Do you know what happens after a decade of historically low unemployment?

We’ve become accustomed to selecting below-average talent and acting like it’s the best talent.

Ouch!

No! I didn’t mean you. I meant all of the other organizations. You were the one who kept super high standards and had a crystal clear vision of what great talent looked like. Everybody else just hired mouth breathers. You were fine…

That’s what we tell ourselves.

In the zeal to hire fast. Lower that time to fill. We hired warm bodies. Sometimes, we hired lukewarm bodies. Sometimes, we hired the walking dead. I mean, if we are being honest.

The ironic part of this is that your CEO is still out there telling the stakeholders, “We only hire the top talent”! Little by little, every time you hear that, a part of you dies inside. Because we know the truth, we know they hired the best of the applicants for the job when it was open, and there’s a greater than zero chance some of those hires were actually the worst talent in our market.

I bet your CEO would have a hard time telling the local news outlet about that!

Want to be better at selecting talent?

There are three things I think we can do to increase the level of talent we hire massively.

1. Job samples are the number one predictor of whether or not a person can actually perform the job. Yet, almost none of us do it. It’s hard to do, expensive, and complicated. I have hope. I’ve seen some new Agentic AI tools that can create life-like job samples for things like sales, accounting, etc.
2. Hire intelligent people. If all else fails, hire smart people. If you simply had every single applicant take an intelligence test, and you only hired the smartest, you would actually select better talent than almost everyone else in your market. If you add an assessment around agility to learn, you’ll be even better.
3. Interview like you’re a military interrogator. We’ve made interviewing too easy. “Hi! How are you? What’s your favorite color? Oh, you feel stressed? How about we just skip this part, and you can have the job!” We need to get back to truly digging in, asking tough questions, and making sure we want this person and that this person wants us. What I’ve found is that the harder you interview, the more interested the high talent gets. Talented people want to be challenged. Low talent people don’t.

I think we took our eyes off the ball.

We started just hiring skills and forgot about the rest. Yes, I need your skills, but I also need you to buy into what we are doing. Does your crazy match our crazy? Do you want to join this funny farm, or is this not right for you? We stopped trying to get people to opt out of our process, believing that everyone with the right skills is the right hire for us. That just isn’t true.

Some of our organizations have been held back because we simply moved too fast on marginal candidates. We weren’t patient. We bought into the narrative that we might not get anyone if we don’t hire this average talented person.

Even in tough talent-times, we have to move with purpose, not pace. We have to have a clear directive around what is great talent, good talent, average talent, and below-average talent. That bar can’t move, but unfortunately, we have let it move for so long that I’m not even sure if most organizations know the difference between good talent and average talent.

When we look at all the AI tech that will help us hire, and I get to dream about all this extra capacity we’ll have to work with, this is what I think about. Now, we can hire great again!

If you hear any HR/Recruiting Influencer talk bad about returning to work/office, know they haven’t actually worked in an office in probably a decade. They have no idea what they’re talking about, and they’ve most likely already established their professional networks. So, yeah, they have no idea what they’re talking about. RTW for them is HR content porn. They know they’ll get a lot of likes from other old HR people.

Here’s what I know from actually running a company and working in an office today:

• If my employees were most productive on the Moon, I would have them strapped to a rocket by Monday. Every CEO thinks exactly the same way. They don’t give a sh*t about some office building lease. They only care about making their numbers better.

• There’s zero causation between someone saying they’re most productive working at home and actually being measurably most productive at home.

• So many people want to work at home right now, even though it hurts their career, that if you’re a younger worker who comes in and gives average effort in the office, you’re going to win. It’s so easy to win in corporate America today!

• Most data around productivity and working from home is flawed. Most of it was done during the pandemic when everyone was freaked out, so we sat in front of our computers all day and had non-stop Zoom meetings. We also have 3 trillion dollars of free money jammed into the economy, so every company was doing well. Once that all dried up and we got comfortable, measurable productivity fell off a cliff.

• The vast majority of workers lack the self-motivation to work from home and need the structure of an office to be most productive. Roughly 10% of humans perform better working remotely. (Yeah, I know you reading this think you’re one of the 10% – you’re probably not. That’s the entire problem.)

RTW for GenZ has so many advantages. Here are some stats from some new research by deel –

Organizations want GenZ workers more than ever for their digital-native skill set.

