Digital Recruitment Trends

You applied to 100+ jobs but no interviews? Here's what's actually happening. Your experience is valuable. You're just invisible. Let me explain why, and how to fix it. When you apply online, your resume goes into a database called an ATS (Applicant Tracking System). Think of it like a massive filing cabinet. Now here's the key: Some recruiters don't read every resume. They search. Just like you search Google, they search their database: "Python AND data analysis" "SAFe AND agile transformation" "Tableau AND dashboard" If your resume doesn't have their exact search terms, you’re making it harder to get discovered. You're not rejected. You're just not found. But here's the secret: The job description often tells you EXACTLY what keywords they'll search for. It's like having the answer key. Example from a real job posting: If they say "Experience with Snowflake required"... → They'll search "Snowflake" → Make sure you write "Built data warehouse in Snowflake…" Not "cloud database" or "modern data platform." Use their exact words: Snowflake. I've mapped out 80 keywords that get candidates noticed in 2025: Top searches happening right now: • Python, TensorFlow, LangChain (AI roles) • Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker (tech leadership) • Power BI, Tableau, SQL (data leadership) • SAFe, Agile, DevOps (transformation roles) Your action plan: 1. Read the job description carefully 2. Circle every tool, platform, or methodology mentioned 3. Add those EXACT terms to your resume (if you have that experience) 4. Use them naturally in your accomplishments Example: Instead of: "Led team through digital modernization" You say: "Led SAFe agile transformation using ServiceNow and Jira, reducing delivery time by 40%" You have the experience. Now make it searchable. Your next role isn't rejecting you. It just hasn't found you yet. You’ve got this! 💡 Save this cheat sheet of 80 searchable keywords ♻️ Share to help someone in your network Follow me for more insider recruiting insights

I keep having bizarre conversions with marketers who seem totally unaware that the industry at its core has totally changed I'm not claiming the marketing process has changed, it hasn't. We still need to understand our customers and build strategies to change their behaviour. However, the way we do that is different from five years ago. This isn't me obsessing over tactics. This is me accepting that, as this Marketing Week article points out, creator content is set to overtake agency-produced advertising. And digital video spend dominates in most markets. Yes, TV is still alive and well despite what anyone tells you. And yes, you can still run big campaigns on traditional media to grow like crazy. But there are brands growing using 100% social, skippable media. And some largely rely on creator content. Tom Roach & Dr Grace Kite refer to this as the move from "big" to "lots of littles". The best marketers now need to understand how these work together, and how to do both well. It weirdly makes creativity more important. If you slow the skip, and earn more attentive reach, you'll see dramatic gains vs piles of dull assets. As Karen Nelson-Field PhD field has shown already. If you earn more attention with well-branded assets, you'll actually grow mental availability. Josh Fruttiger and I have worked over the past year with TikTok and System1 to bring some creative insight to this. As there's a lack of creative evidence to help here. Next week at Cannes we'll launch "The Long and Short (Form) of It". A reference to the brilliant work by Les Binet and Peter Field. We've taken nearly 1000 short-form ads. A mixture of adapted TV ads, social-first assets and creator content. We've tested these with System1's Test Your Ad Social to understand what associations they build, the sentiment they create, how well-branded they are, and how much attention they hold. And matched all this to brand lift and conversion studies on TikTok. The outcome is a 50-page book sharing: - How brands can convert and grow more effectively with short-form video. - How challenger brands vs category leaders must act differently - The huge opportunity with creators when they actually manage to brand and leave people feeling something - The dramatic cost of dull in short-form, more evidence supporting Adam Morgan's global work. - How to reduce creative fatigue, and what that even means (hint: it's not view through dropping a little) Jon Evans will be sharing these insights main stage Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity next week with Alix Earle (Tue 5pm) and running an exclusive session for The Marketing Academy with Isobel Sita-Lumsden. We've decided to also make the entire book free, sign up to get that in your inbox next week: https://lnkd.in/exijWN8a This is a big step in creative understanding for short-form that will bridge some gaps, but it's just a start. I hope you love it. I share #advertising and #marketing insights daily, follow for more.

