On this episode, we're joined by William Underwood, Founder of Talent Brew - the CPG-focused recruiting and headhunting firm helping scaling beverage and food brands find the right talent through competitive-set focused outreach.
William breaks down what the CPG talent market looks like right now. With post-COVID reorgs, acquisitions, and layoffs, brands have historic access to exceptional talent, but many don't know how to vet or retain it.
We get into the roles trending up, from DTC and TikTok Shop managers to channel-specific account roles, and why AI fluency is becoming a must-have even though most CPG brands don't know exactly what that hire looks like yet.
We also dig into the hiring roadmap for scaling brands - who to hire first, and the common traps like chasing logos on resumes and inflating titles too early.
---------------
Episode Highlights:
🍳 From executive chef to CPG recruiter (the origin story)
🍺 Launching a beer-focused firm during the worst market since Prohibition
📊 Why it's a historic buyer's market for CPG talent right now
🛒 Roles trending up: DTC, TikTok Shop, channel-specific managers
🤖 AI fluency as an emerging (but undefined) hiring requirement
💸 The real cost of a bad hire (financial, emotional, mental bandwidth)
🎯 Competitive set focused recruiting (50-100 companies, 3 referrals per placement)
⚠️ The trap of chasing logos and inflating titles too early
🔥 "Fire in their belly, throwing elbows, and polish"
🏢 Culture = what your employees do that you don't talk about
🧹 How to fix a struggling culture (and when to fire fast)
👀 Brands he's watching: Recess, Trip, Go Brewing, Throne Sport Coffee
---------------
Table of Contents:
00:00 – Intro
00:44 – William's origin story (from executive chef to recruiting)
02:55 – Expanding from craft beer to broader CPG
03:50 – The current CPG talent market (buyer's market)
05:30 – Roles trending up right now
07:00 – TikTok Shop and ecom hiring challenges
08:31 – AI fluency in CPG hiring
10:22 – The real cost of a bad hire
11:45 – Smart hiring roadmap for scaling brands
14:00 – Common founder hiring mistakes (logos and titles)
15:55 – Generalist vs. specialist (and leveraging agencies)
17:00 – Competitive set focused recruiting explained
19:55 – Red flags when evaluating a recruiting firm
22:07 – Interview questions that actually work (go past tense)
25:02 – What brands want vs. what they actually need in a hire
26:36 – Ideal candidate profiles by revenue stage
29:00 – Building and maintaining company culture
33:20 – Brands and trends William is watching
35:00 – Where to find William and Talent Brew
---------------
Links:
Talent Brew – https://mytalentbrew.com/
Follow William on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-underwood-405677245/
Follow Talent Brew on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/mytalent-brew/
Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/
For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/.
Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.
