[00:00:00] Welcome to Hiring Happy Hour, where we celebrate the human side of hiring. I'm your host, Nicole Hammond, and together we'll pull back the curtain on people shaping the future of work, the innovators, the dreamers, the change makers behind today's hiring experience. These are the real stories behind the dashboards.
From leaders transforming talent acquisition to the everyday moments that remind us why we love hiring in the first place, to connect people with purpose, hiring happy hours. Brought to you by Smart Recruiters, an SAP company, the AI powered software for super human hiring, helping organizations hire faster, smarter, and we're human.
squadcaster-h9ef_1_08-27-2026_151658: Hi, friends, and welcome to another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. I have been on the road a bit, and I've had a lot of conversations with customers about our favorite topic: AI. AI is changing the way we hire. It can help us move [00:01:00] faster, automate repetitive tasks, and can make sense of more information than ever before.
Sound familiar? But as more of the hiring process becomes automated, there's an important question that we have to ask. What parts of the hiring process should never lose the human touch? Where do we ensure that we are keeping that human component? Because at the end of the day, we're not hiring applications, we're hiring people, and the moments that build trust, create connection, and help candidates feel seen can make all the difference.
Think about those first impressions. So today, we're bringing you something special. We're bringing together perspectives from leaders across the hiring world on one simple idea: preserving human interaction where it matters most. Let's get into it
Nicole Hammond: so tell me, if we were to look at [00:02:00] kind of the point of hello to hire, where do you find are the most important moments for that human touch? Right, because the reality is, we're all using technology to. Your point or helping it to provide us efficiency, do the mundane tasks that we need support with.
Um, but what's most important that you found along that hiring process where we really need to stop and get that face-to-face time.
Stormy Jones: Hello. I would just
Nicole Hammond: Okay.
Stormy Jones: Hello.
Adam Reynolds: There's lot of automation happened up to the point where they met that person. There's then the onboarding piece where the store being brings in communication.
So, okay, let me, you've got 10 people here. Your job now is to communicate with all 10 of those people in the next three days. I need you to reach out to them all. Send text, send 'em an email, give them something which allows 'em to know, Hey, we are thinking about you. You know, I can't wait for you to join and your first day looks like this and dah, dah, dah. So that period of time, that three days, that is the most important period of time in the entire recruitment process. 'cause if you lose someone in that period of time, there. Man, that's a waste [00:03:00] because
Nicole Hammond: Oh,
Adam Reynolds: in all that work up to that time. This
Nicole Hammond: yep.
Adam Reynolds: This is literally, this is the, the, the, the, this is the hero moment.
Make sure you get this right.
Angie Goldman: I think the most important thing to me, whether I'm recruiting for my own team or recruiting for our clinics is that personality and those communication skills. because. TA can't do all the heavy lifting. We need to be able to build relationships with our stakeholders at the site level, and the operational level, and have really strong relationships with them in order for them to then, if we call, they pick up the phone straight away.
but if we don't have that relationship or that respect, then we can get overlooked and it makes our job exponentially harder. So really important on that side, but then also for that candidate experience. So I want people that prioritize an excellent candidate experience, and who are able to build those strong bonds with the candidate because it's a big deal of changing [00:04:00] jobs.
so they've gotta trust us. They've gotta feel like we are being genuine and have their best interest at heart. So that's probably my number one thing.
Stormy Jones: We don't use a receptionist anymore. We used to, we used to have a receptionist. I can't remember how long it's been, but now it's the automated phone line. Um, I still to this day get excited when I call someplace and a actual human answers, so I do like the fact that some of our candidates say, I'm really surprised I got to talk to a recruiter on my first interaction. with Pyrotek usually it's just been going, you know, I answer questions on the screening and then I, never know if I get pushed through or not. I always know where I stand, and to me, that is the most important part of the process.
Nicole Hammond: Oh, I love that. And I'm always about a first impression, right? First impression is the most important. I tell my kids that, you know, eye contact, say Please thank you, all the things. But I think that also reflects back on the brand of Pyrotek [00:05:00] right? That is a differentiator, if I'm being honest. In today's world, with high volume especially, we are seeing that automation, kind of that, dwindling down to top of funnel is all happening up front.
So that, hello, that face-to-face is not necessarily there anymore, and. I think generationally we can see where some are okay with this unexpected and others may not be. Um, one thing that I love when I look for hiring in hiring as a hiring manager is that personalization, right? I also am big on face-to-face.
I will say that my perspective is more during the interview time. I want that face to face. Uh, but I'm the hiring manager, so that makes sense. But I love. A good cover letter or a note to a manager, and this has been for me, small but mighty component that I take the time to go through because one, it means it's not a bot.
Two, it means that they've truly taken the time to learn [00:06:00] your business, learn about the opportunity, and tell a little bit about them that you may not get from a resume or a LinkedIn profile.
Stormy Jones: I enjoy the relationship building that I get with my hiring managers. I enjoy meeting new people and talking to them and learning about their story. Um, it truly is my, after so many years of work, this is my, this is my jam. This is my jam.
Nicole Hammond: So we've talked about the humanized side of hiring and I know that this is near and dear to your heart. I wanna hear your point of view on technology.
Kim Nicholas: I mean, those are our customers and, customers are our candidates.
So at the end of the day, we need to make sure that experience, that journey for them is, there, I'd rather have ai, but not all ai. You need to have that human factor.
Nicole Hammond: Amen. Amen. We, talk about AI automation with that human touch at the
Kim Nicholas: right point
If you don't have automations [00:07:00] or ai, you're gonna be falling behind, but human factor.
Rob: it's given the recruitment team a seat at the table. It's allowed, for the opportunity to focus on what really matters in a recruitment process. And to your, your point in the, in the intro, it's really important to me that we remember, you know, when people are looking for opportunities, it is a really vulnerable time in their career.
They don't want to be ignored. They don't want to be left for weeks wondering whether it was them or, or, or you or, or whatever that might be. So putting the-- It, it allowed us to put the empathy back into the process. It allowed the recruiters to spend more time with the hiring managers and form those really deep, lasting relationships.
It allowed the recruiters to speak to candidates in a more deeper way that allowed them to understand what we were as an organization, and ultimately allowed us to hire better quality candidates because we were getting more-- Our processes were, were slick, and so we could see the quality and, and that, connecting that to the bottom line of a, an organization's, revenue opportunity is huge and really starts to shine the right light on a recruitment function, which is it needs to be good because it is the first gate into an organization, and it's a really important [00:08:00] to get right
Stormy Jones: I am a human touch person. I know there's lots of tools out there. There's ai, there's, matching scores. There's, you know, all of these technology items. I am old school. I like the human connection. I think AI and technology has a place in the world, but not in the recruitment.
live, face-to-face, getting to know somebody. I wanna use it to help make my tasks easier, but I wanna talk to somebody.
coworker, Erica, she's fabulous. I'll tell you, she's younger than me. She embraces technology much better than me. so I kind of [00:09:00] say, okay, Erica, this. This involves a little bit more tech. So how about you tackle this?
Show me how, and we'll move forward.
Pia Stender: We have recruiters, in the locations for the locations. in the, global team we try to make life as easy as possible for the recruiter on site. So we try to take away everything that we can, standardize, that we can do for them. which unites everyone. so they get their hands free, to really focus, on the candidate and not worry about data protection, legal things, technical things, that everything is working fine. so we try to put that on our shoulders, to really enable the recruiters to do their best, with, the human-facing part of our job. [00:10:00] it seems we are doing quite the good job. We are always on a journey to make it better and better each day. We still have tons of ideas, to do it even better, along the way. I think to, to build on what you say, Pia, we need to be careful of one thing. Because today with AI, uh, people could build a CV based on your job description, and you could also have tools that are screening and selecting. And for me, I love, as a business person, going and reading the CVs myself. And this is also where we have great collaboration be- between the talent acquisition team and the, the, the business, is that we go through the CV.
We look at the, uh, uh motivation letter. And clearly today you see the ones who are authentic and the ones that are written with AI. It doesn't mean that they will make or will not make the cut, but at least we're receiving all the CVs in that tool, and that's what I appreciate. And then we could [00:11:00] pick and choose.
Of course, that could help you to select, but the human is super critical. Also, in the interview process, I already been exposed to people that used AI tool during the interview. You feel it, you smell it. So for me, the best moment is when we meet face to face, when we discuss about a business topic and I see how the person will present a, proposition.
So for me, this is really important to be careful on how those tool could potentially help us, but sometimes to slow down as well. Yeah. So I appreciate that, uh, Pia was also reflecting we need to have a certain prudent approach.
angie_2_01-14-2026_090852: I am pro AI with a human overlay.
nicole-hammond_9_01-13-2026_150914: I love that. I love
angie_2_01-14-2026_090852: Yeah. So I, um, You know, I think we, there's a trap at the
moment of just sending something that's been written by AI without editing it.
And what we're ending up with is everything's pretty [00:12:00] homogenous.
nicole-hammond_9_01-13-2026_150914: Yep.
angie_2_01-14-2026_090852: It doesn't tell me much about you, so I want you to do that, but then put your own
twist on it.
nicole-hammond_9_01-13-2026_150914: Love it. Love it. Use it as a first version, iterate.
angie_2_01-14-2026_090852: Yep. Or refine with it.
nicole-hammond_9_01-13-2026_150914: Yep. Agreed. Agreed. I it all the time, but I do exactly what you said, so thank you
Jamie Szymkowiak: right now we're all racing to include AI and automation and everything that we do within recruitment, but. I take a step back sometimes just to make sure am I giving access to the jobs, to everybody? because sometimes digital exclusion can really impact the opportunities of people.
What we can do is just make sure that you do offer alternatives.
Whether that is in person interviewing, whether it's a provision of interview questions beforehand so that people, that have a nervous disposition or anxiety can really prepare. 'cause you want people to shine during the interviews and really project their best [00:13:00] selves. So I think it's just about, giving people the opportunity to select ways in which they can represent themselves the best way possible.
Stormy Jones: I think, we have to learn a way to blend the two of tech and human interaction. I just think we have to learn how to blend those two, how it's done yet. I don't know how you blend those. Well, we're still learning that as we move along.
I think in five years where you see me e even if I am working, um, uh, I, I think truly I would probably stay on the little more older school with that human touch. Um, staying with those hiring managers, that that's kind of what they, what they prefer. Again, enveloping, um, AI and technology to make my job easier.
Not necessarily harder, but still keep that, um, uh, human touch in, into [00:14:00] everything.
squadcaster-h9ef_1_08-27-2026_151658: Wow. Wow. Just wow. I hope you've learned from today. There's a lot we can automate in hiring, and as we've heard, there's a lot we probably should. But the goal shouldn't be to remove people from the process. I will say it again, we should not remove people from the process. It should be to remove the friction, the mundane activities that keep people from doing the strategic objectives or what they love and what they do best, and that's connection.
Because candidates still want to feel heard. They want to know where they stand. They want to trust the people guiding them through one of the biggest decisions that they can make in their lives. The future of hiring isn't about choosing between tech and human connection. It's about using technology to make room for human connection where it matters.
If we get that balance right, we won't just make hiring faster, we'll make it awesome. [00:15:00] Thanks for joining us for this special compilation of Hiring Happy Hour. Until next time, keep the humans at the heart of hiring
And that wraps another episode of Hiring Happy Hour. Thanks for tuning in and for believing like we do that hiring isn't just about filling jobs. It's about the impact we make. To catch more stories and show notes, visit hiring happy hour.com. This episode was brought to you by Smart Recruiters, an SAP company, an AI powered platform for superhuman hiring.
Until next time, stay curious, stay kind, and keep humanizing hiring. Cheers.