It’s not the resume padding or the AI-generated cover letters that worry me most. It’s that the person you think you’ve hired might not be a person at all. Or at least not the one showing up on Zoom. The WIRED piece on North Korean operatives infiltrating western companies through remote IT jobs describes a scenario that is not fringe nor rare. Corporate recruiters are operating in a cyber-espionage environment on a daily basis. Deception is now coordinated, scalable, and state-sponsored. And thanks to generative AI, even interview performance can be faked convincingly. The immediate implication I can see is that vetting isn’t just an HR function anymore; it’s a cybersecurity imperative. A software engineer with deep system access may now pose a much bigger enterprise threat than a rogue finance exec. Companies need to review their assumptions about remote work (opportunity vs risk). They also need to revisit their application assessment approach, interview process, device distribution policies, and background checks. Not just the what but the how. #TalentAcquisition #TalentSecurity #RemoteHiringRisks #CyberThreatsInHiring #HRRisk https://lnkd.in/extiZZ5U

One of my favorite turnaround stories in recent memory is Chili's. Not because they reinvented casual dining but because they did something harder: they made it culturally relevant again. After years of being background noise, Chili's roared back - not with a new menu, but through full-blown TikTok virality. The Triple Dipper became a Gen Z fried-food icon. Sales surged 70% year-over-year, traffic jumped 6%, net income doubled, and FY25 marked their strongest financial year since going public in 1984. The parent company's stock is up +121% in the last year - without a hint of AI. Duolingo pulled off a similar trick. Their mascot, a passive-aggressive green owl, threatens users into learning Spanish and thirst-posts at Dua Lipa. Their social presence feels like a meme account that monetizes via SaaS. And it works. Both brands won the same way: Not by reinventing their product, but by reimagining how they showed up. Now this consumer-grade playbook is bleeding into the most unlikely category: enterprise software. Marketing that sounds like marketing no longer works. Today’s B2B buyers are TikTok-scrolling, meme-literate, short-attention-span humans that have inboxes full of “thought leadership” PDFs they’ll never open. They’re not waiting for your whitepaper - they’re watching your content. And the best startups are leaning in. (1) Top-of-Funnel Is a Vibe Now You used to run ABM ads with a call-to-action that screamed “Request a Demo” and pray someone clicked. Now? You drop a LinkedIn meme roasting SOC 2 compliance pain, and your inbound triples. That’s why: - Open source projects market like indie bands - Dev tools ship swag like streetwear - Security startups post TikToks This isn’t about “dumbing it down.” It’s about breaking through. Attention is earned emotionally before it’s converted rationally. (2) Social Media = Brand Your homepage doesn’t introduce your brand anymore. Social does. TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter - this is where perception forms. Treat it as your first screen, not a repurposing channel. Invest in content with pulse, tone, and POV. Strategic playfulness builds trust. Don’t show up like a vendor. Show up like a creator. Drop hot takes. Make weird analogies. Be funny. Have taste. Earn the follow before you earn the deal. That kind of voice can’t be outsourced - it has to be native. Duolingo’s social edge? Built by Zaria Parvez, who graduated in 2020. You don’t need more marketers. You need creators who speak the language of the feed. (3) Consumer-Led, Enterprise-Backed But none of this works if the product doesn’t land. That’s the model: Consumer energy on the front end. Enterprise-grade depth on the back. Use culture to spark affinity, then back it up with real technical credibility and operational excellence. If Chili’s can engineer a comeback with mozzarella sticks and TikTok, your B2B startup can build affinity - with a little creativity and a lot less jargon. Don’t just ship product, ship personality.

𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝘆 As remote work becomes the norm, so does a disturbing new trend: AI-powered impostors infiltrating the hiring process. 📌 Candidates are using deepfakes, stolen identities, and AI-generated résumés to land remote jobs under false pretenses. 📌 Some even pass multiple video interviews—only to later exfiltrate data, deploy malware, or quietly funnel salaries to foreign adversaries. 📌 According to Gartner, by 2028, 1 in 4 job candidates could be fake. Let that sink in. Voice authentication startup Pindrop caught a scammer using a deepfake video to impersonate a developer from Ukraine. In reality, the candidate was traced to a possible Russian military facility near North Korea. Other firms, including defense contractors and Fortune 500s, have unknowingly hired workers tied to North Korea’s IT network. The scary part? Some of these impostors are excellent at their jobs. 🛡️ This isn't just a tech or HR issue—it's a cybersecurity emergency. Companies need to evolve their hiring processes: ✔️ Add identity verification ✔️ Leverage video authentication tools ✔️ Train hiring teams to spot red flags We’re entering an era where we can’t even trust our eyes and ears. Are your hiring practices ready for this AI-fueled deception? #Cybersecurity #Deepfakes #AI #RemoteWork #Hiring #TechFraud #FutureOfWork

