The Recruiting Brainfood Podcast

AI Sourcing Agents in the Enterprise: Live demo!   Following on from Archer's phenomenal success, it's time to catch up with CEO Mark Chaffey on what happens when a feature becomes a product, and that product turns into the main thing. Archer is the AI sourcing agent which has not only enabled hackajob to expand beyond the talent market place model but also expand scope beyond tech domain also.   The stats are staggering:   In its first 90 days:   🏹 35,000 double opt-in introductions between jobseekers and employers   🏹 15% of these connections are for non-tech roles in areas such as Sales & Finance   🏹 20:1 first-stage-to-hire conversion — 15x better than the industry average   🏹 1,500+ fraudulent candidates blocked before reaching hiring processes   🏹 60% are first-time applicants you’d never have found through active channels   Let's hear from Mark on what the future of recruitment technology looks like when enterprise customers have an always on 24/7, multi-domain, multi-lingual recruiter working for them, within existing workflow. In fact, why don't we live demo and see Archer in action as enterprise customers would see it?   We're on Tuesday 31st March, 4pm BST / 11am ET / 8am PT.   Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Ep370 is sponsored by our friends hackajob   AI agents for job seekers and employers—making hiring easier, faster and fairer.

OPTIMISING YOUR RECRUITER WORKFLOW WITH AI - EXAMPLES!   AI is transforming recruitment at lightning speed. Recruiters who embrace it are filling roles faster, delivering better candidate experiences, and outperforming competitors stuck in manual processes. Yet many professionals hesitate - not because they doubt AI's potential, but because they lack concrete, real-world examples of how to implement it effectively. This livestream bridges that gap with actionable demonstrations you can apply immediately!   What You'll Learn:   - Getting started with Workflow automations - Finding a single manual process is currently repeats - Asking AI to help you identify those instances! - Real live demo from experts!   Mastering techniques isn't going to happen in one episode of Brainfood Live, but getting people started isn't beyond us. This isn't just about working smarter - it's about future-proofing your career. Recruiters who integrate AI into their workflow consistently exceed KPIs, become indispensable strategic partners to hiring managers, and command higher salaries in an increasingly competitive market. Meanwhile, those who delay risk being outpaced by tech-savvy colleagues and automated alternatives. Join us to transform your daily workflow, elevate your professional value, and secure your position at the forefront of modern recruitment.   We're on Friday 27th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)     Episode 369 is sponsored by Juicebox   PeopleGPT is the leading outbound recruiting platform built on Generative AI. Find talent across 30+ data sources, get interactive Talent Insights, and reach out with personalized AI email campaigns.   Key features include: PeopleGPT (Search): the world’s first people search engine that uses natural language. Describe who you’re searching for and find the perfect match from over 30 data sources. Talent Insights: Visualize your talent pool with 15+ interactive charts. Refine your search and dive deep into stats based on location, employers, job titles, skills, and more. Email Outreach: Maximize candidate engagement with AI-powered email campaigns. Personalize messaging at scale using AI commands, and boost response rates by 40%. Get 15% off your Juicebox subscription with code: BRAINFOOD15   Trusted by 5000+ companies including Scale AI, Mindbloom, and Patreon. Free trial available. Try Juicebox today

Amy Wiedner, personal-branding founder who helps founders and brands grow on LinkedIn, and David Arnaud, GTM strategist and LinkedIn data analyst. They unpack LinkedIn’s new AI-driven distribution logic, why profile-content alignment now shapes reach, which hooks and formats spark real conversation, and practical tips for consistent, topic-specific posting to beat signal noise.

