Sean Walters

The AI-Contra Deal

If you have any sense, then you've probably never heard of Nick Land. If you're wise, you've spent your youth idolising more wholesome people. People like Anthea Turner, Michael Jackson, Mel Gibson, and Steven Seagal. My upbringing, between riding the rails with Pops in the Great Depression, and being forced…

Sean WaltersOctober 2, 2026

Employment Job Boards Recruitment Sourcing Technology

Scraping the recruitment barrel

No doubt it will be news to you that as of the 9th September, recruitment "Job board"/aggregator Jora has ceased trading in New Zealand. This will be news to you because Jora was so inconsequential that many of you will never have heard of it. And I'm certain none of…

Sean WaltersSeptember 25, 2026

Human Resources Politics Recruitment

Shape of a Coward

My wife started talking to me about "people pleasing" the other morning. Apparently, ignoring my recommendations, they were talking about "people pleasers" on a podcast that she listens to. She was making the point that true "people pleasing" comes from a place of gutter-low self-esteem. Wanting to please people is…

Sean WaltersSeptember 18, 2026

Employment Human Resources Recruitment

Rejected in Five Seconds (You’re Welcome)

How long does it take you to reject a CV? Answer truthfully. And I'm not asking about the "maybe" pile. I mean the CV that you won't be progressing. The CV that does not require further consideration. I'll go first. If it were to take me 5 seconds, I'd be…

Sean WaltersSeptember 11, 2026

Employment Recruitment Work

Cr@p Recruitment Firms: We Need More of ’em

Do you know what I miss? White dog sh*t and smoking on aeroplanes. Do you know what else? Really crap recruitment firms. This seemingly nonsensical statement isn't just designed to gain clicks in a world where only clicks matter. There's some reasoning behind my madness. But first, let's kill some…

Sean WaltersSeptember 4, 2026

Employment Recruitment Work

No Win, No Fee, No Point

Some things you know to be true, but that doesn't mean they've truly dawned on you. No man ever thinks his wife is going to leave him no matter how many times she threatens, until she runs off with the landscape gardener. 5 more minutes until bed isn't actually 5…

Sean WaltersAugust 28, 2026

Employment Recruitment Sourcing Technology

It’s not clever. It’s AI.

Politics last week, AI today. Yes, I can hear your collective groans already. All you need is Consult, Robert Walters, and something wildly inappropriate and you'd be shouting "BINGO!". Unfortunately, it's an election year and it's 2026, so both topics are painfully unavoidable. And whether you like it or not,…

Sean WaltersAugust 21, 2026

Employment Politics Recruitment Work

“Loyalty” and the Politics of Recruitment

I f*cking love politics. I love it in a way that some love reality TV. Although I didn't appreciate it, I come from a long line of males who were politically minded. My great-grandad - an east-end docker - wouldn't let you in the house if you voted anything but…

Sean WaltersAugust 14, 2026

Employment Politics Recruitment

How to secure 171,000 jobs

I should probably be writing a blog about unemployment reaching an 11 year high. I should, but I won't. A few reasons for this; firstly, it's an inherently boring, complicated, and misunderstood statistic, and I don't have the energy to dissect or understand it myself. Secondly, everyone else, thanks to…

Sean WaltersAugust 7, 2026

Employment Recruitment Sourcing Work

Where have all the recruiters gone?

I quite like a bit of folk music. Well, to be clear, I like all music. Country AND western. I was tie-dying some curtains and smoking a reefer last night to Peter, Paul and Mary's "Where have all the flowers gone", thinking about Vietnam, civil rights, and excessive body hair,…

Sean WaltersJuly 31, 2026