it can speak to the candidate or truly read between the lines, is just going to take exactly what’s on the resume and use that to make its determination.

A consultant can actually verify the experience and assess whether someone is genuinely a good match.

Looking ahead: AI in UHNW hiring over the next two to three years

Ben W: Final question.

Looking ahead two or three years, do you see AI changing the way UHNW families hire private staff?

And what should principals be asking their agency now to stay ahead of this?

Eric: It will probably change a lot more than I can even imagine right now.

But the way I see it is that the best consultants will be able to handle a lot more requests at the same time because the AI tools being built are going to help with productivity.

Less manual work and less time editing resumes means more time doing the things that actually matter: speaking with candidates and speaking with clients.

Ben W: So the recruiter stays, they just become more productive.

Which is kind of what has happened throughout history when new technology comes.

Eric: Yes.

We’ll see exactly what happens.

But it should help with productivity and really take away a lot of the busy work people have to do right now.

With better AI tools, consultants will be able to handle a lot more workload.

Ben W: Less admin, more time with clients and candidates.

Eric: Exactly.

Speaking with candidates and speaking with clients, that’s what the consultants can focus more of their time on, rather than the things an AI tool can do in a few seconds.

Ben W: And what should principals be asking their agency about AI right now?

Eric: That’s a really good question to ask.

A lot of times clients do not know exactly what is happening behind the scenes.

If they want clarity on AI use, that’s always a good question to put to their consultant.

If I were a client, I would not want to hear that AI is doing all of the work for all of the consultants.

I would hope it’s just being used as a tool to help match candidates quicker, not to do all the thinking.

And then the next question naturally follows: if AI is doing all the work, what exactly is your consultant doing?

Asking about AI use is a good way to get ahead and help make a decision about which agency is right for you.

Final advice for candidates using AI to build a resume

Ben W: Is there anything I should have asked you that you think listeners should hear?

Eric: My one piece of advice for candidates, especially if you’re using AI to build or improve your resume, is always double-check everything.

AI can pull things from other resumes or sources and put them on your resume.

Make sure that everything on there is something you can actually speak to in an interview.

At Morgan and Mallet, we will ask you about your experience.

Even if you’re building a resume through our website, always review it to make sure it honestly reflects what you’ve done.

You do not want to be in an interview and not be able to speak to something on your own CV.

Ben W: That is so true.

I’ve seen AI hallucinations when writing content for the site.

It once told me Morgan and Mallet has an office in Barcelona.

Completely made up.

Eric: It’s taking from sources you don’t even know.

Ben W: Exactly. It’s madness.

So I think that’s everything.

Eric, thank you very much.

And for the listeners, if you want to hire somebody or you’re thinking about it, get in contact with Morgan and Mallet at householdstaff.agency.

Even if you’re just considering a role, or you want to know about salaries, fill out the form and one of our recruiters will be in contact.

And we are on Spotify, Apple iTunes, and YouTube.

Subscribe and you’ll be updated when we release new episodes.

Thank you very much for listening, and thank you, Eric, for joining us.

You’ve been a super guest.

Eric: Thank you so much for having me.

I hope the listeners enjoy this little look behind the scenes.

Morgan & Mallet is a leading global household staffing agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Geneva, Dubai, and South Africa.

The agency finds private chefs, butlers, nannies, housekeepers, estate managers, chauffeurs, and personal assistants for UHNW families and family offices worldwide.

All candidates carry a minimum of three to five years of verified private household experience.