“Talk to the Bot, Get the Job” — Monks’ AI Recruiter Is the New Interview Gatekeeper

Forget cover letters and corporate jargon. S4-owned Media.Monks is testing a different kind of first impression: WesleyBot, a chatbot recruiter modeled after co-founder Wesley ter Haar. Built inside ChatGPT with a custom 1,200-word system prompt, WesleyBot is designed to identify AI-savvy candidates by mimicking ter Haar’s tone — direct, witty, and Dutchly pragmatic. It quizzes candidates on their approach to AI with questions like “What’s an AI prediction that might age terribly?” and “How would you flip the creative process using AI?” Over 600 curious minds have already chatted with it, lured in by a targeted LinkedIn campaign aimed at poaching mid-to-senior AI talent.

But WesleyBot isn’t just a quirky front door. It’s a serious recruitment funnel. Behind the scenes, Monks uses Google’s Gemini and Workspace to analyze transcripts and resumes. Candidates are scored on traits like curiosity and resilience — what Monks calls “Monk-ness” — and sorted into Google Sheets for recruiters to review. The system is optimized for scale and could be rolled out to other roles. And it’s not just an HR stunt; it signals a cultural and structural shift. Ter Haar, now Chief AI Officer, is spearheading a move from siloed teams to cross-functional squads powered by tech, where creatives and technologists solve problems together in days, not weeks.

The broader implication? WesleyBot is part of Monks’ ambition to turn agency work from headcount-based to outcome-driven. They’re ditching the old “body shop” model and betting on AI-infused squads that can deliver computable work fast — and without needing to expand staff with every new brief. Ter Haar argues agencies need to treat AI as infrastructure, not just flashy tools, and that agentic systems like their Monks.Flow platform are the future. As clients seek more value and speed, Monks wants to be the shop that rewrites the rules — not just the copy.

Full story at Digiday.