Author: Gabriela Quintela

We break down what recruiters are handing off to AI, what they’re keeping for themselves, and the reasoning behind their choices. Plus: the growing problem of AI screening AI-generated applications, and how to deal with it.

Trust is a word that gets thrown around in every leadership conversation, often without a real definition. Vanessa Ilieva, Project & Program Manager for IBM’s High Availability Center of Competency (HACoC) in Bulgaria, doesn’t let it stay vague. Leading resiliency engagements for IBM’s top 100 global clients, she believes that trust is built on character and competence — both elements must be present, and neither substitutes for the other. We spoke with Ilieva about what trust actually looks like day-to-day on a tech team, why she doesn’t think AI or flexible work have changed the fundamentals of building trust, and what makes Bulgaria’s tech talent pool distinct. TechTalents Insights: Can you…

Cover letters have always been a bit of theater: everyone performs boundless enthusiasm for a role they may have found ten minutes ago on a job board. Now that AI can generate a cover letter in seconds — often just to be read by an AI screener on the other end — the theater has only gotten more obvious. Lately, a wave of satirical, honest cover letters has been making the rounds online — the kind nobody would actually submit, but everyone wishes they could. We’ve gathered some of the best. We also added an example of how to actually use humour in your cover letter.…

From Spain’s team-first mentality to an underperformer’s redemption goal, here’s what football’s biggest stage teaches us about managing people.

In episode 29 of “Diary of a CHRO,” João Ricardo interviews Dónal McConnell, the founder and creator of ‪LeaderTools — a deck of 50+ actionable leadership cards, each one offering a specific framework for handling common situations and themes at work. McConnell’s path to building a leadership product wasn’t a direct one. “I have a kind of an unorthodox career path. So, I trained as a pharmacist originally, back in Ireland. So, I thought I’d be working behind a counter dispensing medicines,” he says. Instead, he took a different route: eight and a half years at IT company Viva Systems, where he started out selling IT solutions before moving into management. He grew his team to more…

In episode 28 of “Diary of a CHRO,” João Ricardo interviews Beata Sawicka, Head of Industry 5.0 Academy at Danone. She leads a global initiative preparing employees for an era of closer human-machine collaboration, and in this conversation, she shares how Danone is driving operational transformation through the digital upskilling of its workforce. “Industry 5.0 is the future. It is how we integrate the new technology with the human,” she says. Industry 4.0, by contrast, was about automation — doing things more efficiently and smoothly. “But 5.0 is what is waiting for us (…). The Academy (…) is upskilling, reskilling. We provide the content to the people, but everything is dedicated to the digital transformation — how to equip our…

Seems like our subscribers are having an exciting summer: chasing puffins in the Faroe Islands, glued to World Cup matches until 4 am, surfing, crossing Great Britain on a bike, or simply living their best life with a book and zero notifications. And their out-of-office messages are just as fun as their itineraries and activities. We’ve rounded up some of the best ones. Get inspired.

Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha became a football sensation during the World Cup. But behind the fairytale is coach Bubista, who built a fearless, motivated team that nearly sent reigning champions Argentina home early. Here’s what Cape Verde teaches tech leaders about cohesion, motivation, and the value of experience.

Tech hiring has gotten harder as AI changes which roles companies need. In this interview, Anders Persson, of the tech recruiting platform Jobshark, discusses why freelancing is gaining ground, which skills matter most for developers working alongside AI, and why human recruiters remain essential even as AI sourcing tools advance.

You’ve got two finalists. You prefer one, but you can’t quite say why. Is that gut feeling worth trusting — or is it bias in disguise? Telling the two apart starts with understanding how your brain actually works. We break it down.