The Recruiting Future Podcast

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The Recruiting Future Podcast A weekly podcast dedicated to innovation and futurology in recruitment and HR.

Predictions are everywhere. But it’s trends that actually matter.Making sense of talent acquisition right now feels impo...
02/01/2026

Predictions are everywhere. But it’s trends that actually matter.

Making sense of talent acquisition right now feels impossible.

Every week brings new technology announcements, shifting economic signals, and conflicting advice about what comes next. It’s tempting to rely on gut instinct or chase the latest headline, but reactive decision-making rarely leads to good outcomes.

Understanding key patterns helps separate signal from noise. This is where real trend analysis, grounded in data, becomes invaluable.

My guest on Episode 756 of Recruiting Future is Susan De La Vega, SVP Global Tech and Client Experience at Korn Ferry. Korn Ferry has just released its 12th annual TA Trends Report, based on interviews with over 1,600 global talent leaders. Susan shares what the research reveals about where talent acquisition is heading and how leaders should respond.

We discuss:

• The biggest TA challenges of the past year
• Methodology behind the Korn Ferry Trends Report
• How attitudes to AI are evolving
• Why your next hire might not be a person
• The importance of understanding work at the task level
• Investing in future talent pipelines
• Whether TA is any closer to a seat at the table
• Breaking down silos in the talent function
• Advice for TA leaders planning for 2026
• What talent could look like three years from now

🎧 Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

Automation is everywhere. Authenticity isn’t.AI has transformed what’s possible in recruiting automation. But that doesn...
31/12/2025

Automation is everywhere. Authenticity isn’t.

AI has transformed what’s possible in recruiting automation. But that doesn’t mean it’s being done well.

Some TA teams are flooding inboxes with generic, obviously AI-generated messages that all sound the same. Others are avoiding automation entirely, afraid of losing the human touch that actually fills roles.

Meanwhile, brand, reputation, and real relationships have become the real competitive edge — and the key to driving response.

My guest on Episode 755 of Recruiting Future is Mark Whitby, host of The Resilient Recruiter podcast. In our conversation, Mark shares a grounded view on what to automate, what to protect, and why credibility and consistency will define the future of recruiting.

We discuss:

• The current state of automation in recruiting
• Where it’s going wrong and what’s holding it back
• What must remain human in the hiring process
• Personalisation, relevance, and multi-channel strategy
• How recruiters can build trust in a noisy market
• The role of brand and long-term relationship building
• How AI could reshape the recruiter’s role
• What the future might look like

🎧 Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

AI is moving fast. The market is cluttered. What’s the bigger picture?The pace of change in talent acquisition is relent...
30/12/2025

AI is moving fast. The market is cluttered. What’s the bigger picture?

The pace of change in talent acquisition is relentless.

AI development. Tech consolidation. Shifting candidate behaviours. A marketplace full of overlapping tools and promises. It’s no wonder the whole thing feels chaotic.

But when you zoom out, the patterns start to emerge. There are signals in the noise if you know where to look.

My guest on Episode 754 of Recruiting Future is Adam Godson, General Manager of Paradox at Workday. Adam brings a wide-angle view on how the talent tech landscape is evolving and what Workday’s recent acquisition of Paradox signals for the future.

We talk about the agentic future, the role of end-to-end data, and whether candidates might soon have their own career agents. We also revisit the predictions Adam made on the show this time last year and explore what could be coming in 2026.

We discuss:

• How Adam’s 2025 predictions held up
• What Workday’s acquisition of Paradox means for the market
• The potential of agentic AI
• Why lifecycle data matters more than ever
• How frontline hiring has evolved
• What’s driving AI development in talent
• Whether candidates will soon have their own agents
• Navigating the crowded TA tech ecosystem
• Predictions for 2026

🎧 Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

Top candidates aren’t just hard to find; they are also easy to lose.Despite a tough economy and widespread layoffs, hiri...
29/12/2025

Top candidates aren’t just hard to find; they are also easy to lose.

Despite a tough economy and widespread layoffs, hiring exceptional executive talent remains a challenge. And many employers are making it harder than it needs to be.

Overlong interview processes, unclear messaging, poor candidate experience, and persistent age bias are pushing away exactly the kind of experience businesses need. With one in four workers projected to be over 55 by 2031, this is a risk talent leaders can’t afford to ignore.

The best way to understand what’s broken is to look at it from the candidate’s perspective.

My guest on Episode 753 of Recruiting Future is Loren Greiff, Founder of Portfolio Rocket and a career strategist for C-Suite executives. Loren shares how top candidates assess roles, what builds or destroys trust, and how the process itself often filters out the best talent.

We discuss:

• The current state of the executive hiring market
• How candidates cut through noise and assess fit
• Identifying urgent, expensive problems that attract talent
• Where trust is gained and lost in the process
• The hidden cost of age bias
• AI’s role in executive job search behaviour
• Advice relevant to TA leaders navigating their own careers
• What the future could look like

Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

Skills. Tasks. Jobs.We use these terms interchangeably, but they mean very different things.As AI changes the way work g...
23/12/2025

Skills. Tasks. Jobs.
We use these terms interchangeably, but they mean very different things.

