Recruiting in cybersecurity & AI: Relationships, what great candidates do, and fixing broken hiring processes

Thomas hosts the Cybersecurity Recruiter podcast with Spencer Grant, lead recruiter at 7AI, discussing recruiting realities, relationship-driven hiring, and how top candidates stand out.

Spencer describes his career path largely shaped by following a strong manager and emphasizes providing a “three-star Michelin” candidate experience. They outline traits of great candidates: depth of technical understanding (the “whys”), outcome-focused thinking tied to business ROI and honesty paired with curiosity.

Spencer critiques broken application processes and advises proactive outreach after applying, strong interview preparation - company research, coding/system design readiness - and asking substantive questions.

They discuss AI’s impact on jobs, valuing human touch over automated screening, and Spencer’s Meta layoff and contracting path back to full-time.

Book recommendation: “The Mental Game: Winning the War Within Your Mind.”

00:00 Welcome and wins

00:47 Recruiter reality check

02:21 Spencer career intro

04:06 Relationships over tools

08:29 What makes candidates great

14:06 Curiosity and learning fast

19:03 Hiring process mistakes

23:37 Manual recruiting over AI

26:37 High touch candidate experience

27:43 AI expands security jobs

29:35 Layoffs and market cycles

31:52 Rebounding after Meta layoff

34:16 Contracting as a strategy

35:01 Office osmosis learning

39:04 Culture and knowledge sharing

42:04 Mindset book recommendation

46:54 Final thanks and wrap