The Recruiting Brainfood Podcast

GEO, What Do We know?   Candidates are no longer just typing "marketing jobs in Manchester" into Google. They're asking ChatGPT "what's it really like to work at Company X?", prompting Claude to compare benefits packages, and letting AI agents shortlist employers on their behalf. Welcome to the world of Generative Engine Optimisation - where the goal is no longer to rank on page one of search results, but to be cited, quoted and recommended by the AI answer engines that job seekers increasingly trust. The rules of visibility are being rewritten in real time, and most talent acquisition teams haven't e...

How to Use Claude for TA (Talent Acquisition)   Every week there's a new AI tool promising to revolutionise recruitment — but amidst the noise, a handful of platforms have genuinely earned a permanent place in the TA toolkit, and Claude is one of them. More than a chatbot, Claude has become a genuine thinking partner for recruiters: drafting outreach that actually gets replies, structuring interview loops, analysing hiring data, prepping hiring managers, and pressure-testing your EVP. But knowing Claude exists and knowing how to wield it are two very different things. In this episode of Brainfood Live on Air, Hung Lee and...

The Next Generation of Background Screening: Identity, Behaviour & Personalisation with Ben Mones, CEO of FAMA   The background check hasn't changed much in decades. A criminal record search, a reference call, maybe a credit check - and yet the risks employers actually face have moved somewhere else entirely. Workplace harassment, threats, intolerance and misconduct now leave observable traces online, long before they ever show up in a court record. At the same time, AI has made it trivially easy to fabricate an identity - a polished CV, a deepfake video interview, a candidate who exists only in the aggregate of a l...

New Series: How AI Is Changing the Job — Software Engineering   Software engineering was supposed to be one of the first professions AI would disrupt — and yet here we are, with demand for engineers still climbing, job descriptions changing faster than ever, and hiring managers struggling to define what a "good developer" even looks like in 2026. AI hasn't eliminated the role; it's transformed it. The craft of writing code has shifted towards reviewing it, architecting systems, prompting agents and judging output. So what does that mean for how we hire software engineers? In this episode of Brainfood Live on Air — the first i...

Sourcing: Dead or Alive? Reviewing SOSU 2026 — Past, Present and Future of Sourcing   It's the question that refuses to go away: with AI now able to find, engage and even screen candidates at scale, is sourcing still a profession — or just a feature of your ATS?   Every year, the Sourcing Summit (SOSU) brings together the sharpest minds in the field to interrogate exactly that. In this special episode of Brainfood Live on Air, Hung Lee and our panel take stock of SOSU 2026, reflecting on how far sourcing has come, where it stands today, and whether the role as we know it surviv...

HOW TO ASSESS FOR HUMAN JUDGEMENT   As AI takes over more of the heavy lifting in recruitment — screening CVs, drafting interview questions, even conducting first-round interviews — the skills we hire for are shifting. Technical proficiency can increasingly be automated, augmented or verified by machines. What's becoming harder to replace, and harder to find, is human judgement: the ability to weigh imperfect information, read the room, make a call under uncertainty, and be accountable for the outcome. But if judgement is the thing we need most, how on earth do we assess for it? In this episode of Brainfood Live on Air...

Employer Branding in the Era of AI Generated Career Sites - Who Owns the Story?   The career site is the front door to your employer brand — and until recently, building or even tweaking it meant months of agency briefs, dev tickets, and design sign-offs. Not anymore. A new wave of AI-powered platforms now lets recruiters and TA teams build entire career sites simply by typing what they want in plain language. "Create a landing page for our engineering roles in Berlin, add employee testimonials, and hook it up to our ATS" — and it just happens. In this episode of Brainfood Live...

Vibe Coding TA Tools - How Viable Is This Really?   The promise is intoxicating: describe the recruiting tool you want in plain English, and AI writes the code for you. No engineering team. No six-month procurement cycle. No budget request that dies in finance. Just you, a prompt, and a working prototype by lunchtime.   "Vibe coding" - building software through conversational AI rather than traditional programming - has already spawned a generation of side projects, internal dashboards, and "I can't believe this actually works" automations.   But before every recruiter starts spinning up their own ATS plug-in or candidate scoring app, we...

