How AI is cutting weak HR brands in iGaming. A guide from Luna Pastel Hiring: what founders should do to move away from “manual hiring”

AFFHUB is here, and today we’re talking about AI in recruiting. People who aren’t involved in hiring may think that AI has little impact on candidate search. But if you look at it from the inside, you can see that it’s already built into almost every stage.

Many people notice how routine tasks are being automated, communications are speeding up, and the pace is changing. In other words, it’s no longer something new — it’s basic operations. And companies that don’t adapt to this rhythm are noticeably starting to fall behind. Luna Pastel shared their thoughts on how AI affects hiring.

Luna Pastel Hiring is a boutique agency that treats hiring not as a recruitment task, but as a business process. This is critical in the iGaming industry: time is of the essence, the stakes are high, and every pause in hiring can cost a launch. At Luna Pastel, AI is already built into the process: it helps speed things up, eliminate routine tasks, and focus on accurate decisions.

We spoke with Victoria Secret (Head of Operations) and Anastasia Shcheglova (CEO of Luna Pastel) about how AI is truly changing the approach to hiring — and why it’s difficult to stay in the game without it today.

Tell people who are unfamiliar with recruitment issues. How is AI used in hiring and recruitment?

In short, AI permeates the entire hiring process today. It is no longer a new feature, but the norm.

On the one hand, there are AI agents that take care of communications, resume filtering, and initial candidate scoring. On the other hand, there is process automation, which eliminates routine tasks and allows the team to focus on strategy and in-depth analysis.

In iGaming, recruitment time is limited: the market is fast-paced and expectations are high. Therefore, AI helps to maintain the necessary pace without putting unnecessary strain on the team.

How global is the use of AI in recruitment? Is it more of a new approach, or already the norm in the market?

If you are in recruitment today without AI, it’s like you’re in a different reality. AI is already integrated into processes: it takes on dozens of tasks, from filtering and scoring to communication and analytics. Those who have learned how to work with it have accelerated. The rest simply haven’t noticed how they’ve started to fall behind. And the gap is growing.

Can companies do without AI now?

In theory, yes. But the question is not “can you,” but what you lose when you try without it. You can still do everything manually — flip through resumes, write follow-ups, build your funnel piece by piece. But while you’re busy doing that, others are simply closing deals with strong candidates faster.

AI sets the pace. And if you slow down, no matter how good you are, you’ll still be overtaken. So yes, formally, you can do without AI.

The question is: how long can you keep up this pace?

What is your direct experience with AI in hiring?

We started simple: we asked ourselves what of our processes could be delegated to LLM. We broke down the entire hiring process into stages, identified repetitive actions, and found a solution for each block that could be automated.

As a rule of thumb, if you do something more than three times in a row, it definitely shouldn’t be done by a human. Now AI handles most of our repetitive tasks.

Of course, this isn’t a “set it and forget it” story. We regularly tweak the pipeline, rebuild chains, and monitor hot spots. In essence, we stopped thinking like a recruitment agency and started thinking like a product.

And yes, the results are also tangible:

• up to 60% of repetitive tasks have been automated;
• Time-to-Hire — 21 days instead of 40–60 days on the market;
• 72% — conversion from interview to offer;
• higher LTV, lower CAC, +37% to productivity.

Our goal is not to increase the staff, but to build a system where fewer people work more efficiently, accurately, and quickly.

So, AI is a top assistant. But many people have the impression that artificial intelligence will take their jobs away over time. So, will AI take away recruiters’ jobs?

Let’s be honest: it will. And it already is. It used to seem that the more people on the team, the better the results. Today, it’s the opposite.

Our KPI is:

The less manual work, the stronger the team.

Those who simply forward resumes and chase feedback will be the first to go.

Those who understand the business, think strategically, and use AI as an amplifier rather than a toy will remain.

But many have not yet understood this. They live under the illusion that their role is untouchable. And while they sit with their hands in Excel, the market has already moved on. I see this every day.

Recently, the founders came to me:

“Find us some ML developers, we’re expanding the team.”

And now I come to them and hear:

“We’re not hiring anymore. We’re firing people.”

Now the focus is on the core. On those who can cover the maximum with the minimum of resources. Teams are shrinking, and everything that is repetitive is being automated. And this is not a threat. It’s just a new environment. If you’re a recruiter, ask yourself:

Am I enhancing the process or just maintaining it?

If the latter, your chance of being replaced is not in the future. It is now.

Will the role of humans be completely eliminated?

No. But it will definitely be reduced. AI is already reducing routine tasks, speeding up processes, and lightening the load on teams. But it is not yet possible to completely remove humans from the equation.

There are still areas that AI cannot handle:

• people management
• strategy and planning
• non-standard thinking
• quick decision-making in uncertain conditions

Everything that is repetitive can be automated. Everything that requires flexibility and context remains with humans.

