Sourcing

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

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 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

Employment Job Boards Recruitment Sourcing

$911 Million Problems (and a Job Ad Ain’t One)

I read an article a few weeks ago on RNZ. I've only recently started reading RNZ articles after National cut their funding, working on the basis that if National don't like them, they must be good for society. This one was a puff piece of marketing dressed up as journalism…

Sean WaltersJuly 24, 2026

Employment Human Resources Recruitment Sourcing Technology Work

The AI Headf*ck

And we’re back on AI. Sorry everyone, but this was prompted by a couple of things. Firstly, there was this article here. If you can’t be bothered reading it, and I wouldn’t blame you, it’s the usual disgruntled-candidate-rejected-by-computer click bait. To summarise more accurately, a mum is annoyed that her…

Sean WaltersMarch 27, 2026

Employment Recruitment Sourcing Work

Recruiters who play God

A mental health professional once diagnosed me as being a "Charismatic Narcissist". Apparently that's a thing. Personally (which I don't take it), I put the emphasis on the first word. Others close to me, including my wife, place it on the latter. I am aware that this differing interpretation would…

Sean WaltersMarch 20, 2026

Employment Recruitment Sourcing

Backstreet’s Back (and so is saying “No” in 2026)

"Oh my God, we're back again!" sing the Backstreet Boys in their 1997 classic. And unless you're incredibly lucky, unlucky, or rich, so should you be. The rest of the song has no relevance to the first post of the year sadly. Before you ask, my break was lovely thank…

Sean WaltersJanuary 16, 2026

Employment Job Boards Politics Sourcing Technology

Drowning in a sea of candidates

Although I could use the data generated by our sophisticated CRM, I, like most recruiters, like to rely on a little thing known as gut-feel. Let's be real, who needs solid, defensible, researched and reasoned information, when we can provide anecdotes, hear-say, speculation, and rumour. If you're an agency leader…

Sean WaltersJuly 25, 2025

Human Resources Recruitment Sourcing

Floating around, thinking about recruitment floats

This week I've been floating around a Greek swimming pool in my speedos. Speedos are of course the only choice for the young, European sophisticate. Any man in boardshorts shouldn't be trusted, add a rash vest, and unless they're about to "hang ten" at Mavericks, stick them on the sex…

Sean WaltersJuly 11, 2025