How to Assess Skillful Use of AI   The way we assess engineering talent is undergoing a fundamental shift.   With AI now capable of generating functional code in seconds, the old evaluation playbook - whiteboard algorithms, take-home tests, "does it compile?"- is looking increasingly obsolete. The real question for hiring teams isn't whether a candidate can write syntax; it's whether they can exercise judgment, orchestrate multiple AI agents, and ship production-quality systems in a world where code generation is commoditised.   G2i has been on the front lines of this shift, spending the last two years embedded inside frontier AI lab...

The Future of Hiring, with Matt Wilson, CEO of Jack & Jill   Matt Wilson, CEO of Jack & Jill, joins Hung Lee live to discuss what happens when AI makes applying almost effortless, application volumes explode, and the traditional signals recruiters rely on start to disappear.   Key Themes We'll Cover:   The End of the Application? - What happens when applying becomes effectively free, and why more applications plus better filters may not be the answer   An Agent for Every Candidate - What changes when people have an agent that understands their experience, ambitions, salary expectations and what they actually want next   What Recru...

Disconnected AI vs. Multi-Agent Ecosystems: Building a TA Tech Stack in the Agentic AI Era   For the past few years, talent acquisition teams have been bolting AI tools onto their existing tech stacks - an AI scheduler here, a chatbot there, a CV parser with some machine learning sprinkled on top. It's worked, sort of!   But we're now entering the agentic AI era, where autonomous AI agents don't just assist with tasks; they execute entire workflows, hand off work to other agents, and make decisions that ripple across your entire hiring process.   The question is no longer "Which AI tool sho...

EU AI Act is Now in Force! What Recruiters Need To Do Now   The EU AI Act is no longer a future concern - it's live, enforceable, and already reshaping how organisations can use artificial intelligence in hiring. For recruiters and talent acquisition teams, this isn't just a compliance headache for the legal department. If your tech stack includes AI-powered sourcing, CV screening, video interviewing, or candidate assessment tools, the Act directly affects you. The stakes are high: non-compliance can trigger fines of up to 7% of global annual turnover, and the rules apply to any employer hiring within the EU, r...

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN VLASTELICA   Few people have done more to shape the modern Talent Advisor than John Vlastelica. From leading recruiting at Amazon and Expedia to founding Recruiting Toolbox, John has spent the past two decades helping hundreds of organisations transform Talent Acquisition from a transactional function into a strategic business partner. His ideas around recruiter capability, hiring manager excellence, quality of hire and organisational influence have become essential reading for TA leaders around the world. In this special conversation, we'll sit down with John to explore how the recruiter role is evolving once again in the age of A...

From Talent Acquisition to Organisational Performance   For years, Talent Acquisition has been measured by hiring metrics: time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source-of-hire and offer acceptance rates. While these remain important, they only tell part of the story. The real question is not whether we filled the vacancy quickly, but whether hiring decisions improve business performance. As organisations become more data-driven and AI makes recruitment increasingly efficient, Talent Acquisition has an opportunity to redefine its value—not as a function that fills jobs, but as one that directly influences productivity, innovation, growth and competitive advantage. In this webinar, we'll explore how TA leaders can shi...

NATIONAL INTERVIEW WEEK - HELPING 100,000 YOUNG PEOPLE INTO THE WORKFORCE   National Interview Week is a nationwide movement designed to equip young people from state-educated schools with the confidence, skills, and professional exposure they need to succeed in interviews and access meaningful career opportunities.   Over the next five years, we aim to support 100,000 students through structured interview training, industry-specific preparation, and direct engagement with professional volunteers from leading organisations. This initiative addresses a critical gap: many talented young people lack access to professional networks, tailored interview preparation, and industry insight. National Interview Week exists to change that.   We are getting together wit...

MEET EMA - YOUR AI EMPLOYEE FOR HR, IT & FINANCE (LIVE DEMO)   We're back with another founder chat and live demo, this time with Surojit Chatterjee, CEO of Ema. Former CPO of Coinbase and Senior Exec at Google and Flipkart, Surojit is a vastly experienced tech executive. I'm delighted to be share some time with him to learn about his vision and why the future of human-AI collaboration is going to look lot like Ema.   Live demo folks so make sure you register   We're on Tues 18th August at 6pm BST / 10am PST. Register by clicking on the green button (sav...

