Recruiting Brainfood - Issue 435
SuperAgency, AI Agents, Big Ideas for 2025, Brutalist culture change with USAID, quick techniques to stop the bots and the end of search as we know it....
This week’s brainfood is supported by our friends Greenhouse
AI-powered hiring is here: Are you ready for it?
As we kick off a new year, you’re likely hearing your leadership call for “more AI!” But what does that really mean for your hiring process, and how can you make the most of it?
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The future is here — AI tools are ready. The real question is: Are you ready to use them effectively?
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Friends,
What a fantastic experience this trip has been so far. I have to say I am so blessed to be able to take this time to visit these fabulous regions and connect with local brainfooders along the way. I’m doing my best to document this on Instagram so follow on there if you want some non-work takes on life 🤣
Now in Penang, where I may decide to stay for a few more days because not only do I need solid wifi in order to do two mid week webinars (Responsible AI here and How to Master High Volume Hiring here), but also because my Malaysia friends (thanks Tasha & Phil!) friends insist I visit Langkawi and then head up the Andaman coast to Krabi. There is also the small matter of Thaipusam tomorrow, which I studied at University and thought I’d never get the chance to see…thanks to brainfooder Ian Turnpenny for the heads up on this! That means a possible delay to Ho Chi Minh City, so Tim I will call you later today once I figure out what I’m doing 👊
Thanks to: Eugène Van Den Hemel, Joey NK Koksal, Andy Headworth, Kevin Green, Achyut AK Menon, Sam Baxendale, Belinda Johnson, Neil Armstrong, Andrew Wood, Elena Argyriou, Euan Cameron, Deepa Damodaran, Injy El-Deeb, Mohit Sharma, Madalina Dragoescu, Jay Joshi, Paul McArdle, Adam Gordon, Conor Grimes, Jasmin Stott, Rober Walker, Faith Madzikanda and Dave Hazlehurst - your public promotion of all things brainfood is the only marketing I get - essential to keep this show on the road. Thank you.
Can you help? Share the brainfood with your friends on LinkedIn and have them subscribe
What Do Brainfooders Think?
Tough question to ask last week so thanks for all who voted here with a large majority of us thinking that DEI is still very much alive. Be interesting to see where the 23% are located - my guess is that the sentiment has shifted in the US.
Brainfood Live On Air - Ep292 - AI Agents in Recruiting & HR, Fri 14th Feb, 11.00am GMT
I set this event up before DeepSeek, Open AI Operator and Open AI Deep Research. I think it is more relevant now than ever before - what are AI Agents and are they here in Recruiting and HR? We’re going to talk to community members who think they are, and are prepared to demo why they think so. Some of the leading thinker-doer-experimenters in our community joining for this one folks - must attend. We’re on Friday 11.00am GMT. Register here
The Brainfood
1. SuperAgency In The Workplace
‘SuperAgency’ is a term coined by Reid Hoffman whose optimistic vision of the future is characterised by AI enabling humans to be super capable. It’s used as a compass point in this research paper by McKinsey & Co on how AI is currently being used in enterprise. The charts are interesting, especially the regional and sectorial differences. Main point was also intriguing - managers being behind operators is a common thread in the conversations I’ve been having about AI - probably because they are more distant to practically useful output? Have a read - let me know what you think.
AI
2. ARK Invest Big Ideas 2025
Massive 148 page information dense slide deck which is actually quite readable because every slide is actually a chart or table 🤣. Covers 5 of the major technology trends which changing the way economics work - blockchains, batteries, artificial intelligence, robotics and a term which is new to me, ‘multiomics’. One to think about for recruiters - where are the growth sectors, what are the skills required there, how does automation change what we need. Download here. H/T to brainfooder Pedro Oliveira for the share
SOCIETY
3. Underused LinkedIn Search Trick
It’s the small details which make the difference between the good and the great. Brainfooder Jan Bernhart with a simple LinkedIn search technique which I suspect too many recruiters may have overlooked. It’s worth spending time honing your craft, especially when dealing with information retrieval systems.
SOURCING
4. The Misstep of a Skills-Based Strategy: What We’re Overlooking
Is it just me, or has Skills Based Hiring dropped out of the community discourse of late? Maybe its because we’re beginning to realise that hiring on skills match alone is strategically naive, given that the world is changing so fast that what we’re hiring for today might be obsolete by tomorrow. Great post on how we need to add some other stuff back to SBH - such as attitude - before we’re able to recommit to the idea. H/T to brainfooder Ivan Harrison for the share.
