Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?

Hiring processes are full of design choices that nobody ever questions. Requirements that sound reasonable but aren't defined. Formats that have stayed the same for decades. Onboarding systems built for one type of learner. Talented people are being screened out, not because they can't do the job, but because of how the process itself is designed.

These aren't people failures; they're design failures that quietly exclude the people organisations most need. So how do we actually design hiring in a way that works for everyone?

My guest this week is Theo Smith, author of the new book Designed for Humans: Rethinking Work in the Age of AI. In our conversation, he shares practical ways to spot and fix the system design flaws hiding in plain sight across the hiring process.

In the interview, we discuss:

Why people aren't always the problem

The hidden barriers in job ads

Probation periods as red flags

Why structured interviews still fail

How people mask gaps at work

AI is accelerating flawed system design.

Onboarding as a critical failure point

Designing workplaces for humans

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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 Ritu Mohanka, CEO at Vonq, about six of the episodes published in February 2026

Episodes featured in this Round Up:

Ep 766 How TA Proves Its Business Impact

Ep 767: Inside EY’s Talent Strategy for AI and the Future

Ep 769: Managing Risk In Talent Acquisition

Ep 770: The Science of Better Hiring

Ep 771 Recruiting At The Speed Of AI

Ep 772: Surfing The AI Tsunami

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Attracting talent gets all the headlines, but retention is where the real competitive advantage lives. In a market where top performers are constantly being approached by competitors and salary expectations keep rising, holding on to your best people has never been harder.

At the same time, the rapid pace of AI and automation means the skills companies need are shifting faster than ever, making internal development and mobility just as critical as external hiring.

So how do you build a workplace where people genuinely want to stay and grow?

My guests this week are Annika in der Beek, Chief People Officer, and Giovanni Di Felice, Director of Talent Acquisition at Statista. In our conversation, they share the science-backed framework behind what makes an excellent employer and explain how hiring and retention are becoming inseparable parts of the same strategy.

In the interview, we discuss:

Hiring challenges in AI and tech

Encouraging candidates to use AI

Why retention has become critical

Measuring what makes an excellent employer

Autonomy, competence, and relatedness at work

The power of honest feedback

Internal mobility and career development

TA as a strategic business partner

What does the future look like?

Learn more about The Excellent Workplace Rating.

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Many talent acquisition teams are dealing with surging application volumes right now, and AI is a major factor. Candidates are using it to apply faster, at a greater scale, and with more targeted information than ever before. The instinct has been to treat candidate AI use as noise, something to filter out or push back on. That response misses the long-term implications entirely.

AI isn't just a tool for corporate hiring teams anymore. Candidates have access to the same technology, and platforms are emerging specifically to help them use it strategically. The innovation this unlocks could drive more change in recruiting than anything employers are currently investing in.

So what is candidate-side AI actually capable of, and are talent acquisition teams thinking seriously enough about where this leads?

My guest this week is Sam Wright, Head Of Career Strategy at Huntr, a data-backed job search platform. In our conversation, he shares what candidates are really doing with AI and what the data reveals about where this is heading.

In the interview, we discuss:

The job market from a candidate's perspective

How the job search is changing

Declaring a truce in the AI arms race

Candidate-driven disruption and innovation in hiring

Ethics and responsibility

The importance of human judgement

What does the future look like?

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For years, recruitment marketing strategies have been built around a familiar set of rules: optimize your career site, rank well in search results, and ensure candidates can find you. But those rules were written for a world where Google was the gateway.

That world is changing. Candidates are increasingly turning to LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude to research potential employers, asking detailed, conversational questions about culture, benefits, and working environment. And the way those tools surface information is fundamentally different from traditional search. The content that performs well in Google often doesn't translate, and organizations that have invested heavily in their employer brand discovery may be largely invisible in this new landscape.

So what does it take to show up when candidates are searching in LLMs?

My guest this week is Graham Thornton, President of Consulting and Growth at Talivity. In our conversation, he explains how candidate discovery is changing, why existing SEO thinking doesn't apply, and what organizations need to do differently.

In the interview, we discuss:

How AI is disrupting recruitment marketing

The new uneven playing field

Content and context

The importance of structure and specificity

How third-party content is influencing discovery

How are job seekers now searching?

New ways of measuring ROI

What will the future look like?

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