Candidates are gaming the hiring process. And honestly? Good.

In this episode I sit down with Charlotte Melkert, CEO of Equalture, a game-based hiring intelligence platform out of the Netherlands, to unpack something SHRM just put a name to: skill phishing.

Skill phishing is the act of presenting credentials and capabilities that never translate into real execution. We’ve always experienced it. AI just made it impossible to ignore — and that’s exactly why it’s an opportunity, not a crisis.

Charlotte and I go deep on why candidates polishing their CVs with AI isn’t the problem. The problem is that we’ve been using the wrong tools to evaluate talent for decades, and we just got caught.

We also dig into frontline hiring — an area where job openings keep climbing but application rates are dropping. There’s a reason for that, and it has everything to do with a broken process that was designed to filter people out, not bring the right people in.

This one is for TA leaders, CHROs, and HR practitioners who are tired of defending a process they know isn’t working.

What we cover:

• Why skill phishing is exposing tools we should have retired years ago
• The difference between a job description and a job advertisement (and why it matters)
• The AI literacy paradox: we want it, then penalize candidates who show it
• How HR must lead AI adoption — or step out of the way
• The frontline hiring crisis hiding in plain sight
• How top frontline employers are achieving 4.5-star candidate experience AND 30-45% less early attrition
• Charlotte’s 3 rules for choosing and using a skills assessment
• Internal mobility: flipping the model so the assessment finds the job, not the other way around

Connect with Charlotte:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-melkert-07987b81/
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equalture/about/

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0:00 – Is This Assessment Ruining Your Hiring?
0:32 – Welcome to The Human Capitalist
1:04 – Meet Charlotte: CEO of e-culture (Game-Based Hiring)
2:20 – What Is “Skill Phishing”? The New SHRM Term Explained
3:52 – Why AI Exposing Bad Hiring Tools Is Actually Great News
5:28 – Job Ads vs. Job Descriptions: We’re Doing It Wrong
6:32 – The AI Literacy Paradox: We Penalize What We Need
7:14 – Why Gen Z Is Forcing a Skills Assessment Revolution
9:55 – Meet Your New Coworker: AI (WEF Report Breakdown)
11:53 – HR’s Mandate: Lead AI Adoption or Step Aside
12:20 – Frontline Hiring Is Broken. Here’s the Proof.
14:47 – The Quality vs. Speed Trap (It’s Not Binary)
16:46 – What Good Frontline Hiring Actually Looks Like (Client Data)
19:17 – The Ideal Frontline Hiring Process Step by Step
21:19 – The Results: 4.5 Stars, 7-10x Faster, 30-45% Less Attrition
23:18 – How to Pick the Right Assessment (Charlotte’s 3 Rules)
24:30 – Soft Skills Are Just as Critical for Frontline Roles (DHL Example)
25:45 – Stop Putting Your Own Bias Into the Scoring Model
27:45 – Trent’s Framework: The Three-Legged Stool
29:31 – How to Remove Manager Bias Completely
30:50 – Your Frontline Workers Are Your Future Leadership Pipeline
32:09 – Can You Point Assessments Inward? Internal Mobility Deep Dive
35:07 – How to Use Assessment Results to Supercharge Interviews
37:27 – The 80% of Assessment Value Nobody Is Using
39:42 – Two Ways Top Companies Use Assessments for Internal Mobility
42:20 – Flip the Model: Match People to Roles They Don’t Know Exist
45:28 – Where to Find Charlotte + Wrap Up

CHAPTERS

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