Let’s set the stage for a story that is becoming increasingly more common in recruiting.

You’re a talent acquisition leader who has invested in crafting and refining a compelling employer brand. You’ve carefully articulated an employee value proposition (EVP) that is crystal clear at every candidate touchpoint. Your current team members boast about your innovative work environment, team-based culture and their high employee satisfaction on social media.

At this point, you’ve got a great pool of talent, but you just don’t have the bandwidth to handle the volume. So, you decide to streamline hiring by introducing agentic AI—an advanced form of artificial intelligence capable of acting autonomously to complete complex tasks without human intervention. You do your research and find a promising solution. With a little tinkering to the programming, you’re sure that it can be an engaging and friendly first touchpoint for candidate outreach and screening.

In theory, everything seems great. Even the first candidate who uses it is initially impressed—not just by the speed of the company’s response, but also by the ingenious use of AI. They may even think, “Wow, this company is ahead of the curve. This kind of efficiency must make it an incredible place to work. This is exactly what I would expect from a place known for innovation.”

But then things take a turn

The agentic AI solution starts getting into more in-depth interview questions than the candidate was prepared for in an automated screening. Instead of expected questions like “Do you have eight years of experience?” or “When would you be available for a call with a recruiter?”, the candidate is asked something far more complex, like “Tell me about a time you worked with a cross-functional team to solve a challenging problem.” The candidate pauses to collect their thoughts—but before they can respond fully, the bot chirps, “Got it! Great answer!” and moves on. The moment is gone. The candidate is left wondering, “Did it even register what I said? Who will review my response? Did I just blow my chance at this job?

This scenario isn’t just a hypothetical; it’s playing out right now in the marketplace. And frustrated job seekers are sharing real experiences like this on LinkedIn and Reddit. Hilke Schellmann, the author of The Algorithm, recently walked through a similar case that is worth a watch, highlighting how AI can create unintended roadblocks for candidates. And while candidates are tacitly receptive to the speed and efficiencies AI offers, they are leery about AI playing the role of human agent, or worst yet, a gatekeeper to their employment.

The Future of AI in Recruitment

We know that Agentic AI is projected to reshape HR and recruitment with the market expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Data from the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) suggests that 92% of HR leaders are planning to ramp up their AI usage. Additional projections indicate that 80% of Forbes’ Global 2000 are expected to expand the use of AI for training, onboarding and hiring by the end of 2025. The potential benefits in efficiency, data-driven decision-making and scalability are immense. But the risks of a poorly implemented AI strategy are equally concerning.

Striking the Right Balance

This is where an organization’s employer brand comes into play. AI can be used to reinforce components of an employer brand (particularly innovation), but if it fails at capturing the human essence of your brand, it can erode trust and engagement—two critical factors in attracting and retaining top talent. Companies that rely too heavily on AI-driven recruiting tasks without considering the candidate experience may unknowingly create a cold, transactional hiring process that contradicts their EVP.

The Takeaway

AI is not inherently good or bad for an employer brand—it all depends on how it’s used. If AI is your first touchpoint with candidates, ensure it reflects your EVP and balances efficiency with human connection. Otherwise, the very technology designed to help may end up harming your reputation in ways you never anticipated.

Marketing and fantasy football. On the surface, these two things may not seem like they are in the same plane of existence. I guess that’s true in that one is a very real thing while the other is essentially make-believe, but what I’ve found after years of doing both is that they both satisfy my love of strategic challenges and understanding of consumer psychology and behaviors. So, when I was asked to do an end-of-summer blog — the time when fantasy football seasons are starting — I saw the opportunity to share some of the key marketing principles and lessons that I have applied to fantasy football over the years. Here are just a couple ways that thinking like a marketer can help you dominate your fantasy football league:

Avoid the Sunk-Cost Fallacy

In both marketing and fantasy football, the sunk-cost fallacy can lead to poor decisions. This phenomenon occurs when people continue investing in something just because they’ve already put resources into it. In fantasy football, this might mean holding onto a high draft pick who’s underperforming. But the smart move is recognizing when to let go. If you notice this fallacy playing out with one of your opponents, you can turn it to your advantage, like offering a trade that seems to add value to their struggling pick. It’s a strategy marketers commonly use to upsell customers who have already committed to a purchase, like when you order a pizza online and then get an offer at checkout to add dessert and drink for a few dollars more. It works at the point of sale, and it can work for your fantasy trades, too.

Leveraging Brand Bias

Brand bias is when consumers prefer one brand over another due to emotional or psychological connections. In fantasy football, this translates to managers who have a clear preference for certain types of players. By understanding these biases, you can predict their draft choices or use their favorite types of players as leverage in trades, much like how a marketer would use brand loyalty metrics or buyer personas to help predict consumer behavior. This is helpful when you know that other league members like to draft high-upside guys, like speedy wide receivers or value the point advantages of taking elite tight ends early. These are markers for brand bias that you can use to snag the players you want ahead of league mates during fantasy drafts.

Researching the Competition

Which brings us to researching your competition. Just as marketers analyze competitors to gain an edge, fantasy football managers must research their opponents. Understanding your league mates’ tendencies allows you to anticipate their moves and adjust your strategy. In marketing, finding gaps in the competition’s offerings can lead to new opportunities — just as spotting weaknesses in your opponents’ strategies can give you an advantage in your fantasy league.

Using KPIs to Make Decisions

In marketing, we rely on key performance indicators (KPIs) to guide our strategies. The same logic applies in fantasy football. Your league’s scoring rules should help you make informed decisions. For instance, if one quarterback is on a hot streak but facing a tough defense, while another has been cold but is up against a weak opponent, you need to analyze the data to decide who to start to give you the best chance to score. This mirrors how marketers use data to forecast outcomes and make strategic decisions with media spends and direct marketing tactics.

These are just a few basic marketing lessons that can help you gain a competitive advantage in your fantasy league. But just like in marketing, the more you pay attention to the trends and watch the way markets move, the more likely you are to have success in fantasy football. Start putting these principles to use this year and before you know it, you won’t just be playing fantasy football — you’ll be mastering it.

Good luck to all my fellow fantasy footballers out there.

After 18 years, the unemployment scales have finally tipped, and we’re seeing more available jobs than unemployed individuals. According to the Wall Street Journal’s Eric Morath, “U.S. job openings rose to 6.7 million at the end of April [2018], compared with the 6.3 million Americans who were unemployed.” It’s the first time this has happened since the U.S. Department of Labor began keeping records of such statistics in 2000.

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When I tell people I’m in recruitment marketing, they ask, “So you recruit doctors?” Or they nod knowingly, assuming I’m in traditional marketing. The words “recruitment” and “marketing” together have that effect. People find the concept challenging.

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