Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Talent and Foresight.

We're no longer dealing with a world that's simply volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous - we've arguably entered something far more challenging: a reality that's brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible. This shift is turning traditional workforce planning completely on its head. Three-year strategic plans become meaningless when entire job categories disappear in months, when AI capabilities jump overnight, and when market conditions change faster than planning cycles can adapt.

So how can employers develop effective talent strategies in highly uncertain times, and how might talent acquisition step up to take a strategic role?

My guest this week is Toby Culshaw, VP of Strategy for Talent Intelligence at Lightcast. In our conversation, Toby explains how real-time talent intelligence is needed to build talent strategies that can respond to rapid change and why TA teams are uniquely positioned as invaluable sources of business intelligence.

In the interview, we discuss:

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Hi there, welcome to episode 711 of Recruiting Future with me, Matt Alder.

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Talent and Technology.

The recruitment technology landscape is experiencing a perfect storm. Perfect match candidates aren't completing applications due to frustrating processes. At the same time, recruiters are being overwhelmed by candidates using AI tools to generate thousands of low-quality submissions. Traditional matching algorithms provide limited transparency into the decision-making process, thereby creating legal and compliance risks. Meanwhile, cost-per-application models continue to charge for clicks rather than actual conversions, leaving employers paying for candidates who never complete the process.

How can TA teams navigate this impossible environment while improving outcomes for everyone involved?

My guests this week are Simon Van Hijfte, Marketing Manager at Adecco Belgium, and Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ. Simon shares how Adecco is transforming their recruitment process with AI agents and the impressive results they're achieving - from improved candidate satisfaction to enhanced recruiter efficiency. We also all discuss the shift from opaque matching systems to transparent point-based scoring, how AI agents are solving the broken candidate experience, and why this people-first approach is delivering better business outcomes across the board.

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Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Technology.

The AI transformation in recruiting presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant threats. It's a complex situation where the same technology that promises to solve long-standing recruiting challenges is also creating new ones. The use of AI by candidates is driving up application numbers, and Gartner predicts that by 2028, one in four job applications will be fake or fraudulent.

So, how can employers ensure they are reaping the benefits of using AI in the hiring process while effectively mitigating the risks? 

My guest this week is Meredith Johnson, Chief Product Officer at Greenhouse. In our conversation, Meredith shares her insights on building ethical AI systems that enhance rather than replace human judgment. We discuss creating fraud detection capabilities that protect hiring quality and designing embedded AI experiences that maintain the transparency and trust required for great hiring.

In the interview, we discuss:

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Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Influence and Technology.

When employers invest in talent acquisition technology, they are expecting efficiency gains and improved hiring outcomes. Yet, many organizations find themselves struggling with implementations that fail to deliver promised results and don't align with the organization's broader business objectives. So, what's the key to building transformation strategies that actually work and provide the measurable value that TA teams need?

My guest this week is Sarah Smart, Co-Founder of HorizonHuman. Sarah is a former TA leader who now consults with enterprises around digital transformation. She has seen both the successes and failures of large-scale technology implementations firsthand and has practical insights to share on what makes the difference between a successful transformation and a costly disappointment.

In the interview, we discuss:

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Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about talent.

Economic uncertainty and disruption has reached a whole new level in 2025, with companies freezing hiring plans and candidates hesitating to make career moves. But if talent attraction strategies fail during market volatility, how can organizations that need scarce and specialized talent survive and thrive? 

So, when candidate markets are tight, how can TA teams turn uncertainty into opportunity?

My guest this week is Dave Napeloni, Senior Vice President of Global Life Sciences at Korn Ferry. Dave's team is helping life sciences companies navigate talent scarcity by transforming how they engage with candidates during economic disruption. Dave has valuable insights to share, on effective talent engagement and pipeline building, that are changing how organizations compete for talent in these uncertain times.

In the interview, we discuss

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Recruiting Future is a podcast designed to help Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about technology and foresight.

AI terminology is getting confusing, which is compounded by vast amounts of marketing focusing on future promises rather than the current reality. Beyond the jargon and hype, how can AI agents be used to tackle today's recruiting problems?

My guest this week is Shiran Yaroslavsky, SVP Product at SmartRecruiters. Shiran shares the importance of using customer research to build AI solutions for genuine recruiting challenges and to create the right vision for the future

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In the interview, we discuss:

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A full transcript will appear here shortly.

Recruiting Future is a podcast designed to help Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology.

This episode is about technology.

Most HR tech projects end in disappointment because organizations focus all their energy on implementation rather than adoption. If successful transformation is dependent on what happens after the go-live date, how can employers build sustainable tech adoption that delivers lasting business value?

My guest this week is Melissa Hojwall, Global HR Tech Leader at H&M. H&M has over 100,000 employees, the majority of whom are frontline workers, making internal tech adoption both challenging and high impact. In conversation, Melissa talks about the strategies around implementation, adoption, and continuous change management that help make TA and HR Tech projects successful.

In the interview, we discuss:

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For the last five months, the excellent people at Purple Acorn have been broadcasting the Alder Hour live on LinkedIn on Monday afternoons. It's an hour-long show where I team up with my co-hosts Rhona Pierce from Perceptible Studios and Jocelyn King from Virgil HR to talk about TA and HR headlines we've spotted during the week, analyze real-life workplace dilemmas, debate what's trending and what's ending in recruiting and interview a different guest every week.

I am dropping the audio podcast version of this week's show in the Recruiting Future feed so you can take a listen to what we've been doing. I'd love to know what you think and whether I should drop the show into this feed more regularly.

This week, we covered the merging of technology and HR departments, AI bias, mental health at work, why the use of Resumes is way past its sell-by date, and RecFest founder Jamie Leonard dropped in to talk about the most significant issues for TA Leaders at the moment.

You can catch the Alder Hour weekly on my LinkedIn profile, via The Purple Acorn LinkedIn page, or on their YouTube channel.

Let me know whether I should drop more Alder Hour episodes into this feed in the future.

Enjoy the show

Recruiting Future is a podcast designed to help Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about talent and technology.

Many employers are facing an increasing problem with candidates' use of AI. Along with dramatically increasing application numbers, AI tools are, in some cases, allowing potentially unsuitable candidates to jump to the front of the queue, endangering the integrity of the recruiting process. One potential answer to this challenge is to deploy science-based psychometric testing much earlier in the process than has traditionally been the case.

So, how should assessment tools and technologies evolve to combine scientific robustness, candidate engagement, and resilience against AI manipulation

My guest this week is Alan Bourne, Partner at Omatti and an expert in assessment innovation. Alan highlights the issues with legacy assessment tools and sets out a blueprint for transformation that embraces AI to enhance both the candidate experience and the predictive accuracy of the tools. We also discuss the role of assessment in the move to skills organisations.

In the interview, we discuss:

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Recruiting Future helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable value by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. In this episode, we'll be focusing specifically on technology.

The fundamental shift from complex software user interfaces to conversational recruiting technology is happening right now, with profound implications for how we think about the ATS. 

What are the implications for both recruiters and candidates when the recruiting system becomes an invisible part of the flow of communication?

My guest this week is Michal Nowak, SVP of Engineering at SmartRecruiters. In our conversation, Michal shares his insights on how conversational interfaces can transform recruiting from an admin-heavy profession to one focused on meaningful human connections and strategic thinking.

In the interview, we discuss:

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