Hi, everyone.
Welcome back to another
episode of Hiring Happy Hour.
I gotta be honest, the traditional
hiring playbook was built for a world
that simply doesn't exist anymore,
and today, candidate attention spans
are, eek, a little smaller than ever.
Competition is, ugh, bigger than ever,
and processes and systems are rigid,
holding talent teams back from making
quick, meaningful, thoughtful decisions.
Posting an ad, sitting back, and
hoping, fingers crossed, the perfect
candidate applies is outdated.
Come along with me, come along with me.
We don't want you to miss the mark.
So how do talent
acquisition leaders adapt?
How do our TA teams adapt?
The answer isn't working harder.
It's actually smarter.
It's about building an adaptive hiring
process powered by a AI, our favorite
word, and automation, while, let's not
forget, while we have our favorite AI,
we need to keep humans in the loop.
So today, I have a special compilation
for you, where we bring together the
hiring insights from five incredible HR
and talent leaders who have navigated
this and are on the front lines of
continuing to discover and execute.
Grab your favorite drink, cheers
with me, settle in, and let's dive
into the first chapter of how talent
market has transformed and why
speed, that's right, speed, is now
your primary competitive advantage
Hiring moves faster, but the
old playbook hasn't kept up.
What did one tomato say
to the other tomato?
Ketchup.
Today, winning candidate attention
requires speed, brevity, and
looking beyond standard jobs.
Up first, ah, Adam Reynolds shares how
his team slashed candidate drop-off
by prioritizing speed and short-form
copy, followed by another great
one, James Ellis, who breaks down
why traditional job ads completely
miss 95% of your ideal talent pool.
Let's take a listen
What else do we need to take
into consideration as we think
about really getting the right
people and attracting them?
we were conscious of a few
things and um, and Pace was
the driver right to start with.
We live in it.
I guess I'm, I'm of an age now where
I can kind of talk about the kids
about feeling kind of like my, I still
feel a little bit like maybe my
dad.
Same.
words, wise words,
legend.
can say, I can say it from a
level with a level of confidence.
Right.
That I know that the generation
that is, is, is sort of joining
the employment market now, has.
Very short attention spans
and rightly so, right?
There are, there's an ocean of
options and, and, and stimulus and
information of things out there.
If
Yes.
If you are not grabbing people's attention
super quickly, then, then, You know,
you might as well not bother, and that
applies to absolutely anything, right?
So you, you, you advert needs to stand
out, so you need to have captivating copy.
You know, you need to talk, You know,
even simple things like the colors and
things in your logo, the way that you
show up visually, the optics need to be.
We, we didn't think about that.
We just have words on a page.
You know, we were just like,
Yeah.
This is the advert we've
had for like 20 years.
Why do we, why do we even
need to think about it?
It served us well and suddenly we were,
we were being challenged with, You
know, that's like four times too long.
Like, that's like literally people.
And we, we were looking at the heat maps
and stuff and, and, and how far people get
down before this give up on the advert.
It was like half a scroll, You know,
it's like now done and, You know, they
were swiping left, You know, it was done.
we were conscious.
We, we knew that, um.
But timing.
And, and I, like you say, in there
time, it comes in many different forms.
How long does it take
someone to apply for a job?
You know, how many clicks
are they gonna have to take?
How long do they wanna
read the advert for?
How long do I have to look at these
words before the bit of information
that I need to know jumps out at me?
Um, yeah.
So we, we kind of, we, we took a real
critical, we, like, we read penned
all the way through that stuff.
And we
Good.
Get rid, get rid, get rid, get
Good.
Change, change.
Good.
And I think that's important, right?
You are absolutely right.
We are in a world with short attention
span and brand and color, and
attracting that component first matters.
And then to your point, making
things stand out bullets.
Bullet points versus sentences, right?
Just the simple things or videos
versus just words on a page.
Um, so how did it go?
You talked about a new system.
So are you doing this in parallel
where you're getting a new system
because you're driving time,
well, yeah.
Look, the, the, these things all
in, in, in true waterfall fashion
all landed at the same time, right?
So
Wow.
We, we, we came out of, so what
are we, what are the timeline
we're talking about here?
So we went through COVID one.
Well, let's call COVID one.
So this is back end of 2020.
Okay.
Of, was the, the, this was the painful
period here where we had like, I call
it pain associated learning, right?
Horrible, horrible things that went
wrong that we didn't like, that we
were like, we've gotta change that.
Right.
Yep.
Kind of happened again, it
causes problems, et cetera.
Well,
is huge.
That, so period we'd done very little
hiring in 2020 because of COVID.
Yeah.
Into.
back end of that year when we needed
8,000 or something people, it was insane.
And we were, we were having
to do, oh God, it was insane.
We were, anybody that wasn't on furlough,
we were pulling in to do video interviews.
So we got like the security guard
that works in the warehouse or the
guy that's kind of on the front desk,
our reception's going, Hey dude,
you ever used a phone before you,
have you ever spoke to a person?
Brilliant.
You've got telephone
interviews to do today.
And we were okay.
He's adding that to
his resume.
ragtag, bunch of mobile interviewers.
We were just pulling in
from all over the place.
We got there by Huckle, by
Crook, and it, it, it was neither
pretty noisy, efficient, but it
got us where we needed to be.
Sure.
As a result of that, we were like, but
we've gotta get an ATS system here that
actually this, this, not saying we're
gonna be in a global pandemic situation.
Again, fingers crossed.
But we're absolutely gonna need to be able
to move with purpose and with efficiency.
And what we've got at the moment
just doesn't, doesn't cut it.
So we went out, we've got
SmartRecruiters system.
We embedded that in sort
of, May/June time in 21.
And then we went into the, what
we would call COVID two, I guess.
Then
Second half of that year.
Then when it all sort of back into
furlough, out of furlough and the
shop started to, open up again.
We went into Christmas
in 21, all guns blazing.
It was the busy it was gonna
be the busiest period of
time that we've ever had.
And it turns out it absolutely was.
And we had so many roles
to fill we went, in.
leather using the system and
taking, as we're saying here, the,
learnings around about, pace about
brevity, about, about efficiencies.
So shorting everything.
You talk about bullet points.
Yeah, absolutely.
That creating videos.
Yeah, a hundred percent that, but the
real key to it is how quickly can someone
go from seeing a job, to starting a job.
Was the key.
We first have to kind of take a half
a step back and say the reason we're
very much in the mess we're in.
The reason why a lot of recruiting is
expensive is because we have gotten
addicted to the sugar fix that is added.
We have gotten addicted to
saying, well, we don't have
any candidates for that thing.
Post some ads and an hour or two later
we get some ar, we get some applications.
Pray.
Are they good?
they good?
Ah, separate conversation, isn't it?
But you feel good.
You feel like there's activity.
And when the hiring manager goes, Hey,
is anybody, I don't know why it's a
dude in my head, but there you are.
Hey, why do we have any, have we
have any applicants for my job?
And you can say, oh, we have 20.
And you don't have to say that
they all suck, but you can say
that there's no movement and the
hiring manager will go, okay, cool.
Let me know when you got somebody good
and they walk away for a week and you have
time to kind of do the rest of the job.
We've gotten addicted to that sugar fix
of just, just get me some candidates
quick and ads and uh, job po uh,
boosting and promoting job posts on
job boards are the sugar fix for this.
Here's the thing, there's a
lot of research that shows.
You think about the perfect
candidates for your particular
job, let's keep this in the micro.
Let's keep it as individual
as much as possible.
'cause it's very easy to
get lost in the weeds here.
You're hiring for a job.
Now, assuming you're not focused
on transactional hiring, meaning
put the butt in the seat as fast as
possible, qualified is good enough.
Next conversation.
You are trying to hire someone who
is there to grow the business, who
is going to be a game changer, who's
going to add significant creative,
strategic value to your company?
Yes.
That person of all those people who meet
that qualification, 5% of those people
are actually looking for jobs right now.
Hmm.
5% now.
That is okay.
You're like, oh, that makes sense.
Plenty of people have jobs.
They're not looking for jobs.
That makes sense.
That's fine.
And that split makes perfect
sense, except that they don't
see the real danger in that.
And that is of all recruiting tech
tools, tactics, what have you, are
geared towards that 5%, means, yeah,
they're the ones with the, I'm looking
for work, I'm open to work banners,
and they're the ones on job boards.
And they're the ones in your
career site, but they're also.
everybody else's career
Yeah.
Also looking at everybody else's
jobs and 'cause everybody else is
targeting the exact same audience.
So it's like saying, Hey, this
fishing hole has the most fish.
Yes, but everybody in the known
universe is at that fishing hole
too, it kind of negates any value.
The worst part is, is that because
it's such a well fished space, the
prices to stand there keep going up.
Like you ever see ad prices go down, ever?
No, I didn't think so.
Me neither.
So.
I don't wanna get, I don't wanna stick my
nose into a particularly messy business,
but that is that that is the reality,
which means that 95% of the people who you
could be hiring, who your hiring manager
would be thrilled to, bits to talk to, not
on job boards and they are not looking at
ads and they are not on your career site.
And they have zero interest in looking
at your day in the life video, which
looks a lot like everybody else's day in
the life video, separate conversation,
Adapting quickly sounds great, but
rigid, interconnected HR systems
often make change nearly impossible.
In this chapter, our dear friend
Chris Bailey explains how legacy
softwares trap teams in what
he calls cottage cheese mess.
Then Jeremy York, another great,
discusses how to break out of
static funnels and shape AI to make
candidate journeys adaptive, fluid,
and aligned with your culture.
I feel stronger after that sentence.
Let's take a listen
in my job now, and it's some of
those conversations that, even, and
that surprises me even today, amazes
some of our kind of customers and
prospects that we speak to, to say,
oh, I, actually have the keys to
my own SmartRecruiters instance.
I said, yes.
I said, you, are your
own system administrator.
You manage your own continuous
improvement to your own release and
your own change management cycles
within your own organization.
We don't need to do that for you.
No, we can, if you don't have
the capacity internally, we've
got that model to support you.
you don't need us to do that.
And that, was one of the biggest
kind of selling points around
SmartRecruiters at Green King
and why it was so widely adopted.
They'd gone from a system
that they couldn't change.
I had a list of 20, I mentioned
20 quick wins with their existing
system, uh, which was Cornerstone.
Don't remember wrong with
Cornerstone at all, but, but
it was how it was configured.
And
sure.
it was almost, what they created was
like a cottage cheese mess of, of kind
of, if I change something over here, it
impacts these three matrix teams over
here, and I don't want it to do that.
But, and it was just so interwind,
we could not unpick it to the point
that the vendor then was like, well,
we can't really support you either,
because we're not quite sure the
mess that you've made yourself.
So we just couldn't do it.
And then all of a sudden we
go to a Smartrecruiters whose
technology isn't built that way.
It's almost impossible to be able
to kind of replicate what we had
to an org to then recruitment teams
and operational teams saying, oh, it
wouldn't it be good if we could do this.
Even now seeing it in the world of being
part of a suite with SAP SuccessFactors,
um, there are so many people that are
excited because I think the future is
continuously being able to keep up, right?
Like if I were to put a theme on the
successful technology companies that
are gonna do well in the future,
it's, they can keep up and they are
ahead of the curve with innovation.
And these larger suites are gonna
have a hard time because they
are so large to go through a pain
of change to get to that point.
some stakeholders minds
may not be worth it.
But on the other side, I think a, a
nimble organization that's small but
mighty, but has always had that habit of
innovating and going through that change.
I won't call it pain
because it's natural and
Yeah.
know this, right?
Build a plane while doing it.
Uh, but it, it helps to continuously
optimize and not make yourself outdated.
Um.
And, and sometimes certainly.
And what we definitely found with the,
the kind of the, the kind of the suites
is that from a TA aspect, and, and
often it's, it's, it's the modules.
It's, it's something that.
The, the releases within ta they're
wedded to the whole kind of HCM kind
of core kind of release schedules.
It might be quarterly, it might be
annually, it might be kind of every
half recruitment moves too, too fast
for that, like I said, and it does, you
want, you want kind of monthly release
cycles and monthly kind of updates,
um, and efficiency kind of updates
and, and kind of add on because that's
how quickly the, the market changes.
Right now in today's modern society
of applicant tracking systems there
is not an excuse for not being able to
communicate to candidates where they're
at in the process, because we can set the
workflow up in the applicant- Oh, yeah
tracking
system to send an email once
the workflow changes, or the,
you know, the status changes.
It's easy for us to do
that, but we don't do it.
We don't take the time out.
But candidates are dying
for some type of touch point
I think a practice, at least, you know,
'cause I've been in this business for a
long time, I know early on in my career,
the practice was, well, let's not notify
candidates or anything like that until
we've hired the person and let them know.
Sure.
The workforce today doesn't
subscribe to that type of um-
that type of communication s-
program or style or protocol, right?
Yeah.
They want to
know what's happening at all times, and
it's okay for us to communicate that.
Even if it's just an email that says,
"Hey, we're moving you to the next stage
in the process." They just want to know,
and I think we can easily set that up.
And let's just be transparent, and
here's the other thing, and I want
to use this word 'cause I think it's
important, is let's be authentic-
Hmm.
to who we are as an organization, right?
With that being said, I think what I've
seen as you talk about authenticity,
is I've seen some authenticity
turn into now higher standards.
for
example, I'll give you one.
It
used to be a black box.
Now it's, "Okay, we tell you where
you are in the hiring process." Now
to take it a step further, we ask you
to join our community, and so you're
now also talent pooling, keeping
them warm, being able to communicate
and campaign your brand or different
resource groups within your organization.
Now I think where we're seeing the
world going is even more thoughtfulness
related to candidates with what
we're calling reverse matching.
"Hey, you applied to this job, but
that might not be the best role
for you, but here's another one
that is." Or if you are, you know,
nice
and like to share, "Here's other
companies out there that have roles
that are also like the one you applied
to or based on the skill set you have."
So
I think your word authenticity is so true,
but I love seeing companies take it to
next level.
I think let's talk about AI.
You say we're in a world of transactional,
but the world is getting smarter.
Technology is getting smarter.
How do you see this entire experience
for related to culture, um, changing with
AI, and what would be your advice to our
listeners?
Oh, great.
That's … And this is a topic I talk
about a lot, about what do we do with
AI and still keeping it personal, right?
To still have the human element, and
let's not just turn it all over to AI.
Um,
the thing is, that AI is only as
good as what you train it to
be, or what you tell it to be,
or how your inputs are, right?
So what I've learned and what I
know to be true is that you can
shape how AI works with your people.
So if you're integrating AI
into your business, into your
organization, your operations, into
your recruiting talent acquisition
processes, you can kind of tell AI,
"This is our culture.
These are our values.
Here's
how we talk to people.
We are a people first organization.
Here's how we want you to
communicate with candidates.
You know, here's how we want you to craft
communications." We can tell AI what
our, our culture is, how it looks, how
it should feel, any of that, and AI can
mimic those things with us in the way
it interacts with people, even though
they're not interacting with a human
being at that point or stage in the game.
So I think it's very important
for us to be very, I'm gonna use
this word, very intentional about
how we program or elevate AI in
our organizations to ensure that it
aligns with our workplace culture.
We have to educate AI about our culture
just the same way we would have to
an individual or human being, right?
So that it can start to behave
in a way that aligns with
what our expectations are.
once you've unlocked speed and flexibility
where does human connection fit in?
While AI makes execution faster,
cleaner, and simpler, thank you,
Winston and friends, it isn't here
to replace humans like myself.
Allison Bosch closes our compilation by
breaking down how teams leverage AI and
rapid execution while keeping the most
important piece, the human judgment,
strictly at the center of hiring.
Let's take a listen
I, gosh, it's like all of those reels
that you see pop up that's like, "AI
here, AI there." It's like constantly
in your head and you feel like it needs
to be ingrained and more a part of your
day, and I think we've got- we've gotten
over that a little bit, and now we do see
it, it like intertwined in how we work.
Uh, I think that, of course, AI and
technology, continue to make execution
faster and cleaner and simpler at kind
of that administrative and core level.
But what is going to remain,
what will always remain, is
the ability to connect people.
Connect people so that they can
help each other, and that human
judgment layer always has to exist.
We know that.
We know that in, in how we talk
to our customers too, right?
Like, customers wanna have automation.
They wanna use all of these new,
innovative products, but the idea
is there has to be the component
where we are connecting people.
What was-- What's the tagline?
It's like connecting
people to jobs at scale.
That's what SmartRecruiters was.
All, and we still, we still say that, of
right?
As a standalone company,
it was connecting people.
And Yes you can say that about an
applicant tracking system, but don't
you feel that way as like a leader?
And, and about, and, and maybe not
even your direct reports, but just in
general, it is about connecting the dots,
and pretend the dots are the people.
And you are really trying to put the right
people in the right place, because then
they will do amazing things together.
Yes
their judgment, the system that they
put in place, and all of those things
will help them to the next level.
So I, I feel pretty grounded in that.
I try to stay as up-to-date as I can with
like the latest and greatest on, what's
moving, not only in leadership, but in
what's driving the success of some of
the most innovative companies right now.
And it still comes down to
understanding how people are connected
and moving things forward together,
and you're not going to lose that.
You're not gonna lose that with the
advancement of AI and technology
I hope you enjoyed our guests today.
I know I did, and I learned
a lot from each of them.
When you look at where recruiting is
heading, one thing is really clear.
Static hiring processes
simply can't keep up.
Again, what did one
tomato say to the other?
Ketchup.
Between shrinking candidate attention
spans, hidden talent pools, and rigid
legacy tech, the old playbook just isn't
built for speed that we need today.
That's where technology
becomes our biggest advantage.
AI, like our friend Winston here,
can help teams move faster, cutting
through administrative drag and
creating an adaptive hiring experience
that keeps up with the market.
But as every single one of our
guests reminded us, technology
is only half the equation.
The human layer, our culture, our
relationships, and our strategic
judgment must stay firmly at the core.
When you pair smart, adaptive
AI and genuine human insight,
you just don't fill roles.
You build stronger, more connected
teams for the long, long haul.
Thank you so much for joining us for
another episode of Hiring Happy Hour.
We hope you enjoyed this compilation.
If you found this helpful, share
it with some of your friends,
tap a stranger on the shoulder.
Just say happy hour out loud and
it'll get someone's attention.
Until next time, keep innovating,
stay agile, and keep human judgment
right where it belongs, at the core.
See you next time