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Evergreen Podcasts

HR Interviews Playlist

The modern workplace has created an epidemic of burnout that's quietly destroying careers and companies alike. Many professionals are quietly battling anxiety, sleep disruption, and physical exhaustion while maintaining a facade of having everything under control. TA leaders are currently navigating AI adoption, defending budgets, managing anxious teams, and are still expected to fill critical roles faster than ever. 

So what kinds of systems can you put in place to prioritise your own wellbeing, while still making a lasting impact in your business?

My guest this week is Chris Ducker, a serial entrepreneur and bestselling author. Chris suffered a severe burnout in 2021 and has used the lessons it taught him to develop a Life Operating System that sits at the centre of his new book "The Long-Haul Leader." I've known Chris for a while now, and the advice and insights he offers are very much grounded in the reality of modern working life

In the interview, we discuss:

 Building long-term business impact in disruptive times

 Why self-care is strategic

 The myth of work-life balance

 Recognising the warning signs and avoiding burnout

 The four key areas of the Life OS and how they intersect to drive results

 The power of creative hobbies

 Why data and what you do with it is so important

 AI, friend or foe?

 What does the future of work look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 727 Becoming A Long-Haul Leader

The explosion of AI-generated applications isn't just breaking traditional recruiting - it's creating an unprecedented opportunity by making sophisticated assessment tools accessible for early-stage screening. There is now the opportunity to filter thousands of applicants based on actual predictive data. However, the vendor landscape here can be confusing, and some offerings lack the transparency that employers need.

So how can organizations identify tools that leverage AI's efficiency while respecting established peer-reviewed assessment science?

My guest this week is Djurre Holtrop, Assistant Professor at Tilburg University. In our conversation, Jura reveals how AI could democratize evidence-based assessment for organizations of all sizes and offers advice on best practices and the future assessment landscape.

In the interview, we discuss:

 The science-practice gap in assessment

 The tension arising from the rapid development of AI and the need to evaluate work performance results over time.

 AI isn't making the process worse because CVs and cover letters have no predictive validity.

 How is AI improving the science?

 Transforming recruiting with early-stage screening

 How bias carries through the recruiting process

 Resetting our mental models

 What does the future look like?

Recruiting Future helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology.

If you're interested in finding out how your TA function measures up in these four critical areas, I've created the free FITT for the Future Assessment. It'll give you personalised insights to help you build strategic clarity and drive greater impact immediately.

Just head to mattalder.me/podcast to complete the assessment—it only takes a few minutes.

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 726: How AI Is Finally Killing The Resume

For too long, gaps in resumes have been a red flag for recruiters. But what if this outdated bias is costing you your best hires? In today's world, where everyone's constantly reskilling and skills become obsolete within months, penalizing career breaks makes absolutely no sense. This red flag mentality drives ageism and automatically screens out experienced professionals. Organizations clinging to "recent experience" requirements are handing their competitors access to mature talent bringing fresh perspectives, proven loyalty, and decades of expertise.

So how can forward-thinking employers flip this nonsensical bias into strategic advantage by recognizing that career breaks often create stronger professionals, not weaker ones?

My guest this week is Hazel Little, CEO at Career Returners. Hazel exposes the real cost of resume gap discrimination and shares proven strategies for building returner programs that deliver business results. In our conversation, she reveals why the red flag mentality around career breaks belongs in recruiting's past.

In the interview, we discuss:

 What is a career returner?

 What are the common issues returners face

 The human impact of bias

 What drives career gap bias?

 Incorrect perceptions, false assumptions, and outdated approaches to hiring

 The significant advantages of tapping into the returner talent pool

 The significance of the decreasing shelf life of skills

 Advice to employers

 What might the future look like?

Recruiting Future helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology.

If you're interested in finding out how your TA function measures up in these four critical areas, I've created the free FITT for the Future Assessment. It'll give you personalised insights to help you build strategic clarity and drive greater impact immediately.

Just head to mattalder.me/podcast to complete the assessment—it only takes a few minutes.

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 723: The Impact Of Career Gap Bias

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Foresight.

The pace of change has become relentless. Economic volatility, AI adoption, hybrid work challenges, and geopolitical shifts are forcing companies to completely rethink their workforce strategies. Organizations that once planned in five-year cycles now refresh their approaches on a quarterly or even monthly basis. This unprecedented disruption demands immediate action - but many HR and talent teams remain paralyzed by uncertainty. Traditional recruitment and development approaches simply can't keep pace with how rapidly skills requirements are evolving. What concrete steps should companies take today to build resilience into their talent strategies?