In retail, many chase the next big thing—a new style, a new way to reach consumers—triggering a frantic race to adopt. But most trends fade as fast as they appear. The real game-changers are curated habits that prove they can stand the test of time. I’ve championed social commerce as the future of retail for over a decade. In hindsight, that barely scratches the surface. It’s now a deeply ingrained consumer behavior. The imperative isn’t just to adopt it, but to evolve with it—constantly and intentionally. At HSN, social commerce was core to our strategy. We pioneered the blend of shopping and entertainment. That’s the essence: finding the sweet spot where entertainment, connection, and commerce converge. Soon after, platforms like Twitch began enabling users to both game and shop in real time, blending entertainment with commerce. Fanatics has successfully leaned into this model as well, immersing fans in live experiences while showcasing gear in action, often worn by their favorite athletes and community, turning fandom into a powerful trust signal. More recently, TikTok Shop collapsed the purchase funnel into a single scroll. It's no longer discover, then buy. Now, it’s see it, want it, buy it—seamlessly, in-platform. So, as we look ahead, how do I see this "social commerce habit" evolving? Here's what I expect: 🔹 Creator Integration is Non-Negotiable. For Gen Z, in particular, TikTok Shop has become a primary discovery engine. They trust their favorite creators to genuinely try products and offer honest feedback. The more brands lean into authentic partnerships with creators, the more trust they build in this integrated shopping experience. It’s about relationship-driven commerce. 🔹 Embrace a Zero-Click World. Speed and simplicity are paramount. Consumers need to be able to see, buy, and receive as fast as humanly possible. This means minimal clicks, minimal friction, and no moments for reconsideration. It's about instant gratification and removing all barriers between desire and ownership. 🔹 Elevate Live Shopping. This is a powerful return to the personal connection and real-time interaction that defined the best of traditional retail. Shoppable videos and live sessions transform social media into a personalized shopping aisle. Imagine experts demonstrating products, showing how they fit or can be styled, all in real-time, tailored to your interests. It brings humanity back to digital retail. 🔹 Unlock the Power of Virtual Try-Ons. A longstanding hurdle in e-commerce is "try before you buy." AI-enabled virtual try-on features solves that, making online shopping more immersive and convenient. This translates directly into higher conversion rates, deeper engagement, and customers spending more valuable time interacting with your brand digitally. It’s time to stop treating social commerce like a trend. This is commerce, full stop. It’s a fundamental consumer behavior that belongs at the center of every modern retail strategy.

Coffee, Candour and the Future of Hiring Had a chat last week with a Talent Acquisition Head who's seen it all. Over coffee, we talked about what's happening in recruitment for 2025. AI tools are evolving beyond basics. AI screening isn't new. Most companies already use keyword filtering in their ATS (Application Tracking Systems). But what's happening now is different. The new AI doesn't just scan for "Python" or "CFA" - it understands context. A hiring manager cut her screening time by 60% using AI that could tell the difference between someone who listed a technology and someone with real implementation experience. This freed her up to speak properly with promising candidates rather than rushing through calls. Mental health has moved from perk to priority. My TA friend looked worried discussing this. "We're seeing talented people walk away from roles because they don't trust us to look after them," he admitted. A tech firm client recently added a 'wellbeing conversation' to their interview process. Candidates told me this showed the company genuinely cared about work-life boundaries. Wellbeing initiatives have become one of our best-selling points when we recruit for them - candidates perk up when we offer specific examples, not vague promises. For 2025 hiring, skills are just your entry ticket. You need to sell your workplace culture too. Recently I had a tech risk specialist considering offers from two firms I represent. Despite one role offering more salary, my candidate chose the company that demonstrated real flexibility. "I asked how they handled unexpected time off, and they told me about a specific situation rather than quoting policy," he explained. "That's when I knew they meant what they said." If you're building teams this year, remember: candidates are shopping for sanity as much as salary. The companies that get this right aren't just being nice - they're being smart. #Recruitment, #CareerAdvice, #HiringTips

