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Recruiting Future Feast

Greetings from Edinburgh

Welcome to the weekly edition of Recruiting Future Feast, the newsletter from The Recruiting Future Podcast.

Faster Changing Times

Well, the one word I can think of to sum up 2024 was relentless. However, it is just the precursor to the disruption and acceleration of change we will see in 2025.

Predicting the future can seem impossible, but if you adopt the right mindset, predictions can be surprisingly accurate. One hundred years ago, in 1925, Professor Archibald Montgomery Low wrote an article in the London Daily News and accurately predicted everything from escalators to offshore wind energy and access to global on-demand entertainment through a "television machine" in every home. He also predicted that streetlights would be powered by herbs, but that aside, he was pretty accurate about most things.

Mindset is the key here; Professor Low was an engineer who did pioneering work on the first powered drone, radio guidance systems, and the development of television. He was in a position not only to spot and understand the trends that matter, he was actually shaping the future he was predicting.

Our industry is on the cusp of radical change, and the future isn't a passive thing that just happens. It is shaped by people who understand the trends and have the vision to influence their direction. Talent Acquisition has a once-in-a-generation window of opportunity to shape its future in 2025, but it's a window that is closing quickly.

Now is the time to step up and change hiring for the better. Let's do it!

Podcast Episodes Of The Year

It's been another fantastic year for Recruiting Future, with hundreds of thousands of downloads—a huge thank you to everyone who has listened to and shared the show. Here are the three most listened-to episodes of the year, all featuring trends that will shape 2025.

Third Most Popular

​Episode 591 - Richard Collins, CEO of C Squared Technology​

Richard gave a deep dive into how AI is transforming job behavior and the impacts this will have on recruiting. The conversation explored practical implications for Talent Acquisition and the broader shifts AI is driving in the workplace.

Second Most Popular

​Episode 585 - Brigette McInnis-Day, CPO at UiPath​

UiPath is a highly successful AI-Powered Business Automation Platform that sells directly into the C-Suite and operates company-wide. This was an eye-opening conversation for me as it's clear that businesses are buying automation in the same way they buy ERP software. Automation is inevitable, and if Talent Acquisition doesn't make its voice heard by taking the initiative on recruiting automation, it will just be done centrally and almost certainly not in the way TA would want it to be!

Most Popular

​Episode 597 - Kevin Wheeler and Bas van Haterd​

The most popular Recruiting Future episode of 2024 was my conversation with Kevin Wheeler and Bas Van Haterd about their superb book "Talent Acquisition Excellence." Kevin and Bas have very different styles but are united in their vision for the future of TA. It's a must listen to conversation and a must-read book for everyone as we move into 2025.

Highly Recommended

With so many brilliant guests, I don't want to pick a personal favorite episode; however, I would like to highlight Ep 647, where former Naval Seal Commander Rich Diviney talks about the attributes-based approach they use to assess and select for the elite SEAL Team Six. With the growing focus we are seeing on soft skills, there is something everyone can learn from Rich's work on human attributes.

Book Of The Year

My absolute number one choice for book of the year is "Revenge Of The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell.​

There is quite a lot of negative feedback about the style of writing in this book, but if you listen to the audiobook, you immediately understand why it is written this way. Gladwell absolutely nails it and takes the audiobook format to a whole level.

Gladwell is often accused of oversimplification in some of the conclusions he reaches in his work, but that aside, there are some jaw-dropping fact drops in this book. Little did I know that the lack of genetic diversity in Cheetahs would be one of the most interesting things I've learned about all year!

From a Talent Acquisition perspective, there are two big takeaways. The first is a fascinating insight into building meaningful diversity in groups. The second is the power of cultural norms and how they can be changed (Gladwell refers to them as "overstories"). This is critical stuff for 2025 as we can expect to see cultural norms in recruiting, such as resumes and traditional interview processes, very much in the firing line!

Predictions

As I said at the beginning of the newsletter, predicting the future isn't as impossible as you think it is if you have the right mindset and also if you use some of the strategic foresight tools, I have been talking about all year (link). So, with that in mind, you can watch me on the recent Purple Acorn 2025 Predictions show, putting my money where my mouth is.

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I'm collaborating with Purple Acorn on "The Alder Hour," broadcast via Linkedin Live every Monday. Check out this week's episode.

Latest Podcast Episode

Recent research from Eightfold AI and 3Sixty Insights highlights a growing misalignment between HR and corporate strategy. This disconnect is impacting hiring, employee satisfaction, and long-term organizational success.

Why is this misalignment happening, and what can HR leaders do to address it?

​In Episode 665, I'm joined by Teresa Wykes, Senior Director of Talent-Centered Transformation at Eightfold AI. Teresa shares insights from the research, and we explore the root causes of this misalignment and discuss potential solutions.

January Webinar

I am looking forward to my first webinar of the year and this is a great topic.

​Sign up for it here.​

Into 2025

In my 25 years of predicting and documenting change in Talent Acquisition, I have never known a time like the one we are living through. A perfect storm of unstoppable forces is driving change at a pace we couldn't have imagined just a few years ago. Looking ahead, I can only see things accelerating in 2025, with disruptive change continuing to redefine how companies think about talent.

It's going to be an interesting year, and I'll be working hard to bring you all the insights, intelligence, and tools you need to reinvent talent acquisition in your organization.

Recruiting Future will celebrate its 10 anniversary in February, hit 3 million downloads in March, and reach 700 episodes in May. I have a lot planned to celebrate these landmarks. More details soon!

A big thank you to Plum, Paradox, SmartRecruiters, Popp, and Eightfold AI for sponsoring the podcast during December

So that's a wrap on all things Recruiting future for 2024. Recruiting Future Feast will be back in 2025 (next week); in the meantime, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and look forward to seeing as many of you as I can in 2025

Matt Alder

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