Matt Quinn-Johnston
Matt Quinn-Johnston
Senior Resource Manager, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure
For many talent leaders, recruiting is something they discover unexpectedly. For Matt Quinn-Johnston, the journey began with a very different career path.
As a teenager, Matt planned to become an engineer. He pursued engineering apprenticeships, attended assessment centers, and interviewed for technical roles. But interviewers consistently saw something else.
“The feedback was always great,” Matt recalls. “But they could see me in a people role rather than being a welder or doing CAD drawings.”
That feedback ultimately changed the direction of his career.
Instead of engineering, Matt entered a business and HR apprenticeship focused on helping organizations hire apprentices and build future workforces. It was his first introduction to talent acquisition, connecting candidates with opportunities and employers with the talent they needed.
From there, his career expanded across agency recruitment, in-house talent acquisition, retail, education, health and social care, experiential travel, and the highly specialized world of nuclear decommissioning.
Today, Matt brings more than a decade of talent acquisition experience across industries where hiring the right people can have a lasting impact on business performance and organizational culture.
Learning From Great Talent Leaders
Throughout his career, Matt has been influenced by leaders who helped shape his approach to talent acquisition.
One of those leaders is Natasha Harris, a global talent acquisition executive who demonstrated the power of building strong professional networks.
“She would walk into candidate briefing meetings and already know several people who could potentially fit the role,” Matt says. “It really showed me the value of building and maintaining relationships throughout your career.”
Another influential leader was Cherie Jenkinson, who introduced him to his first true in-house talent acquisition role in residential children's care.
Working in a high-volume assessment center environment, Matt learned the importance of getting the fundamentals right.
“She taught me the basics and how to do them properly,” he says. “Candidate experience starts with getting those fundamentals right.”
A third key influence was Laura Dungar, whom Matt worked alongside during a major hiring transformation project in the UK's nuclear sector.
The organization had spent nearly a decade with limited hiring activity before being tasked with bringing in approximately 500 new employees.
Together, they helped build a talent acquisition function from the ground up.
“We built the team, implemented a new ATS, introduced new processes, and created the candidate experience from scratch,” Matt says. “It was one of the most demanding but rewarding experiences of my career.”
Making AI Meaningful
As artificial intelligence continues reshaping talent acquisition, Matt believes the industry is still in the early stages of understanding its full potential.
While many organizations are experimenting with AI, he sees a clear distinction between using AI as a novelty and using it to create meaningful value.
“It's a lot faster than it used to be,” he says. “But I don't think we're using it to its full potential yet.”
For Matt, the real opportunity lies in improving both recruiter efficiency and candidate experience.
With many organizations receiving thousands of applications for individual positions, recruiters often struggle to provide personalized communication and timely feedback.
He believes AI can help solve that challenge.
“If we're using AI correctly, we can provide more meaningful communication to candidates, improve the experience, and make the process more efficient for employers,” he explains.
At the same time, he cautions against relying too heavily on generic AI-generated content.
Simply using AI to write job advertisements or automate messaging without adding value misses the point.
“The true value comes when people are educated on how to use it effectively,” he says.
The Impact of Great Hiring
What energizes Matt most today is seeing the long-term impact that hiring decisions can have on organizations.
Whether it's bringing in a sales professional who quickly drives business results or identifying a senior leader capable of transforming an organization's culture, he finds purpose in connecting the right people with the right opportunities.
“Culture is more important than numbers in a lot of situations,” he says. “The right person can completely change expectations and broaden the way an organization thinks.”
For Matt, great talent acquisition is about more than filling vacancies.
It's about helping organizations evolve, grow, and create environments where people can thrive.
Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026
As talent acquisition continues to evolve alongside AI, automation, and changing workforce expectations, Matt encourages leaders to stay curious and proactive.
“The people who will be left behind are the people who aren't using it,” he says.
But technology alone is not enough.
Success will come from combining innovation with human connection, leveraging AI to improve efficiency while maintaining the relationships, trust, and judgment that remain at the heart of recruiting.
By embracing change while staying focused on people, Matt Quinn-Johnston represents the kind of talent leader helping shape the future of recruitment across industries and borders.
