The Tech Savvy Recruiter

Belinda Kerr and Andrew Rodger
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The Tech Savvy Recruiter, the podcast for recruitment and staffing agency owners keen to explore the tech innovations reshaping our industry. Hosted by Andrew Roger from RecMate and Belinda Kerr from Recruitment Garage. Together they bring you a stellar lineup of tech experts ready to help you understand, and more importantly, benefit from the increasing array of tech available to you today.

  1. 6d ago

    Episode 52 - Is AI making recruitment outreach better? Or just noisier.

    Belinda and Andrew chat with Michael Alexander, founder of Outreach AI, about how recruitment agencies can use AI to improve business development. After seven years at Randstad, Michael shares why better targeting, consistent outreach and genuine human connections matter more than sending personalised messages at scale. He also explains how to use AI to solve real business challenges without getting caught up in the latest technology trends. You'll hear about: Why better targeting can outperform AI-generated personalisation. How to use hiring signals, funding, promotions and mutual connections to identify relevant prospects. Why a focused list of 100 to 200 prospects may be more effective than generic mass outreach. How to create offers that open the door to conversations over the following weeks. Why consistency and continuous improvement matter more than finding the perfect lead list. When to automate outreach and when personalised video messages make sense. Why founder-led recruitment agencies may have an AI advantage. When to build your own AI workflows and when buying existing software is the smarter choice. Discover practical ways to use AI to win more clients while keeping business development human and effective. Questions: There’s so much happening with AI and the tools are getting noticeably better. Where are you seeing AI genuinely change outcomes for recruitment businesses & what do you think is mostly noise and hype? 2:15-2:28 You’ve built technology to help recruiters win clients, yet you’re also telling recruiters to stop obsessing over technology and get back to human recruitment fundamentals.  So where does technology genuinely give us an advantage and where are we using it to compensate for bad fundamentals? 9:40-10:05 Lots of recruiters now are using signal-based BD. But once every recruiter has access to the same signals, does that advantage disappear and what actually separates the recruiter who then wins the client? 12:47-13:04 You’ve argued that recruiters don’t necessarily need more personalisation; they need better targeting. Have we become over-obsessed with AI personalisation or how AI can act like a human for me? 16:56-17:16 If every message says, "Congratulations on your funding round," or, references someone's latest job and what does genuine personalisation look like in a world of AI? How do we weave personalisation into the AI automation? 24:51-25:03 You’ve talked about recruiters changing their outreach too quickly instead of creating a feedback loop, send, review, adjust, repeat. Where do you see in your experience with some of your customer base there, recruiters maybe going wrong with this and what should they think about when paying attention before switching up some of their outreach? 29:31-29:41 You've worked inside a large recruiting operation, Randstad, massive. Now you're building independently. Who do you reckon has the AI advantage? Is it the biggies with the big budgets and resources, or is it the smaller founder-led agencies that are much more nimble and can change things quickly? 35:43-36:02 It's getting so easy to build stuff now, like these workflows, and I know a workflow's not a piece of tech, it's stringing them together, but where's the line now between building your own little thing versus buying? 41:27-41:41 Check out Floats by Shaun Henry Floats is the client growth platform for recruitment agencies. Turning your ATS from a database into a growth engine, helping you stand out with clients and know where to focus next. https://floats.ai/  Subscribe to AI Labs https://recruitmentgarage.circle.so/checkout/growth-club-members-dollar1-trial Connect with Michael linkedin.com/in/michael-quinn-alexander  Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger https://www.recmate.com.au/

  2. Oct 13

    Episode 51 - AI Can’t Fix Bad Sourcing

    In this episode, Belinda and Andrew sit down with Vanessa Raath, Director of Talent Hunter, to unpack why better AI tools won't automatically make you a better recruiter. You can have access to the latest AI in recruitment, but if you don't know how to search, ask the right questions or build genuine relationships, you're still going to struggle to find the right people. Vanessa has a refreshingly practical take on what actually works, from getting better results with ChatGPT and Claude to knowing when to get back to the basics. You'll hear about:  Why a short, vague AI prompt can give you generic results, and how using voice to provide more context can improve your talent searches. Why Boolean search is making a comeback, and why recruiters still need the skills to refine AI-generated searches when the results range from three candidates to 33,000. Why recruitment agencies should audit their existing ATS, CRM and tech stack before paying for more AI tools or trying to build their own bots. How AI could change the way recruiters interact with candidate databases, making it possible to search through conversations and interview information rather than manually navigating individual records. How to turn one podcast or piece of content into five or more assets, including blogs, newsletters, LinkedIn posts and short-form videos. Why building a talent community, specialising in a niche and showing up consistently on LinkedIn can make sourcing easier long before a vacancy lands on your desk. Why AI-generated outreach still needs human judgement, good recruitment knowledge and the right context to find and engage the right candidates. There's a lot of grounded, practical thinking in this one. If you're a recruitment agency owner trying to work out where AI fits into your workflows without losing the human side of recruitment, Vanessa has plenty to get you thinking.  Questions: What do you think people need to be thinking about what prompts they need to be writing around sourcing for sourcing? 4:36-4:40 How important is Boolean searching? Is that fading away? Is it getting stronger? Is it getting more powerful? What should we be thinking now about Boolean? 7:50-7:59 Instead of writing prompts themselves, recruiters can ask AI to help build the right prompt by asking questions and gathering context. Is that evolving now or what do you see the trend there from your perspective around sourcing? 11:01-11:21 People are kind of leaning more toward doing it themselves when they probably should be looking at the tools that can do it for them. Is it just me or is it, or do you guys think that too?  16:39-16:49 How do you see AI changing the way recruiters nurture candidates and maintain relationships with their talent communities over time? 24:48-24:52 What habits or strategies separate the talent sourcers who consistently find and engage great candidates from those who struggle? 35:26-35:40 With AI tools increasingly able to find candidates and send personalised messages, when should recruiters use automation, and when is direct human communication more effective? 37:30-37:48 What do you see as the tipping point that gets people to change, not just in my case, but in terms of knowing what they need to do and actually doing it? Is it technology that will get them there, or is it something else?  42:05-42:20 Check out Recbook by Fergus Cuming & Tom Dyson Australian-built and owned, Recbook is the ATS/CRM designed with heart to make the best recruiters even better. https://recbook.com.au  Are You Using Less Than 20% of Your Tech? Find Out How Andrew Can Fix That - Link Below   https://www.recmate.com.au/about-us  Connect with Vanessa linkedin.com/in/vanessaraath Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

  3. Sep 29

    Episode 50 - What If AI Automates 99% of a Recruiter’s Day?

    In this episode, Belinda and Andrew sit down with Josh Kirkham, VP of Operations at CoRecruit, to unpack what AI could actually look like inside a recruitment agency when you move beyond simply asking Claude/ChatGPT questions and start connecting it to the systems, data and workflows you already use. Josh has spent time scaling go-to-market teams at HubSpot before moving into the recruitment tech space with CoRecruit, which is now used by more than 1,000 agencies globally. His approach to AI is firmly about leverage, not replacement: using it to buy back recruiters' time and take the heavy lifting off their plate. You'll hear about: Why connecting AI to your CRM, Google Drive, website and other internal systems changes what you can actually do with itHow Josh uses Claude for reporting, data analysis, content creation, forecasting and internal call coachingThe simple three-step approach he uses to get better AI outputs: tell it what you want, show it what good looks like, then ask what else it needsHow he turned a great candidate interview into an AI-powered coaching scorecard that can analyse calls across his teamHow AI can review 100 calls in around 20 minutes and identify which ones a leader should actually spend time listening toWhy saving successful prompts as "skills" can make AI workflows more consistent and repeatableWhy having a human in the loop still matters when AI is doing more of the workJosh's prediction for the next 24 months: if AI agents deliver on their promise, recruiters could spend far less time on admin and much more time talking to people, setting standards and building relationships There's a lot of practical stuff in this one, particularly if you're still mostly using AI as a fancy search engine and wondering what the next step actually looks like. Questions What would you like to chat about? 07:37-07:39 If I'm connecting my data to Claude, how secure is it? What should I be worried about? Should I do anything to make sure my data is secure? 15:01-15:08 When you're thinking about setting up projects, how many is too many? How do you manage all this information in the best way? 45:50-45:57 Can you use one skill across different projects or is a skill tied to a project? 49:52-49:57 Is custom GPT dead or do they still have a place? 53:50-53:53 Playing it forward 24 months is a very long time in this world of AI and technology development and rapid change but if MCPs and AI agents deliver on their promises that they're making today and what we're starting to see happen, what does the day-to-day agency recruiter look like, and which parts of the roles should be stubbornly human? 55:10-55:30 Check out GTM Digital by Justin Blij A specialist international Go-to-Market recruitment firm running their entire agency on AI and helping other leaders do the same. https://gtmdigital.com.au/ linkedin.com/in/jusblij Subscribe to AI Labs https://recruitmentgarage.circle.so/checkout/growth-club-members-dollar1-trial Connect with Josh https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshkirkham/ Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr linkedin.com/in/belindakerr Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/ LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger recMate https://www.recmate.com.au/

  4. Sep 15

    Episode 49 - The Future of Recruitment: Multi-Million-Dollar Desks & AI

    What if AI doesn’t replace recruiters, but instead helps a solo recruiter build a multi-million-dollar desk? We explore this and much more with Benjamin Mena, founder of Select Source Solutions and host of the Elite Recruiter Podcast, in this week's episode of The Tech Savvy Recruiter. Ben has spent almost two decades in recruitment while building the Elite Recruiter Podcast, community and summits. He’s just come off the back of his third AI Summit, which attracted 2,350 registrants.  👇 And one of the biggest takeaways? Ben believes we’re moving into a world where solo recruiters could be running $3M, $4M or even $5M desks because of what AI can now make possible. But there’s a catch. AI can build the workflows, personalise the experience and take away the repetitive work. It can’t replace your sales skills, your relationships or your ability to close a deal. Here's what else we got into: ↳ Why cold email and generic candidate outreach are no longer enough ↳ How multi-channel outreach, content and taking conversations offline can move the needle faster ↳ Why becoming “the recruiter” for your market could be your biggest competitive advantage ↳ How AI can help you rediscover old candidates, clients and relationships that could lead to new business ↳ Why Ben believes AI agents are currently overhyped, and the question you should ask instead: “Have you actually made a sale?” ↳ How recruiters can use AI to create hyper-personalised candidate experiences and interview prep ↳ Why the best recruiters may not need hundreds of tools, but a few systems that are deeply integrated ↳ Ben’s prediction for the future: five-person recruitment teams generating $7M-$10M in revenue The big question is: What becomes possible when you combine great recruitment skills with the right technology? Questions Let's hear about your summit. How many of the AI summits have you done now? 2:45-2:48 What are some of the most interesting insights you've taken away from the summit? 5:21-5:35 What do you think that mental model that the listeners perhaps need to make to get to where they should be now with what's happening in the world of AI for recruiting? 8:26-8:35 It's such a great example of owning your lane and creating real value. I still hear from people who want to automate all their BD through email, LinkedIn, Dripify, or AI. But then I see people billing really well who are using these tools strategically. So, Ben, where do you think this stuff works, and where does it fall short? 13:22-13:56 You still run an agency, so when you think about everything you do each day, how do you balance being an inspiration, running communities and events, and that little side gig of recruiting? 22:01-22:16 What do you think is a bit hyped up and what should be more hyped up when it comes to AI/tech in what we're doing today? 26:49-26:57 What about the underhyped? What do you think should be more in focus? 28:32-28:38 If we were here in two years' time having another conversation, what do you think would be hot topic for us to chat about at that point?  40:24-40:32 Check out RecView by John Bourke The AI meeting assistant for recruitment teams. Create structured summaries from your calls and have them synced in seconds to your ATS.  https://recview.co  Are You Using Less Than 20% of Your Tech? Find Out How Andrew Can Fix That - Link Below   https://www.recmate.com.au/about-us  Connect with Ben linkedin.com/in/benjaminmena  https://www.eliterecruiterpodcast.com/ Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

  5. Sep 1

    Episode 48 - Modern tech stack should be more human - a counter-narrative to AI

    In this episode, Belinda and Andrew sit down with Tom Dyson, co-founder and CEO of RecBook, an AI-powered ATS built specifically for boutique recruitment agencies, to flip the usual AI conversation on its head and make the case for why the modern tech stack should be more human, not less. Having spent nearly two decades in the engine room of recruitment technology, including a senior product leadership stint at JobAdder, before starting RecBook to build software that gets out of the recruiter's way, Tom brings a builder's perspective on why the best AI in recruitment is the AI you barely notice. You'll hear about: Why RecBook is built specifically for boutique agencies and solo recruiters, teams the big platforms have underserved Why the best recruitment software should work quietly in the background instead of demanding your attention The difference between generalist AI models and tools built to actually understand recruitment Where AI should never replace human relationships in the recruitment journey Why "spam with better grammar" is quietly eroding trust in candidate and client outreach Which parts of recruitment AI is genuinely great at, and which markets it's transforming fastest Why owning it when content is AI-generated builds more trust than pretending it isn't Lots of grounded, practical thinking in this one if you want a counter-narrative to the "AI will replace recruiters" hype. Questions Everybody in recruitment tech is racing towards that AI deadline or end line or beginning line for some companies. And you're the founder of a tech platform and you're telling me that tech should get out of the way and let the human get in front of it. Isn't that sort of counterintuitive or maybe a bit of it bad for your business? 4:24-4:42 What does being more human actually look like in practice? So perhaps looking at the day in the life of a recruiter using a tech stack built in this way? 8:38-8:48 When AI first was launched, recruitment was up the top in terms of hit list of industries that could be wiped out because of AI and some people were advocating AI is going to replace us all. But you're of a counter opinion of that and you're quite optimistic that it will actually go the other way. Why is that? 19:22-19:41 What do you feel like the parts of recruitment are that AI should just not touch? 26:05-26:09 You’ve launched your product openly talking around that you’re here for the boutique small player. You’re competing against some of those giants in the ATS world. What is your philosophy around why you are a competitive toolset for somebody to consider against those ATS giants? 38:26-38:43 Check out Achieve by Leanne Courtney Achieve partners with businesses to simplify technology and deliver practical solutions people actually use. https://achievewith.tech  Subscribe to AI Labs https://recruitmentgarage.circle.so/checkout/growth-club-members-dollar1-trial Connect with Tom of Recbook https://recbook.com.au  linkedin.com/in/dysontom   Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

