Many Talent Acquisition (TA) teams invest enormous energy in sourcing, selection, interviews, and contract negotiations. The contract gets signed. Everyone takes a breath. Internally, the next requisition is already waiting. To me, that is a structural mistake. According to the BambooHR Onboarding Survey, 30–50% of new hires consider quitting within the first 45 days. That is not a side note. It is a strategic risk. Anyone who takes Candidate Experience, Early Attrition, and

Recruiting is currently undergoing profound changes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just an experiment in innovation labs. In many organisations, it has become part of the operational recruiting process: résumés are automatically screened, interview transcripts analysed, and candidate communication partially automated. However, the adoption of AI is only part of the story. The main argument of this text is that, in recruiting, the greatest challenge today is not th

Source of Hire is one of the most frequently used metrics in recruiting. At the same time, it is one of the most misunderstood. In many Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), exactly one source is captured. The last one. The click right before the application. Done. The problem: candidates do not make decisions in a single moment. According to analyses of the HR tech landscape, candidates typically move across multiple touchpoints before applying. Studies by Appcast and Symphony T

Employer branding has a surprisingly persistent communication problem in many organisations. The discussion often revolves around content: career sites, LinkedIn posts, employee videos, and campaigns. Entire projects are launched to refine messaging or visually articulate the Employer Value Proposition (EVP). The result is usually professionally produced—and yet the impact often fades surprisingly quickly. The real brand moment happens not in the content, but when a candidate

Talent Acquisition loves metrics. Time-to-Hire. Cost-per-Hire. Offer Acceptance Rate. Quality of Hire. Funnel Conversion. Source of Hire. Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS). Open a modern recruiting dashboard today and you will often see more charts than in a CFO meeting. The problem: many organizations measure a lot — but manage surprisingly little. Because a KPI is not an insight. And certainly not a strategy. Especially in Talent Acquisition, numbers quickly create the ill

Talent Acquisition (TA) does not have a data problem today. Quite the opposite. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), sourcing tools, and analytics platforms generate an abundance of metrics. Time-to-Fill, Cost per Hire, Funnel Conversion, Source of Hire – all neatly visualized. And yet, their impact in executive meetings often remains limited. The slide appears, it is acknowledged, and the discussion quickly returns to revenue, EBIT, and forecasts. This is no coincidence. The Ga

…because today they are a must. No ifs, no buts. Employer review platforms are discussed a lot – but rarely with precision. The debate usually centers on star ratings, “unfair reviews,” and whether companies should respond at all. That discussion misses the point. Employer review platforms are neither a tool problem nor a communication phenomenon. They are an instrument for observing organisational reality. They do not show how companies want to position themselves; rather, t

Two hours spent on an application. Carefully written. Tailored to the role. Then—silence. Not for lack of fit, but because the job may never have been real. Welcome to the world of phantom jobs — job postings with no real hiring intent. The numbers are unsettling. According to a recent study by Clarify Capital, 21 per cent of all job postings on major platforms are ghost listings. This is not a marginal issue. It is a systemic crisis of trust — and one that costs employers f

Germany recently learned from its Chancellor that all this “modern nonsense” – part-time work, remote work, flexible arrangements – is apparently the root of many economic evils. People should simply work more. End of discussion. What I think of this slightly schoolmasterly attitude is probably easy to guess. Instead of debating ideology, it is worth looking east. Asia is not exactly known for radical labor activism – but it is known for pragmatic adaptation. And one country

The labor market feels paradoxical. Companies invest in AI, automation, and efficiency programs. Meanwhile, hiring freezes, layoffs, and closed entry points increase—often in roles recently touted as “jobs of the future.” For many employees and candidates, this signals uncertainty rather than momentum. This simultaneity is not an anomaly or a temporary fluctuation. It marks a structural transition. Organizations seek productivity gains before adapting role models, qualificati

Amazon loudly announces the hiring of 250,000 new employees. At the same time, dozens of other companies quietly reshuffle hundreds of roles internally – without saying a single word publicly. Two completely different strategies, both aiming for the same goal: getting the right people into the right roles. The HR world has given these approaches names: “Loud Hiring” and “Quiet Hiring.” Debating which approach is better misses the core issue. It’s not about choosing one or th

5+1 common rejection sins in recruiting – and what they reveal about processes, culture, and professionalism Recruiting is my field, and today I want to address a topic that genuinely annoys me: bad rejection messages. These are unnecessary, avoidable, and damaging to our profession. Companies invest enormous effort in employer branding, career sites, social media campaigns, and glossy employer-brand videos. Yet one of the most important moments in the candidate experience st

An EVP is more than a decorative piece for a career site—it serves as a warehouse of raw material. Many companies confuse the outcome with the starting point, crafting attractive statements but failing to create a real-life narrative. Effective marketing approaches this differently, treating core messages as resources from which new formats are consistently developed. Employer branding should follow this approach as well. The key is simplification. Three credible messages ar

Building and leading successful recruiting teams between global governance and local reality Matrix organisations are no longer an exception. They are the default operating model for larger companies. Global functions intersect with regional entities, business lines with country organisations, and projects with line management. For Talent Acquisition (TA), this means one thing above all: permanent simultaneity. Strategic and operational at the same time. Globally consistent,

Many organizations operate their recruiting based on ambitious targets: shorter time-to-hire, more applications, and lower costs. These goals are meaningful — but they are not a strategy. Goals define what should be achieved. A TA strategy explains how to get there and why this approach leads to success. In today’s competitive labor market and global race for skills, operational efficiency alone is no longer enough. Talent Acquisition must chart a long-term path that ensur

Recruiting is designed to build. Increase headcount. Fill pipelines. Optimize time to hire. And then comes the phase no one likes to talk about: hiring freezes, restructuring, downsizing. Suddenly, there is nothing left to recruit. Nothing to do. At least at first glance. In these situations, many Talent Acquisition teams slip into a defensive mode. Waiting. Keeping a low profile. Tidying up. Doing the operational minimum. Hoping for better times. That reaction is understanda

Job advertisements are a paradoxical form of communication. They are expected to inform, inspire, set expectations, remain legally compliant, and, ideally, exclude no one. At the same time, they have an average attention span of less than 30 seconds. If they fail to convince within that window, they are skipped. Not out of disinterest, but out of efficiency. Here is where the true power of language emerges. The words chosen can make someone feel addressed, foster trust, and e

This week marked one of my personal highlights of the year: the mother of all HR barcamps — HRBC in Berlin. I’ve been attending since the very first one back in 2012, which was still hosted in Sarah Wiener’s restaurant. And every year, the event quickly reveals whether HR is in a comfort or an orientation phase. This time it was clearly the latter. And honestly, it was more interesting than it has been in years. Crises sometimes have their upside. Even the session pitches sho

Recruiting does not end with the job advertisement. From that moment on, the most sensitive phase of the candidate journey begins: communication. Application confirmations, follow-up questions, interview invitations, and rejections. All of it appears to be operational communication. In reality, these are highly influential touchpoints. Language in the application process is felt more strongly than in many other settings. Candidates invest time, emotion, and hope, yet have no

Employer branding and HR communication have never been quiet. But rarely have they been as interchangeable as they are today. Career pages, job ads and recruiting posts sound polished, friendly and professional. At the same time, they sound remarkably similar. With the widespread use of artificial intelligence in content creation, this effect has intensified. Texts are produced faster, are linguistically correct, and are formally well-structured. What often gets lost in the p