On a scale of one to ten, how confident are you in your hiring? If you paused, you’re in good company. That question shaped two sessions I shared at HFTP’s Annual Convention, where a room of leaders kept asking where AI should stop.

AI is excellent at the work eating your calendar: screening resumes, scheduling, reminders, follow up, note taking, and first drafts of job postings. That logistics layer is where good candidates quietly drop out, so hand it over. The rule the room wrote down was simple: use AI for logistics, never for judgment. And if AI sits in on an interview, tell the candidate. 63% of job seekers have faced an AI led interview, and 70% of them were never told.

The stakes are real. In hospitality, roughly two thirds of the workforce turns over every year, and each departure costs around $5,900. Skills tell you whether someone can do the job. Energy tells you whether they’ll thrive in it, and whether the people around them will too. Jack Welch put positive energy at the top of his hiring list decades ago. Today the Energy Leadership Index™ assessment lets us measure it instead of guessing.

Then build two or three questions from your own company’s values. Watch where they speed up, lean in, and get specific without being asked. That’s the energy you’re hiring.

In the first few weeks, ask what has energized them and what has drained them, then build their first 90 days around it. In one-on-ones, ask, “What’s giving you energy right now, and what’s taking it?” At pre-shift, try, “What drained us yesterday, and what are we fixing today?” Ninety seconds, and you’ll hear turnover risk weeks before it becomes a resignation.

Let AI take the logistics, spend the hours it hands back finding out what energizes your people, and watch your confidence climb. Pick one place to start this week: one values-based question, one energy check at pre-shift, or one conversation with the person ready for a bigger seat. Where are you using it first?