As AI changes the way work gets done, that distinction is becoming critical. Without clear job architecture and taxonomies, it’s impossible to make smart decisions about automation, augmentation, or the future shape of your workforce.

In Episode 752 of Recruiting Future, I spoke to Ben Zweig, CEO of Revelio Labs and author of the new book Job Architecture. He explains how companies can build taxonomies cost-effectively using LLMs and why this foundational work is essential for making AI deliver real value in the workplace.

We discuss:

• Why grouping people is the foundation of effective HR analysis
• The difference between skills, tasks, and jobs
• Why AI automates tasks, not jobs or people
• How to build taxonomies cheaply and at scale
• Why getting this right matters for workforce planning
• A three-part framework for assessing AI-driven job displacement
• What the future could look like for TA and HR

Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcast

Is the recruiting funnel broken?Uncertain economic times, widespread layoffs, and easy access to AI tools mean many empl...
22/12/2025

Is the recruiting funnel broken?

Uncertain economic times, widespread layoffs, and easy access to AI tools mean many employers are facing an unprecedented flood of applications.

Recruiters are overwhelmed. Candidates are getting ghosted. And trust in the process is starting to break.

Are TA teams doing enough to ease the pressure at the top of the funnel? Employers want candidates to be more intentional, but often post roles with vague requirements and little clarity.

So what does a more strategic and transparent approach to hiring look like?

My guest on Episode 751 of Recruiting Future is Catherine Wylie, Senior Talent Acquisition Business Partner at Mavericks Recruiting On Demand. Catherine recently joined the business after a six-month job search and brings thoughtful, first-hand insight for both employers and TA professionals currently navigating the market.

We discuss:

• Catherine’s experience on the job market
• The extreme volume hitting the top of the funnel
• Why unclear requirements cause confusion and frustration
• Speed to delivery versus speed to quality
• What’s broken in the matching process
• How employers can hire more intentionally
• Which companies are doing this well
• Rebuilding trust in the process
• Practical advice for TA professionals in transition
• What the future should look like

Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

There’s a growing gap between what AI can do in recruiting and what most organisations are actually doing.SAP’s recent a...
20/12/2025

There’s a growing gap between what AI can do in recruiting and what most organisations are actually doing.

SAP’s recent acquisition of SmartRecruiters is part of a wider shift. As more HR tech vendors bring recruiting into their broader platforms, we’re starting to see what’s possible when data connects across the entire employee lifecycle.

For TA teams, that means new ways to link hiring decisions to performance, retention, and engagement. And when AI agents can act on that kind of joined-up insight, the potential for transformation is significant.

But adoption isn’t keeping pace. Regulatory concerns, mindset issues, and legacy processes are still holding many teams back.

In this episode of Recruiting Future, Matt Alder talks to Lara Albert, CMO at SAP SuccessFactors, about what the acquisition means in context, how agentic AI could reshape HR and TA, and what it will take to move from theory to ex*****on.

They discuss:

• Why SAP bought SmartRecruiters and what’s next
• Joining up hiring data with downstream outcomes
• What’s actually holding AI adoption back
• How AI agents fit into the wider HR ecosystem
• Building the right business case and getting started
• Why TA and HR have a rare opportunity to lead

🔎 Listen by searching Recruiting Future wherever you get your podcasts

Recruiting's next chapter won't look like its past and few people know that better than Jeff Taylor.On Episode 749 I sat...
09/12/2025

Recruiting's next chapter won't look like its past and few people know that better than Jeff Taylor.

On Episode 749 I sat down with the OGs of recruiting technology, recorded live on stage at TA Tech Europe in London. Jeff founded Monster.com, shaped the first wave of online hiring, and is now returning with a new platform, Boomband, just as the industry hits another seismic shift.

This conversation is wide-ranging, candid, and rooted in 30 years of watching recruiting reinvent itself. We talk honestly about what has changed, what hasn't, and why so many traditional tools are failing as work changes

AI is accelerating that change, but the underlying problems run much deeper. Jeff brings the long-view perspective that the industry rarely gets to hear

In the interview, we discuss:

• The story behind Monster
• How Monster almost acquired LinkedIn
• Why Jeff is returning after two decades away
• What's changed in recruiting in 20 years -- and what hasn't
• Why resumes and job postings are failing
• AI's real impact on jobs
• What Boomband is aiming to solve
• Rebuilding trust in recruiting

You can listen by searching for Recruiting Future wherever you listen to podcasts.

Trust is becoming the most contested part of the hiring process. Candidates are interacting with more automation, more A...
05/12/2025

Trust is becoming the most contested part of the hiring process. Candidates are interacting with more automation, more AI and fewer people than ever before. When human connection reduces, confidence drops, engagement falters and employer brands lose credibility.

