A 32-year-old Brussels recruitment agency has won Belgium's Talent Business Innovation of the Year award - not by buying expensive AI platforms, but by asking a question most firms skip: what does ethical innovation actually mean?

Archetype's victory at the 2025 Talent Business Awards signals a shift in how the recruitment industry approaches artificial intelligence. Whilst tech-focused competitors race to automate everything, this family-run firm built a framework that puts ethics before efficiency, and people before process.

The win is particularly striking given the firm's size: six full-time staff competing against enterprise agencies with far deeper pockets. Yet their structured, thoughtful approach to AI implementation offers a blueprint for an industry grappling with how to adopt new technology without sacrificing its fundamental purpose.

How Archetype Built Its AI Ethics Framework: Three Steps to Responsible Recruitment Innovation

When Steve Diamant and his brother Davy joined their father Marc's business three years ago, AI tools were proliferating across the recruitment sector. But implementation was chaotic - different team members using different tools, no consistency, no oversight, and significant reputational risk.

"The tools are everywhere and very overwhelming," Steve explained. "They promise huge margins, but in practical implementation, it's going in all directions. One person is using AI like this, the other is doing it that way. You can risk your company's reputation in just an email".

Their response was methodical, breaking the challenge into three distinct phases that would eventually win them Belgium's top recruitment innovation award.

Step 1: Defining Innovation With Ethics at the Core

Rather than purchasing software, they held a half-day workshop to establish principles. They defined what innovation meant for Archetype: creativity and efficiency, yes, but never at the expense of the ethics and transparency that had sustained the business since Marc founded it in 1993.

"We believe it's still to put human in the central, to be centralised on human dimension and using technology the right way," Marc said.

Step 2: Building Critical Thinking Skills Before Adopting AI Tools

Before touching any technology, the team invested in capabilities. They developed critical thinking skills, creativity and curiosity - the human competencies required to use AI effectively.

"We have youngsters who can use AI, but they can't critique if the answer is actually the good one," Steve noted. "You have to develop critical thinking. So we've developed internally - and for our clients - how to teach the soft skills required to master AI".

This training extended beyond Archetype's walls. The firm now helps clients develop these same capabilities in their sales and management teams.

Step 3: Creating Marchetype - A Custom GPT Model for Recruitment

Only after establishing principles and building skills did they create tools. The centrepiece is "Marchetype," a custom GPT model - a clever blend of Marc's name and Archetype - accompanied by an ethical charter with non-negotiable rules:

Never input client data carelessly
Never accept the first AI-generated answer
Always take ownership of outputs
Use AI to challenge thinking rather than replace it

They redesigned their entire recruitment process, identifying precisely where technology adds value and where human judgement remains essential. The result: dozens of carefully crafted prompts for specific stages, from sales briefings to candidate integration.

The impact isn't measured purely in time saved. "Quality is too underestimated," Steve argued. "You spend time prompting intelligently, then you can deliver good quality on a larger scale. We've seen the quality go through the roof".

A concrete example: Steve recently handled 500 LinkedIn Easy Apply applications. Rather than sending generic rejections, he created targeted, empathetic messages explaining specific reasons for non-progression. Candidates replied thanking him - a rarity in recruitment. "They said 'thank you so much, we're annoyed of receiving automatic rejection letters,'" Steve recalled.

32 Years of Family Succession in Belgian Recruitment

The generational transition at Archetype reflects a broader challenge facing recruitment agencies: how to preserve what works whilst embracing necessary change.

From Founder to Mentor

Marc Diamant launched the firm after years as an employee, driven by what he calls "passion about humans". He built Archetype as a human capital consultancy specialising in sales, marketing and management talent - offering not just recruitment, but training and assessment services that create deeper, longer-term client relationships.

The transition from founder to mentor hasn't been entirely smooth. "Is it easy? No, because I have no choice," Marc admitted with characteristic honesty. "I have two fathers now, not two sons. But I'm motivated to adapt to the world of today and tomorrow. It's a chance for me".

Today, Marc focuses primarily on training - both for clients and internally. His 32 years of experience become a development resource for the team. "We are lucky to have Marc's expertise to train our internal talents and help grow our team," Davy said.

Bringing Digital Transformation to Traditional Recruitment

When his sons joined full-time three years ago, they brought complementary skills from outside the industry. Steve had worked in marketing, digital transformation and events; Davy spent a decade in sports media management across Europe and Asia. Crucially, both had worked as employees elsewhere before entering the family business.

"I was very happy when it came by their own choice," Marc said. The division of responsibilities emerged naturally. Steve handles marketing and commercial activities, Davy manages recruitment operations and the recruitment team, whilst Marc focuses on training. But they also learned from growing up around the business.

"Davy and I were born in it," Steve explained. "We were raised not only by learning manners and education, but at the table, Marc would come back from the office and passionately share stories on recruitment, management training, commercial development. We learned the job from the angle of education and ethics".

For Davy, the recognition validates their approach: "Being a 32-year company and winning the innovation prize is quite uncommon. It represents us perfectly - experienced, recognised for 32 years, but also aiming for the future whilst keeping our core and ethics".

Combining Training, Assessment & Talent Acquisition

Archetype's business model combines three interconnected services: recruitment, training and assessment. This integration creates competitive advantages that pure-play recruitment agencies struggle to replicate.

"We are enriched by doing all these services," Davy explained. "Last week I had an assessment for a commercial director. Of course it helps me when I recruit. Marc was doing training a few weeks ago, and he can give his expertise on what he sees from the market. We learn from all these areas, which makes us very relevant".

The firm works across all sectors - logistics, gas, automotive, cosmetics, manufacturing, FMCG, industry - rather than specialising in a single industry. "This opens our view and expertise," Davy said. "As recruiters, having an open mind is key. Sometimes agencies focus only in one sector, so they're limited in their knowledge".

This diversification provides crucial protection during economic uncertainty. "When there is a dip in one sector, another sector is booming and we are trying to follow this trend," Davy noted. Specialist agencies face existential threats when their target sector contracts; Archetype can pivot.

The approach also benefits candidates. "For sales, as long as you know the type of clients and sales cycles, you can work anywhere potentially," Davy argued. "You can switch sectors, and that's what we are passionate about".

Sales Team Transformation: Archetype's Integrated Consultancy Approach

Their ideal engagement now combines all three services to transform sales teams. "We see a lot of sales teams in transformation right now," Davy observed. "Many companies understand their sales teams are outdated and not future-proof - still working how it worked in the 20th century, but probably not how it works in the 21st century".

The process involves assessing existing talent against future requirements, training people to bridge skills gaps, and recruiting strategically for critical positions. It's consultative, high-touch work that doesn't scale easily - but that's precisely the point.

"We see more companies coming to us looking for a more complete offering and strategic advice," Steve said. "They're definitely not looking for tools or quick recruitment. They want a human approach where service is important".

This shift in client expectations is creating space for boutique agencies like Archetype to compete against larger rivals. Whilst enterprise agencies navigate bureaucracy and legacy systems, smaller firms can implement changes weekly. "We roll up our sleeves because we have the right ethics and the right mindset," Steve added.

The Generational Workforce Challenge: Managing 60-Year-Olds to Gen Z in Recruitment

The challenge is compounded by generational dynamics. As Davy noted: "We're in a time where there's the biggest age gap in the workforce in the history of business. You have 60-year-olds still very active, whilst you have 22-year-olds working, and you see a huge difference in mentality and expectations".

Younger candidates enter the workforce with more information and higher expectations than previous generations. "They live in a world where there's so much more information when they enter the workforce," Davy explained. "They come with more expectations because they're exposed to what's happening. Employers need to be more understanding".

But youngsters also bear responsibility. "They also need to be more humble and define better their career path," Davy added. "To be more relevant in their approach to finding a job".

Despite generational differences, Davy sees openness to feedback across age groups. "I see candidates that are very open to feedback. I treat with commercial directors that have 25, 30 years experience and they listen to my 35-year-old's feedback with pleasure because they understand I'm in contact with candidates all day".

Why Recruitment Agencies Must Lead Responsible AI Adoption

For Steve, recruitment agencies bear particular responsibility because "we're the entrance door to employment. We're at the forefront and should be leaders". Winning the innovation award, he believes, creates a platform to advocate for responsible AI adoption.

"We don't want to burn the reputation of recruiters. The reputation of the industry is up to us," Steve emphasised. "It's important we raise awareness about responsible and intelligent use of AI".

This sense of responsibility extends to how they use AI internally. Every output is owned by the person who sends it. "Never take someone who says, 'yeah, but it's AI you wrote it.' No, if you sent it to the client, you own it, it's your responsibility," Steve said.

Talent Business Innovation Award 2025: What Winning Means for Archetype's Growth

The award's immediate impact surprised them. "We received a lot of messages," Marc said. "People don't tell us every day they appreciate our work. That made me super happy".

Beyond recognition, the award validates their belief that small agencies can innovate as effectively as large competitors. "We saw the invitation to apply and we were already implementing AI," Steve recalled. "We wanted to win this prize because we want to be the one that carries this message. We want to have the responsibility of our sector in our hands".

More tangibly, Archetype is hiring two people - a consultant and a junior recruiter - at a time when many agencies are contracting. Their growth stems from sector diversification that protects them when individual markets decline, a reputation that generates demand even in slow periods, and commercial investments positioning them for 2026.

For Steve, the award represents validation of a longer-term vision. "Marc put so much effort into raising ethical, good people. That's been implemented in how we've trained everyone who's worked for Archetype and how we interact with every candidate. To continue this legacy and be 32 years old and win the innovation award - that's not a coincidence".

Davy sees it more simply: "This is only a beginning. We have to stay with this kind of spirit. That's what makes the difference".

Their success suggests that in recruitment's AI transformation, the winners won't necessarily be those who move fastest - but those who move most thoughtfully.

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About Archetype

Founded in 1993 by Marc Diamant, Archetype is a Brussels-based human capital consultancy specialising in recruitment, training and assessment for sales, marketing and management professionals across multiple sectors. The family-owned firm, now led by Marc alongside his sons Steve and Davy Diamant, works with companies of all sizes throughout Belgium and internationally. In 2025, Archetype won the Talent Business Innovation of the Year award for its ethical AI implementation framework.