The Recruiting Brainfood Podcast

LINKEDIN CONTENT INTELLIGENCE REPORT Q1 2026   The LinkedIn newsfeed has completely changed how professional content gets seen and shared — and old posting playbooks are now obsolete. In “LinkedIn Content Intelligence Report Q1 2026”, we’ll break down how LinkedIn’s evolving algorithm prioritises relevance, meaning, and audience interest — not just likes and vanity metrics — and what this means for creators and marketers focused on real visibility and real engagement. Real data, real trends, real tactical takeaways.   What we’ll cover:   The New Distribution Logic: LinkedIn now prioritises deep, meaningful engagement and professional relevance over broad viral reach, reshaping who sees your posts and why. Interest-Based Feed Signals: The feed is increasingly driven by topical relevance and user interest, not just network connections or follower count. Engagement Quality Over Quantity: Simple likes matter far less than sustained conversations and comments that signal real value. Post Formats That Win Now: Text, thought leadership, and content sparking discussion are outperforming generic posts — and tactics like saves and comments now carry disproportionate weight. Semantic Content Signals: LinkedIn’s new 360Brew AI reads meaning and topical authority, rewarding posts that speak clearly to a defined audience. Saturation and Signal Noise: More posts and noise mean generic content gets buried — creators must craft specificity and relevance to break through. Profile + Content Alignment: Your profile and the themes you post about now act together as signals to the algorithm — misalignment can suppress reach.   Every creator has wondered, why isn’t this getting seen anymore? The answer isn’t a mystery - the algorithm has shifted fundamentally. This livestream will turn complex technical changes into actionable strategy, outlining where visibility is going, what LinkedIn actually rewards, and how you can reclaim reach and influence on the platform. Whether you’re a content creator, marketer, or brand strategist, this session will give you the context and tactics to adapt and win in 2026.     We're on Friday 20th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Episode 368 is sponsored by Maki   At Maki, we help organisations like BNP Paribas, PwC, Booking.com, Nestlé, and H&M transform hiring with AI agents for screening, interviewing, and assessment.   By combining automation, behavioural science, and data, Maki enables talent teams to hire faster, fairer, and smarter.   Our global partnership with H&M saved 250 000 recruiter hours, cut time-to-hire by 4×, and reduced turnover by 22 %, delivering $85 M ROI.   Beyond automation, we’re building a continuous reinforcement system where every recruiter judgment and employee outcome makes our AI agents smarter; creating a unique data moat in HR.   Learn more: makipeople.com

HUMAN JUDGEMENT VS AI RECOMMENDATION: WHAT 'HUMAN-IN-THE-LOOP' ACTUALLY MEAN?   AI is now embedded across sourcing, screening, matching, and interview scheduling. Yet one phrase keeps appearing in every vendor pitch and compliance policy: human-in-the-loop. But what does that actually mean in practice? In this livestream, “Human Judgement vs AI Recommendation – What does it really mean to say ‘human-in-the-loop’?”, we’ll examine how decisions are truly being made inside AI-enabled hiring workflows. When the algorithm scores, ranks, and recommends, where does human authority begin — and end?   This debate goes beyond tooling. It cuts to accountability, fairness, performance, and power.   What we’ll explore:   The Meaning of “Human-in-the-Loop”: Is it oversight, veto power, rubber-stamping, or genuine decision control? Right of Veto: Should recruiters and hiring managers override AI recommendations — and under what conditions? The Return of Gut Feel: If humans retain final say, do bias and intuition simply re-enter through the back door? Would it be more honest to say it never left? The Comeback of Cultural Fit? Aggregate Fairness vs Individual Judgment: If machines outperform humans statistically, should we defer to them — even when a single case feels wrong? Liability and Accountability: When a hiring decision is challenged, who owns it — the recruiter, the hiring manager, or the model? Designing Decision Architecture: How to structure workflows where AI augments cognition without replacing responsibility.   The future of hiring will not be AI-only or human-only. It will be a system of delegated judgment. Recruiters, TA leaders, HR executives, and HR tech builders need clarity on how authority, bias, and performance interact inside that system. If you care about fairness, effectiveness, and control in AI-enabled hiring, this session will challenge assumptions and force sharper thinking about what “human-in-the-loop” truly requires.   We're on Friday 13th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Episode 367 is sponsored by Metaview     Are you ready to supercharge your recruiting teams performance?   Metaview’s AI Sourcing will feel like a cheat code. It’s the first autonomous AI coworker that goes off and does the search for you and brings back spot-on candidates based on your exact brief.   Here’s what recruiters have been saying about it:   “I don’t know how you did it, but Metaview’s AI Sourcing is absurdly good.”   Michael, Partner @ Super Recruiter   “Metaview’s AI Sourcing really helps with niche roles. It surfaces profiles I wouldn’t have found.”   Dea, TA Manager @ Miro   “So impressed by how Metaview’s AI Sourcing turns a natural language prompt into great profiles.”   Leslie, Recruiter @ Cockroach Labs   Metaview gives high-performance teams a genuine unfair advantage in hiring. Join teams like ElevenLabs, Deel, and Pleo — along with 4,000+ others — and try it for free today.

