Welcome to "The People Factor," where we explore the role of the people function in driving business success. We dive into the strategies, tactics, learnings & failures from top organizations to drive strategic objectives impacted by the people function. Weekly, Thomas chats with industry experts and thought leaders about news, the latest trends and best practices related to develop an organization. Tune in to "The People Factor" to learn how to unlock the full potential of your team and organization.
#145 - Arpita Bagchi | How LuxExperience uses AI to make TA more strategic
Arpita Bagchi is Head of Talent Attraction at LuxExperience, where she leads global recruitment for Mytheresa, NET-A-PORTER and MR PORTER, with 600 to 700 hires a year across EMEA, APAC and North America. Before that, she held talent acquisition roles at Micron and zooplus, drove leadership development at Unilever in London and worked across HR business partnering and recruiting in India. Recognized with the HR40under40 award, Arpita focuses on skill-based hiring, AI-enabled recruiting and turning talent acquisition into a true strategic partner for the business.
Shownotes
00:00 - Intro & Arpita's journey from India to London and Munich
01:44 - How a talent development background shapes talent attraction
03:35 - Skill-based hiring and talent rubrics built with Gemini Gems
04:56 - Hands-on with LinkedIn Hiring Assistant: input equals output
13:00 - The start date predictor: realistic hiring timelines in Excel
16:56 - How TA becomes a strategic partner instead of a transactional function
20:34 - AI in the next 6 to 12 months and why recruiters won't be replaced
Guest Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpitabagchi/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpitabagchi/)
Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/)
Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com (mailto:thomas@pplwise.com)
pplwise: https://pplwise.com/ (https://pplwise.com/)
28 Oct 2026
#144 - Varun Dadlani | How Personio hires an AI-fluent workforce
Varun Dadlani is Head of Talent Acquisition at Personio, where he leads the global TA function across recruiting, employer branding, operations and enablement. At Netflix, he built an engineering hub from zero to 70 people in just eight months and set up the EMEA go-to-market team for the advertising business. At Uber, he rose from coordinator to the EMEA leadership team in five years. Varun focuses on scalable hiring, structured interviewing and building an AI-fluent workforce, bringing valuable insights into the future of talent acquisition.
Shownotes
00:00 - Intro & Varun's journey from Dropbox, Uber and Netflix to Personio
02:29 - How Personio assesses AI fluency in interviews
07:20 - AI slop and the new "AI admin tax"
11:48 - The TA operating model of the future: from transactional to strategic partner
14:09 - Which TA roles will change
_________________
Guest Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varundadlani/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/varundadlani/)
Thomas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-kohler-pplwise/)
Thomas e-mail: thomas@pplwise.com (mailto:thomas@pplwise.com)
pplwise: https://pplwise.com/ (https://pplwise.com/)
14 Oct 2026
#143 - Alexander Kohler | Von pplwise zum eigenen KI-Startup mit 21
Host Thomas Kohler interviews Alexander Kohler, CEO and Co-Founder of BidFix, about building an AI startup and achieving rapid growth through sales and recruiting strategies.
[…] So any one of these audiences would actually benefit from reading my book and thinking about their practical implementation side of it. The first one is executive leaders, you know, of which I supported many in my HR roles over the 20 years but I obviously was an executive leader myself. […]
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
