From opportunity cost to fake productivity, Ryan Leary and William Tincup unpack why AI adoption in recruiting is moving faster than leadership can measure it.

A bad hire costs money. An empty seat costs more. That’s the part most companies still miss. We go straight at the real problem: AI, recruiting, HR tech, productivity, and leadership teams chasing efficiency without knowing what they’re actually optimizing for.

In this episode…

We break down the hidden cost of unfilled roles, why AI adoption metrics are mostly nonsense right now, and how recruiting teams are getting buried under tool fatigue.

One company reportedly lost $4M a month in bookings because they couldn’t hire enough Java developers fast enough

Most leaders still measure recruiting by activity, not business impact

AI adoption means nothing if quality drops

A team converting 50% of outreach into calls is still failing if only 3% are quality conversations

HR teams may need to rethink their AI stack every 90 days

“Bring your own AI” is already happening whether companies allow it or not

Opportunity cost in hiring is still massively underrated

Productivity theater is becoming the new corporate disease

SaaS updates used to happen yearly. AI changes weekly

Leadership wants AI speed. Practitioners still need accuracy and trust

Recruiting teams are drowning in tools while still being asked to do more with less

Bad actors exist. Technology doesn’t magically remove human behavior

William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/

Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/

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