How to futureproof your early careers hiring process, with EDF and Bright Network

On Friday 20th March, we hosted a live session with Hollie Moody, Early Careers Recruitment Business Partner at EDF, and Paul Porter, Platform Partnerships Director at Bright Network, to dig into one of the biggest challenges facing early careers TA teams right now:

How to screen at volume without sacrificing quality.

It was a brilliant conversation — packed with practical insights. Here are some of the key takeaways:

🔥 The old playbook is broken — and a vicious cycle is making it worse. Application volumes are rising, AI-polished responses are making candidates impossible to tell apart, and the media narrative is fuelling candidate panic — which drives even more mass applications. Over half of 50,000 graduates surveyed by Bright Network said they're using AI to apply to more jobs, and 55% said they're applying even when they don't intend to follow through.

🔥 EDF got targeted and cut 10,000 applications — while improving quality. By being more specific about role requirements in their advertising and optimising for SEO, EDF attracted fewer spray-and-pray applications and more genuinely interested candidates. They also cut their application window from two months to four weeks — and on some programmes had to close after just one week. 85% of applicants applied within 24 hours.

🔥 They pushed their sift cut-off from 50 to 90 — with no adverse impact. By moving to a behaviourally anchored assessment, EDF were able to raise the bar dramatically. Hiring managers were blown away by the quality of candidates coming through, and the team saw higher female diversity than ever before.

🔥 Their new assessment is AI-proof — and they tested it. When a team member used AI to complete the assessment, they scored worse than they had without it. A process that rewards authentic human responses, not polished AI output.

🔥 Paul challenged the room to rethink attrition. Historically, teams wanted low drop-off rates throughout the funnel. Now, the best teams are designing for positive friction — creating moments where motivated candidates lean in and uncommitted ones self-select out. High early attrition is a feature, not a bug.

🔥 Gen Z expect personalised, transparent processes. Bright Network shared that candidates are increasingly disengaged by opaque hiring processes, generic questions, and a lack of transparency about what the role actually involves. They want to showcase their real selves — and they want honesty in return.

If you'd like to rewatch any part of the session — or if you missed it and want to catch up — the full recording is available below 👇

What's coming next

On Wednesday 30th April, we're co-hosting a live event with Hung Lee (Recruiting Brainfood) to release brand new research on trust in hiring.

How much do TA teams trust their own process? How much do hiring managers? And how much do candidates trust each other?

The data is being shared publicly for the first time — and it's going to challenge a few assumptions.

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