RecTech: the Recruiting Technology Podcast

Hackajob is now known as Archer. We go behind the name change with their CEO and whats the future of AI in recruiting. Recorded live from Recfest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I chatted up Joseph Cole VP of Marketing for Findem about the launch of their new agentic studio for sourcing. Recorded live at Recfest in Nashville, TN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

VANCOUVER, Wash. — ZoomInfo , a leading intelligence platform, has announced the launch of Talent Autopilot, its most advanced recruitment technology to date. Designed to help talent acquisition teams bypass the limitations of traditional keyword searches, the new platform combines professional and company intelligence with autonomous reasoning to unearth qualified candidates who might otherwise slip through the cracks. Rather than depending rigidly on specific job titles, standard keywords, and narrow filters, Talent Autopilot allows recruiters to supply contextual descriptions of a role. The system then evaluates candidates across broader criteria—including underlying skills, practical experience, career paths, and corporate backgrounds—to discover non-obvious fits whose talents match the position's requirements. “Recruiting teams do not need another tool that simply gives them more candidates to sort through,” said Jon Bischke, General Manager of ZoomInfo Talent Solutions. “They need technology that understands what they are trying to accomplish and has the intelligence to act on it.” https://hrtechfeed.com/zoominfo-unveils-autonomous-recruiting-and-candidate-discovery-features/ BOSTON — RippleMatch, a leading early career recruiting platform, today announced that its university product is now available free of charge to all higher education institutions. The news follows RippleMatch's acquisition by JobGet, the fastest-growing job platform connecting workers to employers at scale, and provides universities a valuable tool to support students through an entry-level hiring market that's challenged by AI disruption. “Career services teams are being asked to do more for students at exactly the moment when the job market has become most unpredictable for them,” said Audrey Patenaude, General Manager of RippleMatch. “AI is reshaping the entry-level roles where graduates have traditionally gotten their start. The job search process has become more opaque, and universities are doing this with fewer resources than ever. With our acquisition by JobGet, we've gained access to a dramatically larger job inventory and employer network, and that growth allows us to expand access to universities at no cost, and we believe that's what this moment calls for.” https://hrtechfeed.com/jobget-announces-free-access-to-ripplematch-platform-for-universities/ Phoenix Education Partners, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, has reached an agreement to acquire Fuel50, an AI-driven workforce intelligence and talent mobility platform, for approximately $31.5 million in cash with up to $8.5 million in performance-based earnouts through 2027. Fuel50's platform uses enterprise data and an ontology spanning over 5,000 skills to help organizations map internal capabilities, forecast labor needs, and drive employee upskilling and reskilling. The transaction, expected to close within 30 days, reflects Phoenix Education's broader push to bridge the gap between higher education and AI-era corporate talent development; following the deal, Fuel50 will operate as an independent subsidiary under its own brand, with co-founder and current president Jo Mills stepping into the role of CEO. https://hrtechfeed.com/univ-of-phoenix-buys-an-hr-tech-firm/ SAN FRANCISCO — Crosschq announced a major transformation and brand overhaul today, officially relaunching as Brilliant AI to establish what it terms the “hiring intelligence” category. Backed by a new strategic investment from Bessemer Venture Partners, Brilliant AI brings together three distinct HR tech entities: Crosschq, candidate verification platform ApplicantX, and behavioral assessment platform Traitify. Together, the newly unified company aims to solve recruiting's long-standing blind spot: closing the feedback loop between pre-hire candidate evaluation and post-hire employee performance and retention. https://hrtechfeed.com/crosschq-rebrands-as-brilliant-ai-combining-three-hr-tech-platforms-to-create-hiring-intelligence-category/ ATLANTA — Predictive hiring and assessment provider Harver has acquired Symphony Talent, a major player in recruitment marketing, employer branding, and candidate relationship management (CRM). Backed by private equity firm Rubicon Technology Partners, the newly merged entity aims to address the talent lifecycle from upfront recruitment marketing to post-hire performance. By integrating Symphony Talent's recruitment marketing and CRM capabilities with Harver's pre-employment assessments, fraud detection, and reference-checking tools, the combined company will offer: Attraction & Engagement: Employer value proposition (EVP) development, programmatic job advertising, custom career sites, and CRM-driven talent communities. Selection & Verification: Validated predictive assessments, video interviewing, reference checking, and candidate fraud detection. Workforce Intelligence: End-to-end data feedback loops connecting initial recruitment targeting with quality-of-hire and long-term employee retention. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Symphony Talent will operate under the Harver umbrella, positioning the unified business to compete directly with integrated enterprise talent clouds.  https://hrtechfeed.com/harver-acquires-symphony-talent/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, we've built career sites for two audiences: human candidates and basic search engines. But right now, candidates aren't just scrolling through job boards anymore—they're asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI assistants to find their next role, evaluate company culture, and summarize opportunities. That shift means your career site is no longer just being read by people; it's being parsed, filtered, and judged by AI. Joining us today to break down this shift is Brianna Huynh, VP of Brand and Creative at Appcast.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boomband, a new talent intelligence platform founded by Monster.com creator Jeff Taylor, officially rolled out across all six New England states on Wednesday. Headquartered in Wakefield, Rhode Island, the startup is directly targeting the region's dense concentration of tech, healthcare, finance, and higher-education employers, bringing nearly 500,000 local, hybrid, and remote roles to the platform at launch. According to Boomband, the traditional online job board model has collapsed under a flood of low-signal, AI-generated applications. The average job posting drew 244 applications in 2025, more than double the volume from 2022, while the regional search cycle for candidates now stretches to an average of 6.6 months. “In a roundabout way, I helped build the system that is now breaking hiring,” said Taylor, Boomband's founder and CEO. “With Monster.com, we took the Help Wanted section from the newspaper to the internet… Now overlay AI on top of that broken foundation, and you have a full collapse. Everyone is drowning in volume and starving for signal.” By debuting regionally, Boomband aims to give New England employers a localized network that bypasses the flood of irrelevant, nationwide resume-spamming while surfacing local candidates based on actual skill alignment and commute preferences. https://hrtechfeed.com/boomband-expands-to-new-england-for-debut-of-new-ai-talent-platform/ SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON — AI-native hiring marketplace Jack & Jill has raised a $40 million Series A round to upend traditional recruitment and make warm professional introductions at scale. Founded by Matthew Wilson (CEO) and Saaras Mehan (CTO), the platform operates on a dual-agent model designed to eliminate cold outreach, resume spam, and traditional job boards: Jackis a voice agent dedicated to job seekers, holding conversations with professionals to deeply understand their career ambitions, preferences, and ideal roles. Jillis an embedded recruiting agent for companies, learning team dynamics, technical bars, and culture to surface vetted talent. Rather than candidates submitting resumes into applicant tracking systems (ATS), the two autonomous agents negotiate on behalf of their respective sides. When both agents agree on mutual alignment, they directly facilitate a warm introduction between the candidate and hiring team—skipping the application phase altogether. The company says they have already registered 389k candidates and count 5k employers as clients. https://hrtechfeed.com/jack-jill-secures-40m-series-a-to-replace-job-applications-with-ai-agents/ NEW YORK — BoomerangHR has closed a $12.7 million seed round to expand its AI-powered offboarding and corporate alumni platform, targeting a talent market where trusted candidate signals are becoming increasingly scarce. Founded by CEO Jeff Wald, BoomerangHR is designed to democratize the structured alumni networks historically reserved for elite consulting firms and investment banks. The platform plugs into existing HRIS and ATS stacks in under an hour, focusing on three core operational pillars: Automated Offboarding:  Alumni Network Management:  Talent Migration & Reporting:  “A company's relationship with great talent shouldn't end when they leave,” said Wald. “We built BoomerangHR to automate offboarding and transform former team members into an active growth network. Through Boomerang, companies can easily access warm rehires, referrals, and sales leads—because your best next