Ashlie Collins
Hello and welcome to how you we go where we’re all things talent acquisition transformation. Whether you’re an HR vet or someone who’s simply fascinated by how to find attract and engage talent, you are most definitely in the right place. I’m your host and director of solutions here at JVO Ashley Collins. Rudy, I think we have to start up. My brain is not working today. I fumbled twice in that.

Alex Her
Yeah.

Ashlie Collins
So Alex, I’ll just let them edit that out. I’m just gonna go take the intro from the top since I fumbled a few times there, if that’s all right. All right, thank you.

Alex Her
Sure, that’s completely fine.

Ashlie Collins
Hello and welcome to Hire We Go where we’re chatting all things talent acquisition transformation. Whether you’re an HR vet or someone who’s simply fascinated by how to find, attract, and engage talent, you are in the right place. I’m your host and director of solutions here at Jovio, Ashley Collins, and joining us today is Alex Hare from GoDaddy and Common Thread. Alex, thank you so much for joining us today.

Alex Her
The pleasure is mine, Ashley. Thank you for having me on the show.

Ashlie Collins
My first question of the day for you, what’s one thing talent teams are still doing that actively makes hiring harder?

Alex Her
Yeah, I think talent teams are focusing just a little too much on what’s going or what’s in it for them versus what’s in it for the job seeker. I think regardless of the market that you’re dealing with, the best talent has options and they need a good reason to make a switch. You’ve got to make it clear on what the true benefit is for them, the growth opportunities for the job seeker, because they have countless of opportunities and you want to make sure that you are the number one opportunity for them versus the countless others.

Ashlie Collins
it.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah, I love that. And it’s interesting to hear that too, coming from such a strong brand as GoDaddy. I think a lot of times when you were speaking with folks that have a very strong employer brand that is naturally attractive to people. You know, there can be a tendency to maybe shift a little bit away from thinking about that candidate experience. I appreciate you keeping them front and center. And what do you think is a signal that leaders are ignoring right now, but really shouldn’t be?

Alex Her
I think, so AI is being used quite a bit. think there’s, you know, I roughly saw people a little bit scared of that. They’re not sure what to do. You know, they’re going to be replaced, but I say embrace it and accept it, but be a little wary of when it, know, when using AI when it comes to interviewing applicants, reviewing CVs during the every process because it’s getting tougher to identify good applicants and I mean they can really do a good job You know, there’s a lot of threat actors out there So you want to be mindful of who’s coming to the doors make sure they’re legit but also, know we’re finding processes so you can use AI correctly and really get a get a step ahead of the rest of the pack

Ashlie Collins
Absolutely. And do you have any thoughts on, you know, what to look out for? I appreciate being wary, but any anything practical or hands on that folks can leverage?

Alex Her
I think in terms of AI, if you’re getting applicants who just are not responsive, if people won’t come on camera, it’s a bit of a huge warning sign there. And I think on top of that, just using AI to make the process easier for people, because if you can speed up the interview process where, OK, you’re not having to…have people use a lot of time to schedule interviews to get testing done but also to keep candidates warm I mean if there’s a way to make that process easier because I think everyone’s trying their best and some companies are great at that some are terrible there’s always things that could be better and I think AI does give you the ability to make things better for everyone involved

Ashlie Collins
Yeah

Ashlie Collins
Yeah, and bit of a leading question here for you, have a feeling, but what’s one practice you double down on in 2026 actually, even if it is unpopular?

Alex Her
Sir.

Alex Her
Leverage AI and really just automate that, like automate the unnecessary time consuming tasks because especially recruitment and where I sit with an employer brand, there’s a lot of things that do take a lot of time, right? So I want to be more about being strategic, finding ROI in every possible spot that I can, because I think that does matter quite a bit. But use that, but also use AI to better understand the data that you’re receiving.

Dive into that, see what the trends are, understand the value of the work that you’re doing. I don’t believe AI is going to take our jobs. There will be new jobs open. There will be old jobs that will honestly probably be a thing of the past, but I think we have to get used to that. It’s no different than times when we finally had the internet, we went to dot coms. We all went through that automation there. And I think it’s another journey, another exciting step ahead in the overall technology process for us.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah. And I wanted to double click on something that you mentioned, which is using AI to better leverage the data that you have. Do you have any examples of where you’re doing that today and it’s having a strong impact in the business?

Alex Her
Yeah, yeah, I’ve actually been doing that quite a bit this year where I’m looking at my Google Analytics and saying, what am I seeing? Because I think on the surface, you’re looking there and saying, OK, I’ve got maybe a million plus visitors that have come through this quarter. But what else can you glean off of that? Are you saying, OK, maybe there’s different sources that are coming to our career page naturally versus through the paid sources.

Maybe they’re coming from this device or that device or they’ve probably clicked on maybe a blog that we use versus going through our paid job slots. And then looking at that and just the trends in terms of what you’re seeing, okay, what’s the diversity of the traffic? There’s so much that you can get there. And I think it’s very, it’s overwhelming to be honest. If you just went on your own, because I may have certain knowledge in one department, Ashley, you may have some, but you’re gonna have your friend there, your buddy slash AI that will jump in and say, hey, this is what I’m seeing.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah.

Alex Her
it will help you identify stuff that you’re just not gonna see on your own.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah, that that couldn’t be more true. And the reality is trends are changing as fast as we can log in. And especially in this omni channel landscape where you’re really starting to attract through channels that you would have never thought of using that are out far outside of that traditional jobs landscape. And so trying to make sense of it all and really knowing where where your ideal candidates are spending their time on the entirety of the Internet and how that changes.

Alex Her
Exactly.

Alex Her
Exactly. Exactly.

Ashlie Collins
from prep with me day to day and trend to trend, it can absolutely be overwhelming. So appreciate you sharing that insight with us and giving the listeners something really hands on that they can take forward into their day. And thank you all for tuning in again. It’s been a pleasure to have you. Until next time.

Alex Her
Absolutely.