Why are some recruitment leaders racing ahead with AI while the hype freezes others? Matt Alder has been tracking technology in recruitment longer than almost anyone. And he believes the window for getting ahead is closing far faster than most agency owners realise.
Matt is a talent acquisition futurist, international speaker, author, and the host of Recruiting Future, the most-listened-to podcast in our industry. For nearly 11 years, he’s interviewed hundreds of TA leaders and innovators around the world, giving him a unique vantage point on where recruitment is heading and how quickly it’s changing.
In this episode, Matt breaks down what’s actually happening with AI in recruitment right now. Not the hype. Not the fear. The reality. He’s seen major employers using AI to conduct live voice interviews at scale. He’s watching candidate behaviour shift in ways most agencies aren’t prepared for. And he’s identified the exact skills recruiters must master to stay relevant over the next three to five years.
“If you’re not overwhelmed by the pace of change and everything out there, you’re not looking into it properly,” Matt says. “Because it blows my head every day.”
You’ll hear where AI is already making a measurable impact, why trust has become the most valuable currency in recruitment, and what agency owners must do before the competitive window closes.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [4:23] How Matt became the recruitment industry’s futurist after 25 years tracking innovation
- [7:19] Why some HR and IT departments are merging, and what that signals
- [10:29] The gap between AI hype and reality (and why it’s shrinking faster than the early internet era)
- [14:18] Where AI is making a real impact: candidate interfaces, voice screening, automation
- [21:14] Why AI interviews may improve candidate experience, not damage it
- [26:24] The categories of AI tools reshaping recruitment workflows right now
- [32:45] Why outreach automation isn’t working yet, and what recruiters should prioritise
- [40:20] The three human skills that will keep recruiters indispensable
- [47:02] Why trust is now the most important currency in recruitment
- [52:16] Matt’s two competing futures: Recruiting Utopia vs Recruiting Dystopia
- [55:04] The agentic AI endgame: candidate agents negotiating directly with employer agents
- [57:48] What to watch as the industry shifts, and why the window won’t stay open long
The Pace of AI Change Is Rewriting the Playbook
Matt has lived through every major shift in recruitment technology. He started selling classified recruitment ads for The Guardian back in 1998 when job boards were just emerging. He’s seen the evolution of sourcing, social media, mobile, automation, and now AI.
And in his view, this moment is different.
New capabilities are appearing monthly. Organisations aren’t struggling because they’re unwilling to change. They simply don’t know how to adapt fast enough. Companies are experimenting without clear guardrails. Recruiters are pressured to “use AI” while navigating bias, accuracy, compliance, and workflow disruption.
Matt compares it to the early internet era, but with one critical difference: the adoption gap is closing far faster.
“At Unleashed in Paris a couple of weeks ago, I saw software that sources candidates, conducts full voice interviews with them, and answers their questions about the job in real time,” he explains. “This is already being deployed by major businesses to recruit real people. It’s not theory anymore.”
While headlines suggest candidates hate AI interviews, Matt sees a different story unfolding.
“Where it’s used well, candidates actually appreciate it, as long as they know a human is still available somewhere in the process.”
Why?
Because the number one complaint candidates have is simple: they send their CV into the void and never hear back.
AI fixes that. It provides candidates with an interface, feedback, and opportunities for movement. The very things humans struggle to deliver at scale.
Recruiters can’t slow the pace of innovation. But they can decide how they move with it.
AI Doesn’t Replace Recruiters. It Replaces Bad Recruiting
Matt is clear on what AI threatens and what it doesn’t.
AI isn’t coming for influence, trust, or deep advisory work. It is coming for tasks that were never high-value:
- Repetitive screening
- Administrative coordination
- Basic qualification
- Data-heavy matching
What AI can’t replicate is context. The nuance that often determines whether a conversation turns into a placement.
Why a role matters right now. Why a candidate is finally open to change. Why timing transforms a cold call into a career-shaping moment.
Matt shared a story of a senior executive who hadn’t taken a recruiter’s call in four years. But one headhunter phoned at exactly the right moment. That day. That hour. The executive took the call. And it changed the trajectory of his career.
“The magic of AI,” Matt says, “might be its ability to uncover those moments. To surface information that helps people build trust and make decisions.”
But there’s a growing problem across the industry: trust is eroding.
Candidates are overwhelmed by AI-generated outreach that looks personalised but isn’t. Employers are flooded with mass applications from AI-driven job bots. Everyone feels buried in noise.
This is where great recruiters rise above the slop.
Market knowledge. Expert insight. Genuine care. Real conversation.
Matt predicts the industry will split between:
- Recruiters who automate everything and become indistinguishable
- Recruiters who embrace technology but double down on humanity
“The recruiter part is about influence and relationship building,” Matt says. “Everything else is going the way of technology.”
Why the Next Generation of Top Billers Will Think Like Marketers
Matt believes the recruiters who thrive in the next five years will master three core skills. All deeply human. All impossible to automate:
1. Network intelligence
Everyone has access to the same data. But not everyone has relationships, trust, and credibility within a niche. That becomes the differentiator.
2. Relationship depth
Email and LinkedIn response rates continue to decline. Referrals, advocacy, and word-of-mouth still cut through because they’re grounded in real human trust.
3. Influence
AI can write messaging. AI cannot build belief. Candidates won’t trust an AI agent to care about their career. They will trust a recruiter who understands their motivations.
Matt describes this shift as “a return to how recruiting worked before the internet”, when expertise, referrals, and genuine relationships were the core of success.
And here’s his warning: the window to build this advantage won’t stay open long.
“This is a huge opportunity,” Matt says. “But the people who embrace it, offer guidance to their clients, challenge their assumptions, they’re going to win. And that window will not be open indefinitely.”
He estimates three to five years. Possibly less.
To stay competitive, Matt urges agency owners to go deeper with the technology:
- Don’t just learn prompts
- Understand underlying AI models
- Watch the candidate technology side, because that’s where disruption may hit first
- Be the guide your clients desperately need in this confusing landscape
And then there’s the “endgame” scenario Matt believes is both plausible and imminent: agentic AI.
Imagine candidates with autonomous AI career agents searching, applying, scheduling, and negotiating. And employers with AI agents are doing the same. Humans enter only at the final decision.
“It’s entirely feasible,” Matt says. And it has significant implications for how influence works, how employers differentiate themselves, and how recruiters create value.
The firms that see this coming will adapt early. Those who don’t will be blindsided.
