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Recruiting Future with Matt Alder – What’s Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring? — Business
Recruiting Future with Matt Alder – What’s Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?

Talent acquisition is undergoing unprecedented disruption as AI, economic uncertainty, and the ever-shortening lifespan of skills radically reshape recruiting. On Recruiting Future, Matt Alder explores this evolving landscape, using insightful interviews with transformational TA practitioners and forward-thinking experts to spark your imagination and provide the insights you need to shape the future of talent acquisition in your organization.
Each episode explores topics such as AI, recruiting automation, recruitment marketing, employer branding, skills-based hiring, assessment, candidate experience, DEI, internal mobility, and the transformation of TA teams. Recruiting Future is an essential resource for everyone involved in hiring.
Matt Alder is a globally respected talent acquisition futurist, author, and speaker with over 25 years of experience exploring what’s next in recruiting. Renowned for his expertise in strategic foresight and technology trends, Matt provides a unique perspective that empowers leaders to navigate disruption. His deep industry knowledge and ability to spark meaningful conversations make Recruiting Future a must-listen for talent acquisition and HR professionals everywhere.

Latest Episodes:

Ep 766: How TA Proves Its Business Impact Feb 08, 2026

Show notes

The talent market is full of contradictions right now. There are many people looking for jobs, but for many organisations, finding the right talent remains difficult. Caution dominates on both sides, with candidates asking harder questions about stability and culture while businesses are slowing down decision-making around headcount. AI is promising to transform recruiting, but most organizations are still working out where it fits.

Through all of this, talent acquisition is clearly evolving. The best teams are thinking about workforce planning, internal mobility, and skills rather than just filling requisitions. However, many of them are still measuring themselves on time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, metrics which capture efficiency but say nothing about real business impact.

So what comes next for TA, and how should teams measure what actually matters?

My guest this week is Bharat Siyani, VP of People and Culture at Elmo Software. In our conversation, he explains what a broader set of success metrics looks like, where AI genuinely helps versus where humans must lead, and how he sees TA's role changing over the next few years.

In the interview, we discuss:

The contradictions in today’s talent market
Finding the signal in the noise
The importance of understanding nuance in recruiting
What should AI do and what should humans do?
How should organizations measure the impact of TA?
Efficiency metrics versus value metrics
Assessing tech talent at a time of high layoffs
Skills and outcomes versus job titles
TA’s role in shaping the workforce
What does the future of the TA team look like?

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A full transcript will appear here shortly.

Ep 765: Evolution or Extinction? What’s the future for Job Boards Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

Job boards have been connecting candidates with employers for over thirty years, but the relationship that made them work is fundamentally breaking down. Candidates are getting frustrated by applying for roles that may already be filled or have been taken off the market, while employers are receiving hundreds of identical, AI-generated applications they can't meaningfully evaluate. The Job Boards sitting between them are trapped in business models that reward volume over quality, which only makes the problem worse.

The result is a trust crisis that threatens the entire ecosystem. When neither side believes the process is fair, the whole system starts to unravel. So what would it actually take for job boards to rebuild that trust and stay relevant?

My guest this week is Lou Goodman, a job board strategy expert who recently partnered with Jobiqo to produce a major new report on the future of job boards. In our conversation, she explains why the industry is stuck repeating the same patterns, what job boards can learn from other platform businesses, and whether evolution or extinction is the more likely outcome.

In the interview, we discuss:

Why job boards still matter in today's market
The trust crisis threatening the ecosystem.
How AI is amplifying weaknesses rather than fixing them
Procedural justice and why fairness matters more than outcomes
The shift from quantity to quality
Where job boards can add value in the process
Why short-term fixes become long-term patterns
Lessons from other two-sided platform businesses
What is the future for job boards?

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Round Up January 2026 Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

Round Up December 2025

If you’ve not listened to Roundup before, it’s a short review of the episodes that I’ve published in the last month to make sure you don’t miss out on the valuable insights that my guests are sharing.

