Manpower's ransomware nightmare

+Job descriptions get real & healthcare AI takeover

Author

Keith Weightman
August 18, 2025

Signal Summary: A Michigan franchise just learned why cybersecurity matters the expensive way, job descriptions are finally ditching corporate gibberish, AI is transforming healthcare staffing while traditional firms scramble to catch up, and sometimes, address labels aren't the shortcut you think they are.

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All images hand-drawn with an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Procreate.

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK ↓

SIGNAL 1
Manpower franchise learns cybersecurity the hard way

The damage: RansomHub hackers grabbed 500GB of data from a Michigan Manpower franchise, exposing 144,189 people's sensitive info.

What got stolen:

  • Social Security numbers and passport scans

  • Confidential contracts and NDAs

  • Contact information and ID documents

  • Everything you don't want floating around the dark web

The timeline: Breach lasted from Dec 29 to Jan 12, discovered July 28, notifications sent Aug 12. That's some championship-level response time.

The silver lining: ManpowerGroup corporate systems stayed clean since franchises run independent platforms.

Signal → Strategy: Audit your cybersecurity now before becoming next month's cautionary tale.

SIGNAL 2
Job descriptions finally join the 21st century

Breaking: Someone figured out that "day-in-the-life" job descriptions work better than corporate word salad.

The shift:

  • Real scenarios instead of "other duties as assigned"

  • Actual daily workflows candidates can visualize

  • Authentic workplace culture glimpses

  • Specific task breakdowns that don't require a decoder ring

Why this matters: Candidates are tired of guessing what jobs actually entail from generic bullet points written by HR robots in 2003.

Signal → Strategy: Rewrite your top 10 job descriptions using "day-in-the-life" formats to stand out in the sea of corporate gibberish.

SIGNAL 3
Healthcare staffing goes full robot mode

The transformation: Healthcare staffing firms are shoving AI into everything faster than Gen Z abandons dating apps.

What's working:

  • Mobile-first platforms enabling real-time shift booking

  • AI-powered credentialing that doesn't take forever

  • Automated sourcing that actually finds qualified people

  • Self-service platforms reducing administrative nightmares

The reality check: While 200,000 nursing positions sit empty annually and physician shortages hit 86,000 by 2036, smart firms are using AI to solve sourcing puzzles their competitors can't crack.

The disconnect: Travel nursing down 12% in 2025, but per diem and local contracts holding steady. Locum tenens growing 6% because rural areas are desperate.

Signal → Strategy: Partner with AI vendors like Bullhorn to automate your credentialing bottlenecks before competitors steal your lunch.

RECRUITING CONFESSIONAL
Efficiency hack meets government paperwork

Recruiting Confessional A weekly series featuring anonymous stories from recruiting and staffing professionals. Submit yours here.

The Setup: Working at one of the largest staffing firms, doing light industrial placements. This was back when paperwork was all manual, and candidates came into the office to fill out onboarding forms in our back room.

The Disaster: Candidate walks up, hands me their paperwork: "I'm done." Checking their I-9, I notice they didn't actually write their information. Instead, they took an address label sticker and just slapped it right on the form.

The Aftermath: Had to appreciate the efficiency, but pretty sure the government wasn't going to consider that compliant. Had to explain why address labels don't count as legal documentation.

Have a story? Submit it here

SHARE THE SIGNALS
3 people you should share these signals with:

  1. Your IT director who thinks "password123" is secure enough

  2. That marketing person writing job descriptions like legal documents

  3. Your healthcare staffing buddy still using Excel for everything