hire is someone who already knows your culture, your customers, and your mission.” https://hrtechfeed.com/boomeranghr-secures-12-7m-seed-round-to-turn-offboarding-into-an-ongoing-talent-engine/ The Las Vegas Raiders have selected human resources and workforce technology provider UKG to manage and streamline operations across the franchise's business, football, and gameday staff. Under the new agreement, the NFL franchise will deploy the UKG Pro suite to consolidate human resources, payroll, and workforce intelligence onto a single operating platform. The move is designed to connect a wide-ranging employee base—from coaches, trainers, and front-office executives to hourly and frontline stadium workers. https://hrtechfeed.com/ukg-lands-an-nfl-team/ Workday, Inc. has named Sarah Kennedy Ellis chief marketing officer, effective October 5, 2026, reporting to Aneel Bhusri, Workday co-founder, CEO, and chair. Kennedy Ellis will lead Workday's global marketing and communications organization and will be responsible for championing the company's brand narrative and growth strategy for the AI era. Kennedy Ellis brings more than 20 years of marketing expertise to the role. She joins Workday from Google, where she led global marketing for Google Cloud and Google Workspace and helped build the engine behind one of the fastest growing businesses in enterprise technology. Prior to joining Google, she was chief marketing officer of Adobe Experience Cloud, and chief marketing officer of Marketo, playing a critical role in Marketo's successful acquisition by Adobe in 2018. https://hrtechfeed.com/workday-has-a-new-cmo/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linkup published their august 2026 jobs report; Key Takeaways Job openings stayed flat: Active job listings rose 0.1% in August 2026, to 4.96 million from 4.95 million in July. This suggests that underlying labor demand in the U.S. remained steady, alongside seasonal recruitment adjustments. Broad-based industry gains: Industries that saw an increase in job postings include Wholesale Trade (2.7k), Construction (1.6k), and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (1.2k). However, Retail Trade saw the largest decrease (-4.8k). Major occupation drops: Office and Administrative Support occupations experienced the largest drop (-9.4k) followed by Installation, Maintenance, and Repair (-7.0k), and Production (-6.1k).  https://hrtechfeed.com/august-2026-jobs-recap/ UKG has introduced several new AI-driven capabilities aimed at supporting frontline workforces, accelerating bulk recruitment, and preventing costly payroll discrepancies. Key among these updates is UKG Bryte Voice, a voice-enabled assistant integrated with UKG Pro that allows deskless staff—such as retail and healthcare workers—to execute routine tasks (like checking schedules, reviewing timecards, or updating direct deposit information) hands-free via Siri or Google Assistant.  For talent acquisition, the platform now provides AI-assisted high-volume hiring tools, including candidate job recommendations, profile summaries, and a "Bulk Apply" workflow capable of processing up to 100 applicants simultaneously. Finally, UKG rolled out Agentic Pay, which allows administrators to examine historical pay data and resolve discrepancies before processing payroll through natural language queries to eliminate costly errors.  https://hrtechfeed.com/ukg-launches-voice-enabled-ai-and-agentic-pay-tools-to-support-frontline-workers/ TORONTO — 7shifts, the restaurant HR platform, today announced the launch of Employee Training, a restaurant-specific training solution built directly into 7shifts. The new offering gives restaurants a simpler way to train their teams without adding another standalone tool. The launch expands 7shifts' role across the restaurant employee lifecycle, bringing hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, pay, and retention together in one platform. Formerly known for scheduling and payroll, 7shifts has now fully evolved into a comprehensive HR platform. “Operators are done paying for separate software to hire, onboard, train, schedule, and pay their staff, they want one system for the entire HR employee lifecycle, not a patchwork of tools that don't talk to each other,” said Jordan Boesch, chief executive officer at 7shifts. “When it's all in one place, teams get strong faster and managers get time back to actually develop their people.” https://hrtechfeed.com/restaurant-hr-platform-adds-employee-training-feature/ In HR tech partnership news Match2, the platform powering the Universal Candidate Profile™, today announced that its Connected Talent Solutions™ is now available on SAP® Store, the online marketplace for SAP and partner offerings.  PageUp, a global leader in talent acquisition software, and Sapia.ai, the pioneer in conversational AI for talent evaluation, today announced an enhanced strategic partnership. Building on their established relationship, the deepened integration links Sapia.ai's autonomous, skills-based interviewing with PageUp's newly advanced AI functionality.   Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, and ADP, a global leader in HR and payroll solutions, today announced an expanded, strategic partnership. The partnership affirms AWS as ADP's strategic cloud provider, enabling its continued AI transformation and ongoing innovation of generative and agentic AI solutions for its more than 1.1 million clients across 140 countries and territories.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-partnerships-in-the-news/ And finally the CEO of Hackajob Mark Chaffey share d on Linkedin today that the company will now be known as its core product name, Archer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining me today is John Nurthen, Executive Director of Global Research at Staffing Industry Analysts. John has spent more than three decades in the staffing industry—and he has just authored a global research report titled The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026. In it, John maps out how digital worker agents——are moving from the fringes directly into the recruiting lifecycle. We'll be breaking down why the future isn't about fully replacing human recruiters, the hidden risks of 'AI sprawl' and compliance liabilities, and how leaders must learn to manage a mixed workforce of employees, contractors, and algorithms.  https://www.staffingindustry.com/who-we-are/john-nurthen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weeks episode sponsored by Dalia.co * Hibob gets infusion of cash, Recruiter.com acquires Feenyx, Staffmark's report on AI in recruiting, new features from ICIMS and Vervoe. READ ON https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Chris Russell explores how job seekers are taking transparency into their own hands with new consumer tools like DidTheyGhostYou.com and JobScamScore.com. We break down how public ghosting leaderboards and AI scam-detection tools actually work, why they are becoming an early-warning radar for your employer brand, and the practical steps recruiters can take to protect candidate trust and optimize their ATS workflows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First up: If you've logged into your recruitment dashboard recently and noticed your LinkedIn ad campaigns look a little different, you aren't imagining it. LinkedIn officially retired its daily and 30-day "slot" campaigns and migrated everyone over to a Pay-for-Performance—or P4P—model. Here's what that actually means for your hiring budget: Instead of buying calendar airtime where you pay regardless of engagement, you now pick a fixed budget tier—either $299, $399, or $549. You only pay when a candidate clicks "Apply." Sounds great, right? But here's the catch you need to know about: Your campaign ends as soon as the budget is spent, or after 30 days—whichever comes first. That means a high-demand role could burn through a $399 budget in twelve days, leaving your listing inactive for the rest of the month if you don't keep an eye on it. Plus, unused budget operates on a "use-it-or-lose-it" rule and won't roll over. Check your account settings this week to make sure your tier matches your hiring volume—and don't forget to verify your LinkedIn Company Page to keep your free organic listings flowing. Moving on to funding news: Background screening and workforce safety platform Yardstik has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Harbert Growth Partners, bringing their total capital raised to $65 million. Why is this important? Because traditional background checks have historically been built around a single "moment in time"—the day someone gets hired. But as Yardstik points out, workforce risk changes every single day. Yardstik is using this cash to double down on fraud prevention and continuous workforce monitoring. Instead of waiting for an annual review, their system alerts employers in real-time if a worker's driver's license lapses, insurance expires, or a regulatory exclusion occurs. With 98% account retention and clients like Gopuff and TaskRabbit, Yardstik is proving that ongoing fraud protection isn't just a premium add-on anymore—it's becoming the standard foundation for contingent and traditional workforces alike. In product news today, we have two major updates aimed at making talent acquisition smarter and faster. First, iHire released its new Hiring Market Insights dashboard. It lets recruiters compare candidate availability directly against job demand across specific metros and skills. If you're struggling to hire a specific role, it tells you whether it's a candidate shortage or an overcrowded job market—helping you tweak job titles and expectations before launching a campaign. Meanwhile, assessment provider eSkill introduced Linea, an AI-powered intelligence layer built right into their