This month Round Up returns to its live format, and this is a recording of my live conversation with Mervyn Dinnen about six of the episodes published in January 2026

Episodes featured in this Round Up:

EP 758: Extracting Real Value From AI In TA

Ep 759: Career Sites and the Growing AI Gap

Ep 760 Co-Creating The Future Of TA

Ep 761: What Happens When Recruiters Embrace AI?

Ep 762: Moving From AI Hype To AI Value

Ep 764: Rewiring Organizations For AI

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Ep 764: Rewiring Organizations For AI Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

There's a significant disconnect playing out in organizations right now. Leaders understand AI is probably the most transformative technology of their lifetimes. They're making bold announcements and setting ambitious targets. Yet they're not providing the structures, ownership, or vision needed to drive real change. The result? Small pilots, incremental efficiency gains, and nowhere near the transformation everyone keeps talking about.

The issue isn't the technology. Organizations simply aren't wired for transformative change, particularly when it cuts across departments and functions. Nobody owns it, and there's no clear model for what the future should look like. The implications for talent, skills, and how we think about work are enormous.

What does it actually take to rewire an organization for the AI era?

My guest this week is Stephen Wunker, co-author of "AI and the Octopus Organization". In our conversation, he shares what's really happening, what's holding companies back, and what this means for talent professionals.

In the interview, we discuss:

The gap between what CEOs are saying and what is actually happening
What is holding AI transformation back
Distributed innovation
What is an “Octopus Organization”?
The role of human judgement and the need for more critical thinking
Examples of companies that are succeeding
Talent and culture
What will happen to the adoption rate? Where will we be in two years' time?

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A full transcript will appear here shortly.

Ep 763: How Much Do We Actually Know About Bias In Hiring? Jan 25, 2026

Show notes

Bias in hiring has been a topic of discussion for decades, yet our understanding of what actually happens within recruiting processes remains surprisingly limited. Most research focuses on single types of bias in isolation, making it impossible to build a complete picture. Meanwhile, the arrival of AI tools is intensifying the scrutiny of hiring decisions, demanding a level of accountability that many organizations simply aren't prepared for.

TA leaders often assume they know where bias exists in their processes. But what if those assumptions are wrong? What if the patterns are more complex and counterintuitive than anyone expected?

My guest this week is Bas van de Haterd, Co-founder of the TA Audit Institute. In our conversation, he shares findings from new research that challenges conventional thinking about where bias actually occurs and reveals how much we still don't know.

In the interview, we discuss:

Research methodology and sample size
How this research compares to previous academic research
What was measured and what was not measured
What do the results tell us about bias in the hiring process?
Is bias universal, institutional, or personal?
Are employers doing better at removing bias than they think?
Using data to drive targeted change
Lessons learned and advice to TA Leaders.
What’s the future direction of the research?

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Ep 762: Moving From AI Hype To AI Value Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

The constant noise around AI has created a strange situation in talent acquisition. On one side, relentless hype has made many TA leaders deeply skeptical, reluctant to invest in technology that feels oversold. On the other side, some employers have pushed through the fog and are getting genuine, measurable results from AI agents in their hiring processes. The gap between these two groups is widening fast.

So how do you separate what actually works from what's just marketing? What does effective AI agent implementation really look like in practice, and what value is it driving for the employers embracing it

My guest this week is Max Legardez Coquin, Founder and CEO at Maki. I saw Maki’s technology in action at UNLEASH last year and was genuinely impressed by what they're delivering for a variety of enterprise employers. In our conversation, Max explains how using AI to develop a scientific approach to hiring is driving tangible value in terms of quality, speed, efficiency, and a vastly improved candidate experience.

In the interview, we discuss:

Making recruiting a science
Capturing signals to make better hiring decisions
AI agents, the case studies that show they are working
What do candidates think about this level of automation?
Using compound intelligence to drive predictive hiring
Advice to TA Leaders on recruiting transformation
Will adoption rates increase this year?
What does the future look like?