The State of AI Readiness: A Framework to Gauge Your Organisation's AI Readiness   Every organisation says it's embracing AI - but very few can answer a simple question: how AI-ready are we, really?   While new tools continue to appear at breakneck speed, successful AI adoption depends on much more than buying software. It requires the right leadership, governance, skills, culture, data, processes and appetite for change. In this webinar, we'll introduce a practical framework for assessing AI readiness across your organisation, helping talent leaders understand where they are today, what gaps need closing, and what it will take to move fr...

The Employer Branding Reckoning: Authenticity vs Automation   Employer branding has entered a new era. AI can now write careers content, personalise candidate outreach, generate videos, and automate engagement at a scale that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. At the same time, candidates have never been better at spotting generic messaging, over-produced content, or a culture that doesn't match reality. So where should employers draw the line? In this session, we'll explore how organisations can embrace AI without losing the authenticity that attracts - and retains - the right talent.   Key Themes We'll Cover: The New Employer Br...

Essential Guide for Increasing Talent Density   In an era of relentless cost optimisation, organisations face a pivotal choice: maintain headcount breadth or concentrate excellence. Talent density—the concentration of exceptional performers within a team, function, or entire company—has emerged as the decisive competitive advantage for high-performing organisations. This is not merely about hiring stars; it is about architecting environments where elite talent multiplies collective output, accelerates innovation velocity, and repels mediocrity through sheer gravitational pull. As remote work dissolves geographic constraints and AI democratises baseline competence, the organisations that win will be those that deliberately engineer density rather than accum...

CALCULATING EMPLOYEE LIFETIME VALUE   For decades, talent acquisition has been measured by speed and cost—time-to-fill and cost-per-hire dominated the conversation while the true economic impact of every hire remained frustratingly opaque. Yet as workforce strategy matures into a board-level priority, a critical shift is underway: organisations are finally beginning to quantify what an employee is actually worth over their entire tenure. Employee Lifetime Value (ELTV) represents the holy grail of people analytics—a single metric that captures productivity, revenue generation, retention savings, and cultural contribution from day one to departure. This webinar demystifies the calculation, exposes why most organisations get i...

The Death of the Junior Recruiter: Where Is the Next Generation Coming From?   Since 2022, the talent acquisition landscape has undergone a seismic shift. Once a thriving entry point for ambitious professionals, the function has been systematically truncated as economic pressures mount, headcount budgets shrink, and AI tools increasingly optimise workflows that once demanded human intuition. Companies have all but ceased hiring early-careers recruiters, creating a dangerous vacuum at the foundation of the profession. This webinar confronts an uncomfortable truth: we are witnessing the extinction of the junior recruiter role, and with it, the pipeline that has sustained the industry for d...

Fixing Hiring Manager vs Recruiter MIS-Alignment

The Recfest Recap 2026   We’re unpacking the absolute best moments, groundbreaking strategies, and actionable takeaways from RecFest 2026. Whether you were dodging the summer sun at Knebworth Park or couldn't make it across the pond, this exclusive recap session distills the high-impact content from the industry's top thought leaders. Get ready to supercharge your TA strategy, embrace the human advantage in an AI-driven world, and discover exactly what the future of recruitment looks like.   The Human Advantage in an AI World: Grace Lordan (LSE) explores how talent leaders can leverage AI, inclusion, and better decision-making to drive true performance rather than just...

THE EVOLUTION OF TALENT CRMS (Building Talent Communities in the Agentic Era)   The recruitment technology stack is undergoing its most profound transformation since the shift from paper CVs to applicant tracking systems. Autonomous AI agents—capable of reasoning, planning, and executing complex workflows without human intervention—are now infiltrating every stage of the talent lifecycle, rendering traditional CRM architectures obsolete. The passive database of yesterday, where candidate records sat dormant until manually activated, is giving way to dynamic, self-orchestrating ecosystems where agents continuously nurture, assess, match, and engage talent at scale. For talent acquisition leaders, the question is no longer wheth...

HR vs People Ops: Semantic or Substantive Difference?   IsIf your organization is still running a traditional Human Resources function - policy police, form processors, compliance checkers - you are bleeding candidates before they even apply. Modern talent acquisition doesn't need more administrators; it needs a People Operations engine built for growth, experience, and competitive advantage.   • From gatekeeping to enabling: how People Ops removes friction instead of creating it • Data over doctrine: using people analytics to drive decisions instead of hiding behind policy manuals • Employee experience as product: designing journeys that market themselves to passive candidates • Strategic workforce planning vs reactive backfillin...

