Talent acquisition is evolving faster than ever. With AI reshaping the hiring landscape, skill gaps widening across industries, and businesses facing constant disruption, the role of TA leaders is shifting significantly. It’s no longer just about hiring—it’s about breaking down silos, driving workforce transformation, and ensuring companies have the right talent to stay competitive.

So, what does this mean for TA leaders? How can they move beyond being reactive and take on a more strategic role in shaping the future of work? And with the rise of fractional and interim TA leadership, is this the next big shift in how companies access talent expertise?

My guest this week is Virginia Tirado, an experienced TA and talent leader who has seen firsthand how the function is evolving. In this episode, she shares her insights on the growing need for skills-based hiring, how TA leaders can build stronger partnerships across the business, and why embracing change is key to staying relevant in an uncertain future.

In the interview, we discuss:

• From reactive to strategic

• Data-driven decision making

• How does TA now fit into the talent function?

• Breaking down silos

• Influencing business objectives

• The importance of partnering 

• What skillset and outlook do leaders need right now?

• Fractional, interim, and consulting

• Skills-based hiring

• What does the future look like for TA

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For as long as we can all remember, hiring has been built around resumes detailing previous experience, qualifications, job titles, and technical skills. But in a world where jobs are changing faster than ever, the skills that seem essential today can quickly become obsolete tomorrow. Hard skills are perishable, but durable skills like adaptability, problem-solving, and teamwork are now the real predictors of long-term success.

 So, how can companies move beyond outdated hiring practices and focus on what really matters? And what does this shift towards durable skills mean for hiring managers and job seekers looking to future-proof their careers?

My guest this week is Caitlin MacGregor, CEO and co-founder of Plum. Caitlin is a massive advocate for hiring based on durable skills and the science behind this. She shares why resumes are no longer enough and why focusing on durable skills could be the key to long-term success for employers and employees.

In the interview, we discuss:

• What are durable skills?

• Why do they ensure while hard skills are perishable?

• The science behind this

• Innate talent, drivers, and drainers

• Using accurate assessment data rather than inaccurate resume data

• How to elevate durable skills in the hiring process

• How to identify key behavioural indicators at a time when jobs are changing so quickly

• How should individual think about their durable skills?

• What does the future look like?

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Eleven years ago, I wrote a blog post with a title that asked the question, “Can you replace a recruiter with an algorithm?”. It provoked an instant reaction and a resounding no from everyone who read it. Fast forward to the present day, and technology has moved on exponentially, but the debate about technology replacing what have always been considered very human aspects of recruiting remains as emotionally charged as it has always been.

The mental models and cultural norms around recruiting run deep, but are we having the right debate? Perhaps the real shift isn’t about AI replacing recruiters. It’s about how quickly recruiters can rethink their role and let go of outdated assumptions. There are several recruiting tasks that AI can already do much better than humans, and the scope is only going to increase.

So what’s left for recruiters? How do we redefine the role of talent acquisition in an AI-driven world? And why is mindset the most critical factor in whether AI becomes a threat or an opportunity?

My guest this week is Nikos Moraitakis, CEO of Workable. In our wide-ranging conversation, we discuss the advancing cognitive ability of AI and how it is changing the way we need to think about what it means to be a recruiter.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The increasing cognitive ability of technology

• Recruiting tasks that AI can already do better than humans

• How AI can do things that are impossible for humans

• Lessons from adjacent areas, such as finance

• The importance of recruiters focusing on high-value tasks

• Agentic AI and Reasoning Models

• What will the ATS of the future be like

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Talent acquisition is fundamentally about people making decisions, but how often do we stop to consider why people make the decisions they do? Whether it’s a recruiter screening a resume, a hiring manager assessing a candidate or a successful applicant deciding whether to accept the role, behavioral science plays a role in every step of the process.

Yet, despite its power, the psychology of hiring goes unnoticed, operating in the background rather than being used strategically. What if we could harness it to improve candidate experience, reduce bias, and make hiring more effective?

My guest this week is Stephen Reilly, an experienced Global Talent Acquisition & Talent Transformation Specialist. In our conversation, he explains how behavioral science and psychology influence hiring, why recognizing these patterns is critical, and how TA leaders can apply these insights to transform their processes.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Behavioral science and behavioral psychology

• Why behavioral science is so vital in TA right now

• Transparency in the candidate experience

• Small interventions that make a massive difference

• How recruiters are already using behavior science but might not realize it

• Apply science at scale to recruiting.

• Process optimization and evolution

• Advice to TA leaders on the first steps to take

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At a time when DE&I initiatives are facing increasing hostility, it's more important than ever to highlight the real value of inclusive hiring. Beyond being the right thing to do, inclusive hiring broadens talent pools, fosters innovation, and ensures that organizations tap into the full spectrum of people's skills and potential.

But what does true accessibility in hiring look like, and how can companies create recruitment processes that are genuinely fair for everyone?  

My guest this week is Ron Fish, Global Talent Acquisition Leader at Ivanti and a passionate advocate for disability inclusion in the workplace. Ron is at the forefront of championing accessibility not just to comply with regulations but to build environments where everyone can succeed.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How a revelation about the corporate career site accelerated Ron's journey as an advocate for disability inclusion.

• Optimal work environments work for everyone.