ASSESSMENT
5. USAID
The burning down of institutions is continuing apace in US Gov, as Trump again deploys ‘the Musk method’ of firing everyone all at once, via public pronouncement. This week it is USAID - a service which its defenders claim to be an essential funding source of social good, but whose detractors accuse of being a front for foreign influence. Whichever side you fall on, you can be sure that the intentionally brutal method of culture change will inspire others to do the same in the corporate world.
CULTURE
6. Willo State of Hiring in 2025
Mega credit to any software vendor who puts effort in to research state of the industry. Even more so when the report is not locked behind a reg wall. We talked to founders Euan Cameron and Andrew Wood on Brainfood Live last Friday (watch it here) and covered some interesting findings from the UK, US, India and Australia talent acquisition markets. Most interesting prediction for 2025? Increase in value of ‘AI proof’ assessments. Lots more besides, so have at it here
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
7. Stop the Bots!
Here’s a way to defeat the bots - a 3 level security system designed to thwart the likes of AI Mass Apply. Implementing security features more commonly found in banking websites is going to become standard, even at the price of exclusion. Great to see a debate on this in within group.H/T to brainfooder Martyn Redstone in that online community
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING
8. The End of Search, The Beginning of Research
It seemed only yesterday that DeepSeek gazumped Open AI Operator (it more or less was yesterday - two weeks ago!) and now we see Open AI respond with another killer release - Deep Research. It’s hard to disagree with Ethan Mollick’s assessment here - the future quietly arrived last week, with all kinds of implications for the future of knowledge work. Another post on DR worth a read is We Tried OpenAI’s New Deep Research—Here’s What We Found - easy reading, tho tbh you can just try Deep Research yourself.
FUTURE OF WORK
9. Did President Trump Just Hand Mexico and Canada a Manufacturing Win? The 10% Tariff Blunder.
Not the best post by Richard Baldwin but he still manages to outline the main outcome of Trump’s now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t-tariffs against Canada and Mexico. The 10% tariffs against China have of course gone ahead, but the net effect might just be to boost Canada and Mexico whose imports from China will remain at lower cost now relative to the US. Trump needs to read up on trade deficits and the relationship with the USD as global reserve, but he won’t.
ECONOMY
10. Anthropic has ‘No AI’ Policy for Job Candidates Applying for Job Ads
Funny, interesting, and probably more thought provoking than it might first appear, Anthropic’s anti-AI policy for job candidates stirred an online debate which we might need to have on Brainfood Live. At some point, we are going to have to decide what we are hiring for - the human potential or just the vehicle pushing the ‘generate’ button with a meat finger. H/T to brainfooders Stefan Welack and Grant Clough for the share.
ASSESSMENT
The Podcasts
11. How to Give Feedback Without Making It Weird
I’ve always struggled with feedback - both giving and receiving - and probably could’ve done with the advice in this podcast when it was really relevant to my professional life. Great chat on some sound techniques on how to give feedback, expertly hosted by brainfooder Laura Johnson.
CULTURE
12. DeepSeek’s Edge
Asianometry takes a deeper look at DeepSeek’s company culture and concludes that it may indeed be one-of-a-kind - an outlier in the China startup eco-system with a research first, money later ethos, along with a hiring approach which rejects credentialism in favour of raw, moldable talent given free reign to experiment and fail. 15 minutes of sharp takes. Probably going to write about DeepSeek hiring culture in Open Kitchen tomorrow, so subscribe there also.
CULTURE
13. I Investigated the UK (The Reality Is Worse Than You Think)
Aevy TV is one of the best YT channels I’ve been watching recently, an India focused show presented by the brilliant Achina Sirohi Mayya so I was surprised to see them shift focus and do a programme on the UK. We can get addicted to commentating on others, so really interesting - and important - to learn how others see us. Have a watch here
SOCIETY
End Note
The articles this week on AI-enabled / AI-assisted candidates got me thinking. We all know that usage will increase, but how much market adoption have products like AI Mass Apply achieved? Quick vibe check for this week’s poll, where ‘significantly assisted’ means using a tool to rewrite CV / resume, customise cover letter, personalise mass apply etc.
That’s it - thanks for reading
Have a great week everyone
Hung