In a tight labour market, employers can’t afford slow, unclear hiring - yet moving fast without fairness creates risk, bias, and damage to your employer brand.

In this episode of the HRchat Podcast, Bill Banham welcomes Stuart Potter, Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and contributor to digital skills initiatives supporting SMEs, to explore the real-world use of AI, automation, and employer branding in modern hiring.

Ahead of the Peterborough AI Summit at ARU, Stuart shares where AI can genuinely add value in HR and recruiting - such as screening support, scheduling, assessments, and candidate communication - and where human judgement must remain in charge. Stuart also shares simple, practical guardrails for ethical AI: disclose AI use, keep people as final decision-makers, and audit outcomes for bias.

We also discuss how automation is reshaping early career pathways, what graduates need to prove now that entry-level “busywork” is disappearing, and how employers can attract emerging talent by showcasing mentorship, growth, and meaningful work.

If you want a smarter, fairer hiring strategy that strengthens trust and improves conversion, this episode delivers a step-by-step blueprint—including a 90-day employer branding action plan you can start immediately.

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