THE STATE OF THE TALENT ACQUISITION & HR JOB MARKET Q 2026   The talent acquisition and HR profession is facing its own reckoning. After years of contraction, cautious hiring, automation investment, and cost discipline, the very functions built to fuel growth are now navigating scarcity themselves. In this livestream, The State of the Talent Acquisition & HR Job Market Q1 2026, we’ll unpack exclusive data from AspenTech Labs to examine what is really happening inside the TA and HR labor market. How deep are the cuts? Which roles are stabilising? Where is AI augmenting versus replacing? And what does this mean for practitioners planning their next move?   What we’ll cover:   Three Years of Contraction The AI Effect Shrinking Teams, Expanding Scope: Which Roles Are Resilient: The Geography Shift Compensation Trends What Employers Want Now   TA and HR functions traditionally scale with expansion. In a prolonged slowdown, they are forced to justify value in sharper, more measurable terms. This session will translate AspenTech Labs’ data into practical insight: whether you’re a TA leader defending budget, an HR executive redesigning structure, or a practitioner navigating career risk. If you want clarity on where opportunity remains—and how to future-proof yourself in a leaner market—this conversation will provide the signal you need.   We're on Wednesday 11th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)       Episode 366 is sponsored by Oleo   AI is now used by 62% of companies for hiring, but rapid efficiency shouldn't come at the expense of fairness. Oleeo and Aptitude Research’s new report highlights a major gap: only 20% of employers have fully established AI governance frameworks, which can lead to unintended bias. To keep things fair and compliant, 85% of recruiters demand final decision-making authority.   Download 'Setting the Standard for Responsible AI: A Guide For Modern Recruiters' today to build a transparent, human-led strategy that uses AI responsibly.

THE RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING BENCHMARK REPORT 2026   The labor market story of 2026 cannot be told through a single headline. Behind the macro narrative of cooling growth lies a structural split that is reshaping how recruiting actually works. In this livestream, we’ll break down Joveo’s Recruiting Benchmarks Report 2026 and discuss 9x surge in applicant volume for some roles to the persistent drought in others, this session will translate benchmark data into practical strategy.   What we’ll cover:   The 9x Applicant Avalanche Why More Applicants Doesn’t Mean Easier Hiring: The Occupational Split: Demand Intensity in Healthcare and Skilled Trades: Two Markets, Two Strategies: The Experience Cliff: Capability Over Credentials Recruiters and recruitment marketers who continue to run one hiring process across two fundamentally different markets risk underperforming in both. This session will equip you with the insight to recalibrate metrics, rethink CPA obsession, and align strategy to the actual hiring environment you’re operating in. If you want to move from reactive benchmarking to intentional advantage in 2026, this is a conversation you cannot afford to miss.   We're on Friday 6th March, 2pm GMT. Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)     Episode 365 is sponsored by Joveo   As the global leader in AI-powered, high-performance recruitment marketing, Joveo is transforming talent attraction and recruitment media buying for the world’s largest employers, staffing firms, RPOs, and media agencies. The Joveo platform enables businesses to attract, source, engage, and hire the best candidates on time and within budget.   Powering millions of jobs every day, Joveo’s AI-led recruitment marketing platform uses advanced data science and machine learning to dynamically manage and optimize talent sourcing and applications across all online channels, while providing real-time insights at every step of the job seeker journey, from click to hire.   For more information about Joveo’s award-winning platform and solutions, visit www.joveo.com.

HOW TO HIRE IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 2026   Friends, I am back in South Africa, in one of my favourite cities for one of my favourite conferences, Recruiters Unite!   As has become tradition, we're going to do a Brainfood Live on the day the event, to speak to local South African recruiters and discuss the main challenges in hiring in South Africa in 2026. We hope to share knowledge between local recruiters and increase awareness for outsiders on how things roll here in the Rainbow Nation!   A few things we'll cover: Macro hiring outlook for 2026 Understanding South Africa’s labour law framework Employment Equity & B-BBEE in practice Permanent vs contract vs EOR models Compensation benchmarks & pay transparency trends Scarce skills and critical talent pipelines Remote and hybrid hiring dynamics Managing unionised environments Immigration and cross-border hiring Retention in a high-mobility market All this and more, as we dive into the nuance of hiring in one of the most dynamic and complicated countries in Africa.   We're on Tuesday 3rd March, 12pm GMT / 2pm SAST Register by clicking on the green button (save my spot) and follow the channel here (recommended)     Ep364 is sponsored by Recruiters Unite   It's the event of the year for recruiters in South Africa. Get together with 400 local recruiters and a handful of brilliant experts from overseas and share knowledge as to how recruitment is working today and how it will work tomorrow.   Tickets here