Are you noticing that recruitment is taking longer these days? It’s not just the summer season slowing things down—Overwhelmed recruiters face a flood of generic, AI-generated CVs, delaying hiring and making it harder to spot real talent. So, why is AI making recruitment harder?  🔷AI-generated content in applications often lacks a personal touch, making it harder for recruiters to evaluate skills and motivation, especially when combined with mass, untailored applications in an already squeezed labour market. 🔷Without proper editing and the overuse of keywords, AI-generated CVs often come across as clunky and generic, making it a frustrating task for hiring managers to review them. 🔷Increased screening time: More applications mean longer review times, prolonging the recruitment process.   A recent study by ResumeGenius found that AI-generated CVs are a major red flag for recruiters, with 53% identifying them as the top indicator of an unsuitable candidate. What strategies are hiring managers using to cut through the noise? 1. The Big Four accountants — Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG — have warned graduates against using AI in their applications. 2. The Coca-Cola Company clearly distinguishes between must-have and nice-to-have skills in its job ads, incorporating specific challenges to filter out unqualified applicants and assess genuine engagement early in the process. 3. Amazon is strategically leveraging automation through AI-powered ATS to analyze keywords and contextual relevance, ensuring that CVs are evaluated based on substance rather than being saturated with irrelevant buzzwords. 4. Most hiring managers have so much sensory/channel overload that reviewing hundreds/thousands of resumes from the “online job posting" channel gets turned off. Salesforce, Philips, Airbnb, Tesla, and others are concentrating more on headhunting practices and relaunching employee referral programs.  5. Dyson has found its way to ‘feed’ top talent into its recruitment funnel. It organizes campus tours for top engineering and business schools, putting a particular focus on students who are driven, curious, and passionate about creating something new. 6. While many companies hire externally to fill vacant, specialized roles, Infosys is looking within, helping employees grow their careers by upskilling and taking up more advanced roles within the company. 7. Slack replaced many traditional applications with a technical exercise and offered applicants the option to complete assessments on-site rather than online. 8. After Citrix Systems receives a promising application, the recruiter contacts the candidate and guides them through the whole hiring process. This 5-minute intro call can reveal far more about a candidate’s suitability than a generic application. And how does your company break through the noise, avoid the pitfalls of AI-driven hiring mistakes, and secure the best talent?

What if TikTok disappeared tomorrow? Here’s where those ad dollars would go 👉 A lot of brands assume IG Reels would soak up the demand. But that’s missing the bigger picture. Because TikTok is a CONTENT platform. Not just social. Unlike Instagram, which is built around social connections, TikTok is all about content discovery. That’s why if TikTok were banned or its algorithm changed significantly - Users wouldn’t necessarily flock to Instagram. They’d go to platforms with a similar content-first experience (like YouTube Shorts). But that’s not the only place advertisers should be looking… The Shift in 2025: (Mobile Apps & Programmatic Placements) TikTok’s audience is made up of heavy mobile users - People used to consuming high volumes of content on their phones. If they’re not scrolling TikTok, they’ll still be consuming content elsewhere, especially in mobile apps and games. For advertisers, this opens up massive opportunities through programmatic ad placements in: ~Streaming apps (where video content consumption will continue). ~Mobile games (where short-form content addicts will still be spending time) ~CTV platforms (where audiences are shifting towards short-form, on-demand content). Why This Matters for Brands & Agencies Most brands think about social platforms in isolation. But user behavior doesn’t disappear—it shifts. If TikTok becomes unstable, brands with diversified ad strategies won’t miss a beat. They’ll already be tapping into: ~Programmatic placements ~YouTube Shorts ~Mobile apps …to reach the same audiences in different environments. If your ad strategy is built entirely around TikTok or any one platform, now’s the time to start expanding your reach. Because when platforms change, the brands that adapt fastest always win.

AI isn't just making recruiters more efficient - it's helping transform their role into strategic talent advisors. The new Future of Recruiting report from LinkedIn Talent Solutions reveals how leading organizations are combining AI tools, quality-of-hire metrics, and skills-based hiring to build tomorrow's workforce. The numbers are striking. AI appears to be saving recruiters a full day per week, while companies using skills-based hiring are 12% more likely to make quality hires. However, there are challenges when it comes to using GAI in hiring...data privacy concerns, lack of budget, accuracy concerns, uncertainty about where to start, and legal/compliance concerns. One of the more interesting insights from the report is that the skill of "relationship development" saw a 54x 😲 increase YoY in paid job posts on LinkedIn for recruiting positions vs. a 7x increase in "analytical reasoning." Curious about the future of recruiting? Check out the full report: https://lnkd.in/evKNAtNn #AI #GAI #FutureofRecruiting