platform using Anthropic's Claude models. Here's why recruiters will love it: You can drop a job description into Linea, and in seconds, it drafts a custom skill assessment pulled from eSkill's library of 70,000 validated questions. Crucially, eSkill designed Linea with a "human-in-the-loop" approach—showing the AI's reasoning for every question so recruiters stay in full control of the final test. Finally, a brand new study from financial tech firms Branch and Stripe reveals a massive shift in how people work: Gig work is officially no longer just a "side hustle." According to their Gig Workforce Index—which surveyed over 1,000 flexible workers—56% of gig workers now rely on platform work for the majority of their household income. A few eye-opening stats from the report: The Competition is Wild: 60% of workers say they have to accept a posted gig in under two minutes before someone else snatches it up. The Multi-App Hustle: Nearly half balance three or more different apps simultaneously to keep income steady. Cash Flow is King: 78% experience weekly income fluctuations, and 72% spend their earnings within 24 hours just to cover gas, groceries, and bills. The takeaway for HR and platform leaders? Fast payouts and financial management tools are no longer perk add-ons—they are the primary driver of worker retention. https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Employers using Dalia can double their conversion of career site visitors into qualified applicants and hires. Double the hires from traffic you already have. That's how you start cutting your dependence on Indeed. Learn more at dalia.co. That's D-A-L-I-A dot C-O. SAN FRANCISCO — Lattice, the best-in-class people platform where people and AI succeed together, today announced the acquisition of Pando, the just-in-time performance platform, and the appointment of Pando founder and CEO Barbra Gago as Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer.  https://hrtechfeed.com/lattice-acquires-a-performance-platform/ CEO Hayden Brown detailed a structural transformation across the platform. While automated tools and AI solutions are reducing client demand for basic, entry-level freelance tasks, demand for specialized talent and complex projects is surging: https://hrtechfeed.com/upwork-pivots-to-high-value-work-as-ai-automation-weighs-on-volume-and-guidance/ Major announcements from two HR tech firms…hireEZ and Hirevue highlight two complementary trends driving the AI evolutionhe rise of agentic AI workflows that co-pilot talent acquisition, and a shift toward validated, science-backed skills evaluation.  https://hrtechfeed.com/beyond-the-resume-how-2-hr-tech-firms-are-rebuilding-enterprise-recruitment-around-ai-agents-and-skills/ SAN FRANCISCO — Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ: UPWK) reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results, beating quarterly profit expectations through disciplined cost management but trimming its full-year outlook as artificial intelligence continues to automate lower-complexity tasks on the freelance platform.Key Q2 2026 Financial Highlights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stef Bloom is now the Chief People Officer at Spear Physical & Occupational Therapy, where she leads the company's people strategy across talent, culture, leadership development, and organizational growth. She brings nearly 20 years of experience building and scaling People functions at high-growth brands, including Framebridge, Casper, and Warby Parker. We talked about their HR tech stack, building culture and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is sponsored by Dalia— Who's ready for a cold hard fact? Indeed's pricing model -- and all programmatic job advertising -- is based on driving volume. Not outcomes. Job boards are incentivized to send you more volume.  Meanwhile, TA teams know their career site is already their best source of quality applicants who get hired. Dalia fixes that. Millions of job seekers use Dalia every month to seamlessly connect to employer career sites and apply to jobs using their universal candidate profile. It integrates directly into your ATS, and it works instantly on any career site.  Employers using Dalia can double their conversion of career site visitors into qualified applicants and hires. Double the hires from traffic you already have. That's how you start cutting your dependence on Indeed. Learn more at dalia.co. That's D-A-L-I-A dot C-O. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. Toby Dayton, the longtime CEO of job market data firm LinkUp and Managing Director at parent company GlobalData, announced on Monday that he will step down at the end of September after a 25-year tenure at the helm. His monthly column on the job market was a must read. https://hrtechfeed.com/linkup-ceo-toby-dayton-to-step-down-after-25-years/ WILMINGTON, Del. — Careerminds, a global workforce solutions and career technology provider, announced today that it has acquired Jobrapido, one of the world's leading job search and job distribution platforms. https://hrtechfeed.com/careerminds-acquires-jobrapido/ CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Medality, a TrueLearn brand, announced the launch of the Medality Job Board at jobs.medality.com, a hiring platform built exclusively for radiology. The new job board helps radiologists, residents, and fellows discover vetted career opportunities from leading academic institutions, private practices, and health systems, while giving employers direct access to the highly engaged physicians who already make up Medality's education community.  https://hrtechfeed.com/medality-launches-job-board-connecting-employers-with-radiology-talent/ Recruit Holdings released its Q1 FY2026 earnings results (covering April 1 to June 30, 2026), and the headline story is a massive performance boost driven primarily by its HR Technology segment—led by strong dynamics in the U.S. market. https://hrtechfeed.com/recruit-holdings-hr-tech-segment-soars-q1-results-and-big-guidance-upgrades/ SAN FRANCISCO—-Metaview, the Agentic Recruiting Platform trusted by more than 5,000 companies, today announced the acquisition of AI-native recruiting firm Reval. Founders Seth Tilliss and Aditya Gupta will join Metaview to accelerate development of fillmore, its autonomous AI coworker that owns recruiting top of funnel, from sourcing candidates to booking qualified screening calls.  https://hrtechfeed.com/metaview-acquires-reval-to-accelerate-the-shift-from-ai-assistants-to-ai-coworkers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'll be talking with Joe Meyer the founder and CEO ExecThread which just turned 10 years old… If you dont know ExecThread they are a curated marketplace of crowdsourced career opportunities for the C-Suite & Board level. Joe shared on Linkedin recently that they just surpassed 900,000 registered members so i Thought it would be a good time to catch up with him and the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Job search giant Indeed has officially paused the fully automated mode of its newly launched “Apply for Me” feature, following swift resistance from recruiters and employers concerned about paying for bot-generated job applications. https://hrtechfeed.com/indeed-hits-pause-on-apply-for-me-ai-feature-after-employer-pushback/ ZIP Recruiter Total Revenue: $118.1 million, a 5% increase year-over-year and $6 million above the midpoint of the company's previous guidance. https://hrtechfeed.com/ziprecruiter-tops-q2-2026-expectations-as-ai-matching-drives-growth-and-debt-buyback-boosts-profits/ Clearanjob Revenue grew 14% year-over-year to $15.6 million. Dice Revenue dropped 14% year-over-year to $15.8 million. https://hrtechfeed.com/dhi-group-reports-mixed-q2-2026-results-defense-hiring-soars-as-tech-market-struggles-to-recover/ NEW YORK — Symphony Talent, a global leader in talent acquisition solutions, today announced the launch of AI Search Visibility Solutions, a new offering that gives talent acquisition (TA) and employer brand (EB) leaders a benchmarked, repeatable way to understand, influence, and continuously improve how their organization appears across leading AI search platforms  https://hrtechfeed.com/symphony-talent-launches-ai-search-visibility-solutions/ SAN FRANCISCO — Global HR and payroll platform Deel has announced the acquisition of Clarity, an AI cybersecurity company specializing in deepfake detection, identity verification, and fraud prevention. https://hrtechfeed.com/deel-crosses-1-5b-arr-announces-its-15th-acquisition/ SANTA MONICA, Calif. — ZipRecruiter, Inc. (NYSE: ZIP) reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results on Wednesday, delivering revenue that topped company expectations alongside a substantial boost to net income. Key Financial HighlightsColo. — DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX), the parent company behind online career marketplaces ClearanceJobs and Dice, reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results on Wednesday. The report highlights a stark contrast between two distinct segments of the employment landscape: a booming defense sector and a sluggish general technology hiring market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I recently sounded the alarm on the misteps of Indeed, writing about how HR professionals and employers are finally reaching a breaking point over rising costs, complex pricing/rules, and diminishing returns. The phrase “The Indeed Tax” has begun to resonate deeply with anyone managing a recruitment ad budget. But as I look at the broader landscape of the recruitment ad industry, I'm left asking a incredibly frustrating question: Where the hell is the competition? And Why haven't they capitalized on the Indeed missteps? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. First up,  Apply Government Solutions™ (ApplyGov™), formerly Monster Government Solutions, announced today its new brand identity, reinforcing the company's position as a trusted federal technology partner dedicated to advancing federal hiring. The company also introduced FedHire™ as the new name for its flagship talent acquisition system, previously known as Monster Hiring Management Enterprise, reflecting its continued commitment to delivering secure, modern, and mission-ready hiring technology for federal agencies.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-technology-in-the-news/ Recruitics announced today the launch of Open Job Context Protocol (OJCP), a new industry standard that provides employers and AI agents with a structured way to interact with job postings and applications. OJCP is designed to reduce application noise, protect candidate data, and make it dramatically easier for employers to find and hire qualified people in an era when AI agents search for jobs on behalf of humans. https://hrtechfeed.com/recruitics-tries-to-get-industry-behind-open-job-context-protocol-ojcp/ HOUSTON — Buildforce, the largest tech-enabled electrician staffing business in the US, today announced it has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Saepio Capital with participation from new investor Blue Heron Capital and existing investors including Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, S3 Ventures, and Chicago Ventures. The new capital will be used to fuel continued national expansion and to further develop its technology, serving both electricians and electrical contractors. https://hrtechfeed.com/buildforce-raises-10m-series-a-to-staff-electricians-nationally/ Adzuna has officially acquired the assets of Joblift, the German job search platform. https://hrtechfeed.com/adzuna-acquires-joblift/ WOODBRIDGE, N.J.– Care Career, a rapidly growing healthcare workforce technology organization, today announced the acquisition of MAS Medical Staffing, one of the Northeast's leading healthcare workforce organizations. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.  https://hrtechfeed.com/care-career-announces-acquisition-of-a-medical-staffing-company/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. First up,  Frederick, Maryland – July 14, 2026 – iHire announces the launch of its industry-focused freelance marketplace.  https://hrtechfeed.com/ihire-launches-industry-focused-freelance-marketplace/ NEW YORK, July 15, 2026 — Today, Leapsome, the HR platform for high-performing teams, unveils an industry first: AI that raises your talent density, built on the deepest people data foundation in HR. With the launch of its new ATS, Leapsome is the only HR platform that brings every employee's journey into one deep, connected people data foundation: HRIS, recruiting, onboarding, performance, engagement, learning, and compensation.  https://hrtechfeed.com/leapsome-hr-platform-unveils-industry-first-ai-that-raises-talent-density-built-on-the-deepest-people-data-foundation-in-hr/ SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 15, 2026 — Eightfold AI, the pioneer of AI-powered talent intelligence, today introduced Candidate Agent, an AI agent built for the candidate experience: giving every candidate a real, personalized conversation, so candidates stay in the loop throughout the process. The agent meets candidates on the channels they already use, from first message through application, and is available 24/7. https://hrtechfeed.com/eightfold-ai-grows-talent-agents-to-2-0-with-candidate-agent/ SAN FRANCISCO — According to Upwork's second annual Future Workforce Index 2026, which surveyed 2,400 skilled U.S. knowledge workers alongside platform data, 38% of skilled U.S. knowledge workers now freelance—a massive leap from 28% just one year ago. https://recruitingheadlines.com/upwork-index-2026-skilled-freelancing-surges-to-38-as-ai-creates-rise-of-the-ai-orchestrator/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Debbie McGrath, the longtime CEO of HR.com, has officially announced that she is preparing for retirement and looking for the right buyers or strategic investors to take the platform's premier assets into the future. https://www.hrnewsfeed.com/industry-icon-for-sale-hr-com-prepares-for-its-next-chapter/ DENVER, July 9, 2026 — Employ Inc., a leading provider of people-first, intelligent hiring solutions across JazzHR, Lever, and Jobvite, today announced a partnership with ID.me to protect employers against rising candidate fraud by embedding trusted identity verification directly within Employ's applicant tracking systems.  https://hrtechfeed.com/employ-and-id-me-partner-to-prevent-ai-driven-candidate-fraud/ DALLAS, Texas, July 8, 2026 – Hellora, Inc., formerly known as Eqo Technologies, Inc. and the company behind the Eqo employee referral solution, today announced the evolution of its platform into Hellora, an AI Recruiting CRM built specifically for healthcare hiring. https://hrtechfeed.com/eqo-moves-beyonds-referrals-changes-name-to-hellora/ LEBANON, N.H. — Recruitment tech company Appcast announced a major upgrade to its platform today, launching a new solution designed to rebuild company career sites for an AI-dominated job market. https://hrtechfeed.com/appcast-says-its-launching-career-sites-built-for-the-ai-era/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As talent acquisition landscapes grow more complex, successful hiring is no longer just about finding great candidates, it's about building the infrastructure that allows your team to thrive. Recruitment Operations (RecOps) has evolved from a back-office support function into the critical backbone of scalable, predictable hiring. When optimized, RecOps eliminates friction, slashes tech waste, and frees up your recruiters to do what they do best: build relationships. But how do you transition from reactive firefighting to a streamlined, data-driven operation? Join us for this month's exclusive, interactive virtual roundtable designed specifically for TA leaders. We will be joined by a seasoned Recruitment Operations practitioner to pull back the curtain on how to build a world-class hiring engine. Whether you have a dedicated RecOps team or are looking to build one from scratch, you will walk away with actionable strategies to elevate your hiring function. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. First up,  Korn Ferry announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire UK-headquartered talent acquisition and consulting firm AMS from OMERS Private Equity. The blockbuster transaction is valued at approximately (roughly $1.1 billion), positioning the combined entity as an undisputed leader in global talent and workforce solutions.  https://recruitingheadlines.com/korn-ferry-to-acquire-uk-based-ams-in-1-1-billion-deal-to-create-global-talent-powerhouse/ Early career marketplace Handshake has officially acquired Uplimit (for an undisclosed amount). https://hrtechfeed.com/handshake-acquires-ai-native-learning-platform/ PageUp, a global leader in talent acquisition software, today announced the general availability of Paige, its AI-powered talent acquisition agentic assistant. Unlike other agentic solutions on the market, Paige serves as the single assistant for every use case in the hiring process, eliminating the need for recruiters and hiring managers to juggle multiple tools or pay for additional agents. Embedded directly into PageUp's award-winning talent acquisition suite, Paige can review candidate pipelines, analyze applicant information, monitor progress and more through its simple conversational interface.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-bytes-pageup-workera/ Workera, launched AI-First Translations, an AI-powered translation layer that lets participants engage with the entire Workera platform, assessments, mentoring experience, and the admin experience, in their preferred language, at the scale of the global enterprise. https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-bytes-pageup-workera/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AI answer engines are changing how candidates discover and learn about employers.Join Dalia's Mikaela Fitzwilliam along with Danny Rojas, a forward thinking TA leader who's worked at nation-wide brands like JCPenny, The Container Store to learn how to build an employer brand that gets surfaced and cited by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — EarnIn, a leading earnings management company, announced the launch of Earn Better, a jobs platform designed to help the American workforce get back to work faster and improve their earnings over time with better-paying roles.  https://recruitingheadlines.com/earnin-launches-jobs-platform/ BOSTON — In a move signaling the next evolution of talent acquisition, recruitment marketing giant Appcast has announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI. The collaboration aims to bridge the gap between traditional job boards and generative AI, allowing employers to make their open roles directly discoverable within ChatGPT. https://hrtechfeed.com/appcast-partners-with-openai-to-bring-real-time-job-discovery-to-chatgpt/ ATLANTA,— uRecruits today announced the launch of uRecruits 2.0, a recruiter-first AI hiring platform built to bring the hiring process into one connected workflow.  https://hrtechfeed.com/urecruits-launches-2-0-with-new-ai-agents/ Findem, the AI platform for talent outcomes, today announced an expanded partnership with RecruitMilitary, the nation's leading veteran hiring network, to set a new standard for veteran people intelligence.