Burnout, Bots & Better Rejections: Fixing Recruitment’s Broken Front Door
In this energetic live episode from IHR Manchester, Nitin Sharma is joined by Joseph Watkins, founder of Ai.r Recruit, and industry veteran Gordon Webb for a no-filter discussion on the chaos—and opportunity—sweeping through recruitment tech. The focus? The front end of recruitment: job specs, CVs, and the black hole candidates fall into after they hit "apply." With application volumes exploding and TA teams burning out, Joe and Gordon share how automation, matching AI, and structured feedback loops can save both recruiter sanity and candidate dignity. In this episode: Why the candidate experience is still broken—and how tech can fix it What’s wrong with current job boards, and why direct apply is making a comeback How tools like Air Recruit’s CV co-pilot help prioritise top talent—fast Why personalised rejection is no longer a “nice-to-have” The shift from CVs to video-based applications How hiring teams can prepare for the future of video-first, task-based recruitment Is the job advert dead? What’s replacing it—and why you should care Nitin and the crew don’t pull any punches, diving deep into why failing to reject properly damages employer brand, how AI can provide actionable candidate feedback, and why the next frontier in hiring might not even include a CV. Who this episode is for: Recruitment and HR tech founders Heads of Talent Acquisition In-house TA pros juggling high-volume hiring Recruitment marketers exploring new formats Anyone tired of "spray and pray" job boards Meet the Guests: Joseph Watkins – Founder at Ai.r Recruit Gordon Webb – Sales Director at Shazamme https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephjwatkins/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonwebb1/ Connect with Nitin Sharma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-rectools/ Explore the recruitment tech landscape: http://www.rectools.io