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Ep 761: What Happens When Recruiters Embrace AI? Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

There are now tasks in recruiting where AI genuinely outperforms humans. Holding multiple evaluation criteria in mind while scanning hundreds of applications, spotting relevant experience described in unexpected ways, and ensuring no qualified candidate gets overlooked through fatigue, overwhelm, or shortcuts. These aren't things recruiters actually do badly, but there are things humans can’t physically do at scale that the current market requires

For many recruiters, that reality feels threatening. However, those who embrace AI as a partner rather than a replacement find they have more time for meaningful candidate conversations. Hiring managers get better-matched shortlists. Candidates finally feel seen and understood. Everyone wins.

My guest this week is Dr Ali Raza, CEO at Bytespark.ai. Ali is a former academic turned recruiting AI pioneer. In our conversation, he uses his hands-on experiences to explain exactly what AI does better than humans in the screening process, and why recruiters who adapt will thrive rather than disappear.

In the interview, we discuss:

Quality candidates are being drowned out in a sea of applications
Where AI will always be better than humans
Mixing the best of AI and the best of human recruiters
Enabling a high level of candidate conversations
Data-driven thinking
Increased transparency with hiring managers
Should recruiters be worried about being replaced?
What does the future look like?

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Ep 760: Co-Creating The Future Of TA Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

Strategic partnerships in talent acquisition can mean the difference between incremental improvement and transformational change. But what does a true strategic partnership actually look like? How do you move beyond the traditional vendor-client relationship to genuine co-creation?

My guests this week are Simon Bishop, Head of Talent Acquisition at SoftwareOne, and Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ. Their partnership spans employer branding, recruitment marketing, and agentic AI deployment—all while Software One was navigating the complex integration challenge of merging two TA functions post-acquisition.

Their collaboration was central to VONQ's recent launch of EQO, their agentic AI platform. SoftwareOne was a development partner, helping shape the product through real-world testing and feedback. You can watch the full launch on VONQ's LinkedIn page.

In the interview, we discuss:

How the partnership evolved over time
Building employer brand in competitive markets
Multi-channel brand-led recruitment marketing campaigns
Piloting and implementing agentic AI
The vital importance of transparency and explainability
Managing change and recruiter adoption
Candidate reactions to AI screening
Navigating TA through a major acquisition
What the future of talent acquisition will look like

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Round Up December 2025 Jan 14, 2026

Show notes

If you’ve not listened to Roundup before, it’s a short review of the episodes that I’ve published in the last month to make sure you don’t miss out on the valuable insights that my guests are sharing.

This month, Round UP returns to its live format, and this is a recording of my live conversation with Rhona Pierce about six of the episodes published in December 2025

Episodes featured in this Round Up:

Ep 751: The Trust Problem In Recruiting

Ep 752: Using Job Architecture TO Drive Value From AI

Ep 753: Hiring Exceptional Executive Talent

Ep 754: Finding Clarity In Recruiting Chaos

Ep 755: Balancing Automation with Authenticity

EP 756: TA Trends that Matter

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Ep 759: Career Sites and the Growing AI Gap Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

There's something paradoxical happening with corporate careers websites right now. After years of broken links, mobile application nightmares, and clunky technology implementations, organizations are finally getting the basics right. Mobile experiences are improving. ATS systems are working properly. The longstanding problems we've talked about for years are finally being addressed.

However, while we've been busy fixing problems from 2015, the world has moved on. Candidates now expect conversational AI that can answer their questions in real time. They want personalized experiences that adapt to who they are and where they are in the process. Increasingly, they're using tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to research employers before they even visit a career site. The question isn't whether your career site works anymore. It's whether it can deliver what candidates now expect.

My guest this week is Bas van de Haterd, who runs the industry’s largest continuous corporate career site research programme. In our conversation, he shares the surprising findings from his nineteenth year of research and explains what employers need to do to prepare their career sites for an AI-driven future.

In the interview, we discuss:

How careers sites have evolved in the last 12 months
AI application policies
A reduction in DEI content
The low adoption rates of conversational AI
Improved mobile experiences and solving long-term problems
Delivering a personalized experience
Making career sites visible to AI tools
How to make career sites fit for the future

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