Podcast Summary: Embracing Digital Transformation

Episode: AI Is Breaking Hiring: Restoring Human Connection in HR
Host: Dr. Darren Pulsipher
Guest: Josh (Head of HR at Tier 11, Co-Founder of Super Hired)
Date: October 21, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Darren Pulsipher tackles the growing challenges and opportunities AI brings to hiring and HR processes, particularly how the influx of AI-driven tools is eroding the human connection at the heart of recruitment. Alongside guest Josh—a former infantry officer turned HR leader—the discussion explores how organizations can restore real matchmaking in hiring, apply intentional work design, and shift toward a more "work as a product" philosophy that considers the ambitions and drivers of both candidates and companies.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Josh’s Unique Journey to HR (01:30–04:54)

• Non-traditional Background: Military officer in Australia, frustrated by bureaucracy, transitioned to marketing and eventually led HR in a fully remote, US-based digital marketing agency.
• Personal Side: Loves gardening as an outlet—draws parallels between nurturing plants and nurturing people in organizations.

The Hiring Stall and AI’s Role (05:01–07:52)

• Global Slowdown: Both host and guest observe an unexpected halt in hiring during the typically busy fall season.
• Frustrations on Both Sides:
  • Candidates mass-producing AI resumes to boost responses.
  • Recruiters overwhelmed by high-volume, low-quality applications, turning to AI tools in response.
  • AI is exacerbating the volume-over-quality issue rather than solving matching.

"If you consider hiring is really the essence of a matchmaking process... we're diluting the ability for candidates to be paired with the right opportunities... when we inject the level of AI into the mix unsustainably."
— Josh (07:12)

The Online Dating Analogy (07:52–10:10)

• Surface-Level Interactions: AI-driven hiring platforms mirror "vanity-based" dating apps—quick, superficial, not suited to finding genuine fits.
• Short-Term vs. Long-Term Hiring:
  • The need for clarity on whether jobs are intended as "flings" (short-term contracts) or "marriages" (long-term roles).
  • Companies must be transparent about the actual nature of their openings to improve matching.

"Recruiters are forced to be surface level... That's not the type of mindset and the type of approach we should be having to hiring."
— Josh (08:27)

Work as a Product: Rethinking Internal HR (11:45–13:09)

• Borrowing from Product Management: Treat jobs and internal projects as carefully designed products for employees, not just customers.
• Intentional Design:
  • Apply the same rigor to internal work experience as to client-facing deliverables.
  • Payroll is often the largest company expense; neglecting internal work design is a lost opportunity.

"If you consider the fact that 60 to 70% of many companies... is payroll, is to do with expenditure around people, why are we not applying the same due diligence, vigor... when it comes to designing the work experience?"
— Josh (12:44)

The Legacy of Industrial-Era HR (13:09–18:04)

• Outdated Mindsets: Credentialism and emphasis on "skills" over contextual fit persist from factory-style models.
• Environmental Impact: A “bad hire” is often not the person’s fault but a mismatch of design, leadership, or culture.

"Someone's ability to be in a workplace... is extremely subject to the conditions of the work product and how that's being intentionally designed or the lack of intentional design."
— Josh (13:53)

Client-Centricity and the Manager’s Role (18:04–22:13)

• Borrowing from Customer Success: Apply models from CSM to employee experience—deep discovery, regular feedback, and agility.
• AI as an Enabler:
  • Managing 20+ direct reports is only feasible with the help of technology.
  • Generative AI can assist in discovery and in profiling work-product preferences for both sides.

"You need to manage the work experience, you need to manage the design of the work so that they can be enabled to operate with little involvement."
— Josh (20:10)

Shifting from Managing People to Managing Work (20:31–22:13)

• Paradigm Shift:
  • Managers should focus less on controlling employees and more on optimizing the surrounding environment, processes, and tools.
  • Emphasis moves toward project management and product design, underpinned by emotional intelligence and AI support.

"You're not managing the person, you're managing around the person."
— Josh (20:47)

Building a New Model: The Super Hired Approach (22:30–30:38)

• Discovery on Both Sides:
  • Help companies define what the real "work product" is before even posting a job.
  • Guide candidates through a structured self-discovery to identify drivers, context, and emotional motivators—not just credentials.
• Tools in Development:
  • Qualitative and quantitative surveys, gamified activities, AI-powered interviews.
  • Rich, ongoing profiles matched with open opportunities for more holistic, sustainable appointments.

"We're not matching surface level metrics, we're matching deep seated ambitions around the desires."
— Josh (30:22)

Benefits of Slower, More Deliberate Hiring (31:01–33:54)

• Quality Over Speed:
  • Deeper, higher-quality engagements between candidates and companies; fewer but more targeted applications.
  • Longer-lasting hires and better alignment, despite a slower process.

"This obsession with speed and tempo when it comes to recruitment is exactly what's at the core of what is breaking it. ... We're dealing with humans... when we box them in as numbers... we treat it like any other project."
— Josh (32:26)

The Problem with the Current AI Hype (34:39–36:55)

• AI Tools Alone Don’t Fix Broken Processes:
  • Example: A heavily funded AI recruiting tool that speeds up sourcing but does not address root problems of bad job-candidate matching.
  • Tech founders lacking HR experience are perpetuating existing problems.

"A database means nothing when you still got a broken recruiting process. ... You're just peddling faster, $36 million faster."
— Josh (35:37)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Modern day matchmaker is a recruiter. I love it." — Dr. Darren Pulsipher (09:01)
• "We need to change the way that we work so that we can take advantage of people better and get more work out of people by changing the process, changing the way that we work. Instead of go sit in your cube and do what you're told." — Dr. Darren (16:30)
• "You don't just have one work product, you've got a work product for every person at your company." — Josh (18:05)
• "You're a higher end matchmaking service for jobs, for people looking for jobs. I love the idea." — Dr. Darren (27:39)
• "Bad data out." — Dr. Darren (35:37)

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:30–04:54 — Josh’s background and philosophy shift from military to HR
• 05:01–07:52 — The current stall and dysfunction in hiring, fueled by AI
• 07:52–10:10 — Online dating analogy and short-term vs. long-term hiring fit
• 11:45–13:09 — Introduction of the "work as a product" philosophy
• 13:09–18:04 — Industrial-era HR paradigms and their limitations
• 18:04–22:13 — Client-centricity, the manager’s new role, and AI’s helping hand
• 22:30–30:38 — Super Hired’s two-way deep discovery process and tools
• 31:01–33:54 — Rethinking speed versus quality in hiring
• 34:39–36:55 — Flaws in the current AI arms race in HR tech

Conclusion

This episode dives deep into how AI is disrupting—not always for the better—HR and hiring practices. Both host and guest argue for restoring the "human" in human resources by redefining jobs as bespoke, thoughtfully designed products, and encouraging a return to real, meaningful matchmaking enabled (but not defined by) technology. Through intentional process, deeper discovery, and strategic AI augmentation, organizations can get closer to solving their biggest people problems—and create workplaces that unleash both value and satisfaction.

To learn more:

• Find Josh on LinkedIn or follow updates from Super Hired.
• Check out embracingdigital.org for resources and past episodes.