Episode 578 - Your Weekly TA & Recruitment News with the Scoop - FT Kimberley Lawrie

Welcome to The Scoop, brought to you by Indeed. The talent acquisition and recruitment news cycle moves pretty quickly, but we've got you covered with all the trends, developing stories, and breaking news. And now, here are your anchors, Lauren Sharp and Craig Watson. Hi everyone and welcome to The Scoop. I'm Craig and I have a very, very special co-host with me today, Kimberley Laurie, industry legend and very, very, very warm friend of mine, or ours, I should say. And the reason Kimberly's with us— I'm going to call you Kimmy for the rest of the day. Call me Kimmy. Kimberly's too hardcore. Yep. Kimmy is with us because Lauren jumped on a jet today to Europe. She's off gallivanting around Iceland. The bitch makes me sick. It does. It's horrible, isn't it? It's not fair. No, no. Although it's going to be cold in Iceland, so good. Yeah, good. So she would have to take an extra suitcase and all that sort of stuff. Imagine going, imagine going all the way to Europe in summer and going to Iceland. Loser. Joking, Lauren, joking. Love you. Hey, I'm going to kick off with the first article today, and it is from HRD Magazine, and the headline is, "She beat 261 applicants for the job and she wasn't even real." Oh God, that's embarrassing. All right, can we sit down for this one? Jackie Morris had the lot: LinkedIn, polished resume, a passport, even Instagram snaps on a beach with her husband and her dog. She applied for a $30,000 marketing gig, sailed through the first 3 rounds, beat 261 other poor bastards to the job. One small snag: she didn't even exist. She was actually Jake Moore. So a guy, a cybersecurity guy with 22 years under his belt, who spent £50 on an off-the-shelf software and turned himself into a fictional woman—face, voice, the whole identity—and 2 companies offered him employment without even blinking. Now here's the part though that's going to make every recruiter choke on their barn meat. The first interview round was AI screening. His fake AI persona had a lovely chat with the company's AI chatbot and passed. Then on the live video call, he ran a program in the background feeding him answers in real time to his avatar. So let that sink in. We built robots to sift out the humans, and the robots happily waved through another robot. Oh my God. There are real-world implications of someone doing this with bad intentions are unsettling. So Moore believes a fraudster could hold down a remote role for at least a month before anyone noticed, collecting a salary the whole time. And that's before considering what happens when a company ships out a laptop. Speaking of laptops. Yeah, we couldn't get onto the editing software today to have you on because we think that your laptop might have good security on it. I think it does. And what a shame because I did wash my hair for you. Oh, you look magnificent. Cheers. No one can see, so it doesn't matter, does it? Lucky I didn't don the hat. Exactly. Yeah, that's right. Oh, well, that's, that's— wow. My jaw was on the floor when you were reading that out. Yeah. So I think that we're going to see more of it, right? Like people are trying to game the system. This guy's just doing it for fun and shits and giggles because I think I read in the article that it wasn't like in a pub, but he sort of had a bet with a mate that he could get away with it and he won. He did. Yeah. Jesus. I mean, it's just, it's scary. It's scary. But I guess that leads into my article. Go on then. Which is from news.com.au and the title is Deloitte's 2026 AI Disruption Forecast. So the elephant in the room, the virtual room, no doubt, is AI. So if we thought that 2025 was the year of the robot takeover, grab your flat white because news.com.au recently highlighted Deloitte officially stamping 2026 as Australia's year of AI disruption. I feel like that's been said so many times before. According to their report, though, it's getting very real for white-collar workers. Deloitte has named 82 jobs from HR managers and accountants to graphic designers and bank workers Banker. Are they still a thing? Well, that's exactly what I thought. That face the highest risk of losing their tasks completely being replicated by AI. So the result, job growth in these affected roles is expected to plummet from 1.9% down to 0.5% a year. And we've already seen obviously the tech giants like Atlassian making AI-driven cuts. But before we throw the laptop out the window and go off-grid, there is a silver lining. Deloitte has pointed out 12 AI-enhanced roles, which interestingly include CEOs, scientists and primary school teachers. Thank goodness for that. Thank goodness. That stand to benefit massively from the tech. So the big takeaway for us professionals, it's not about competing with the algorithm, it's just upskilling so we can boss it around. Isn't it funny though? So they're saying that the future choice is a primary school teacher or CEO. Yeah. I mean, what a difference. Just, well, you might get guided towards one depending on your ceiling. Yeah, I think so. Oh God. Doom and gloom. Oh, doom and gloom. My next one today is from Indeed, and it's around the end of financial year. It's a natural moment for employers to pause, reset, and get clear on what is changing in the labour market. As organisations plan for the new financial year, the challenge is not just understanding where hiring is today, it's knowing what signals matter, which pressures may shape workforce decisions, and which trends might be overstated. That's exactly what Indeed will unpack in their upcoming webinar, End of Financial Year in the Labour Market: What Employers Should Watch Now. On June 24th, Callum Pickering the APAC Senior Economist. Lauren's got a crush on him. Indeed. Yep. We'll explore the latest labour market dynamics and what that could mean for employers planning ahead. So jump on to Indeed's website. We'll put