About this episode

Adam Yee interviews Nicole Gallace about the impact of AI on hiring in the food industry and offers advice for young professionals.

Adam sits down with Nicole Gallace, Talent Solutions Manager at FoodGrads and Careers in Food, who founded FoodGrads back in 2016 and has spent 20+ years recruiting across the food and beverage world. A decade after Nicole gave Adam his very first platform, the two reconnect for a wide-ranging, freeform conversation about how much has changed — and what still matters. They dig into the real state of hiring in food manufacturing: the post-COVID swing from frontline roles back to skilled trades and professionals, the scramble for electricians and millwrights, and why "become a plumber" isn't advice that fits everyone. From there it's all AI — the hopeful-but-unsure businesses experimenting with ChatGPT and Claude, the pushback from young people who don't want a machine handing them the answers, and Adam's case for becoming "tech curious" as the real job-security skill. Along the way: AI-perfected resumes and the interviews that expose them, the em dash as an AI tell, smart glasses on the factory floor, and why the skills that don't get automated — communication, storytelling, critical thinking, showing up in person — are about to matter more, not less. They close on the human…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Yee

Guest: Nicole Gallace

Topics covered

• AI in hiring
• food industry
• career advice
• job security
• personal branding
• communication skills

Keywords

• AI
• hiring
• food industry
• career advice
• job security
• communication
• personal branding
• FoodGrads

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FoodGrads, Careers in Food, ChatGPT, Claude, That's a Food Job

More episodes of My Food Job Rocks!

• The Food Scientist Who Founded a Biotech Company with Laura Katz, Founder and CEO of Helaina · August 27, 2026 · 59 min
• Why Restaurants Live and Die By Their People with Christine Marvin, Founder of Columbine Hospitality · August 13, 2026 · 54 min
• What Adam Is Doing With His Life: An Interview with Nathan Schmidt on The CPG Level Up Podcast · July 30, 2026 · 1h 4m
• My Food Job Rocks Every Other Week · July 23, 2026 · 5 min

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