Hiring in the Age of AI
A practical guide to recruitment in ecommerce and DTC - written for hiring managers and candidates.
6 stages · ~15 min read
WHAT'S YOUR GOAL?
This guide flips between two views. Choose the one that fits you.
Guide to Hiring in an AI World
If you're scaling a brand, the people you hire can make or break your growth, so it's one of the most important things to get right. AI can help with a lot of it, as long as you use it in the right places.
This guide walks through each stage of the recruitment process, from writing the brief to making the offer. For each stage we cover where AI is worth using and what to watch out for.
Our view is that AI should support your hiring decisions, not make them for you. That also keeps you on the right side of fairness. An algorithm screening out candidates on its own is where discrimination risk creeps in, so keep a human involved wherever a decision affects someone's chances.
We recruit for scaling ecommerce and DTC brands including Oner Active, Cowshed, Hera, The Beauty Crop, Wonderskin and Lapland, and our approach has always been people first.
Brands we've recruited for
Planning
AI earns its keep at the planning stage. Cost and headcount modelling gives you a fast budget sense-check. Drafting tools turn rough notes into a workable brief and advert in minutes - consistent format, SEO-friendly, ready to edit.
Rubbish in, rubbish out. Budget models are only as sharp as the numbers you feed them, and AI-drafted briefs miss the nuance of the role and your culture. Treat the output as a first pass, then edit hard for the specifics that make your brand yours.
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Further reading
How this looks in practice
Oner Active - scaling senior leadership
How we built a long-term partnership placing leaders across Product, Data & Performance Marketing.
Read →
The Beauty Crop - who to hire first
Helping a growing beauty brand work out the sequence of hires that unlocked their next stage.
Read →
Lapland UK - first COO appointment
Executive search for a first-time COO role at one of the UK's most distinctive experience brands.
Read →
Work With Us
Hiring for your ecommerce or DTC brand?
If you're hiring at an ecommerce or DTC brand and want recruitment support that understands the category and the tooling, that's exactly what we do. We've placed talent at Oner Active, Sculpted by Aimee, Hera, The Beauty Crop, Wonderskin, Lapland and more.
The Growth Foundation Talent Team