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

The pandemic forced organizations to rethink how they engage their people, with many old rules torn up almost overnight. Five years on, AI has arrived and changed the game again.  Leaders are now facing a new set of questions. How do you design experiences that attract and retain talent while driving the performance your business needs? And how do you prepare for a future that’s increasingly impossible to predict? So, how do you build a truly future-ready strategy for employee experience? My guest this week is Jacob Morgan, author of the upcoming book The Eight Laws of Employee Experience. In our conversation, Jacob shares insights from over 100 CHRO interviews that he has conducted around employee experience and reveals the principles that separate thriving organizations from those struggling to keep up. In the interview, we discuss: What’s changed about the employee experience in the last five years? Proactively planning for the future The eight laws of employee experience Empathetic excellence Using AI to amplify humanity Enablement and augmentation Personalization at scale Run culture like an operating system TA & the employee experience What are the biggest changes going to be in the next two years? Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Hi there, welcome to Episode 756 of Recruiting Future with me, Matt Alder. Recruiting Future helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. This episode is about Foresight. 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 chase the latest headline or follow gut instinct, but reactive decision-making rarely ends well. Understanding key patterns helps separate signal from noise, and this is where genuine trend analysis grounded in real data becomes invaluable. So what trends are shaping TA heading into 2026, and how should leaders respond? My guest this week is Susan De La Vega, SVP Global Tech and Client Experience at Korn Ferry. Korn Ferry has just published their 12th annual TA trends report, built from interviews with over 1,600 global talent leaders, and Susan shares what the research reveals about where talent acquisition is heading. In the interview, we discuss: The biggest TA challenges we have seen this year Methodology behind Korn Ferry’s TA Trends Report Changing attitudes and approaches to AI Why your next hire might not be human The importance of mapping tasks Investing in future talent Can TA get a seat at the table? Breaking the silos in the talent function Advice to TA Leaders on strategies for 2026 What does the future look like in 3 years' time? Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts. Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Mark Whitby, founder of Recruitment Coach and host of The Resilient Recruiter podcast, discusses the shifting landscape of automation in recruitment influenced by recent AI advances. He highlights the pitfalls of poor automation practices and the vital need for preserving human connection. Mark emphasizes the importance of personal relationships in hiring, advocating for effective multi-channel outreach strategies. He also underlines that building trust and a strong personal brand is crucial for future success in an increasingly automated world.

Discover how hiring aligns with organizational values and the revolution in talent acquisition. Dive into the impact of job ad language on candidate quality and explore the importance of building digital trust in hiring. Uncover the significance of fairness and inclusivity in recruitment strategies, and learn about the chaotic yet opportunistic landscape of TA technology. Finally, get a glimpse into how AI agents are transforming recruiting workflows, setting the stage for the future of talent acquisition.

In this conversation, Adam Godson, General Manager of Paradox at Workday, shares his extensive expertise in talent acquisition. He evaluates last year’s predictions about AI in recruiting and discusses the implications of Workday's acquisition of Paradox. Adam highlights the importance of end-to-end employee lifecycle data and the evolution of frontline hiring. He explores the future of candidate career agents and the chaotic TA technology landscape, making intriguing predictions about 2026 and the potential of agentic AI.

Lauren Greif, Founder of Portfolio Rocket and career strategist for C-suite executives, delves into the challenges of hiring exceptional senior talent. She discusses how trust has eroded in the hiring process due to lengthy interviews and poor candidate experiences. Lauren emphasizes the importance of viewing roles from the job seeker's perspective and leveraging AI in the job search. She also highlights the hidden costs of age bias and shares insights on building trust and the need for adaptability in an aging workforce.

In this engaging discussion, Ben Zweig, CEO of Revelio Labs and author on workforce data, dives deep into job architecture. He emphasizes the critical difference between skills, tasks, and jobs, asserting that these terms are often confused, but clarity is essential as AI reshapes work. Ben shares how organizations can effectively build taxonomies using large language models and why a precise understanding of tasks is crucial for implementing AI. He also explores the potential risks of job displacement by automation and the need for adaptable labor markets.

Catherine Wylie, a Senior Talent Acquisition Business Partner with extensive leadership and recruiting experience, shares her insights after a challenging six-month job search. She discusses the chaos caused by high application volumes and the importance of clarity in job descriptions. Catherine emphasizes the need for recruiters to prioritize quality over speed and the flaws in the current matching process. She also highlights companies like Ashby that excel in hiring practices and provides impactful advice for job seekers on maintaining resilience and transparency in a turbulent market.

Lara Albert, CMO at SAP SuccessFactors, discusses the exciting implications of SAP's acquisition of SmartRecruiters, emphasizing enhanced AI-driven recruiting capabilities. She explores the potential of harmonized data throughout the employee journey to improve recruitment outcomes, performance, and retention. Despite the fast-paced innovation in AI, Lara reveals why many organizations struggle to adopt these technologies. She urges talent leaders to start small and focus on high-impact areas where automation can lead to significant transformation in HR.

Jeff Taylor, a serial entrepreneur known for founding Monster.com, joins the conversation to unravel the future of recruiting. He shares the intriguing story of Monster’s near acquisition of LinkedIn and his reasons for re-entering the industry with BoomBand. They discuss how traditional resumes and job postings are failing in today’s market and the pressing need for innovation. Taylor emphasizes the potential of AI to increase productivity while reshaping job requirements. He envisions a future where targeted outreach replaces conventional recruitment methods, aiming to rebuild trust in the hiring process.