Recruiting for alt protein: Q&A with Teresa Romanovsky
Teresa Romanovsky • September 13, 2023
Our Founder and Director of Opportunities, Teresa Romanovsky, was featured by Australia's only dedicated alternative protein news platform, Future Alternative, on the talent landscape in this rapidly growing sector.
Read the article here
A Sobering Reality Check Australia’s emissions reduction report card is in, and it makes for uneasy reading. Strip away land use changes, and national emissions have dropped just 3% since 2005. While federal targets remain focused on achieving net-zero by 2050, progress is painfully slow across energy, transport, and industrial sectors. Politicians may debate policy, and analysts may point to infrastructure bottlenecks, but there’s a more human variable we urgently need to talk about: talent. Could the decarbonisation lag be less about ambition and more about our inability to scale the workforce to match?
Welcome to the Automation Dilemma AI has officially moved from speculative buzzword to standard tool in the hiring process. From screening CVs to scheduling interviews and even conducting first-round assessments, AI promises efficiency, objectivity, and speed. But as recent headlines show, the automation of recruitment may come at a cost we’re only beginning to understand. In the past fortnight alone, Workday was ordered to face legal action in the US over allegations that its AI-led hiring discriminated against applicants. And in Australia, deepfake job applicants have infiltrated the remote workforce, raising red flags about identity verification. So the question isn’t can AI replace recruiters. It’s should it?
A Scientific Milestone, A Talent Wake-Up Call When Sydney-based alt-protein startup Vow secured regulatory approval for its cultured quail product from FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand), headlines rightly celebrated the scientific milestone. But behind the slick bioreactors and media buzz lies a less discussed, yet equally vital question: who will build, scale, and commercialise this new frontier of food production? For purpose-led businesses working at the cutting edge of sustainability, this approval is more than a win for cellular agriculture. It’s a signal that Australia’s alt-protein sector is maturing - and the race for specialised talent is on.