• How accessibility has massively advanced inclusion and belonging at Ivanti

• When bias outweighs common sense

• Focusing on skills and abilities

• Treating people as individuals rather than labels

• Accommodations in the hiring process, how simple changes can make a huge difference

• Why individuals with disabilities might be reluctant to disclose their needs during the recruitment process, and what strategies can address these concerns

• Shifting the perception of disability to make hiring more inclusive

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Have you ever wondered how an elite baseball player can track a 95-mile-per-hour fastball and actually connect? Or how a Premier League footballer can deliver a perfect pass over half the pitch to a moving teammate? The way elite athletes develop their attributes and build skills has big lessons for how we need to think about talent and hiring in the workplace.

We've been discussing skills-based hiring and skills-based organizations for a while now. As the need for skills agility grows, we must deepen our understanding of the attributes, skills, and potential to make better hiring decisions.

One area that uses cutting-edge science to do this is elite sport. My guest this week is Dr. Daniel Laby, a Sports Vision Ophthalmologist who works with elite athletes and top baseball teams, including the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox.

This is a really fascinating discussion with some important lessons for HR and Talent Acquisition, for example, why we should emphasize future potential over past performance, the importance of recognizing that sometimes there is a specific order in which skills need to be developed, and why average can sometimes be mistaken for best in skills assessment.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How do you improve elite performance?

• Working with Red Bull and Trent Alexander-Arnold

• A common misconception about vision

• The importance of specific attributes in specific sports

• Nature, nurture and brain plasticity

• The skills pyramid

• How small changes make a big difference

• The role of technology

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A full transcript will appear here shortly

Round Up is the monthly show on The Recruiting Future Podcast channel that highlights episodes you may have missed and gives you my take on some of the key learnings from the guests.

Episodes mentioned in this Round Up:

Ep 666: The ROI Of Employer Branding

Ep 667: Traditional HR is Dead, Here’s What’s Next

Ep 668: Strategic Budgeting For TA Leaders

Ep 669: How L’Oréal Group is Using AI To Evolve Talent Acquisition

Ep 670: Jeff Taylor: Rethinking Hiring for the AI Age

Ep 671: Balancing AI & The Human Touch

Ep 672: Are Career Sites Evolving Quickly Enough?

Ep 673: The Route To Skills-Based Hiring

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The move towards skills-based strategies in organizations is still a big topic. This is unsurprising, as the advantages are significant. Skills-based thinking solves critical business challenges by better aligning talent strategies to business goals and offering the skills agility many employers badly need. Skills-based hiring also widens talent pools and challenges the entrenched mental models that sometimes form barriers to companies hiring the talent they actually need.

However, the road to being a skills-based organization is long and complex, and only a small minority of employers are making real progress. So, what needs to change? How can AI be harnessed? How can we anticipate future skills needs? And how should TA teams be reimagined to make skills-based hiring a reality?

My guest this week is Jen Cunningham, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at Pearson. Pearson is leading the way with skills-based people strategies, and Jen has a wealth of experience and insight to share.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How TA is evolving

• Elevating the candidate experience

• Agility, resilience, and authenticity

• Better alignment between people strategy and business strategy

• How do you identify and validate skills?

• Internal and external agility

• How the traditional structure of HR is changing.

• Data, strategy, and influence

• What skills should TA teams have in the age of AI?

• What does the future look like?

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Career Sites still play a central role in talent acquisition, but are they evolving quickly enough? With many employers still working in career site redevelopment cycles that take years rather than months, are they keeping pace with candidate expectations and rapid advances in technology?

My guest this week is Bas van de Haterd, who is returning to the show to give us his annual update on the career site research he has been running for the past 18 years. The latest edition looks at 100 data points across the careers sites of 550 large employers to determine the key trends and just how quickly career sites are evolving.

In the interview, we discuss:

• What does the career site landscape of 2025 look like?

• What's new, what's getting worse, what's getting better

• Rethinking Job advert design

• Ghosting

• The role of corporate podcasts

• How Conversational AI is killing legacy chatbots

• The one thing employers can do to radically improve their results

• What does the future look like

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A full transcript will appear here shortly.

Frontline hiring is more competitive than ever, with speed and efficiency now critical for success. However, the challenge doesn't stop at making the hiring process faster; employers also need to stand out from their competition by offering a high-quality candidate experience and having a recruiting process that allows them to showcase what makes their organization unique.

It's clear that AI-powered recruiting is already driving speed and efficiency in frontline hiring for many large organizations, but what's the right balance between technology and humans to deliver an exceptional candidate experience and highlight an organization's unique culture?

My guests this week are Sonja Breuer, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Aaron Einhorn, Senior HR Business Partner at Hamra Enterprises. In our conversation, they share how Hamra has successfully leveraged AI-powered recruiting technology to reduce their time-to-hire from 13 days to just 4. They also discuss how this has enabled them to better highlight the values, benefits, and culture that make Hamra Enterprises a uniquely attractive employer.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Hamra's unique culture and employee programs

• Using AI to radically reduce time to hire 

• Maintaining a consistent and engaging candidate experience

• Combining conversational AI with purposeful human connections

• Why speed, experimentation, and agility are critical in AI-powered recruiting.

• What happens if the AI makes a mistake?

• Building a true partnership with their technology vendor to drive innovation.

• What does the future look like

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