For this episode of #HRTechChat, Purbita Banerjee, senior client partner and head of product management at Korn Ferry, joined 3Sixty Insights Co-Founder Brent Skinner for a barnburner of a discussion. Their topic? How future-of-work technology is upending long-held notions in #talentacquisition and #talentmanagement. "We're here to create pathways to success for humans at work," said Purbita.

#HRTechChat: Purbita Banerjee, Senior Client Partner and Head of Product Management at Korn Ferry

In today's fast-paced world of technology and automation, it's easy to assume that human interaction is becoming less relevant. However, when it comes to building meaningful relationships and effective hiring, technology will never fully replace the role of a recruiter.

Kim Slowik, a seasoned talent acquisition professional, emphasizes the importance of genuine connections in her conversation with Jennifer Dole on the HR Tech Chat podcast. While technology offers valuable tools for filtering and finding candidates, it's the human interaction that truly makes a difference.

When recruiters take the time to engage with candidates on a personal level, asking meaningful questions and actively listening, they gain insights that go beyond a resume. By understanding a candidate's aspirations, values, and career goals, recruiters can identify the perfect fit for both the candidate and the company.

Building relationships also extends to the hiring managers. Recruiters who invest in understanding the unique requirements and dynamics of a team can find candidates who not only possess the necessary skills but also align with the team's culture and goals. It's about creating a cohesive unit, just like building a sports team.

While technology provides tools like applicant tracking systems and LinkedIn Recruiter, which aid in the recruitment process, it cannot replace the nuanced understanding that comes from personal conversations. Technology may filter candidates on paper, but it often fails to capture the intangible qualities that make a candidate an ideal fit.

Technology has undoubtedly sped up the recruitment process, but it is the personal touch that fosters lasting relationships. Recruiters who go the extra mile, provide feedback, and genuinely care about candidates build a reputation that garners trust and loyalty. It's not just about filling a position; it's about nurturing long-term careers.

Technology may enhance efficiency and widen reach, but it will never replace the essence of human connection. Recruiters like Kim Slowik understand that building meaningful relationships with candidates and hiring managers is the key to successful recruitment. By combining technological tools with genuine empathy and insightful conversations, recruiters can truly find the perfect fit for both candidates and companies.

#HRTechChat with Kim Slowik on Building Meaningful Relationships: Why Recruiters Are Irreplaceable

Megan Coen, vice president of HR services at isolved, was a guest on the #HRTechChat video podcast. isolved calls HR outsourcing by a different name, HR augmentation, and this episode provides a glimpse into why. Megan shared war stories from her previous lives in helping to drive change management in HR and did a great job in laying out how isolved combines "the right blend" of technology and services.

#HRTechChat: Megan Coen, Vice President of HR Services at isolved

The talent acquisition of today is nonlinear. By this, we mean it’s all one thing, not a siloed process with many activities taking place in an orderly fashion or readily apparent, repeatable sequence. James Galvin should know. Our guest for this episode of the #HRTechChat video podcast, James is CEO and co-founder of Starcircle, a Cork, Ireland–headquartered vendor of cloud software and services designed to result in truly effective talent acquisition campaigns by looking at these as holistic efforts and considering sourcing first, and not last — an idea embodied in a term Starcircle uses: long-tail talent.

Take artificial intelligence, for example. It’s difficult to discuss modern talent acquisition without mentioning AI. This is because AI has entered the fray of talent acquisition for good. This is not hype. At the same time, however, “there’s a lack of understanding around how AI is going to fit into talent acquisition,” said James during the podcast. “And one thing’s for sure is: it’s not going to do your work for you. ”

The issue goes back to the tried-and-true old adage about relying on computers: garbage in, garbage out. Known perhaps even better for its acronym, GIGO is the idea that it doesn’t matter how powerful a computer is: if the data going in is bad (i.e., garbage), the computer will spit out something of very little value (i.e., again, garbage).

AI is the result of highly advanced, sophisticated computing, which of course means that GIGO applies to AI, too. Say you’re an employer. Say there’s an open role. Not that it necessarily matters for the example, but say it’s an executive role that you’re trying to fill. You’re certain of the qualities and characteristics you want or believe you need in new candidates for an open role. But who’s to say your certainty is warranted?

Very few ask the question, and once you inform the AI in your talent acquisition technology with whatever ideas you have, you’ll get the candidates you requested. The problem is, your idea of what you want or need is probably a little or way off the mark when it comes to what you actually need or should want. Apply the AI without any thought to this deep consideration, and never mind the disservice to diversity: you risk perpetuating deep-seated organizational dysfunction.

Talent acquisition is no longer a clean chain of neatly defined in-tandem events or occurrences culminating in a hire. Just as there is an emerging new talent acquisition suite for the future of work, in other words, so there is an emerging new process to go about finding and acquiring new talent. As the one who is planning talent acquisition for your organization, you could take this holistic view of talent acquisition and think of yourself as being at the center of a circle. A circle is a nice visual for the idea of something being nonlinear, after all.