The market is moving towards compact teams with a strong core and competent integration of technologies.

Which areas of recruitment will remain relevant even in five years’ time, when AI becomes even more powerful?

In short, everything that requires depth and human contact will remain.

AI is already confidently handling routine tasks: it helps find, filter, analyze, and build processes. But this is mechanics. It scales well, but it cannot replace what is based on personal interaction.

The role of the recruiter will shift toward strategy, business understanding, and the ability to find the right people through personal connections and networking. It is important not just to “fill the vacancy,” but to understand why it is open, what task it solves, and who is really suitable. AI cannot do this yet.

Those who know how to competently implement neural networks will remain: automating chains, reading funnels, tweaking weak spots, and strengthening analytics. 

The rest will be automated. And that’s not scary.

What is scary is not noticing how you continue to do manually what could have been handed over to AI long ago. Instead of focusing on what is important — strategy, people, and hiring quality.

Can AI harm the work of recruiters if used incorrectly?

Yes, it can. And it already does.

AI is not a magic button. Without a strategy, automation turns into chaos. We often see companies starting to “tinker with neural networks” without understanding why and where. The result is a mess of processes, blurred roles, a drained budget, and a loss of team trust.

The second pitfall is blind faith that AI knows everything. Can’t write a normal prompt? Well, okay, let it write what it writes. Then we get crappy results: template texts, the wrong tone of voice, random hallucinations. No one rereads, checks, or adapts. And then they wonder why everything is off target.

AI is a tool, not an independent author. It won’t build a funnel for your business, choose the right wording for your audience, or know who you’re looking for if you don’t know yourself.

The third mistake is trying to replace people instead of empowering them. If recruiters feel that their role is reduced to “pressing a button and waiting for magic,” engagement and results disappear.

At Luna Pastel, we have put together an internal AI tool for ourselves: one system prompt and separate threads for each area of responsibility.

Everything is tailored to the task, with context and in the right tone. The team doesn’t waste time experimenting with wording. They get the desired result from the first request.

This approach not only speeds up the work, but also provides consistent quality — without downtime and constant adjustments.

Can AI kill weak HR brands in iGaming?

Yes. But not on its own. It all depends on whose hands it is in. AI speeds up processes. And if you have a mess inside, it will just show it faster. A weak offer, a toxic culture, unstructured communication — all of this will surface before you have time to come up with an explanation.

Many people start implementing AI without understanding how it should work — without structure, without approach, without clear prompts.

As a result, they get texts without meaning, without tone, without context. And then they wonder why everything went wrong.

At Luna Pastel, we took a different approach. We created our own AI product that connects at the interview stage. It analyzes speech, facial expressions, and behavior — and highlights where there may be red flags.

It helps you notice things that are easy to miss, especially if you have five interviews a day and your focus is already blurred.

It doesn’t do the work for the team, but it provides insurance where humans might fail. That’s why everything we do with AI works: because first comes the mind, then the tools.

How does this work in practice? 

Actually, we have a case study that explains this in practice. 

What happened:

We started as a recruitment agency that simply implemented AI automation into processes.

But at some point, we realized that even the most powerful tools on the market do not solve the key problem — the lack of objective data on candidate behavior.

What we did:

We launched the internal development of our own AI product — Luna Pastel Tech Behavioral Analyzer. This tool analyzes the speech, voice, and facial expressions of candidates during interviews and provides a probabilistic assessment of whether there are signs of insincerity, nervousness, or evasion of questions.

Our CTO, with experience in creating complex neural architectures, worked with the team to build a pipeline that allows HR teams to see what is usually hidden.

The result:

From the first pilot implementations, the product:

• Improved hiring quality: early churn fell by 27%
• Provided managers with a decision-making tool based on data rather than guesswork
• Became a breakthrough point in Luna Pastel’s positioning: we are no longer just an agency, but a company that sets market standards

Conclusion:

AI is now like a separate team member in each block. It is integrated into the operating system, into processes, into routines that used to be done manually. Now it is difficult to imagine how to run a business without it. It saves too much time, effort, and resources. Most importantly, it frees the team from mechanical tasks so that they can dig deeper, look for non-standard solutions, and not get bogged down in repetitive work.

We have long gone beyond the scope of a classic agency. We work within the logic of business, understand its tasks, and speak the same language. Therefore, at some point, it became clear that we needed our own product. We made it. And soon it will be available to a wider audience. Stay tuned for news.

If you are currently looking for people or work, visit the Luna Pastel website and our Telegram channel. Follow us LinkedIn and on Victoria and Anastasia’s social media accounts.

This is AFFHUB Media. Work smarter. And ROI to all!