Dig In: Adam Talks to His Recuiter with Richard Herbert, President of Helix Executive Recruiting

·1 hr 9 min·5 clips

Adam Yee reveals how a recruiter lured him to Motif Foodworks, a secretive company engineering cow blood that raised millions before collapsing.

In this episode of My Food Job Rocks, host Adam Yee introduces a new segment called Dig In, focusing on specific industry topics rather than career paths. He interviews Richard Herbert, president of Helix Executive Recruiting, who recruited Adam for his role as a meat application scientist at Motif Foodworks. Adam recounts the recruitment process, including his initial insecurities about lacking a PhD and the company's secretive nature, which involved bioengineering cow blood. Herbert describes his firm's retained search model, emphasizing consultancy over transactional recruiting, and shares his background starting in telecommunications during the dot-com era before moving into biofuels and food tech. They discuss the nuances of recruiting for startups, including the importance of understanding commercialization challenges. Herbert criticizes venture capitalists for poor due diligence in food tech, driven by FOMO, and links it to sector downturns. The conversation shifts to job-seeking tactics, with Herbert advocating for direct outreach to hiring managers and leveraging networks over passive applications. He also addresses negotiation for executives, noting that equity is less valued now compared to base compensation. Adam and Herbert explore the current funding environment, touching on AI and carbon capture, and Herbert observes a slightly more optimistic vibe in early 2025. The episode concludes with Herbert's advice for laid-off R&D professionals to take breaks and reassess their identities.

As heard by us

A recruiter revisits a food-tech hire as Adam Yee looks back on the doubts that followed.

Adam Yee uses his conversation with recruiter Richard Herbert to trace how one food-tech career move came together, then lets the story open into something more personal.

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Why you'd press play

You want a candid back-room look at how Adam landed at Motif Foodworks through recruiter Richard Herbert, with the insecurity and reassurance left in.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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