HUMAN JUDGEMENT VS AI RECOMMENDATION: WHAT 'HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP' ACTUALLY MEAN?   AI is now embedded across sourcing, screening, matching, and interview scheduling. Yet one phrase keeps appearing in every vendor pitch and compliance policy: human-in-the-loop. But what does that actually mean in practice? In this livestream, “Human Judgement vs AI Recommendation – What does it really mean to say ‘human-in-the-loop’?”, we’ll examine how decisions are truly being made inside AI-enabled hiring workflows. When the algorithm scores, ranks, and recommends, where does human authority begin — and end?   This debate goes beyond tooling. It cuts to accountability, fairness, performance, and power.   What we’ll explore:   The Meaning of “Human-in-the-Loop”: Is it oversight, veto power, rubber-stamping, or genuine decision control? Right of Veto: Should recruiters and hiring managers override AI recommendations — and under what conditions? The Return of Gut Feel: If humans retain final say, do bias and intuition simply re-enter through the back door? Would it be more honest to say it never left? The Comeback of Cultural Fit? Aggregate Fairness vs Individual Judgment: If machines outperform humans statistically, should we defer to them — even when a single case feels wrong? Liability and Accountability: When a hiring decision is challenged, who owns it — the recruiter, the hiring manager, or the model? Designing Decision Architecture: How to structure workflows where AI augments cognition without replacing responsibility.   The future of hiring will not be AI-only or human-only. It will be a system of delegated judgment. Recruiters, TA leaders, HR executives, and HR tech builders need clarity on how authority, bias, and performance interact inside that system. If you care about fairness, effectiveness, and control in AI-enabled hiring, this session will challenge assumptions and force sharper thinking about what “human-in-the-loop” truly requires.   We're on Friday 13th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Episode 367 is sponsored by Metaview     Are you ready to supercharge your recruiting teams performance?   Metaview’s AI Sourcing will feel like a cheat code. It’s the first autonomous AI coworker that goes off and does the search for you and brings back spot-on candidates based on your exact brief.   Here’s what recruiters have been saying about it:   “I don’t know how you did it, but Metaview’s AI Sourcing is absurdly good.”   Michael, Partner @ Super Recruiter   “Metaview’s AI Sourcing really helps with niche roles. It surfaces profiles I wouldn’t have found.”   Dea, TA Manager @ Miro   “So impressed by how Metaview’s AI Sourcing turns a natural language prompt into great profiles.”   Leslie, Recruiter @ Cockroach Labs   Metaview gives high-performance teams a genuine unfair advantage in hiring. Join teams like ElevenLabs, Deel, and Pleo — along with 4,000+ others — and try it for free today.

THE STATE OF THE TALENT ACQUISITION & HR JOB MARKET Q 2026   The talent acquisition and HR profession is facing its own reckoning. After years of contraction, cautious hiring, automation investment, and cost discipline, the very functions built to fuel growth are now navigating scarcity themselves. In this livestream, The State of the Talent Acquisition & HR Job Market Q1 2026, we’ll unpack exclusive data from AspenTech Labs to examine what is really happening inside the TA and HR labor market. How deep are the cuts? Which roles are stabilising? Where is AI augmenting versus replacing? And what does this mean for practitioners planning their next move?   What we’ll cover:   Three Years of Contraction The AI Effect Shrinking Teams, Expanding Scope: Which Roles Are Resilient: The Geography Shift Compensation Trends What Employers Want Now   TA and HR functions traditionally scale with expansion. In a prolonged slowdown, they are forced to justify value in sharper, more measurable terms. This session will translate AspenTech Labs’ data into practical insight: whether you’re a TA leader defending budget, an HR executive redesigning structure, or a practitioner navigating career risk. If you want clarity on where opportunity remains—and how to future-proof yourself in a leaner market—this conversation will provide the signal you need.   We're on Wednesday 11th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Episode 366 is sponsored by Oleo   AI is now used by 62% of companies for hiring, but rapid efficiency shouldn't come at the expense of fairness. Oleeo and Aptitude Research’s new report highlights a major gap: only 20% of employers have fully established AI governance frameworks, which can lead to unintended bias. To keep things fair and compliant, 85% of recruiters demand final decision-making authority.   Download 'Setting the Standard for Responsible AI: A Guide For Modern Recruiters' today to build a transparent, human-led strategy that uses AI responsibly.