a link in here too to sign up for the webinar. The great thing about Indeed webinars is if you sign up and you can't go, they send you the recording anyway. Perfect. And you're off to a LinkedIn event later on today. We won't talk about it, but gee, gallivanting around, are you? I am, I love it. Love it. Yep. The life of me. So I am going to talk about an article from People Matters Global, and the title is Doom Jobbing, Lily Padding and Token Maxing. So apparently the 2026 Workplace Bingo Card has just got an update. So the team over at People Matters Global recently decoded 3 new trends reshaping the career landscape: doom jobbing, lily padding, and token maxing. So if you thought the quiet quitting was so last season, wait until you hear what our poor HR department is dealing with now. Poor HR. Yeah. So first, doom jobbing. Much like doom scrolling, this is the habit of anxiously and compulsively applying for jobs that you don't even want, fueled by economic paranoia and those dangerously easy one-click buttons. Wow. You know, I haven't applied for a job in, I reckon, 20 years, but I saw one on the weekend. Did you apply? Not yet. But the recruiter in me says, if I've waited this long, I'll probably miss the boat. But I half want it, so I'm going to— I just might. I might sneak and put one in this afternoon. Oh my God, do it. Yeah, be a bit of fun. Or if you don't do it, working for the man, like a bot or something. Yeah, easy, easy. So lily padding is the next one. What is that? Gen Z's deliberate strategy of rapidly hopping from job to job just to soak up skills and bounce. So apparently corporate loyalty is out and aggressive upskilling is in. Mm. I could see Bonnie doing that. Well, she's jumping from country to country at the moment. So she is, isn't she? So yeah, these bloody— who's approving the lead around here? Yeah, exactly. Not me. No one asks me anything. You're here with me. Yeah, they're in Euro. Okay. And then apparently the most tech bro term of the year, token maxing. This means aggressively maximizing your AI processing tokens to automate your workflow, effectively doing the job of a 5-person team, which you're doing here. Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Anyone working? Thank you. No worries. So doing the job of a 5-person team without even breaking a sweat. So whether you're doom jobbing on a Tuesday night or token maxing your spreadsheets, the common thread here is that adaptability, not permanence, is the ultimate career currency of 2026. Brilliant. Yeah, that token maxing, that, that term's only just probably come out in the last month, but it's getting— it's everywhere at the moment. Everyone's saying that they're— well, I think because the pricing models have been changing in AI and they're all aligned to tokens now. So people are spending a little bit bit more than what they thought they were, but is what it is. My next one is from LinkedIn. IKEA replaces 8,500 customer service roles. So, Kimi, IKEA has apparently replaced 8,500 customer service roles with AI. The company is now reportedly $1.5 billion US better off because of it. Wow. Before you throw your leftover Allen key through the local IKEA's window, here's the real mind-blowing bit. Ikea have not sacked anyone. They've retrained them. Oh, bless them. And they're great. So their customer service staff were moved into interior design advisory roles where human judgment, taste, and relationships actually matter. And that new service line is reportedly generated the $1.4 billion in revenue. There you go. So that's the bit that too many companies are missing, right? The AI story is not just replace people with bots and hope the share price bouncers. It's much smarter than that. Use AI to clear repetitive work. We know that. Redeploy humans into higher value work, then build services around things that people are still uniquely good at. That's the play. Now, we know that IKEA, of all places, is crazy that something like this could have happened. And but they've just given us the instruction manual for moving forward. And as a side note, just as a little bit of good news this week, Google Australia VP Melanie Silva stated that by 2030, AI will wipe out out 93 million jobs globally, but it will create 170 million new ones. Okay, so, well, my math— I'm mathin'. That's, that's good. Good. Yes, I suck on that, Lauren, you, you AI doomsdayer. Start doom scrolling. Yeah. All right, well, my last article is from People Matters Global again, and the title is The 2026 World Cup Productivity Sinkhole. Oh, Perfect timing. Absolutely. So let's talk about the biggest threat to corporate productivity right now. And no, it's not another pointless Teams meeting that could have been an email. People Matters Global just ran a piece pointing out that the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which started on the weekend and it's running through to July 19th, is about to blow a massive, a massive, massive $17 billion hole in the global business productivity. Can you believe that? Wow. $17 billion. Wow. $17 billion. But because people are just watching it, not working. So, yeah, well, I'll continue and it will, it will tell you why. So they flagged a new survey from UKG that polled 8,000 employees globally, and the results are absolutely brilliant. A whopping 37% of workers fully intend to adjust their working hours around the matches. More than a quarter openly admit to be rocking up late, knocking off early, or just chucking a sickie altogether. But there were a shout— there is a shout out to the brave 11% who plan to work hungover and 14% who confess that they'll secretly be streaming highlights during the workday. So before leadership starts cracking the whip, 42% of managers plan to take the day off to watch the games. And then 42% and 45% of managers will demand last-minute flexibility. So my, my advice to all the leaders out there, just embrace the madness. Chuck the telly