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-bytes-findem-lumapps/ NEW YORK, — Niural, the AI-native platform for global payroll and benefits, today announced the launch of Niural AI Labs, a dedicated research lab focused on building long-horizon agents for high-stakes domains along with a new round of funding. https://hrtechfeed.com/global-payroll-and-benefits-platfom-lands-52m/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I was a gust on the recent HR Morning Show which happens every tuesday live on Linkedin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. CORK, Ireland — Workvivo by Zoom today unveiled Workvivo HQ, an AI-native digital headquarters that unites communication, knowledge, and action in one intelligent platform. Designed for every employee, from frontline workers to corporate teams, Workvivo HQ gives every organization one place where work gets done. https://hrtechfeed.com/workvivo-launches-workvivo-hq-the-ai-native-digital-headquarters-for-every-employee/ AUSTIN, Texas—-Indeed, the world's #1 job site1 and a leading hiring platform, today introduced Sourcing Assistant, an AI-powered feature that finds, engages, and delivers quality applicants faster for stronger hiring outcomes.  https://hrtechfeed.com/indeed-launches-ai-powered-sourcing-assistant/ NEW YORK — June 16, 2026 — HeyMilo AI, an emerging New York-based agentic recruiting platform, has announced it has crossed a major funding milestone, bringing its total capital raised to $6 million. https://hrtechfeed.com/heymilo-raises-6-million-to-scale-agentic-recruiting-for-high-volume-hiring/ Deel, the leading global payroll and HR platform, announced the launch of Deel Field Services (DFS), a purpose-built solution for organizations operating in medium-to-high complexity, on-site environments. Built on the infrastructure and expertise of Employ Africa Group (acquired April 2025), Deel Field Services extends Deel's existing workforce platform into a new category: operationally intensive, location-based deployment for industries including oil & gas, mining, construction, and heavy logistics where standard EOR models were never designed to go. https://hrtechfeed.com/deel-launches-hr-infrastructure-for-rigs-mines-construction-and-more/ Hirevue, the global leader in skills-based hiring, today announced the launch of Hirevue AI Interviewer, a voice-based solution to help enterprises identify qualified candidates through dynamic, skills-focused interviews. Built on more than two decades of hiring science and validation studies, AI Interviewer helps recruiters prioritize their most qualified candidates based on predictive insight. https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-techbytes-hirevue-adds-ai-voice-interviewer/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when AI hiring platforms completely ignore the human experience? In this episode of the Rec Tech Podcast, host Chris talks with Torin Ellis, founder of Ngoma (spelled N-G-O-M-A), a groundbreaking service acting as an additional trust layer for AI data systems and tools. Ngoma specializes in auditing and testing AI platforms by employing real individuals from the disability community to surface algorithmic gaps and prevent real-world hiring discrimination. Using real-world examples like the recent HireVue litigation, Torin highlights why relying on "synthetic data" leaves vulnerable communities behind and how auditing software with real human experiences builds better, higher-performing, and more profitable technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MONTREAL — Lucas Martinez, the co-founder and long-time CEO of global job search platform Talent.com, has announced he is stepping down from his role effective July 31st. https://hrtechfeed.com/talent-com-ceo-to-step-down-after-15-years/ Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin declared that AI transformation is fundamentally a people and process transformation – and introduced the platform infrastructure to help solve it.  https://hrtechfeed.com/lattice-announces-new-solutions-including-lattice-mcp/ CENTENNIAL, Colo.—DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX) announced today that ClearanceJobs, its leading online community for security-cleared professionals in the defense and intelligence sectors, has reached 2 million registered candidates. The milestone reflects both the accelerating demand for cleared talent and the growing role of the platform, founded in 2002, at the center of the national security workforce. https://hrtechfeed.com/clearancejobs-reaches-2-million-registered-candidates/ ZipRecruiter® (NYSE: ZIP), a leading online employment marketplace, is expanding its AI job search offerings with the launch of the ZipRecruiter connector for Claude. ZipRecruiter is bringing its millions of job opportunities to Anthropic's AI assistant, giving job seekers a new way to find work and expanding ZipRecruiter's presence across AI platforms. https://hrtechfeed.com/ziprecruiter-expands-ai-powered-job-search-with-claude-integration/ HR tech execs on the move https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-exec-changes-3/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The way candidates find their next role is changing fast. Instead of just keyword searches and job boards, they're also asking AI chatbots for shortlists and clicking through AI-generated overviews that synthesize opportunities in a single response. The algorithms that used to rank your roles are being replaced by models that interpret, summarize, and recommend them, and the recruiters who adapt now will own candidate attention for the next decade. Join JobSync for a candid roundtable on what's really happening inside the AI response layer, and what it means for your sourcing strategy, employer brand, and media spend. If you're filling a pipeline in 2026 and beyond, this is the conversation you can't afford to miss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First up,  Joveo, the programmatic recruitment marketing platform, launched AI Talent Campaigns, an AI-powered talent sourcing and engagement solution designed to simplify how recruiters create and manage candidate outreach. With Joveo's AI Talent Campaigns, recruiters simply describe the ideal candidates for a role and the specific goals of the recruitment campaign, and Joveo's AI agents automatically generate the messaging, outreach plan, targeting, and follow-up sequences.  https://hrtechfeed.com/joveo-introduces-ai-talent-campaigns/ CHANDLER, Ariz. — Vensure Employer Solutions, a leading provider of HR/HCM technology, managed services, and global business process outsourcing, announced the launch of Communication Hub, a unified, AI-powered workforce communication platform that enables businesses to deliver informed, connected, and engaged employee communications across every channel from a single system. https://hrtechfeed.com/vensure-employer-solutions-launches-ai-powered-employee-communication-platform/  Workday DevCon — Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), the enterprise AI platform for HR, finance, and IT, today unveiled new agentic capabilities in Workday Build, its platform for developers to build custom AI apps and agents that run on Workday. The new capabilities include Developer Agent, which lets developers build AI apps and agents in plain language from the agentic tools they already use; Agent-Ready Tools, which provide controlled guardrails for agents to access HR and finance data over Model Context Protocol (MCP); and Agent Passport, which gives agents digital stamps from trusted security and compliance vendors to verify they are safe to deploy.  https://hrtechfeed.com/workday-launches-new-tools-for-developers-to-build-connect-and-verify-ai-agents/ ZipRecruiter® (NYSE: ZIP), a leading online employment marketplace, today added automated candidate outreach to its Resume Database. The new feature, called Smart Outreach, uses AI to turn a job description into a personalized message series sent to candidates. With a click, hiring teams can start conversations with candidates without manual follow-up or time wasted. https://hrtechfeed.com/ziprecruiter-launches-new-recruiter-outreach-automation/ Bullhorn, the global leader in software for the staffing and recruitment industry, announced a major expansion of Bullhorn Amplify at Engage Boston 2026, the company's flagship annual conference: Amplify Digital Workers, four new digital worker skills—Prospect, Verify, Audit and Transcribe—and Amplify Chat, a new conversational interface that lets users interact with their Bullhorn data using everyday language.  https://hrtechfeed.com/bullhorn-unveils-amplify-digital-workers-at-engage-2026/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephanie Manzelli, Chief People Officer of Employ Inc joins the show to discuss their latest report. LINK: https://www.jobvite.com/2026-job-seeker-nation-report/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joblist has been acquired by BOLD, the company behind Monster, CareerBuilder, FlexJobs, and MyPerfectResume. https://hrtechfeed.com/bold-acquires-joblist/ NEW YORK — JobGet, a leading AI-powered hiring platform for the hourly workforce, today announced the acquisition of RippleMatch, a leading early-career recruiting platform serving students and emerging talent across the country. RippleMatch marks JobGet's sixth acquisition and represents another step in the company's strategy to consolidate the fragmented hiring technology market around a unified AI-powered platform.https://hrtechfeed.com/jobget-acquires-ripplematch/ SAN FRANCISCO — Toptal, the world's largest fully remote workforce, recently announced the acquisition of Adeva. Adeva is a global IT talent network that connects enterprises and fast-growing companies with highly vetted developers, architects, and technology consultants to support complex initiatives.  https://hrtechfeed.com/toptal-announces-the-acquisition-of-a-global-it-network/  Greenhouse, the leading hiring platform, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Ezra AI Labs, the voice AI interviewer that delivers structured, on-demand conversations that feel natural rather than robotic. The deal was first announced on May 5, 2026. https://hrtechfeed.com/greenhouse-completes-acquisition-of-ezra-ai-labs/ Yello, the leading campus and early talent recruiting software platform, today announced the launch of Yello Campus Recruiting Agent – a new AI-powered agent that automates manual work and simplifies building events, sourcing candidates, campaigning, and scheduling interviews, so recruiting teams can focus on engaging with candidates instead of managing software.  https://hrtechfeed.com/new-hr-tech-nametag-yello/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The CEO of Humanly which just raised $25M for its AI hiring software stops by to talk about the new funding, what's next and how they are using AI to help you hire. LINK: https://www.hrtechnologywire.com/press-releases/humanly-raises-25m-series-b-to-help-companies-hire-faster-retain-and-stay-fully-staffed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

