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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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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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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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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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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Last year brought plenty of AI hype, but actual adoption in talent acquisition remained tentative. Some organizations ran pilots, most watched from the sidelines, and expectations stayed cautiously low. The technology advanced rapidly, yet widespread implementation lagged far behind the headlines.

Now, heading into 2026, there's a genuine opportunity to move beyond experimentation. But extracting real value won't come from simply buying the tools. It requires building entirely new capabilities around continuous workforce transformation and reskilling. The organizations that crack this will pull ahead. Those waiting for AI to deliver results on its own will be left wondering what went wrong. So what actually needs to change for companies to see a return on their AI investments?

My guest this week is Jonathan Kestenbaum, Managing Director at AMS. In our conversation, he shares his 2026 predictions for AI and outlines the transformation TA needs to make.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The complexities of AI implementation
• Is workforce planning the missing link in AI transformation?
• Blockchain and identity
• Hiring manager experience as the new KPI
• The need for more context and the end of the resume
• Innovation is outpacing regulation
• Increasing velocity in internal mobility
• How will the technology develop over the next few years?

AI is the most disruptive technology we've seen in our careers, but most industry conversations stay at the surface level of use cases and future predictions. This special bonus episode goes deeper.

These four interviews, taken from a behind-the-scenes film I recently made, explore how AI recruiting products actually get built. We're talking to the people who created SmartRecruiters' AI-first platform Winston to uncover the lessons TA professionals need for their own AI transformation.

Featuring:

• Shefali Netke, VP of Design, on how design decisions shape AI adoption in enterprise recruiting
• Thibaut Allard, Global Data Privacy & AI Lead, on navigating AI compliance where global regulations and rapid innovation collide
• Dave Novak, Global Director of Managed Services, on what it actually takes to turn AI ambition into operational reality
• Nicole Hammond, VP, Center of Excellence, on building true AI readiness from early mindset shifts to sustained capability

If you want to understand the architecture, the legal landscape, and the human side of making AI work in recruiting, this is the episode.

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?

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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?

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We’ve been talking about automation in recruiting for a long time. The AI developments of the last two years have significantly shifted the landscape of what is possible with automation, making it a strategic imperative rather than a nice-to-have. However, the current situation is pretty problematic. Some recruiters and TA teams are doing it poorly, particularly in outreach, inundating candidates with generic, obviously AI-generated messages that all sound the same. Meanwhile, many recruiting teams are resisting automation entirely, concerned about losing the human connection that actually fills roles.

At the same time, in a world of AI sameness, brand, reputation, and genuine relationships with a talent pool are becoming the real competitive advantage and the key factor that actually drives response.

So how do recruiters balance automation with authenticity while building the credibility that cuts through the noise?

My guest this week is Mark Whitby, founder of The Resilient Recruiter podcast. In our conversation, he discusses what should be automated, what must remain human, why investing in your brand now will determine your future success, and the role external recruiters can play in rebuilding trust in the hiring process.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current situation with automation in recruiting

• Reticence, bad strategies, and poor implementations

• The importance of the personal touch

• What are the essentially human parts of the hiring process?

• Multi-touch and multi-channel outreach

• How external agencies can help build trust with candidate

• How will AI change the agency market?

• The vital importance of brand and relationship building

• What will the future look like?

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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.

I hope you have been enjoying the live Round Up episodes we’ve been doing over the last few months. This month sees a brief return to the old school format, but don’t worry, Round Up Live will return in January

Episodes featured in this Round Up:

Ep 742: Aligning Hiring with Values

Ep 743: The Talent Acquisition Revolution

Ep 744: How Job Ads Impact Quality Of Hire

Ep 745: Recruiting Excellence In Disruptive Times

Ep 746 Building Digital Trust In Hiring

Ep 747: Rethinking Fairness in Hiring

Ep 748: The Real Value Of AI Agents

Ep 749: Recruiting Past, Present, and Future (Live at TA Tech)

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