My guest this week is Peter Miscovich, Global Future of Work Leader at JLL. Peter has spent 25 years helping Fortune 100 companies navigate workforce transformation and has never been busier than right now. In our conversation, he shares practical insights on building adaptive talent strategies, why continuous learning has become non-negotiable, and the specific skills companies must prioritize immediately to remain competitive in a constantly changing environment.

In the interview, we discuss:

 What are employers most concerned about?

 AI integration and workforce transformation

 The age of anxiety

 Creating multiple flexible scenarios to shape the future

 Building Liquid Workforces

 Organisational structures that combine humans and AI

 Continuous learning, psychological safety, and resilience

 Anticipating the skills of the future and bridging the L&D gap

 Reframing your professional identity

 How should employers be preparing for 2030?

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Ep 719: Recruiting for Skills That Don't Exist Yet

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology.

This episode is about Talent and Technology.

Timely and effective measurement of the quality of hire has long been a significant frustration for talent acquisition, with meaningful data often trapped in subjective performance reviews that arrive too late to be of any help.

But what if AI could help connect interview assessments, onboarding metrics, and performance data in ways that reveal which hires are going to succeed, creating real-time feedback loops that continually improve hiring decisions? 

So, how exactly can employers build these types of connected systems?

My guest this week is Mark Linnville, Head of Talent at Garner Health. In our conversation, he reveals how to identify accurate leading indicators for quality of hire, why authentic interview experiences help predict performance, and how AI helps connect the dots we've been missing.

In the interview, we discuss:

 Talent market challenges

 Removing the silos in the talent function

 Providing a true-to-self candidate experience

 How do you judge quality of hire from a TA perspective?

 Leading indicators versus lagging data

 Creating continuous feedback loops

 Using AI to connect interviews to performance

 The importance of the human element of talent acquisition

 What does the future look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 716: Using AI To Transform Quality of Hire

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Influence and Technology.

Talent Acquisition leaders are navigating a uniquely challenging period, juggling rapid advancements in AI with ongoing operational demands. The opportunity to automate routine tasks is clear, but the real challenge is determining where AI ends and human intervention begins. 

With AI technologies rapidly reshaping the recruitment landscape, how can employers ensure they deploy AI strategically rather than superficially? 

My guest this week is Chris Riche-Webber, VP Business Intelligence and Analytics at SmartRecruiters. Chris shares valuable insights into defining clear outcomes for AI deployment, experimenting effectively, and building genuine trust with technology vendors.

In the interview, we discuss: 

 Current TA market realities

 Implementing AI to its full potential

 Defining the split between automation, augmentation, and obsolescence

 Why trust is critical for AI success

 Radical shifts in recruiter roles

 Hiring Manager self-service and why human backstops aren't the solution

 What will TA teams do when AI gives them increased capacity?

 How to build a business case

 What does the future look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 714: Navigating AI In Talent Acquisition

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Foresight and Talent

Some of the most significant innovations in talent management and talent acquisition originated in the tech sector. From Edison's revolutionary use of teamwork to Netflix's principle of Talent Density, cutting-edge thinking about technology has often also involved cutting-edge thinking about talent.

What might the history of technology teach us about the future impact of AI on talent practices?

My guest this week is Jamie Dobson, CEO of Container Solutions and author of the forthcoming book, “Visionaries, Rebels and Machines,” on the history of technology. In our conversation, Jamie identifies some of the talent innovations the tech sector has given us, shares how he applied some of this thinking to his own business, and we discuss what the future might look like

In the interview, we discuss:

 How can historical context help us understand the future?

 Examples of talent innovations that have come out of the tech sector

 Teamwork and talent density

 The problem with copying the artifacts but not the thought processes behind them

 Lessons from elite sports

 How technology changes, but human nature doesn't

 What does the future look like

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 713: What Drives Talent Innovation?

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Talent and Foresight.

We're no longer dealing with a world that's simply volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous - we've arguably entered something far more challenging: a reality that's brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible. This shift is turning traditional workforce planning completely on its head. Three-year strategic plans become meaningless when entire job categories disappear in months, when AI capabilities jump overnight, and when market conditions change faster than planning cycles can adapt.

So how can employers develop effective talent strategies in highly uncertain times, and how might talent acquisition step up to take a strategic role?