THIS WEEK IN REC TECH is sponsored by https://www.dalia.co/ SEATTLE — May 21, 2026 — Humanly, the AI hiring platform for hourly, frontline, and high-volume recruiting, today announced $25 million in Series B funding.  https://hrtechfeed.com/humanly-raises-25m-series-b-to-help-companies-hire-faster-retain-and-stay-fully-staffed/ NEW YORK — Saile, a physician-founded workforce platform targeting the bureaucratic bottlenecks of healthcare staffing, has emerged from stealth mode with $2.2 million in pre-seed funding. https://hrtechfeed.com/healthcare-staffing-platform-lands-2-2m/ LONDON — RemotePass, the global employment, payroll, and spend platform, has raised $17.4 million in Series B funding led by the EBRD Venture Capital, with participation from 500 other investors  https://hrtechfeed.com/eor-platform-raises-17-4m-series-b/ MINNEAPOLIS — Match2, the platform powering the Universal Candidate Profile™, today announced its integration with the Phenom Marketplace… This partnership brings Match2's Universal Candidate Profile™, Direct Talent Network™ (DTN), and Talent Connector™ platform into the Phenom hiring ecosystem https://hrtechfeed.com/match2-joins-phenom-marketplace/ Contrario announced its official launch. The platform helps companies at every stage hire faster by combining expert recruiters with AI agents that take on the operational work.  https://hrtechfeed.com/new-hr-tech-contrario-juicebox/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ashby, the all-in-one recruiting platform, today announced the upcoming  launch of its AI Interviewer at its annual Ashby One conference. The product builds on the acquisition of Talent Llama late last year, a startup focused on AI-powered interviewing technology. https://hrtechfeed.com/asby-acquires-talent-llama/ Upwork's First Quarter 2026 earnings report shows a company in the middle of a major transition. While they are making more money per client and seeing a surge in AI-related work, they are also significantly cutting costs—including a large layoff—to deal with a slowdown in overall growth.  https://hrtechfeed.com/upworks-latest-earnings-in-plain-english/ https://hrtechfeed.com/linkedin-announces-new-model-enhancements-for-hiring-assistant/ After a period of cooling and market uncertainty, the technology sector is showing powerful signs of a rebound. According to a new analysis by CompTIA, the world's leading provider of IT certifications, new job postings for tech occupations surged to a three-year high in April, signaling a shift into “positive territory” for the industry.  https://recruitingheadlines.com/tech-sector-stages-major-comeback-as-job-postings-hit-3-year-high/ LinkedIn announces new model enhancements for Hiring Assistant Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sharawn Tipton, the new CPO at Greenhouse stops by to share her thoughts on the numbers coming out of the Greenhouse Benchmark Report available here: https://www.greenhouse.com/recruiting-benchmarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Busy week with 3 acquisitions by Deel, Ohenom and Greenhouse. A new CEO at ICims and Built In launches an AI Search enhancement for employers. https://hrtechfeed.com/ Sponsored by our friends at Dalia.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2026, candidate fraud has evolved from simple resume padding to a sophisticated, AI-driven operational risk. From deepfake video interviews and real-time AI coaching to “identity kits” sold on the dark web, bad actors are infiltrating hiring funnels at an unprecedented scale. The cost? Data breaches, compliance penalties, and thousands of hours in wasted recruiter productivity. Join us for an intensive deep dive into the 2026 fraud landscape. We'll move beyond the “red flags” and provide a technical and tactical playbook for protecting your organization without compromising the candidate experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is sponsored by Dalia— Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. Windmill describes itself as the “context graph for your people.” While most companies have sophisticated systems of record for their finances (ERP) and customers (CRM), the startup argues that the most critical asset—the workforce—is often managed via guesswork and fragmented data.  They announced this week theyve raised $12 million in a seed funding round. The investment was led by Inspired Capital, with significant participation from Primary Venture Partners, Founder Collective, and Oceans Ventures. https://hrtechfeed.com/performance-management-tool-raises-12m/ NY — Nomad Health announced its formal transition from a healthcare staffing agency to a software platform company. Nomad will offer its proprietary AI operating system to mid-market and enterprise healthcare staffing firms nationwide.  https://hrtechfeed.com/nomad-health-evolves-from-staffing-agency-to-ai-software-company/ SAN FRANCISCO — Checkr, the data platform powering safe and fair decisions across work and everyday life, today announced Checkr Profiles, a portable identity solution that gives individuals control over their verified credentials. Individuals can proactively share them, and marketplaces and platforms can embed trusted identity verification directly into their ecosystems.  https://hrtechfeed.com/checkr-launches-profiles-giving-people-a-verified-identity-that-travels-with-them/ PHILADELPHIA—As AI-generated resumes, deepfake interview responses, and fabricated work histories create a new candidate verification crisis for enterprise hiring, Phenom today announced the acquisition of Plum, a pioneer in psychometric-based talent assessments that validate the durable skills AI cannot manufacture and resumes cannot verify.  https://hrtechfeed.com/phenom-acquires-plum/ LOS ANGELES — Fama Technologies, Inc., a pioneer in AI-powered social background screening, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has allowed all claims in its patent application covering the foundational technology behind social media background screening. The patent, titled “System for Searching and Correlating Online Activity with Individual Classification Factors,” has a priority date of November 30, 2015, establishing Fama as the original inventor of the technology that has since become a critical component of modern hiring and risk management.  https://hrtechfeed.com/fama-technologies-granted-u-s-patent-on-foundational-ai-powered-social-media-screening-technology/ Performance Management Tool Raises $12M Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“If someone asks ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Google's AI features, “Where are great places to work in Chicago if I'm an engineer?” your company does not get considered because you have nice values copy. You get considered because the system can find you, understand you, and trust what it finds.” That was written by employer brand expert James Ellis and he joins me now on the show to talk about how employers should be crafting their career sites to be found inside the new AI ecosystem. Questions Its a new age James when it comes to career site SEO set the stage on where we came from and where we are in 2026? Lets run through your recent post starting with #1 Give your company a real entity home page, what do you mean by that? Make your claims auditable…? Build durable pages, not just disposable job posts..? Publish explicit Q&A pages..?  Fresh matters. Fake fresh does not….? Start measuring citation visibility, not just traffic…explain. Where can people go to learn more about you and your services? LINK: https://choosable.ai/how-employer-branding-gets-found-by-chatgpt-claude-and-ai-search Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NEW YORK — Symphony Talent, announced the launch of Career Finder, a new capability within its SFX Career Website platform that transforms job search into AI-powered discovery — helping job seekers quickly find roles that fit ⁠https://hrtechfeed.com/symphony-talent-replacing-traditional-career-site-job-search-with-ai-powered-discovery/⁠ GAIA acquires SocialJobs ⁠https://hrtechfeed.com/gaia-acquires-socialjobs-as-it-eyes-u-s-expansion/⁠ AUSTIN, Texas, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ⁠LumApps⁠, the connected AI employee hub, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ⁠Comeen⁠, the workplace experience platform specializing in space management, digital signage and visitor services. ⁠https://hrtechfeed.com/lumapps-acquires-workplace-experience-platform/⁠ UKG Layoffs ⁠https://hrexecutive.com/ukg-cuts-950-jobs-in-latest-round-of-restructuring/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAN FRANCISCO – Worki, a healthcare technology startup, announced today that it has raised $2.75 million in pre-seed funding to solve one of the most persistent headaches in modern medicine: the fragmented and overwhelming administrative burden of workforce operations. https://hrtechfeed.com/worki-raises-2-75-million-to-power-ai-healthcare-workforce-operations/ Accurate, a leading provider of global compliant background checks and monitoring solutions, today announced the launch of AccurateWatch, its new Continuous Monitoring solution that is designed to help organizations manage workforce risk and maintain compliance after employees are hired.  –  Asymbl, the workforce orchestration company redefining hybrid workforce orchestration across human and digital workers, is announcing the launch of Talent Intelligence and general availability of Recruiter Agent, built on Salesforce Agentforce. Together these products are advancing their Workforce Applications to the next level to deliver unified talent relationship management that will empower recruiters caught between outdated platforms and the pressure of today's fast-paced and expensive talent market.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-news-from-accurate-asymbl/ My friends at phenom are having a virtual event next week on april 22 at 10am ET Every HR leader is being asked to use AI, but few have the technology to do it. The result? Projects fail, data remains siloed, and the task-level intelligence needed to actually reskill, automate, or redeploy talent doesn't exist.  That changes April 22. Join Phenom's HR Innovation Showcase to see how AI and AI agents empower global enterprises to redesign work operations, hire faster, develop better, and retain longer. https://info.phenom.com/hr-innovation-showcase/?utm_source=Rectechmedia&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fy27_innovation_showcase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an April 2nd community call hosted by Chris Hoyt of CareerXroads, Indeed detailed significant policy changes aimed at transitioning the platform toward a more controlled "pay-to-play" marketplace. The key shift involves the sunsetting of traditional XML feed support, requiring employers to integrate their Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) directly or post manually, which effectively ends the "single source" free visibility many companies relied on. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-indeed-told-us-summary-april-2nd-community-call-chris-hoyt-r37dc/ Oracle today announced Fusion Agentic Applications for HR. The new agentic applications are powered by coordinated teams of specialized AI agents that are outcome-driven, proactive, reasoning-based, and engineered for enterprise execution. Built into Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications, Fusion Agentic Applications for HR can make and execute decisions within business processes by securely accessing unified enterprise data, workflows, policies, approval hierarchies, permissions, and transactional context. https://hrtechfeed.com/oracle-introduces-fusion-agentic-applications-for-hr/ https://hrtechfeed.com/ai-agents-now-have-their-own-job-board/ Paylocity (NASDAQ: PCTY), a leading provider of HCM, Finance, and IT solutions, today announced the acquisition of Grayscale Labs, Inc. (“Grayscale”), an AI-powered recruiting automation company that helps businesses hiring at scale move faster without compromising quality. Grayscale expands Paylocity's recruiting capabilities with AI-powered recruiting automation that helps employers engage candidates earlier and move faster through time-sensitive hiring workflows—while keeping hiring decisions firmly in the hands of recruiters and hiring managers. The platform helps organizations keep pace with the ongoing hiring demands of high‑volume, high‑turnover workforces without sacrificing quality or control. https://hrtechfeed.com/paylocity-acquires-grayscale-to-expand-ai-powered-recruiting-capabilities/ Wizehire, the leading hiring platform for small and growing businesses, announced the launch of Jobs by Wizehire, a new app available in ChatGPT to help job seekers easily find and apply to local jobs through conversations. https://hrtechfeed.com/wizehire-launches-jobs-app-in-chatgpt/ In a move that signals a fundamental shift in how corporations view their workforce, monday.com (NASDAQ: MNDY) has officially launched Agentalent.ai, a first-of-its-kind managed marketplace designed specifically for “hiring” enterprise AI agents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Mones on Workplace Misconduct and Social Media Screening Report: https://hubs.ly/Q048s49T0 Guest: Ben Mones, CEO of Fama Technologies In this episode, Ben discusses the rising tide of workplace misconduct and why modern screening practices need to evolve with the workforce. With six generations now in the workplace—most of them digital natives—traditional background checks are no longer enough. Key Takeaways: Misconduct is surging: Fama's latest report shows a 34% year-over-year increase in online misconduct signals, including trolling, violence, threats, and drug references 08:55 LinkedIn is becoming problematic: The platform has seen the biggest explosion of misconduct, with users migrating from Twitter and other platforms bringing problematic behavior with them 11:30 Screening strategy must match your workforce: With half the workplace now being Gen Z and millennials with extensive social media histories, employers need to adapt their screening sources and methods 03:30 AI enables nuanced evaluation: Modern AI can distinguish between casual language and genuine threats, allowing for more sophisticated screening than simple keyword matching 14:00 Transparency builds trust: When employers openly communicate their screening practices and values, candidates actually appreciate it—most want to work somewhere that screens for intolerance and harassment 18:38 The Future: Expect more explainable, behavior-based AI systems that track candidates over time and provide longitudinal insights—moving beyond binary "pass/fail" evaluations to more nuanced talent assessment. Learn more at Fama.io -https://app.fireflies.ai/view/Ben-Fama-RecTech-Podcast-copy-::01KMV291F636VVGFNRJMAYAJ59?utm_source=AskFredResponseCopied Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAN FRANCISCO — Crosschq today announced the acquisition of Traitify, a leading assessment platform for frontline and high-volume hiring, advancing its mission to build the industry's first outcome-trained foundation model for hiring. https://hrtechfeed.com/crosschq-announces-acquisition-of-traitify/ SAN FRANCISCO — Lattice, the HCM platform announced the acquisition of Mandala's AI-native coaching technology and the addition of its founder, Tarun Galagali. https://hrtechfeed.com/lattice-acquires-ai-coaching-platform/ NEW YORK — Sona, the AI platform powering scheduling, HR, payroll and other business-critical workflows, has raised $45 million in Series B funding led by N47, with participation from existing investors … this brings its total funding to over $100 million. The round will accelerate Sona's US expansion and bring forward a decade of planned platform capabilities into customers' hands within a matter of months. https://hrtechfeed.com/sona-raises-45m-series-b/ https://hrtechfeed.com/salary-com-unveils-max-ai-to-automate-compensation-management-and-real-time-market-intelligence/ KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Tracker, the AI-native ATS and CRM platform built for staffing and recruiting agencies, today announced that it is among the first applicant tracking systems to go live with LinkedIn's RSC+ integration, enabling Connected Projects for LinkedIn Hiring Assistant customers. https://hrtechfeed.com/tracker-ats-integrates-with-linkedin-hiring-assistant/ Salary.com, a pioneer in the compensation data industry for over 25 years, announced a major evolution in its platform this week with the launch of Max, a purpose-built AI designed to revolutionize how HR departments handle pay decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The landscape for federal contractors has changed overnight. With the revocation of Executive Order 11246, the dramatic restructuring of the OFCCP, and the finalized 2026 federal budget, the “old way” of managing affirmative action is officially obsolete. Is your organization prepared for the new enforcement era? Join Jobsync for an exclusive virtual briefing led by a premier employment law attorney and compliance consultant. We'll cut through the noise of the recent agency downsizing to show you exactly where the Department of Labor is shifting its focus—and where your greatest legal risks now lie. Speakers: Amanda Bowman is Director and Principal Consultant at DCI Consulting Group in the Workforce Analytics and Compliance Strategy team. Amanda joined DCI as an Analyst in September 2010. Amanda provides clients with guidance on EEO and affirmative action statutes and regulations to meet the OFCCP compliance requirements. Amanda's primary focus is to provide support for clients on affirmative action planning, compensation equity analyses, audits, and employment discrimination. She also is involved in testing and selection projects, including job analyses, test validation, and validity generalization research.  