  6. Aug 18

    Episode 47 - AI and recruitment...why you should NOT AI your whole recruitment business

    In this episode, Belinda and Andrew sit down with Leanne Courtney, founder of Achieve and former Business Applications Manager at Procom, one of North America's largest staffing firms, to flip the usual AI conversation on its head and talk about why you shouldn't "AI" your entire recruitment business. Having run the entire Bullhorn ecosystem at enterprise scale and been one of Bullhorn's early access clients for their AI suite Amplify, Leanne brings a genuinely pro-AI but clear-eyed perspective on where agencies go wrong. You'll hear about: The most common failure mode when agencies implement AI, and why it's rarely the tech's fault Why "turnkey" AI solutions are a myth, and what to ask vendors before you sign anything How to spot the gap between a slick demo and week three of go live Where AI should never replace human relationships in the recruitment journey The hidden costs of AI that nobody talks about, and why cutting corners now means paying more later How to actually measure whether your AI agent is working, instead of just hoping it is Why "start small, prove it, then build" beats chasing every shiny new tool Lots of practical, no-fluff advice in this one if you're trying to cut through the AI hype. Questions You've implemented AI inside a major staffing firm at scale. What's the failure mode you saw most often, and what was the root cause of that failure? 2:58-3:07 There's a version of AI adoption that looks great in a vendor demo and falls apart in week three of go-live. Where specifically does that gap show up in recruitment, and what should agencies be watching for before they sign anything? 6:48-7:02 When it comes to adopting new tech, how do you navigate that balance between fitting it into someone's existing workflow versus encouraging them to change their workflow to get the most out of it? 11:38-12:14 If you had to draw a line or maybe put a red flag against what AI shouldn’t own or shouldn’t touch, are there steps in that journey or parts in that recruitment process that AI shouldn’t be involved with and why do you think that’s the way it should be in terms of human versus AI? 13:45-14:00 With AI tools now able to detect hiring signals, personalise outreach and automate the whole process, and people saying it's actually working, where do you think the balance sits between AI driven outreach and genuine human conversation? 15:07-15:41 Agencies are under real commercial pressure right now. Margins are tight, headcount is being scrutinised. AI feels like the answer. How do you have an honest conversation with a business owner who just wants to cut costs and thinks automation is the fix? 17:57-18:15 If a CEO came to you and said their AI implementation hasn't been delivering results after six months, what would be your go-to recommendation for them at that point? 36:46-36:58 Are You Using Less Than 20% of Your Tech? Find Out How Andrew Can Fix That - Link Below   https://www.recmate.com.au/about-us  Follow Leanne’s work  linkedin.com/in/leanne-courtney achievewith.tech Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