On this episode of the podcast, James and I went on what you might characterize as a walkabout. AI was just one topic. Our discussion touched on talent acquisition in a deep way:

how approaching recruiting as if it were a sales funnel is a mistake, James believes — precisely because talent acquisition has become so nonlinear
why sourcing is anything but transactional and should be the first (instead of last) thing employers rethink in their approach to recruiting
what friction in hiring is and how lessening this friction helps employers engage with their talent pipelines and avert candidate abandonment down the line

#HRTechChat: James Galvin, CEO and Co-Founder of Starcircle

At the very tail end of May 2023, the enterprise artificial intelligence software and services vendor Veritone announced the acquisition of Broadbean, a global recruitment technology company. Given that PandoLogic joined the family of Veritone companies in mid-summer 2021, we invited an expert each from PandoLogic and Broadbean to appear on the #HRTechChat video podcast and discuss synergies between the two now-Veritone companies. Joining us for this episode were Faisel Samseer, director of partnerships, development and growth for Broadbean, and Nikos Livadas, vice president of partner development for PandoLogic.

 

Viewers (and listeners at the many audio podcast platforms where #HRTechChat syndicates) know we typically have in-depth discussions and communication with our guests in the "virtual greenroom" in the run-up to each episode. This episode is no different. Over a couple meetings and several detailed email exchanges, Nikos, Faisel and I discussed how the two vendors' shared circumstances under the aegis of Veritone ownership afford them the same kind of benefits normally found in any business partnership of this magnitude and scale.

The joining of these two companies is natural in many ways. PandoLogic started out as an AI-based programmatic advertising solution for recruiting and quickly and significantly grew its capabilities from there, delighting customers along the way. As for Broadbean, "Today, we're the world's leader in job distribution technology," said Faisel. "We enable our clients to blast out their jobs to multiple platforms at the same time." He elaborated on Broadbean's large global footprint: "We say we're global. We have offices throughout the world," and Broadbean supports around 7,000 job board integrations.

So, just how, exactly, do Broadbean and PandoLogic complement each other? "I think we all can agree that the bedrock of a successful AI platform is the amount of data that it has on the back end to fuel its algorithms and engines," said Nikos, pointing to the the "immense reach that Faisal was talking about earlier in data and combining it with the power of what PandoLogic has done in the AI space."

This is true. No matter the type of AI, it always evolves better the more data it has access to. We see this in AI-based scheduling software and AI-predicated self-evolving skills ontologies. Outside human capital management -- and inherent in their very name -- "large" language models thrive most when as much data as possible (i.e., from human input) feeds them. It only stands to reason that this same fundamental rule of AI applies when it comes to AI and talent acquisition.

 As Nikos shared in a note to me ahead of the recording, "As our resellers and referral partners embrace the new Veritone HR Solutions set, they will be able to leverage our new expanded global footprint to expose our combined offering in more geo-locations than ever before possible. This will allow our partners to focus on their core competencies while relying on Broadbean/PandoLogic to handle the logistics and distribution aspects."

 Veritone's history in the AI space is long, "and they're a formidable player in AI when it comes to media advertising and voice technologies," said Nikos. Leveraging all that newfound data in a creative way will help the companies' customers find and engage with the best candidates for their open roles. "This is phenomenal for our partners as well," Nikos continued, "and we're looking forward to working with our partners under this new umbrella.

#HRTechChat: A Deep-Dive Into PandoLogic Owner Veritone's Acquisition of Broadbean

As workforce expectations evolve and hiring challenges mount, the need for seamless, scalable recruitment strategies has never been more critical—especially in industries where speed and simplicity make or break business outcomes.

In this episode of #HRTechChat, 3Sixty Insights’ Dylan Teggart sits down with Heidi Barnett, former CEO of ApplicantPro and now President of isolved Talent Acquisition to discuss the recent merger between the two companies—and what it means for the future of talent acquisition.

Heidi brings her marketing-first mindset to HR, unpacking how ApplicantPro’s streamlined, high-conversion applicant tracking capabilities are now being scaled through isolved’s expansive HCM platform. Together, they explore the rising pressures on HR teams in SMB and mid-market companies, the realities of modern recruitment in high-turnover sectors like restaurants and healthcare, and the critical role AI and automation play in supporting overworked managers.

From applicant matching and video screening to managed recruitment services and mobile-first candidate engagement, Heidi explains how isolved and ApplicantPro are combining forces to help businesses move faster, hire smarter, and reduce operational friction—without sacrificing human connection.

What makes recruiting harder than ever in today’s labor market? How can AI actually restore humanity in the hiring process? And how can HR tech providers meet the needs of growing businesses across a fragmented talent landscape?

Tune in as Heidi shares practical insights on speed-to-hire, employee retention, and why the future of recruiting is both tech-driven and deeply human.

#HRTechChat: Heidi Barnett on ApplicantPro’s Evolution and Integration with isolved

The buying cycle for enterprise software and technology shouldn't be a power struggle between departments. 3Sixty Insights is a research, advisory, and consulting firm providing deep understanding of how to bridge the gap in perception and priorities between stakeholders. Through our research, we unearth strategic approaches for streamlining the decision-making process, successfully managing solutions, and maximizing value from business software and technology investments.

New tracks tagged #Applicant Tracking