Hiring in 2026: Guardrails, Trust, and the New TA Role (Hung Lee)
Thu Jan 15 2026
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Hung Lee is the founder and editor of Recruiting Brainfood, and one of the sharpest observers of how hiring actually works.
Two years ago, Hung joined me to talk about the future of recruitment and what AI might do to talent acquisition. This time, we are past predictions. AI is in the workflow, shaping sourcing, screening, and candidate experience. The focus now is what is working, what is quietly breaking, and what leaders should do next.
We start with a thought that used to sound far fetched: a company’s AI speaking to a candidate’s AI. Now it is starting to look normal. From there, we unpack where AI genuinely creates value across the hiring funnel, how to maintain trust when automation becomes the first touchpoint, and what leadership needs to own when AI influences selection decisions.
If you lead Talent Acquisition, hire as a manager, or sit on a leadership team making choices about AI adoption, this is an essential listen.
What we cover
What has changed most in day to day recruiting since the early AI predictions, and what surprised HungWhere AI is genuinely creating value across the hiring funnel, and where teams are buying hopeAI agents as the first touchpoint for candidates, and how to keep trust high when experience is automatedSelection and high stakes decisions: decision quality, fairness, accountability, and practical guardrailsWhat capabilities leadership teams should build for 2026How the recruiter role changes: what shrinks, what expands, and what becomes more importantHow Talent Acquisition evolves in the age of AIRecruiting Brainfood: https://www.recruitingbrainfood.com/
Hung Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunglee/
Follow Konstanty Sliwowski on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sliwowskik/
For more insights check out www.schoolofhiring.com and newsletter.schoolofhiring.com
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Send us a text Hung Lee is the founder and editor of Recruiting Brainfood, and one of the sharpest observers of how hiring actually works. Two years ago, Hung joined me to talk about the future of recruitment and what AI might do to talent acquisition. This time, we are past predictions. AI is in the workflow, shaping sourcing, screening, and candidate experience. The focus now is what is working, what is quietly breaking, and what leaders should do next. We start with a thought that used to sound far fetched: a company’s AI speaking to a candidate’s AI. Now it is starting to look normal. From there, we unpack where AI genuinely creates value across the hiring funnel, how to maintain trust when automation becomes the first touchpoint, and what leadership needs to own when AI influences selection decisions. If you lead Talent Acquisition, hire as a manager, or sit on a leadership team making choices about AI adoption, this is an essential listen. What we cover What has changed most in day to day recruiting since the early AI predictions, and what surprised HungWhere AI is genuinely creating value across the hiring funnel, and where teams are buying hopeAI agents as the first touchpoint for candidates, and how to keep trust high when experience is automatedSelection and high stakes decisions: decision quality, fairness, accountability, and practical guardrailsWhat capabilities leadership teams should build for 2026How the recruiter role changes: what shrinks, what expands, and what becomes more importantHow Talent Acquisition evolves in the age of AIRecruiting Brainfood: https://www.recruitingbrainfood.com/ Hung Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hunglee/ Follow Konstanty Sliwowski on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sliwowskik/ For more insights check out www.schoolofhiring.com and newsletter.schoolofhiring.com