How Are AI-enabled Recruiters Spending Their Time?   The recruiter's day used to disappear into Boolean strings, resume scanning, and the futile pursuit of inbox zero. Now that AI has swallowed the repetitive mechanics of talent acquisition, a profound shift is underway. The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will change recruiting—it is how the best recruiters are redeploying the hours they just won back.   Join us for an inside look at the new recruiter operating system.   • Building strategic hiring manager partnerships instead of transactional req intake calls • Architecting employer brand narratives and designing candidate experiences that convert • Nurturing passive tal...

GEO vs SEO: What Recruitment Marketers Need to Know in 2026   Everyone know's the search landscape has fundamentally shifted.   In 2026, candidates are no longer typing keywords into Google - they are asking AI assistants where to work, who pays fairly, and which cultures actually thrive. If your recruitment marketing strategy still revolves around traditional SEO alone, you are optimising for a shrinking platform while missing the one that is exploding.   Join us for a critical livestream exploring the new battleground between Generative Engine Optimisation and classic Search Engine Optimisation.   • Why keyword density is dying while entity recognition and semantic context dominate AI sea...

What if AI Actually Costs More Than Humans?   The headcount reduction mandate has landed on your desk: replace talent with AI and cut costs. But beneath the vendor demos and boardroom promises lies a dangerous assumption - that artificial intelligence is automatically cheaper than human expertise.   What if the token economics tell a different story?   Join us for a provocative livestream that flips the AI narrative and protects your workforce strategy.   • The hidden maths of token consumption -and why projected savings evaporate at scale   • Why cost-per-inference is rarely modelled against fully-loaded employee costs in vendor ROI   • Talent attrition: when top performers l...

The hiring environment has fundamentally reset—and most talent acquisition teams are still using benchmarks built for a world that no longer exists. Between 2022 and 2025, everything changed: application volumes surged 385%, recruiter teams were cut by 57%, and AI simultaneously flooded pipelines with noise while offering new efficiencies. Yet against this backdrop, Greenhouse data from 17M+ applications across 800+ European organizations reveals a surprising truth—recruiters are actually performing better, not worse. Monthly hires per recruiter have jumped 113%. Jobs closed with a hire are up 13%. The teams thriving aren't those with bigger budgets or larger headcount. They're the ones who redefined what "good" look...

INTRODUCING NEXT GENERATION AI RECRUITING AGENTS   Juicebox have been one of the most impressive businesses in the AI recruiting space. Now with 6,000 customers, they are ready to announce a step change in how Juicebox works for recruiters to keep a competitive edge.   Juicebox agents now   REMEMBER AND SELF CORRECT. When a search isn't surfacing the right people, Agents reflect on their reasoning and proactively edit their own criteria instead of waiting for you to bring it up.   THEY ASK QUESTIONS When requirements conflict or something doesn't make sense, the Agent clarifies. For example: "Would you prefer candidates with PLG or demo...

Everyone claims they're "good with AI" on their CV. Almost no one can prove it. As AI tools proliferate across every function, talent leaders face a critical gap: we need people who don't just use AI, but wield it strategically—and we have no reliable way to identify them. Enter Zapier. The automation platform that helped democratise no-code workflows has developing and refining a practical framework for assessing AI fluency in hiring. Everyone's been talking about it. But now we've got Soeren Winter to unpack it and tell us what it means for Talent Acquisition teams.   • Redefining "AI Fluency" for Hirin...

Hong Kong's talent market has been stress-tested like no other—and emerged with a new identity.   The old playbook - expat packages, regional hub prestige, English-only operations - now guarantees mediocrity. Yet for those who understand the new dynamics, Hong Kong offers something rare: a gateway to mainland opportunity with international legal frameworks, a financial center pivoting hard into tech and green finance, and a talent pool that spans Greater China and Southeast Asia. It's more complex, more competitive, and more rewarding for employers who adapt. This webinar delivers the intelligence you need to hire effectively in Asia's most transformed tal...

AI RECOMMENDATION VS HUMAN JUDGEMENT - PT2. Can we detect, assess, train for and hire for 'human judgement'?   Following our amazing conversation a month ago, we're back with Pt2 of our conversation on AI Recommendation vs Human Judgement. This time, we're going to examine whether it is possible to hire for human judgement, whether this should be a quality we actively look for and cultivate in existing employees?   • Defining the Undefinable – Breaking down "judgment" into observable, assessable components - pattern recognition, ethical reasoning, contextual awareness, and decisive action under uncertainty - that separate humans from sophisticated autocomplete   • The Automation Paradox – How over-re...