  7. Jul 29

    Episode 46 - AI Agents, Vibe Coding & the Future of the ATS

    AI tools for recruiters have exploded over the past year - but which ones actually move the needle? In this episode of The Tech Savvy Recruiter, hosts Belinda Kerr and Andrew Rodger sit down with Pranav Badami, co-founder of Stardex, to cut through the hype and get practical. Pranav breaks down how agentic tools like Claude Cowork are reshaping recruiter workflows, why a "programmable ATS" beats a static database, and how AI research agents can supercharge your firm's internal data instead of just chasing external candidate lists. We also get into the tough questions: what should you ask an AI vendor before signing up? How do you protect candidate and client data as more of it flows into AI systems? And will the human side of recruiting survive the shift? Whether you're evaluating new tech or just trying to figure out where to focus your learning, this episode gives you a clear-eyed look at where AI genuinely helps - and where the recruiter's judgment still wins. 🎧 In this episode:  The rapid evolution of AI tools for recruiters over the past 12 months Why your ATS should be a "structured, AI-friendly" data source, not a graveyard How AI research agents enhance sourcing strategy using your firm's own data What to evaluate before choosing an AI vendor Data privacy and security best practices in AI recruitment tech Why human connection and discernment remain recruiting's competitive edge What the AI-native recruitment agency will look like 12-18 months from now Questions Sort of high level. What are you noticing into the AI side of things. 1:51-1:53 The whole ATS category under threat because of vibe coding and those really niche purpose built tools? Or do you see a place for a structured database on going? 3:21-3:31 What are you finding as some of the features that recruiters are asking for, particularly owners are asking for? 8:02-8:08 Do recruiters and founders need to know what they should be asking these providers before they're signing up or should they just be testing them? 11:36-11:45 Are you guys thinking what's next? Are you happy to share what's going on with you right now? 17:05-17:09 How does Stardex sit with privacy? 20:27-20:29 What does that AI native recruiter actually look like and what tool sets will they have at their disposal to help them do what they do better? 24:37-24:44 Is the recruiter today ready for what that does look like in two years time or is it a natural evolution of the market where people will be in this role today, but maybe they're not going to be in the role in two years time for whatever reason. 27:34-27:47 What do you think business owners, recruitment owners, founders should be learning right now like more broadly around AI in tech. If they wanted to learn 1 or 2 key things in the next six months? What would you advise? 32:19-32:54 Where would you draw the line for executive search? What's your kind of level? 36:31-36:35 Subscribe to AI Labs https://recruitmentgarage.circle.so/checkout/growth-club-members-dollar1-trial Follow Pranav’s work  stardex.com linkedin.com/in/pranavbadami  Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

  8. Jul 7

    Episode 45 - Shaun Henry Returns: Two Years of AI Lessons Every Recruiter Needs to Hear

    What's changed in AI recruitment since 2024? Pretty much everything, and Shaun Henry is back to break it all down. In this episode, Belinda and Andrew sit down with Shaun Henry, co-founder of Floats.ai, for a proper update since his first appearance back in episode 15. Shaun started out as a tech recruiter frustrated by boring PDFs, clunky email threads and generic outreach, and turned that frustration into an AI platform built specifically to help recruiters win more business. Two years on, Shaun's seen the hype cycles come and go, watched agencies burn cash building the wrong systems, and figured out what actually moves the needle when it comes to AI and new business. You'll hear about: Why "vibe coding" is changing who can build tech, but not without new risks The real difference between build vs buy, and how to know which one you need Why candidate matching finally works now, after years of being overhyped The rise of AI agents like Sola, and what "human on the loop" really means Why authenticity still wins, and the one thing AI still can't fake How presentation and follow up can quietly be costing you clients Shaun's top 3 things every agency should focus on to stay competitive right now Lots of practical takeaways in this one, especially if you've been feeling overwhelmed by every new AI tool promising to save you hours a week. Questions The evolution’s been amazing over the last couple of years. Are you seeing the speed at which you are evolving increase and is it as quick as most people think? 3:10-3:20How do you decide where to focus your time? Do you focus more on the requests coming? 5:49-5:57There’s been a lot of hype, a lot of promises, a lot of products gonna do ABC. I’d love to get your thought around what that hype versus reality and how the market can get overwhelmed with all these things that are going to do this amazing transformational time saving 15-20 hours a week back in my pocket to do what. 9:01-9:20If you had to say the top three things that agencies should be thinking about right now to help with their prospecting, workflow management, and their overall ability to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced market. What do you reckon those top 3-5 things might be? 39:10-39:28Follow Shaun’s work  linkedin.com/in/shaun-henry  floats.ai Connect with Belinda and Andrew LinkedIn Belinda Kerr  linkedin.com/in/belindakerr   Recruitment Garage https://recruitmentgarage.com/   LinkedIn Andrew Rodger linkedin.com/in/andrewrodger   recMate  https://www.recmate.com.au/

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About

The Tech Savvy Recruiter, the podcast for recruitment and staffing agency owners keen to explore the tech innovations reshaping our industry. Hosted by Andrew Roger from RecMate and Belinda Kerr from Recruitment Garage. Together they bring you a stellar lineup of tech experts ready to help you understand, and more importantly, benefit from the increasing array of tech available to you today.

Information

  • Creator
    Belinda Kerr and Andrew Rodger
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Belinda Kerr and Andrew Rodger
  • Show Website
    The Tech Savvy Recruiter

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