Be brave: why Talent Acquisition needs more confidence to navigate today’s chaos.

There’s a lot of noise in recruitment at the moment. Efficiency mandates handed down from on-high. Candidates using ChatGPT. Recruiters worrying about being replaced by ChatGPT. Vendors claiming AI will solve everything while everyone wonders whether anybody else knows what they’re doing.

Against that chaos, it’s easy for talent acquisition to shrink – to become reactive; to keep our heads safely under the parapet.

In episode 16 of The View, Heidi King-Underwood, Global Principal Talent Acquisition Lead at Sonatype, makes the case for the opposite. Recruiters, she argues, need to become braver. More visible. More strategic. More willing to challenge. Unapologetically human.

• Keep reading to learn:
• Why recruiters need to stop acting like order-takers
• How TA can earn – and take – a true strategic voice
• Why operational overload is crushing recruitment teams
• How AI is making everyone anxious
• Why candidate surveillance won’t age well
• How AI ethics and DEI are starting to collide
• Why bravery is becoming a core skill for TA leaders

Let’s dig in.

For the full conversation, watch the video here:

Talent acquisition should do the telling, not do as they’re told

Most recruiters have butted up against the frustration of being treated like an order-taker. A role opens, and raised voices start to fly wildly from every corner. 

• The manager wants a unicorn, yesterday. 
• Other managers want to know where their unicorn is. 
• Finance wants costs DOWN. 
• Leaders want the same, but results have to go UP. 
• Candidates want clarity (often while giving you none). 

And you’re meant to make the impossible happen. Spin every plate without dropping anything, and – whatever you do – don’t rock the boat. No wonder recruiters are burning out. It’s an impossible task.

But good recruiters aren’t there just to take orders. As Heidi points out, “Talent acquisition isn’t just there to fill roles. It’s about partnering with the business; understanding needs; negotiating; resetting expectations”.

Heidi’s talking to the age-old issue, of recruitment earning a seat at the table. Or taking we should say. Because sitting around waiting for leadership to realise recruitment’s value without doing anything to prove it isn’t useful. 

If people finders want a seat at the table, that’s on us – to start raising our voices; to be willing to make waves; to build our communities and grow our capabilities and confidence. 

(That’s also something Matt Burney, Senior Strategic Advisor at Indeed, spoke to us about recently, calling for recruiters to stop complaining about being the forgotten child of the business and start mastering the skill of articulating value through storytelling. Excellent read, if you haven’t already.)

As Heidi puts it, earning a strategic voice means being willing to challenge leadership constructively, with data, context and – crucially – solutions. 

Read more: How recruiters can master stakeholder management 

There’s an old improv principle – “yes, and” not “no, but”. The same applies here. Not “no but this won’t work. More “and here’s what we’re seeing in the market. And here’s the risk. And here’s a better way forward.” Heidi says:

Recruiters have an invaluable perspective, sitting between the business and the market. But often that’s going to waste, because recruiters have learned to be good, be quiet, and deliver what they’re told.

The best TA teams are good and they do deliver. But they’re not quiet and they do the telling as much as they’re told. That’s their strategic value, and that’s what good leaders actively want from the people they hire. 

AI anxiety: Big Brother isn’t a good look

AI recruitment discourse is… shall we say, hypey? Candidates are using AI. Recruiters are using AI. Organisations are experimenting with AI. Vendors are embedding AI everywhere. 

But amid all that activity, there’s a heap of anxiety. 

AI is all still so new. Nobody really knows what they’re doing. Best-practices are still being defined. Everyone’s worried about everything while peeping over fence at everyone else claiming they’ve got a handle on things. 

• Candidates worry about being penalised for using AI tools…
• …but also about AI creating bias.

• Recruiters worry about screening becoming impossible…
• … but also about finding new ways to hit ever-receding goals. 

• Employers worry about fairness and compliance…
• …but also about missing the efficiency dividend and falling behind peers.

Heidi talks about the need to reconnect to empathy in how we show up for candidates. Yes, “build a rigorous internal process and a rigorous external-facing AI policy you can provide candidates. And then, lead with empathy.”

Anxiety leads to awful, controlling behaviour like screen monitoring. Empathy leads to open, compassionate conversations about why someone’s using AI and how we can better support them. 

The problem isn’t candidates using AI to improve applications. Of course they are. If technology can help someone communicate more clearly, overcome dyslexia, reduce anxiety, or present themselves more confidently, why wouldn’t they use it? Wouldn’t you? 

As Heidi says, “AI isn’t going anywhere. But it’s there to complement us, as humans.” We can’t bury our heads in the sand about this. And Big-Brother type candidate surveillance won’t age well. 

We need to learn to play nicely with this new shiny tool that has the potential to help us all. Not jealously ringfence it for our side.

How AI ethics will touch DEI

One of the most fascinating points (of an all-round fascinating discussion) was Heidi’s comments on AI ethics and inclusion. 

We all know that the environment around DEI is increasingly challenging, with organisations retreating publicly from inclusion commitments, and nervousness about potential political backlash. 

But stepping backwards creates its own risks, because inclusive recruitment isn’t just an ethical issue. 

When organisations narrow hiring criteria, create inaccessible processes or fail to build psychologically safe environments, they shrink talent pools and hurt brand reputation – right when skills shortages are intensifying.

And AI adds another layer of complexity here. As Heidi says:

Different people will use technology differently depending on confidence, communication styles, neurodiversity, educational background, or generational familiarity with AI tools. 

Blanket bans and too-rigid policies might unintentionally exclude people who may perform brilliantly in-role; or unintentionally hamper someone who would perform brilliantly, but you’ve taken away the tools that help them do that.

That doesn’t mean ‘anything goes’. Of course organisations need fairness, governance and clear expectations when it comes to AI. But it demands nuance and flexibility:

Let’s build our collective bravery

The thread running through everything Heidi talks about is bravery. 

• Bravery to have challenging conversations instead of nodding silently. 
• Bravery to experiment with responsible AI instead of closing the door. 
• Bravery to protect inclusion despite political and commercial pressure.
• Bravery to stand for something; to put yourself out there.
• Bravery to build your network, even when you’re nervous.
• Bravery to be “unapologetically authentic in yourself”.

The interesting thing is what a deeply, profoundly human capability bravery is. 

One of the most common anxieties about AI is that it’s somehow coming for our humanity. But this is a powerful reminder that the reverse is true. That human capacities; human judgement; human empathy becomes more important, when more is automated.

AI doesn’t mean automating away recruitment’s humanity. It’s the opportunity to automate away the admin, so you can amp up the humanity where it counts. So you can do more of what you love. 

Heidi herself is a great example – she has such palpable passion for recruitment; such infectious zest and energy for what we’re all doing here. It’s a reminder that the tools and technologies we use might change, but the heart of everything’s still the same: people, doing their best to change lives for other people.

That’s a mission we can get behind. 

Tribepad is the trusted tech ally to smart(er) recruiters everywhere. Combining ATS, CRM, assessment, video screening, compliance, onboarding, analytics and a fully-integrated AI assistant, our talent acquisition software is a springboard for fairer, faster, better recruitment for everyone.

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