Tech Talent Drop - Edition 26

3 signals that move hiring this week

1) California becomes first state to regulate “AI companion” chatbots
What happened: California enacted rules aimed at limiting harms to minors from AI companion bots.
Why it matters: Trust & Safety, policy, and compliance headcount will rise across consumer AI; product and data teams will need new guardrails.
Try this: add a privacy & youth-safety review step to your launch checklist and route incidents through a designated owner.

2) WhatsApp clamps down on AI chatbots and outbound blasts
What happened: WhatsApp will ban general-purpose chatbots on its Business API (effective Jan 15, 2026) and is testing monthly send limits for messages without replies.
Why it matters: If your sourcing or candidate comms rely on WhatsApp in India/LatAm, expect deliverability changes and stricter opt-in hygiene.
Try this: map contingency channels (email/SMS/in-app), monitor reply rates, and align templates to WhatsApp’s policy buckets.

3) Google ships Gemini scheduling inside Gmail
What happened: A new “Help me schedule” feature suggests times from your calendar and inserts them into emails.
Why it matters: Faster screens and fewer back-and-forths; lean teams can shave hours from coordination.
Try this: pilot for recruiter phone screens and HM 1:1s, then compare time-to-schedule vs. your baseline.

AI Tool of the Week — ModernLoop (interview scheduling automation)

What it does: automates complex panel scheduling, balances interviewer load, syncs with ATS + Slack/Zoom/Calendar, and gives candidates a self-serve portal.
Why use it now: with Gemini’s scheduling in Gmail, this pairs nicely for end-to-end coordination.

Get started: wire it to your ATS (Greenhouse/Lever/Ashby/Workday), templatize loops, enable self-scheduling for screens; measure time-to-schedule and no-show rate for two weeks.

Hiring & Interview Insight — Assess for judgment (privacy + automation)

Run a 15-minute exercise:

• Part A: audit a prospect list for data-use issues (consent/age/region).
• Part B: decide when to pause or escalate an automated outreach or scheduling flow.

Score on: risk triage, documentation, and comms—not just output speed. (Pairs well with this week’s CA and WhatsApp changes.)

Funding Radar (Oct 13–19)

Use these as hiring signals—even if you’re not job-seeking, they’re future customers/partners.

• Oura — wearables/biometrics — $900M (growth round)
  Roles to watch: firmware, ML on device, mobile apps, manufacturing ops.

• Upgrade — consumer fintech — $165M (growth)
  Roles: risk modeling, data engineering, compliance, credit ops.

• Dexory — warehouse robotics — $165M (Series C)
  Roles: robotics SW, perception, mapping, logistics integrations.

• Lila Sciences — biotech tooling/AI — $115M (Series A extension)
  Roles: ML for science, data infra, lab automation.

• FleetWorks — trucking marketplace/logistics — $17M (Series A)
  Roles: marketplace backend, data, ML for dispatch/ETA.

On the watchlist: Wayve is in talks to raise $1–$2B from Microsoft/SoftBank at an ~$8B valuation (not closed). If it lands, expect competition for robotics, AV perception, and platform engineering.

Quick Bytes

• OpenAI pauses Sora MLK generations after “disrespectful” videos; expect tighter likeness and rights controls—more Trust & Safety/policy roles and content review workflows.

• DeepMind x fusion (ongoing energy push): more proof that AI scale hinges on affordable power—infra, reliability, and energy partnerships remain hot.

• Wikipedia traffic drops amid AI summaries/social video—SEO-led content funnels will have to adapt; developer docs and careers pages should emphasize structured data and clear citations.

What to do this week

• Channel risk check: if you message candidates on WhatsApp, review opt-ins, frequency caps, and template types; stage fallback channels.

• Speed up scheduling: pilot Gmail’s Gemini scheduling for screens + ModernLoop for panels; report deltas in time-to-schedule and drop-offs.

• Policy readiness: assign a DRI for youth-safety/privacy reviews on any AI-adjacent product or marketing workflow.
  

That’s all for this week’s Tech Talent Drop — stay informed, and see you next week!