Brainfood Live On Air - Ep318 - The State of Talent Acquisition - The Recfest Retro

STATE OF TALENT ACQUISITION: THE RECFEST REVIEW 2025   Recfest is the largest in person event for Talent Acquisition professionals and the perfect barometer for the state of the market. Let's see what we learn from the 100+ talks and conversations with 1000's of delegates who will have attended the industry's premier event.   We will review   - RecFest main themes - UK Economy vs Global Macro - AI-enablement and the AI First Movement - Where are we with DEI? - Employer branding when the Internet is dominated by AI slop - All we need to know about bias - Organisational agility - can we train for this? - Update on AI legislation in TA / HR - Expanding scope beyond Permanent Hiring - Expanding scope beyond Recruiting - New Metrics for the AI Era - Core skills for Future Fit Recruiters - AI leaving TA Leaders Behind - TA transformation: Moving from cliche to confirmation   All this and more with Jamie Leonard, Founder (RecFest), Clair Bush, Fractional CMO (AM-Bush), Bas van de Haterd, Founder (Digitaal-Werven & friends)   We are on Friday 11th July, 2pm BST - follow the channel here (recommended) and save your spot for this demo by clicking on the green button.     Ep318 is sponsored by our friends Ashby   There’s no shortage of AI in recruiting. The hard part is finding what’s actually useful. Ashby’s one of the few building practical tools that make recruiters’ lives better.   Their latest Ashby One release shows what thoughtful AI looks like:  

• AI Notetaker that automatically captures transcripts, summaries, and feedback prompts
• AI‑Assisted Report Builder uses plain English to ask questions of your data
• AI Candidate Assistant to help you understand candidate histories and next steps at a glance
• Plus AI‑Generated Feedback Tokens that let you send polished rejection or update emails in seconds
• No AI for AI’s sake. Just practical tools that reduce busywork and help teams move faster.

  See what’s new   Not on Ashby yet? Get a demo today.