HOW TO HIRE IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IN 2026   The post-pandemic recovery, shifting regulatory landscape, and explosive growth of domestic tech giants and surprising resilience of export economy in face of Trump Tariff War, have completely rewired how Chinese professionals evaluate opportunities.   What attracted top talent five years ago - multinational brand prestige, expat packages, hierarchical titles—now falls flat against the priorities of a new generation.   Meanwhile, local competitors are mastering AI-driven recruitment, offering unprecedented flexibility, and tapping into talent pools Western companies barely know exist. This webinar cuts through the noise to reveal what's actually working in China...

JOB ADVERTISING ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN 2026   Front line work - in healthcare, retail, hospitality & logistics, construction, warehousing and the rest remain the most in-demand jobs in almost every economy. And the only way people know how to hire them is through advertising on Facebook!   Whilst old school techniques might still work, the manual effort is exhausting, cost inefficient and increasingly susceptible to risk. What does great job advertising on social media look like in 2026?   There's a ton to get through:   • AI-Powered Creative Generation • Programmatic Media Buying 2.0 • Dynamic Candidate Journeys • Predictive Audience Modelling • Conversational Apply Flows • Video-First Job Storytelling • Privacy-First Targeting • Cross-Platform Attri...

We're Going To Do An OpenClaw Install (Live Demo)   Meet OpenClaw - the open-source AI that's been the sensation of the year so far. Imagine an actual 24/7 AI Agents that does the work for your automatically. Can it work for real world recruiting?   We're not just talking about it - we're showing you.   In this live demo session, watch us tackle:   • How fast can you spin up a custom application workflow from scratch? • Native integrations: does it play nice with your existing HRIS and assessment tools? • Compliance and data privacy: where does OpenClaw stand on GDPR and security? • Custom reporting: can you buil...

Your recruiters are drowning. 474 applications per role. 385% volume increase since 2022. And your screening process still relies on humans reading resumes one by one. The maths doesn't work anymore - yet quality can't slip. Metaview has built something different: an Applicant Screener that doesn't just automate rejection emails, but actually understands candidate fit at scale.   In this session, CEO Siadhal Magos goes live with the product - no slides, no case studies, just the actual interface processing real applicant volumes. Watch how AI-native screening handles the flood without washing away the human judgment that makes great hires. If your team is s...

How to Hire in Japan in 2026   Japan's talent landscape is shifting fast—and foreign employers are scrambling to catch up. With accelerating demographic decline, evolving work culture norms, and new government visa reforms, 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for recruitment in the world's third-largest economy. The old playbook - post on Daijob, hire a bilingual coordinator, hope for the best - isn't just outdated. It's expensive. Whether you're scaling your Japan presence or hiring remotely from abroad, you need intel that matches the market's velocity.   In this essential briefing, we're covering: • Which visa categories are expanding (and which...

Automation is Eating Recruitment! 10 Tips for What Talent Acquisition & HR Should Be Doing NOW   The robots aren't coming - they're already here. AI sourcing, automated screening, chatbot scheduling, and predictive analytics are devouring the recruitment tasks we used to own.   So what should recruiters be doing now?   This isn't a eulogy for recruiting. It's a battle plan for the talent professionals ready to evolve.   In this high-energy session, we're breaking down: • Which recruitment tasks to automate immediately (and which to protect at all costs) • How to reposition yourself as a strategic advisor when AI handles the sourcing • The "automation audit" every TA t...

How to Hire in Korea in 2026   Korea's talent market is at an inflection point. With the world's lowest birth rate, a fiercely competitive corporate culture, and a government aggressively courting foreign investment, 2026 presents both unprecedented hiring challenges and massive opportunities. The Seoul-centric, degree-obsessed, seniority-driven playbook is crumbling. A new generation of talent is rewriting the rules. Are your hiring strategies ready for the shift?   In this essential briefing, we're covering: • The "Great Resignation" Korean edition: why young professionals are job-hopping faster than ever • Visa evolution: the E-7, F-2, and digital nomad pathways reshaping eligibility • Beyond the SKY universities: where to find ove...