Here’s the reality. This isn’t about RTW vs. Remote.

This is about treating workers like adults and giving them some flexibility.

Sure, I’ll come into the office, but when I have a dentist appointment at 2 pm on Tuesday and I have no other meetings after that, I’m not coming back to work so you can see my ass sitting in a cube. That makes no sense.

I think most CEOs and executive teams get that now.

They also understand that the vast majority of workers are more productive and collaborative when they work close together in a space designed for work.

Young workers shouldn’t care about where they work. You should care about what work experience will give you the best network and development. Then work your butt off for a few years and see what happens!

AI isn’t coming – it’s here. And it’s changing recruiting faster than most realize.

In this crossover episode between RecTech Media and HR Famous, Chris Russell and Tim Sackett dive into the latest from Phenom’s conference in Philadelphia.

2600 attendees.

25+ new AI agents rolled out.

And a vision for HR tech that feels more like science fiction than reality!

But what happens when AI isn’t just automating tasks – it’s making decisions? And if recruiters aren’t the ones screening candidates, curating talent pools, or delivering feedback, what’s left for them to do?

Phenom is betting big on agents that can reason – detecting mistakes, providing real-time feedback, even building personalized hiring experiences. And they’re not alone. Paradox and Eightfold are in the race, each taking different approaches to AI.

But is all this innovation really making hiring better? Or just faster?

If AI agents are handling the heavy lifting, where does that leave recruiters? And if everyone’s automating, what actually sets your hiring process apart? From the analyst I spoke with at I AM Phenom, most agreed that Phenom’s Agentic AI was two years ahead of most of the industry. But if that’s true, what happens to everyone else still playing catch-up?

Listen to discover why this shift in HR tech could leave even the most seasoned recruiters rethinking their entire approach.

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AI is showing up in every headline. But in the workplace?

Most people still aren’t sure what to do with it.

Enter Cam Sackett – a social media manager from Away, and Tim Sackett’s middle son. He joins HR Famous for a candid conversation on how Gen Z views AI at work, why creative teams are skeptical, and what’s missing from most company rollouts.

Cam shares how AI tools are marketed with bold promises but little instruction and why “figure it out” isn’t a strategy.

He explains the tension between speed and trust in creative roles – and why, sometimes, knowing how to explain a phone to your grandma might make you the best person to lead AI adoption.

The real question? If AI is here to stay, who’s actually responsible for making it usable?

One thing’s clear: Gen Z isn’t rejecting AI. They’re just waiting for someone to make it make sense.

Connect with Cam:

Cam Sackett

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronsackett/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronsackett/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sackettc

Check Out Away: https://www.awaytravel.com/

This week on HR Famous, I interviewed Danielle Farage, a GenZ expert who is actually a GenZer. We talked about why all these people are lazy and don’t want to work!

Danielle is a bright mind in the GenZ community and one who isn’t waiting around to find out what work is, but digging in and working to determine what this entire future of work thing is all about. Oh, and the best thing is, she isn’t scared of work!! Lets’ Go!

Make sure you connect with Danielle, and for heaven’s sake, stop hiring non-GenZs to talk about GenZs!! She’s your girl!

Enjoy.

As the kids say, “Like and Subscribe”!!

alent acquisition has always been slow. Adoption is slow. Change is slow. Processes are slow. Even as the world rapidly evolved around us, TA remained stuck in sort of the same place for years. 

It feels like that’s changed. AI made sure of that. 

Now, it really feels like change is the only constant, and you really can’t be moving fast enough. The best organizations are not only using AI in recruiting currently, but they’re also following trends and thinking a year, two years, three years ahead. The reality is that the best talent teams will evolve very quickly, using AI as a foundation to attract better talent, faster. 

And if you’re only thinking about today, tomorrow, or even this year, it honestly might not be enough. You might already be falling behind. 

One of the things I’m finding when talking to most talent leaders is that they see the benefits of AI, and they are working toward implementation at some level within talent acquisition. But the total focus is almost always on how we will use AI for maximum impact — never is there a thought on how we will use our people with AI for maximum impact. This is a huge miss. You can’t just be thinking about people anywhere, but you also can’t just be thinking about AI. You need to be looking ahead and envisioning a world where you have both humans and AI to do TA work. The question is: Who does what for maximum efficiency?