My guest this week is Toby Culshaw, VP of Strategy for Talent Intelligence at Lightcast. In our conversation, Toby explains how real-time talent intelligence is needed to build talent strategies that can respond to rapid change and why TA teams are uniquely positioned as invaluable sources of business intelligence.

In the interview, we discuss:

 Moving from a VUCA world to a BANI world

 Dramatic change with significant compound effects

 The implications for long-term planning

 Why it is now easier to better align TA with workforce planning

 Signals and real-time talent intelligence

 The shortening half-life of job skills

 The anxious workforce

 Surfacing insights from TA

 War gaming and scenario planning

 The importance of data

 What might the future look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 712: Is Workforce Planning Obsolete?

Hi there, welcome to episode 711 of Recruiting Future with me, Matt Alder.

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about Talent and Technology.

The recruitment technology landscape is experiencing a perfect storm. Perfect match candidates aren't completing applications due to frustrating processes. At the same time, recruiters are being overwhelmed by candidates using AI tools to generate thousands of low-quality submissions. Traditional matching algorithms provide limited transparency into the decision-making process, thereby creating legal and compliance risks. Meanwhile, cost-per-application models continue to charge for clicks rather than actual conversions, leaving employers paying for candidates who never complete the process.

How can TA teams navigate this impossible environment while improving outcomes for everyone involved?

My guests this week are Simon Van Hijfte, Marketing Manager at Adecco Belgium, and Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ. Simon shares how Adecco is transforming their recruitment process with AI agents and the impressive results they're achieving - from improved candidate satisfaction to enhanced recruiter efficiency. We also all discuss the shift from opaque matching systems to transparent point-based scoring, how AI agents are solving the broken candidate experience, and why this people-first approach is delivering better business outcomes across the board.

 Why is the candidate experience broken?

 The impact of candidates using AI

 Implementing a people-first approach supported by AI

 Recruter Enablement vi AI Agents

 What do the candidates think?

 Moving from matching to scoring and explainable decision making

 Spotting transferable skills

 Vonq's innovative CPA+ model

 What results has Adecco been getting?

 What does the future of recruiting look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 711: How AI Agents Are Driving Recruiting Results

Recruiting Future is a podcast that helps Talent Acquisition teams drive measurable impact by developing their strategic capability in Foresight, Influence, Talent, and Technology. 

This episode is about talent.

Economic uncertainty and disruption has reached a whole new level in 2025, with companies freezing hiring plans and candidates hesitating to make career moves. But if talent attraction strategies fail during market volatility, how can organizations that need scarce and specialized talent survive and thrive? 

So, when candidate markets are tight, how can TA teams turn uncertainty into opportunity?

My guest this week is Dave Napeloni, Senior Vice President of Global Life Sciences at Korn Ferry. Dave's team is helping life sciences companies navigate talent scarcity by transforming how they engage with candidates during economic disruption. Dave has valuable insights to share, on effective talent engagement and pipeline building, that are changing how organizations compete for talent in these uncertain times.

In the interview, we discuss

 The talent market challenges in Life Sciences

 Dealing with long-term uncertainty 

 The impact on candidate behavior

 How successful companies are using volatility as a competitive advantage 

 The critical importance of EVPs and employer branding

 Building candidate engagement through purpose-driven messaging

 Extending the role of TA beyond onboarding and into talent management

 How AI can radically improve the candidate experience

 What the future might look like

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Ep 708: Winning Talent When Markets Freeze

This time last year, most of us hadn't heard of generative AI, but it has dominated our industry discourse in 2024. The dramatic emergence of generative AI has illustrated how fast disruption is accelerating and has made us think deeply about the future of talent acquisition.

Back in July at RecFest, Tony de Graaf, Global Director of Hiring Success at SmartRecruiters, invited me to join him for a fireside chat about the potential impact of generative AI on TA. Even though three months is a long time in AI, this is still a very relevant discussion where we attempted to unpick what is happening and understand how AI is shaping the future of talent acquisition.

In the interview, we discuss:

The AI hype cycle

Does AI take away tasks or jobs?

The pressure for change that is coming from the top of organizations

Strategic workforce planning and hiring for future skills

Moving from being operational to being strategic

The transformation of marketing

Democratized access to technology

Is this the end of recruiting norms that we take for granted?

Being relentlessly open-minded and questioning everything

The future workforce talent and skills crisis

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Ep 563: How Will AI Change TA? (Live at RecFest)

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