This shift is happening quietly, and many organisations are not keeping pace with the trust deficit it creates. The challenge is protecting authenticity and emotional intelligence when large parts of the process no longer involve a person.

So how do you build genuine trust when AI does the screening and robots send the emails?

On Episode 746 of Recruiting Future, I spoke with Gal Borenstein, CEO of The Borenstein Group. Gal shares a practical framework for building digital trust and explains how organisations can strengthen candidate relationships even as automation grows.

We discuss:

• The rapid digitalisation and automation of business communication
• The jolt into a new era for employer branding
• The digital trust framework
• How to use AI to build trust rather than erode it
• The importance of emotional intelligence
• A vision for the future of candidate experience

Automation may increase, but trust still determines the outcome.

You can listen by searching for Recruiting Future wherever you listen to podcasts.

Fairness in hiring is often talked about but rarely examined properly. Too many organisations still treat accessibility ...
03/12/2025

Fairness in hiring is often talked about but rarely examined properly. Too many organisations still treat accessibility as a legal requirement rather than a strategic advantage, focusing on compliance rather than genuine inclusion.

The result is predictable. Processes remain harder than they should be. Candidates are discouraged from disclosing what they need and employers miss out on talented people who could thrive with small, thoughtful adjustments.

Forward thinking organisations are recognising that accessibility is a driver of innovation, candidate confidence and overall hiring quality. When you design processes that work for everyone, performance improves for everyone.

But how do you move from minimum compliance to meaningful inclusivity, and how do you do that at scale?

On Episode 747 of Recruiting Future, I spoke with Business Psychologists Brittany Davies and Laura Kate Ruttle from Talogy. They share practical advice on building accessible assessment strategies and explore how AI is opening up new possibilities for fairer hiring.

We discuss:

• The current challenges around accessibility and fairness in hiring
• The benefits to employers of going beyond basic legal requirements
• Improving hiring for everyone
• Best practices for encouraging disclosure
• How AI can support inclusive design
• Implementing inclusion at scale
• What TA leaders should prioritise
• The potential of personalised adaptive assessment
• What the future might look like

You can listen by searching for Recruiting Future wherever you listen to podcasts

AI agents are becoming one of the most misunderstood technologies in recruiting. The market is full of chatbots and co p...
01/12/2025

AI agents are becoming one of the most misunderstood technologies in recruiting. The market is full of chatbots and co pilots that claim to be agents but are nothing of the sort. Genuine AI agents are different. They are digital workers capable of handling multi step tasks independently, making decisions, adapting to context and completing work without human intervention.

This capability is not theoretical. It is already in production and delivering results. The employers seeing real value are treating AI agents as change management programmes rather than technology deployments. That shift in mindset is proving to be the decisive factor.

So what does this look like in practice, and how will agentic AI reshape recruiting in the months and years ahead?

On Episode 748 of Recruiting Future, I spoke with Tom Zrubecky, founder and CEO of Talent Pilot. Tom shares case studies showing how AI agents are automating recruitment workflows and building the foundations for truly autonomous hiring.

We discuss:

• What an AI agent is and what it is not
• Building responsible AI with human oversight
• Why these are change management projects, not technology projects
• The power of instant job interviews
• Where employers are getting the most value from agents
• The importance of pilot projects
• The concept of the super recruiter
• What an agentic future could look like

You can listen by searching for Recruiting Future wherever you listen to podcasts.

Recruiting excellence has never been harder to achieve, or even to define. Talent acquisition is being pushed to its lim...
28/11/2025

Recruiting excellence has never been harder to achieve, or even to define. Talent acquisition is being pushed to its limits as teams face rising demands, unpredictable hiring volumes and technology that is evolving faster than most organisations can absorb.

AI is adding another layer of disruption. Some tools are little more than rebranded automation. Others are genuinely transformative and could change how recruiting operates at a fundamental level. For TA leaders, separating signal from noise is becoming a core skill.

However, the expectations have not changed and TA still has to deliver the right people at the right time in a cost effective and reliable way. The challenge is building that capability when everything around you is shifting.

So how do you pursue recruiting excellence in an environment that refuses to stay still?

On Episode 745 of Recruiting Future, I spoke with Tony De Graaf and Marcel Rütten, co founders of the Recruiting Excellence Foundation. They outline a practical framework for building high performing TA teams that can stay effective in fast moving and uncertain conditions.

We discuss:

• The Recruiting Excellence Methodology
• Defining your North Star
• Optimising every TA touchpoint
• The key challenges facing TA teams
• What prevents TA from becoming more strategic
• Why automation is critical
• The emerging role of agentic AI
• What the future of TA is likely to look like

In disruptive times, recruiting excellence is not a destination. It is a discipline.

You can listen by searching for Recruiting Future wherever you listen to podcasts.

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