THE RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING BENCHMARK REPORT 2026   The labor market story of 2026 cannot be told through a single headline. Behind the macro narrative of cooling growth lies a structural split that is reshaping how recruiting actually works. In this livestream, we’ll break down Joveo’s Recruiting Benchmarks Report 2026 and discuss 9x surge in applicant volume for some roles to the persistent drought in others, this session will translate benchmark data into practical strategy.   What we’ll cover:   The 9x Applicant Avalanche Why More Applicants Doesn’t Mean Easier Hiring: The Occupational Split: Demand Intensity in Healthcare and Skilled Trades: Two Markets, Two Strategies: The Experience Cliff: Capability Over Credentials Recruiters and recruitment marketers who continue to run one hiring process across two fundamentally different markets risk underperforming in both. This session will equip you with the insight to recalibrate metrics, rethink CPA obsession, and align strategy to the actual hiring environment you’re operating in. If you want to move from reactive benchmarking to intentional advantage in 2026, this is a conversation you cannot afford to miss.   We're on Friday 6th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)     Episode 365 is sponsored by Joveo   As the global leader in AI-powered, high-performance recruitment marketing, Joveo is transforming talent attraction and recruitment media buying for the world’s largest employers, staffing firms, RPOs, and media agencies. The Joveo platform enables businesses to attract, source, engage, and hire the best candidates on time and within budget.   Powering millions of jobs every day, Joveo’s AI-led recruitment marketing platform uses advanced data science and machine learning to dynamically manage and optimize talent sourcing and applications across all online channels, while providing real-time insights at every step of the job seeker journey, from click to hire.   For more information about Joveo’s award-winning platform and solutions, visit www.joveo.com.

HOW TO HIRE IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 2026   Friends, I am back in South Africa, in one of my favourite cities for one of my favourite conferences, Recruiters Unite!   As has become tradition, we're going to do a Brainfood Live on the day the event, to speak to local South African recruiters and discuss the main challenges in hiring in South Africa in 2026. We hope to share knowledge between local recruiters and increase awareness for outsiders on how things roll here in the Rainbow Nation!   A few things we'll cover: Macro hiring outlook for 2026 Understanding South Africa’s labour law framework Employment Equity & B-BBEE in practice Permanent vs contract vs EOR models Compensation benchmarks & pay transparency trends Scarce skills and critical talent pipelines Remote and hybrid hiring dynamics Managing unionised environments Immigration and cross-border hiring Retention in a high-mobility market All this and more, as we dive into the nuance of hiring in one of the most dynamic and complicated countries in Africa.   We're on Tuesday 3rd March, 12pm GMT / 2pm SAST Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)     Ep364 is sponsored by Recruiters Unite   It's the event of the year for recruiters in South Africa. Get together with 400 local recruiters and a handful of brilliant experts from overseas and share knowledge as to how recruitment is working today and how it will work tomorrow.   Tickets here

THE AI IN HIRING REPORT 2026   AI now shapes how candidates are discovered, evaluated, progressed, and hired. What began as productivity tooling has become a decision-making layer across the hiring funnel, influencing speed, fairness, quality, and outcomes at scale. As adoption accelerates, the focus has shifted from novelty to impact: what AI is actually doing inside hiring workflows, where it adds value, and where risk is emerging. This session brings those realities into the open, grounded in fresh data from Greenhouse’s 2026 report on the state of AI in recruitment.   The report investigates AI use across the full hiring funnel, including: • Attraction & employer branding – how AI shapes job ads, messaging, and candidate reach • Sourcing – automation, matching, and talent rediscovery inside ATS platforms • Screening & shortlisting – CV parsing, skills inference, and early-stage decision support • Assessment & interviewing – structured interviews, note-taking, and signal consistency • Candidate experience – communication, feedback loops, and process transparency • Hiring decisions - how are candidates evaluated and how offers are personalised and shaped.   All this and more on Brainfood Live On Air.   We're on Friday 27th February, 2pm GMT. Follow the channel here (recommended) and click on the green button (save my spot) to reserve a place!   Ep363 is sponsored by Greenhouse   Want to dive deeper into the results of the Greenhouse AI In Hiring Survey? Discover how hundreds of candidates, recruiters, and hiring managers feel about working with AI in 2026. Read the key findings and actionable insights by downloading here:

FROM TALENT ACQUISITION TO TALENT OPERATIONS is a forward-looking show for TA leaders who can feel the function changing - but need clarity on what it is becoming.     We’ll examine the rise of talent operations as a distinct capability, driven by automation across scheduling, screening, compliance, and workflow management. As logistics are increasingly handled by platforms and AI, the skills that matter inside TA are changing fast. Data literacy is no longer optional. Leaders must understand demand forecasting, funnel diagnostics, quality signals, and cost-to-hire at a systems level—not just at req level.   At the same time, employer branding is making a return to centre stage. In a market shaped by transparency, social proof, and candidate choice, brand and messaging once again shape hiring outcomes. Talent intelligence becomes the strategic core: mapping skills, supply, pay, location, and future demand to inform decisions across the business.   Meanwhile, execution is fragmenting. More organisations are moving actual recruiting delivery to on-demand models—combining RPO, freelance recruiters, and specialist vendors—while internal teams focus on orchestration, insight, and governance.   This livestream will unpack what world-class talent operations looks like in practice, how leading teams are reorganising today, and what capabilities TA leaders must build next.   Viewers will learn how to transition from recruiter-led execution to an operational, intelligence-driven TA model built for scale, flexibility, and impact.   We're with Jamie Leonard, Founder of Recruitment Events Co, Jennifer Candee, Global Head of TA Transformation (IMI), Trine Rulffs, on Friday 20th February, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Ep362 is sponsored by Greenhouse   91% of recruiters and hiring managers have spotted or suspected candidate deception in the hiring process. Enter Greenhouse Real Talent™. Cut through spam and misrepresentation in your pipeline, verify a candidate's identity, and quickly identify which applicants are most aligned with your role. Learn more and book a demo today:

REDUCTION IN FORCE: HOW TO LEAD DURING CRISIS!   This show focuses on the practical reality of TA downsizing, told by leaders who have already been through it. Not theory. Not platitudes. Real decisions, real mistakes, and hard-won lessons. We explore how leaders decide when reductions are unavoidable, who to let go, and how to do it in a way that is fair, defensible, and humane—while still protecting the business.   The discussion covers: • Early warning signs that TA capacity is misaligned with demand • Objective vs subjective decision-making in role reductions • Legal and process risks specific to TA teams • Communicating layoffs with clarity, dignity, and credibility • Supporting managers who deliver the message • Handling survivor guilt and rebuilding trust post-reduction • What leaders wish they had done differently   Grounded in recent workforce data and employment best practice, this episode gives TA leaders a clear-eyed framework for making difficult calls without losing their values—or their teams.   Learn how to approach TA layoffs with structure, empathy, and confidence, while minimising risk and preserving long-term organisational trust.   We're with Andrea Marston, Head of Talent Acquisition (Nutanix), Yakub Zolinsky, VP of People (XYZReality), Julia Levy, Global Head of TA (ex-Commscope, Fiserv) & friends on Friday 13th February, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Ep361 is sponsored by Maki   At Maki, we help organisations like BNP Paribas, PwC, Booking.com, Nestlé, and H&M transform hiring with AI agents for screening, interviewing, and assessment.   By combining automation, behavioural science, and data, Maki enables talent teams to hire faster, fairer, and smarter.   Our global partnership with H&M saved 250 000 recruiter hours, cut time-to-hire by 4×, and reduced turnover by 22 %, delivering $85 M ROI.   Beyond automation, we’re building a continuous reinforcement system where every recruiter judgment and employee outcome makes our AI agents smarter; creating a unique data moat in HR.   Learn more: makipeople.com