SETsquared Innovation Insights: Hiring Smarter in 2025 - Talent Landscape, University Pipelines & Diversity That Delivers

Finding and keeping the right people is one of the biggest challenges facing founders today. Whether you’re making your first graduate hire or looking to diversify your growing team, getting talent decisions right can be the difference between momentum and missed opportunity.

In this one-hour lunchtime session, Alan will share practical insights drawn from working with hundreds of venture-backed startups across the South West and beyond. The webinar will cover three key themes:

1. The Talent Landscape in 2025 – what’s drawing candidates in (and pushing them away), and how startups can compete without over-hiring.

2. University & Emerging Talent – how to attract graduates, post-grads and PhDs; framing roles so they resonate; demystifying startup life.

3. Practical Diversity – simple, founder-friendly steps to design fairer hiring processes, write better specs, and make stronger, more inclusive hires.

The session will close with a live Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask specific questions about their own hiring challenges.

Speaker

Alan Furley, Co-founder of ISL Talent
Alan runs ISL Talent, a specialist recruitment and talent partner for venture-backed startups. He helps founders hire well—from their first engineers and product leaders to commercial and executive roles. Alongside ISL’s hands-on recruitment work, Alan advises startups on role design, salary benchmarking, and inclusive interview processes. He has supported organisations including members from SETsquared and Science Creates, and delivered workshops to the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Shott Scale-Up programme.

Who should attend

Founders, leadership teams, and talent leads at early-stage and scaling startups (pre-seed to Series B).