swipejobs CEO Speaks at WEF Davos
January 20, 2026Posted by:
swipejobs CEO and Founder Katrina Leslie will be speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, sharing her perspective on how the hiring system is changing, how AI is shaping the way people find work, and what a fairer and more effective approach to hiring could look like.
Katrina will be interviewed on Friday 23 January by Olivia Kinghorst.
The focus of the discussion is simple: hiring is under strain across the global economy, and the current model is underperforming for employers and jobseekers alike. Employers are seeing higher application volumes, longer time-to-hire and more mismatch between roles and candidates. Jobseekers are facing longer processes, less visibility of how decisions are made, and automated screening that can prevent strong matches from ever being seen.
AI is now accelerating this shift. In some systems, it is being used to automate filtering and rejection at scale, which can increase friction and reduce trust. Katrina’s view is that AI should be used differently, with better matching and wider access as the goal.
As Katrina puts it: “AI shouldn’t be used as an automated way to reject people & lock them out of jobs when we know there is error in these models, AI should be used as a magnet to pull people in and make it easier for them to match to jobs.”
This idea sits behind swipejobs’ consumer-first approach. Rather than relying on a search-apply-wait process, swipejobs is designed to match verified job opportunities directly to individuals based on skills, availability and practical fit, with the aim of reducing noise for employers and making access to work clearer for jobseekers.
The conversation at World Economic Forum Davos comes at a time when labour markets are being shaped not only by economic pressures, but by the technology choices organisations make. If AI is going to play a bigger role in hiring, the question is whether it will scale exclusion and complexity, or help rebuild confidence by making hiring simpler, more transparent and more effective.
Read more about the WEF here
swipejobs is PeoplePlus' parent company
January 20, 2026Posted by:
