I wouldn't worry too much about going to Brutal recruiting level if you've been successful at easier recruiting levels...It does make things a bit more difficult...and if it's not your cup of tea, you can change back any time you wish by going to Options and changing it there.
When Gary first created the recruiting difficult levels (HOORAY !!) 2 or 3 versions of DDSCB ago, Brutal was indeed B-R-U-T-A-L, but he's tweaked it and in CB18 and CB19 it works well. I feel that the level of difficulty for Brutal at this point is much closer to reality than any of the other 3 levels...but the human still has an advantage over the AI, just not as much as with the other 3.