on. With the match in the lunchroom, because whether you like it or not, the team is already watching it. It's interesting, isn't it? Like, I know that everyone is already jumping all over Australia after their first win. Yeah. Did you watch it? Yeah, I did. I think the good thing for Australia, though, you have 3 matches in the group phase and all 3 of ours are on the weekend though. So that's true. Bosses can be happy. Although I tell you what, there's other teams that I want to watch. So yeah, I'm glad my boss isn't here. I like that. Yeah. Because who are we playing next? USA. USA next Saturday. I think 5 a.m. whoo, just, I mean, you're either Friday night coming home, that's it, just kick through, just, yeah, force your way through. Hey, my last one today is from the Wall Street Journal, and they've got a bit blue, Kimmy. Oh, the backdoor references back. All right, we'll try to keep this clean. So companies have a new problem: AI has made every candidate look like an absolute absolute weapon. Flawless CVs, slick cover letters, interview answers smoother than silk sheets and poor decisions, and the whole thing's been buffed into a shiny shine— it was the silk sheets. The whole thing has been buffed to a shine by ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and recruiters can't tell who's real anymore. Their genius solution: go full MI5. Welcome back the backdoor reference. So forget the 3 glowing names you carefully picked. These are off the record calls to people you didn't list. The colleague you never put down, that manager you happily never speak to again. Recruiters are ringing them on the sly to find out what you're actually like when the AI polish wears off. And it works because it's gossip dressed up as due diligence. Your next gig now hinges on whether Dave from Accounts, who you nicked a parking spot off back in 1973, decides to be generous on a Tuesday afternoon. So we've come full circle. We've built machines to make hiring smarter, and the only thing companies now trust is some bloke's hot take. On the phone. Here's your thought for the night. You can fake a CV, but you cannot fake people who've actually worked with you. So you might want to start being nice to the pricks. Oh wow. I mean, I don't mind that. Well, I mean, just don't be a dick. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's number one motto. I think a lot of it's gone on whether AI was around or not. 100%. Because I mean, if you strip it all back, you're asking someone to give you people that they can contact to verify your background and you're only going to give them people who say nice things. Yeah, who like you. And particularly if you are going for another role in an industry that's tight and close. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everyone, right? Like, I work— I only recruit now for one company, right? And they always do off-the-record reference checks, particularly if they're coming from a competitor or someone in a similar field. Yeah. So it's, it's been around forever. Maybe people are using it as a weapon now to fight AI, but be careful out there because A, because I think it's illegal. I don't know. I thought it was. Yeah. Well, one, recruiter illegal. I don't know. Let's say it's illegal. But two, if you are a dick at work, it'll come back and bite you in the ass. Which, you know what? That's karma. Yeah, that's fine. But I would— I honestly would love to hear what some people would say about me. I'm sure it's all glowing. Do you want me to do it this afternoon? Yeah. You're going to be on again next week. Do you want me to go and do some backdoor references on you? I think it would— it would be very Interesting. But make sure you get their name because then I'll find where they live. Imagine if I ring Gaz and say, listen, I'm just doing a reference on Kimmy. Yeah. Tell us what you think. She won't hear it at all. What the fuck? She just started here and yeah, I bet she says some nasty, nasty stuff. Yeah, I don't think so. You know? No, I think it's all going to be amazing. All right. Well, fabulous. Watch this space. Shit. I'm scared. Hey, events. I've got a few and I haven't given you any to do so. But what I'm going to do is say now you've got an event you're attending next week, which could be pretty exciting. It is. Absolutely. It's the Tiara Awards, which is fabulous. And Probe CX, Probe Group, who I work for now, which is fabulous. So we are a finalist in the best use of technology and innovation. Well, we're very excited. I'm manifesting. You're manifesting. And I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thank you. I've got my outfit sorted already. Yeah, it's going to be a big night. Mm-hmm. At the event. So I've got Video My Talent Strategy Masterclass with the one and only James Allis, which is on Wednesday the 2nd of September in Melbourne. Must attend for people with responsibility for talent strategy and/or EB. Yep. So you can get search tickets on Humantics for that. The next Auckland Recruitment Meetup is tomorrow at 5:30 PM, hosted by Island Recruitment in the PwC Tower Commercial Bay in Auckland, sponsored by Checkmate, and it's The topic is trust and authenticity in recruitment, and you can reach out on the socials to Auckland Recruitment Meetup to get your tickets there. And finally, before we go, the ITAs— there's less than a week until the nominations close, so make sure you get them in. I know I checked recently, we're close to 100, which is amazing. We'd love to get quite a few more. So you'll be 102. Are you putting one in for yourself? Go on. Okay, sure. It's 103. So they close on Sunday, so make sure you get them in. And also, obviously, tickets are available right now. Kimi, thanks for joining us today. It was amazing. And you know what? You were so good. I think— would you like to come back next week? Absolutely. Wonderful. Thank you so much. All right, then. On that note, it's a goodbye from me. Ciao ciao.