Rebecca Lee
Rebecca Lee
Group Talent & Development Director, Safetykleen
Like many leaders in talent acquisition, Rebecca Lee did not originally plan to build a career in recruiting.
In fact, her journey began after university, where she found herself entering the workforce from what she describes as a relatively disadvantaged educational background before unexpectedly discovering her path into recruitment.
Her first role after university was with an engineering recruitment agency, where she initially entered the world of agency recruiting.
After just a few months, she transitioned into a second organization specializing in technical and IT recruitment.
That role quickly became a turning point in her career.
Very early on, Rebecca developed a strong relationship with one of her clients—an internet service provider—and successfully transitioned herself into an in-house position.
“I managed to outsource myself to one of our clients,” she explained, describing the move that ultimately launched her long-term in-house talent acquisition career.
More than 20 years later, she has remained in talent leadership, building expertise across recruitment transformation, high-volume hiring, employer branding, talent strategy, and workforce planning.
From Agency Recruitment to Talent Leadership
Rebecca’s early experience in agency recruitment gave her a strong foundation in technical hiring and relationship management, but it was her move into in-house talent acquisition that ultimately shaped her leadership journey.
Over the course of her career, she has held senior leadership roles across major organizations and has become particularly recognized for her work in large-scale talent transformation and student recruitment strategy.
One of the defining moments in her recent career came while leading student recruitment for one of the world’s largest graduate employers.
At the time, her organization was managing approximately 3,000 student hires annually alongside massive application volumes.
It was during this period that the rapid rise of AI tools like ChatGPT began fundamentally disrupting recruitment processes.
Rebecca described the moment as a “tsunami of disruption” that organizations were not fully prepared for.
That experience pushed her to deeply examine how AI was impacting candidate behavior, recruitment integrity, and process vulnerability within high-volume hiring environments.
Leading Through AI Disruption in Recruitment
As AI-driven applications rapidly increased, Rebecca focused heavily on governance, fairness, and risk management within recruitment workflows.
She explained that her team conducted extensive analysis into the vulnerabilities created by AI-enabled applications and identified dozens of risk points across the recruitment process.
Her focus became ensuring that hiring processes remained equitable while also protecting organizations from misuse of AI during candidate assessments and applications.
For Rebecca, this period highlighted both the immense opportunity and significant risks associated with AI in talent acquisition.
While she is a strong advocate for AI adoption, she believes organizations must approach implementation thoughtfully and responsibly.
In particular, she expressed concern around the growing use of AI for candidate shortlisting and selection.
According to Rebecca, inexperienced recruiters using AI-driven shortlisting tools without sufficient governance can introduce bias, compliance risks, and potential discrimination issues into hiring processes.
She pointed specifically to emerging legal challenges and lawsuits tied to improper AI use in recruitment decision-making.
Where AI Creates the Most Value
Although cautious about AI-driven selection processes, Rebecca is highly optimistic about AI’s broader potential within talent acquisition.
She sees the strongest opportunities in areas such as:
Talent attraction and employer branding
Workforce planning and demand forecasting
Talent pooling and pipeline development
Predictive analytics and onboarding success metrics
Recruitment data analysis and process optimization
Rather than replacing human judgment, she believes AI should support smarter workforce strategy and better long-term talent outcomes.
She is particularly interested in how AI can help organizations connect hiring decisions with employee success during the first 30, 60, and 90 days of onboarding.
For Rebecca, the future of AI in recruiting lies in augmentation—not automation of decision-making.
At the same time, she strongly believes organizations must establish clear AI governance frameworks and communicate transparently with candidates about how AI is used during the hiring process.
Leadership Influenced by Purpose and Transformation
Throughout her career, Rebecca has been shaped by leaders who challenged her to think beyond traditional career boundaries.
One of the most influential was Stanton Brown, whom she worked with during her time at Transport for London.
Rebecca described him as a transformational leader who constantly encouraged her to think about long-term impact and purpose.
She recalled one conversation in particular where he asked her a simple but powerful question: “What’s your purpose?”
That moment fundamentally shifted how she thought about leadership and professional contribution.
She also highlighted Jennifer Candy as a major influence, particularly for her expertise in employer branding and her strong support of women within talent acquisition leadership.
Another leader she admires is Nerida, whom she describes as highly transformational, energetic, and deeply respected within the recruiting profession.
The Future of Talent Acquisition Is Becoming “Talent and People”
Rebecca believes the talent acquisition function itself is evolving rapidly.
In her view, the traditional boundaries of TA are beginning to disappear as organizations increasingly integrate recruiting, talent management, leadership development, and broader people strategy into unified functions.
She sees many talent acquisition leaders transitioning into broader chief people officer and talent leadership positions.
According to Rebecca, the future of the profession is no longer just about recruiting.
It is about shaping talent ecosystems, workforce capability, and long-term organizational strategy.
Advice for Talent Leaders in 2026
As the industry continues adapting to rapid technological change, Rebecca encourages talent leaders to balance innovation with governance and human oversight.
Her advice includes:
Building strong AI governance and compliance frameworks
Prioritizing fairness and equity in hiring processes
Using AI to strengthen workforce strategy rather than automate judgment
Investing in predictive analytics and talent intelligence
Remaining transparent with candidates about AI usage
Expanding beyond traditional TA into broader talent and people leadership
For Rebecca Lee, the future of recruiting will belong to leaders who can successfully combine innovation, governance, workforce strategy, and human-centered leadership in an increasingly AI-driven world.