I’ll give you an example of an organization who did this well: 7-Eleven.

Recently, 7-Eleven went through a massive AI transformation in talent acquisition. After acquiring Speedway, they found themselves with two very different talent tech stacks and two very different recruiting processes. It’s an easy call to go down to one stack. It’s a much harder call to determine which stack and which process. Or better yet, maybe a new tech and new process that fits even better — true transformation. I won’t get into the full details (you can read the case study from my friends over at The Josh Bersin Company here), but essentially, they completely reimagined the structure of their recruiting team to maximize both their talent and their technology. Their result was 40,000 man-hours per week savings. Read that again! Between recruiting and store leaders, they used AI to do roughly 95% of all previous recruiting tasks done by humans. Look, massive organizational change is never easy. But 7-Eleven is proof that there’s so much untapped potential here. 

There are five Steps to making this happen—click over to Paradox, where I’ll give you the exact five-step plan!

Hiring is broken – but not for the reasons you think.

Recruiters flood hiring managers with candidates, yet decision-makers hesitate to pull the trigger. The process drags, top talent walks, and organizations pay the price.

I’m not here to sugarcoat this for you. In this unfiltered solo session, I explain why the hiring machine is failing and what needs to change. From hiring managers’ paradoxical indecision to the myth of “more candidates = better hires,” I explain how talent acquisition teams have conditioned bad behavior – and why fixing it requires a shift in trust, process, and execution.

Then there’s Elon Musk. His blunt demand for accountability in government sent HR circles into a tailspin, but is he wrong? I cut through the noise to dissect why performance management is broken and why most leaders are afraid to ask their employees the one question that actually matters. The workforce is shifting. The hiring game is changing.

If you’re still playing by the old rules, you’re already behind.

Enjoy!

After some of the tragic events in 2024, Banking, Finance and Insurance HR Teams are on Red Alert! Then put on top of that, most of the executives in this industry are wanting a full return to work, and the HR Teams are having to work overtime this year!

I have some opinions on what can be done, check it out!

Hit me in the comments – what do you think?

One of the coolest HR conferences out there over the past few years has become TransformHR. It’s unique in that most of the content is given by HR practitioners and leaders, and it’s done mostly in a panel style format. I like this because it tends to open itself up for more conversation around topics.

I know personally, after attending the past couple of years, I have way more conversations with other people are actually doing the work, than any other conference I go to!

This year, George LaRoque and I are partnering with TransformHR and leading a session to introduce a new concept – The HR Tech 100 – more to come – but if you want to know more – you’ll have to be there live!!

The nice thing is – they gave me a $200 discount – just click on this link to register – TransformHR – HR Tech 100! (you have to click this link for the discount!)

The conference is March 17-19 – and it’s jam-packed with great content, keynotes, expo, and amazing concert and dancing the last night!

Here’s what I’m looking forward to at TransformHR 2025:

• The Now and Next of Work featuring Punk Rock HR’s Laurie Ruettimann, and the CHRO of Nascar, John Ferguson.

• Building High-Performance Cultures: Lessons from Elite Sports featuring the Chief DEI Officer of the Detroit Lions.

• The Next Big Bet: VCs on Emerging Workforce Technologies featuring Workday Ventures, Barbry McGann and ADP Ventures Oz Khan

• Talent Acquisition: The Engine of Business Growth featuring Lars Schmidt and REI’s Chief People Officer, Apple Musni

• Future-Proofing Talent Acquisition: Elevating the Candidate Experience featuring Ariana Moon from Greenhouse, Adam Pozner from the Pozcast, and Okta’s VP of TA, Cori Faro

• From Burnout to Breakthrough: Reigniting Leadership Spark featuring my friend and HR expert Julie Turney, CHRO of Levi Strauss, Tracy Layney, Global Head of HR AWS, Prudence Pitter

This is just a fraction of the sessions! Check out the full Agenda here.

A new episode of HR Famous is out, and it features one of my longest friendships in the world, Professor Marcus Stewart, from Bentley University in Boston. Marcus and I went to junior high together and played basketball on the same team. His dad coached us in 8th grade and was the school’s music and band teacher. He is one of the top 3 most intelligent people I know!

Enjoy!

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The baby needs new shoes!

Also, if you like my podcast, the WrkDefined Podcast Network is something you should check out!