Sheila Abron is a partner at Fisher Phillips, LLP. Certified as a Specialist in Employment and Labor Law by the South Carolina Supreme Court, Sheila represents companies and educational institutions—large and small—as they navigate employment issues related to hiring, discipline, investigations, employment discrimination, unemployment, and other related issues. As Chair of the Firm's Government Contracting, Compliance, and Reporting practice group, she has extensive experience providing compliance advice to federal contractors on affirmative action and OFCCP regulations and audits. Sheila also has a wealth of experience working on collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and class actions under wage and hour state laws. She is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adzuna, the global job search platform, today announced the acquisition of the jobs businesses of Trovit and Mitula, two market-leading search engines operated by the Lifull Connect group. The acquisition marks Adzuna's third acquisition in four years, further strengthening its position as one of the world's leading global job search platforms. https://hrtechfeed.com/adzuna-acquires-2-job-search-engines/ SILICON VALLEY, Calif. — Today, Novaworks, the AI-native Human Capital Management (HCM) operating system for the enterprise built on the ServiceNow platform, announced its launch in conjunction with $8M in seed funding led by Stalwart Ventures, with strategic participation from ServiceNow Ventures and Bell Ventures. The Company also introduced the first agentic operating system for Total Workforce Management (TWM) https://hrtechfeed.com/workforce-management-platform-lands-8m/ Following an intensive build phase with early customers, Deel announced the general availability of its fully integrated ATS. Unlike standalone recruiting tools that stop at the offer stage, Deel's ATS is built directly on top of Deel's HRIS. This drives quicker hiring and productivity with ATS and HR on a single platform.  https://hrtechfeed.com/big-deel-eor-platform-adds-ats/ Healthcare workforce platform Carefam has emerged from stealth mode, announcing $14.5 million in funding led by Pitango HealthTech with participation from Emerge. https://hrtechfeed.com/healthcare-recruiting-platform-lands-14-5m/ SAN FRANCISCO — Ezra, a voice AI interviewing platform built for recruiting teams looking for reliable signals to assess talent, and candidates who want to be heard, announced today that it has raised a $3.2 million seed round  https://hrtechfeed.com/voice-ai-interview-platform-lands-3-2m-seed-round/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recruiting platform Paraform has raised $40 million in Series B funding,... https://hrtechfeed.com/recruiting-platform-paraform-has-raised-40-million-in-series-b/ Findem, the AI platform for talent outcomes, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Glider AI, a skills validation platform. Together, the companies will deliver an AI-powered hiring solution that produces hire-ready candidates—candidates who are discovered, assessed and verified before they reach hiring managers. https://hrtechfeed.com/findem-to-acquire-glider-ai/ Workable announced the launch of Workable Agent, an AI recruiting agent built directly into its ATS. More than an add-on or isolated feature, Workable Agent brings agency-level recruiting capability directly inside the hiring platform. It acts as a full-cycle hiring teammate that helps teams define the job, source candidates, engage talent, and deliver qualified candidates ready for interview. https://hrtechfeed.com/workable-launches-agentic-ai-features/ iCIMS, announced its Spring 2026 product release this week, headlined by the launch of iCIMS Frontline AI. The new suite of tools is specifically engineered to help enterprises overcome the unique hurdles of high-volume hiring, such as candidate drop-off and the administrative burden on hiring managers. https://hrtechfeed.com/icims-unveils-ai-powered-spring-release-to-tackle-frontline-hiring-crisis/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's audio from a case study with Varsity Brands a Phenom client recorded at IAMPHENOM in Philadelphia 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your career site delivering the conversion you need? Dalia's plug-and-play tech turns any employer career site into a high-performance candidate conversion engine — no replatforming required, live in days.Visit dalia.co to learn more. AND by jobcase, "Are you struggling to find the right talent in a crowded job market? Jobcase connects you to a massive community of over 120 million registered workers, including the hourly, skilled, and gig professionals that other job boards often miss. Visit jobcase.com/hire today to post your roles and start building the team you need with tools designed to make hiring fast and easy." Alright rec techies…..here's what's happening this week. First up, SAN FRANCISCO — Juicebox, the outbound recruiting platform, announced $80 million in Series B funding at an $850 million valuation led by DST Global. The company has tripled ARR since its Series A in July 2025, and now serves 5,000 customers spanning fast-growing technology companies and Fortune 100 brands, with customers reporting up to 90% less time spent identifying top candidates. https://hrtechfeed.com/outbound-recruiting-platform-juicebox-raises-whopping-80m/ CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—-Talvy, a platform that offers video-first professional profiles, today announced its $2M seed round led by Link Ventures.  https://hrtechfeed.com/talvy-raises-2m-seed-for-video-resumes/ Persona, the identity platform for businesses worldwide, today launched a Candidate Verification solution to confirm job applicants' real-world identities at critical hiring stages. With integrations into Ashby, Greenhouse, and Workday, the offering enables talent acquisition and security teams to verify candidate identity as a natural part of their existing workflow. https://hrtechfeed.com/persona-launches-candidate-verification-to-stop-hiring-fraud-before-day-one/ I've just returned from Philadelphia where I attended this years I AM PHENOM user conference. This year it had about 2,500 customers and prospects gathered together at the convention center downtown. Unlike last year when they debuted 25 AI agents, this year saw no major product announcements rather they focused on product enhancements particularly around workflows and data orchestration. They called it WorkOps and They also announced a move into Public Sector HR  https://hrtechfeed.com/phenom-set-to-go-after-public-sector-hr-software-market/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First up, a massive move in the early-career space. upGrad, Asia's integrated skilling and workforce development leader, has officially acquired Internshala, the world's largest internship platform. https://hrtechfeed.com/upgrad-acquires-worlds-largest-internship-platform/ Moving from early career to global staffing—ManpowerGroup is making a major bet on AI interviewing. They've announced a global partnership with AI pioneer Hubert to scale structured, chat-based interviews. We've all heard the "AI is taking over" headlines, but Manpower is calling this a "Human-First" approach. The AI handles the initial 24/7 screening—meaning candidates can interview at 2:00 AM if they want—but the final hiring decision stays with the human recruiter. The Takeaway: In a world where 75% of employers struggle to find talent, speed is everything. Manpower claims this moves candidates through the pipeline five times faster. By using the "STAR" method for its AI questions, they're aiming for fairness and consistency over gut feelings. https://hrtechfeed.com/manpowergroup-adding-ai-interviewing-strategy/ Next, one of the giants of the ATS world is sporting a new look. iCIMS has officially unveiled a brand refresh, featuring a vibrant new purple logo and the tagline: "Powering Exceptional Hiring." But this is more than just a logo change. They've launched iCIMS Coalesce AI, which is now the unified name for their entire intelligence layer. The Strategy: iCIMS is moving away from "AI as a feature" and toward "Agentic AI." We're talking about autonomous agents that don't just suggest things, but actually take action throughout the hiring journey. It's a clear signal to the market: iCIMS wants to be seen as the "responsible AI" leader for the enterprise, balancing automation with high-level governance. https://hrtechfeed.com/icims-unveils-new-logo/ Speaking of AI Agents, ADP Marketplace just opened up a whole new wing of their digital storefront dedicated specifically to them. They've curated a group of partners—names like G-P, Employ, and Salary.com—to offer AI agents that integrate directly with ADP. These agents can orchestrate workflows, navigate global compliance, and even generate real-time workforce insights. https://hrtechfeed.com/adp-marketplace-adds-ai-agents-from-partners/ The February ADP National Employment Report is out, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. The private sector added 63,000 jobs—the strongest month since last summer. But here's the kicker: the "pay premium" for job-switchers has hit a record low. While job-stayers saw a steady 4.5% pay increase, those who jumped ship only saw gains slow to 6.3%. The gap is narrowing fast. Also, the growth is hyper-concentrated; almost all the gains came from Education, Health Services, and Construction, while Professional and Business Services actually shed 30,000 roles. https://recruitingheadlines.com/private-sector-adds-63000-jobs-in-february-as-pay-premium-for-job-switchers-hits-record-low/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mastering the Message: The Recruiter's Playbook Communication is where the candidate experience lives or dies. Is your messaging helping you close hires, or is it creating bottlenecks? Join us as we break down the Best Practices for Messaging Your Candidates. We'll tap into the knowledge of two experienced leaders including Kerry Noone, who runs Employer Brand at Ford Motor Company and Geoff Webb who runs Talent Discovery and Engagement at Canadian based Organon. Expect to walk away with: A timeline for perfect follow-ups. Communication etiquette for the modern age. Strategies to go beyond the ‘Thank You For Apply' email Who should attend: Talent Acquisition Leaders, HR Directors, Recruiters... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices