Fresh off conference season, Mark Tomasino and I break down what we actually saw on the show floor. The net out: If your differentiator is "AI-powered," you've already lost. We dig into the feedback loop nobody's talking about: job seekers using AI to mass apply to jobs, employers using AI to filter the noise, and the whole apparatus just... creating more work for all. Mark walks through his six-question framework for cutting through vendor pitches, why context matters more than the alg...

In this episode of The Changing State of Talent Acquisition, hosts Graham Thornton and Martin Predd welcome Maria Christopoulos Katris, Founder and CEO of Built In. Maria shares her 15-year journey growing Built In from a Chicago-based tech community to a global recruitment platform, offering sharp insights into why traditional applicant tracking systems (ATS) are failing to capture the full candidate journey and how employer branding has become a cornerstone of modern talent acquisitio...

In this thought-provoking episode, we welcome Alex Swartsel, leader of JFF Labs Insights Practice at Jobs for the Future, to explore the growing AI skills gap and its implications for the future of work. Alex shares eye-opening research showing how AI usage in the workplace skyrocketed from 8% to 35% in just one year, while revealing a concerning disparity: 60% of employees are using AI for self-directed learning, yet only 16% have access to employer-provided AI tools. Our conversation dives ...

In this episode, Kyle Lagunas of Aptitude Research discusses the crucial distinction between "human-in-the-loop" and truly "human-centric" AI approaches in HR. Drawing from his extensive 15-year career studying innovation cycles in HR tech, Kyle explains why adoption rates for AI in HR are stalling despite executive support, and offers practical strategies for building AI literacy within organizations. Topics Covered: The difference between human-in-the-loop vs. human-centric AI designWhy HR ...

In this episode of The Changing State of Talent Acquisition, we sit down with Craig Fisher—CEO of TalentNet Media, author of Hiring Humans, and one of the most respected voices in the HR tech space. From his early days in staffing to launching TalentNet Live, Craig has worn nearly every hat in the talent world. We explore why friction in the hiring process is actually a good thing, how AI tools can enhance rather than replace human connection, and why most companies are missing the mark on re...

In this episode of The Changing State of Talent Acquisition, we sit down with Rishad Tobaccowala—author, speaker, and strategist with 37 years of leadership experience at Leo Burnett and Publicis Groupe—to explore the shifting dynamics of work in the age of AI and digital transformation. Rishad shares insights from his books Rethinking Work and Restoring the Soul of Business, diving into the rise of task-based employment, the growing trend of fractional roles, and how both individuals and com...

In this episode of the Changing State of Talent Acquisition, hosts Graham Thornton and Martin Predd are joined by Matthew J. Daniel, Senior Principal of Talent Strategy at Guild, for a deep dive into the evolving nature of skills and career development. Matthew shares insights from his diverse background in learning, talent development, and in-house strategy, challenging the notion of a rapid "half-life" for skills and advocating for a more nuanced approach to skill-building in today’s fast-c...

This week Graham and Marty sit down with Cole Napper, VP of Research and Innovation at Lightcast and host of the Directionally Correct Podcast, to dive into groundbreaking research on workforce risk. Cole draws on his extensive people analytics experience—from multinational corporations to startups—to shed light on Lightcast’s Workforce Risk Report and its roots in earlier studies like Demographic Drought and Rising Storm. Topics include: • Workforce Demographics & Skills Gap: How r...

This week we welcome David Ellis to the podcast. David started his career as a recruiter in New Zealand, before relocating to Europe to work as a talent consultant. After earning his PhD, he moved to Boston to join Korn Ferry, where he currently sits as SVP of Talent Transformation. Topics include: The future of talent acquisition, how AI can streamline processes while enriching candidate experiences, how to strike the right balance between AI and human touch, the ethical considerations...

#60: On the Frontline – How AI is Shaping the Future of High Volume Recruiting This week we welcome Sean Behr to the podcast. Sean is a successful entrepreneur spanning multiple industries, including e-commerce, advertising and automotive. Before joining Fountain as an investor and CEO, Sean held a number of founding and senior leadership roles at STRATIM, Adap.tv, and Shopping.com. He is also an active investor and advisor for numerous early stage companies, including Nana, AntHill, an...

Change State is thrilled to introduce a new recurring “mini” feature on the Changing State of Talent Acquisition podcast. In “Change State Method and Practices”, we’ll periodically share practical tips, frameworks, tools, and strategies we rely on to help our clients build world-class talent brands and recruitment marketing strategies. What is Methods & Practices? We launched the podcast five years ago with a focus on education: how do we engage with, promote, and elevate the most i...

This week we welcome William Sims to the podcast. Before joining Lightcast as SVP of Professional Services, Williams held a number of leadership positions in talent acquisition and sales at Qualtrics, Jani-King Gulf Coast, and Career Builder, where he served as Director of Global Solutions Architects. Topics include: the current state of the labor market, the connection between the labor market and interest rates, the role of the Fed, the near and far term prognosis of the labor ...

This week we welcome Susan LeMotte to the podcast. Before starting exaqueo, Susan held a number of leadership positions in talent acquisition and employer branding, including as an HR consultant for Home Depot, Director of Talent Acquisition at Ritz Carlton, and Senior Director of Global Employer Branding and Marketing at Marriott. Topics include: the evolution of and current state of employer brand as an industry, reactive employer branding vs. strategic employer branding, why employer bra...

This week we welcome Heather Tenuto to the podcast. Before taking on her current role as CEO of The Muse Group (owners of The Muse and Fairygodboss), Heather spent her early career as a public school teacher before pivoting to a range of sales enablement and revenue growth roles, including VP of Channels at ShoreTel, VP of Sales (SMB Services) at Office Depot, and Chief Revenue Officer of Zift Solutions. Topics include: employer brand as a strategy vs. tactic, employer brand ambassador...

This week we welcome Ben Zweig to the podcast. With a Ph.D. in Economics, Ben currently teaches a course on “the Future of Work” at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and serves as CEO of Revelio Labs, a workforce intelligence consultancy he founded in 2018. Topics include: economics, the basic definition of “work,” the value of viewing jobs as a bundle of work activities and people as bundles of skills, the trouble with understanding jobs as collections of skills, the difficulty of quant...

This week we welcome Rachel Gulley to the podcast. Rachel started as a recruiter at staffing agencies before taking on a variety of recruiting operations management roles at WilsonHCG, Asurion, and FanDuel, where she currently serves as Director of Talent Acquisition Operations. Topics include: organizational culture, core values, how core values can serve as a “framework” for effective decision-making, using product-development frameworks to optimize recruiting operations, the value o...

This week we welcome Carina Clingman to the podcast. With a PhD in biochemistry, Carina’s early experiences looking for jobs in the biotech space led her to start Recruitomics, a TA consulting group that helps small and startup biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies find and retain top talent. Topics include: the advantages (and disadvantages) of having recruiters with deep subject-matter expertise, why hiring the wrong person can be particularly costly for startups, the inher...

This week we welcome Heather Dunn to the podcast. Passionate about HR from an early age (16!), Heather brings more than 15 years of experience has an HR leader in technology companies, having held senior roles at Microsoft and Dropbox before joining Gem, where she currently serves at Chief People Officer. Topics include: how HR can be a “lonely” role in an organization, the similarities between HR and therapy, the importance of having “truth tellers,” the prevalence of open technical r...

This week we welcome Gretchen Huestis to the podcast. Passionate about human potential and purpose-led change, Gretchen has more than 20 years of experience as a management consultant and holder of senior HR leadership roles. She honed her skills at Towers Perrin, Pitney Bowes, SABMiller, and HSBC before assuming her current position at Siegel+Gale, where she serves at Group Director of Brand-led Change. Topics include: building bridges between HR and marketing, the persistence of silo...