What MAD//Fest confirmed about hiring

This year's MAD//Fest theme was 'The Human Touch', and it’s very pertinent right now across the industry because with everyone having access to so many tech and tools, the qualities that separate a good hire from a great one are getting harder to spot on a CV, and rarer to find, right when they matter most.

Curiosity is a commercial skill, not a soft one

Louis Theroux headlined this year, as you’d expect; the room was packed. I’m a massive fan of his and you can see the instinct he's built a career on. Sit with someone long enough, without judgement, and they'll tell you who they really are.

That's not a soft skill. It's a commercial one.

Data can tell you what happened with clicks, opens, and conversions. But it doesn't tell you why someone almost chose something else, or why one small detail changed their mind. Getting to the why takes someone willing to sit with not already knowing the answer, and I don't think enough businesses screen for it when they’re hiring.

I think about this every time I'm briefed on a role. The clients who describe what they need in terms of curiosity and judgement, rather than a checklist of tools, are the ones who by and large end up with the better hire.

Presence is the new professional edge

Paul C Brunson's session on 'holding space' made the case that active listening and trust aren't just relationship skills anymore. They're professional ones, and they're getting rarer.

With everyone holding the same AI tools, what's scarce is someone who can read a room, sense what isn't being said, and respond to it. That's true in a pitch meeting. It's just as true in an interview, and it's exactly the thing most hiring processes are built to filter past rather than for, because it doesn't show up in a keyword search of a CV.

Why DNA was on the ground

This is why we were there as the Official Talent Partner. We brought back whack-a-mole (a bit of a tradition now), but raised the stakes this year by giving away our first completely free hire: fully sourced, screened and placed, at no cost to the winning business.

If you stopped by the stand, had a go, and told us about a role you're struggling to fill, thank you.

The one thing worth optimising for

If MAD//Fest confirmed anything, it's that AI has taken the industry to the middle. It's fast, it's capable, and increasingly, it's everyone's. What it still can't do is tell you which idea is worth fighting for, or which candidate is worth the risk on a hunch. That's a people call, and it always will be.

This came up a lot at Cannes a few weeks earlier too so it’s an issue being felt right across the industry. If you're hiring right now, that's the thing worth optimising for: not tool proficiency, but curiosity, presence and judgement. The businesses getting that right are the ones who'll feel the benefit of everything else AI is promising them.

See you at the next one,

Ali Wallace

CEO, DNA Recruit