Hiring Algorithms Are Having Their Day in Court
A Workday bias case, an engineer's burnout account, a fifty-year labour participation low, and Revolut's office mandate. Four claims about AI-era work, tested against the evidence this week.
Employer branding, talent attraction,
culture and HR.
Cutting through the noise for the people who make work worth showing up for.
Perspective
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Laszlo Bock’s Viral Hiring Playbook
Laszlo Bock’s viral hiring guide is smart, useful, and deeply depressing. It honestly exposes how broken recruiting has become, then teaches workers to survive it through optimization, performance, and strategic likability rather than merit alone.
Editor's Choice
Talent Attraction
GEO for Employer Branding: How AI Shapes Candidate Research and How to Own Your EVP Narrative
Candidates now research employers inside AI tools, not on your careers site. An academically referenced guide to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): the platforms that shape what candidates see, how to communicate your EVP so AI cites it accurately, and how to measure your AI presence.
Future of Work
The AI Integration Gap: Why 87% of Leaders Want Human-AI Collaboration and Only 12% Have Built It
Three years into the AI boom, four separate research efforts converge on one finding: executive enthusiasm is near-universal, operational integration is rare, and the bottleneck is organisational design.
Future of Work
"Paddling harder to stay ahead of the current": what one principal engineer's account of three years inside AI reveals about senior talent
A principal engineer's calm, specific account of three years inside an AI-forward organisation maps onto a growing body of research showing AI is intensifying senior roles, squeezing mentoring time, and absorbing productivity gains into expanded scope.
Talent Attraction
Inside LinkedIn's Job Marketplace: What the "Top Picks" Debate Tells Talent Leaders About Trust
LinkedIn's "Top Job Picks for You" blends algorithmic matching with paid placement. A recent critique argues that mix is misleading. Independent data on application volume, ghosting, and AI in hiring suggests the wider story is bigger than any single platform.
Paper Cut
The Botsitting Economy: AI’s Hidden Labour Problem
AI was meant to lighten work. Instead, many workers are feeding, fixing, checking, and explaining the machines. This week: botsitting, graduate career bottlenecks, regulated trust, the selective white-collar slowdown, and another Cut List shaped by AI spending.
This article is for Members only
Talent Attraction
GEO for Employer Branding: How AI Shapes Candidate Research and How to Own Your EVP Narrative
Candidates now research employers inside AI tools, not on your careers site. An academically referenced guide to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): the platforms that shape what candidates see, how to communicate your EVP so AI cites it accurately, and how to measure your AI presence.
Paper Cut
The On-Ramp Cracked: Proof Culture Meets a Tougher Job Market
Graduates are struggling to break in, “hybrid” is becoming a career filter, and AI work is drifting into a blame-and-proof culture. This week: the broken on-ramp, the rise of metrics theatre, surveillance creeping into WFH, and The Cut List.
This article is for Members only
Trends & Signals
Glassdoor Statistics 2026: What Reviews Actually Do to Hiring
86 percent of candidates check reviews before applying. 71 percent improve their view of a company when the employer responds. 55 percent walk away if the rating is poor. A reference page on how review sites actually shape hiring outcomes in 2026, every figure cited.
Talent Attraction
Inside LinkedIn's Job Marketplace: What the "Top Picks" Debate Tells Talent Leaders About Trust
LinkedIn's "Top Job Picks for You" blends algorithmic matching with paid placement. A recent critique argues that mix is misleading. Independent data on application volume, ghosting, and AI in hiring suggests the wider story is bigger than any single platform.
Paper Cut
The Botsitting Economy: AI’s Hidden Labour Problem
AI was meant to lighten work. Instead, many workers are feeding, fixing, checking, and explaining the machines. This week: botsitting, graduate career bottlenecks, regulated trust, the selective white-collar slowdown, and another Cut List shaped by AI spending.
This article is for Members only
Case Studies
What IKEA's AI Reskilling Story Looks Like Now It Has Made Layoffs Too
IKEA spent years being held up as the company that reskilled rather than reduced when AI came for customer service. In 2026, both Inter IKEA and Ingka Group announced layoffs. What the case still proves, what it never proved, and what employer brand teams should take from both halves of the story.
Talent Attraction
GEO for Employer Branding: How AI Shapes Candidate Research and How to Own Your EVP Narrative
Candidates now research employers inside AI tools, not on your careers site. An academically referenced guide to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): the platforms that shape what candidates see, how to communicate your EVP so AI cites it accurately, and how to measure your AI presence.