By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP - CGC An internal talent acquisition team with 100,000 CVs in its applicant tracking system ought to have a head start when a senior vacancy opens. At least, that is what the hiring manager reasonably assumes. The difficulty is that the system may tell the team far more about previous recruitment processes than about the people it now needs to find. The understandable response from a chief executive, CFO or HR director is often: “Surely we

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP There is a persistent idea in recruitment that the best candidates are not looking for a job. Passive candidates are often portrayed as more desirable because they are already employed, more successful because another organisation values them, more loyal because they are not actively searching and somehow lower risk because they are already doing a similar job somewhere else. Active candidates can find themselves viewed rather differently,

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP If Everyone Has LinkedIn, Why Do Companies Still Pay Search Fees? LinkedIn has made executives easier to find, and AI is making them easier still. Almost anyone can now identify the CFO of a competitor, map the leadership team of a bank in Singapore, find technology executives in New York or build a list of potential CEOs in London. Information that once required considerable research is increasingly available to anyone with the right tool

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP When hiring goes wrong, Talent Acquisition is often where the problem becomes visible. That doesn't necessarily mean it is where the problem started. I have spent nearly three decades working across recruitment and Talent Acquisition, including executive search, agency recruitment, RPO and senior internal TA leadership roles across different countries, industries and organisations. I have seen recruitment functions that were excellent, som

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP HR can facilitate it. Finance can model it. Talent Acquisition can provide market intelligence. But if the business owns the strategy, it must also own the workforce required to deliver it. Ask who owns workforce planning inside a large organisation and you are likely to receive several different answers. HR will almost certainly be mentioned, as will Finance and business operations. Depending on the organisation, the COO, Strategy, Talent

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP Talent pipelining is one of those ideas that sounds almost impossible to challenge. Identify strong candidates before vacancies arise, build relationships over time and create a ready pool of talent that can be approached when the business needs to hire. Conceptually, it makes perfect sense. In practice, however, most organisations are not structured, resourced or incentivised to deliver it properly. That distinction matters, because poorl

By Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP - CGC How AI Is Changing the Recruiter's Role If you've spent any time reading recruitment, HR, or consulting publications recently, you'll have noticed that artificial intelligence is apparently transforming recruitment. According to reports from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), LinkedIn, SHRM and countless technology vendors, AI is freeing recruiters from administrative tasks, helping them become strategic advisors, improving hiring decisi

by Christopher ED Graham FCIPD, ACTP The leadership industry has, over the past decade, drifted into a narrative that sits increasingly at odds with the reality of how senior leadership operates in high-performance environments. Organisations have been encouraged to prioritise empathy, vulnerability, and psychological safety as defining characteristics of effective leadership, and in many cases, even the most commercially disciplined businesses have begun to internalise th

By Christopher E.D. Graham FCIPD — C. Graham Consulting - CGC Artificial intelligence has moved from experimental HR technology to a central component in recruitment. Automated sourcing systems, résumé screening tools, large language model assessors, and AI-driven ranking engines are now standard features in many talent acquisition functions. The promise is consistent: speed, efficiency, fairness, and the removal of human bias. But this narrative is incomplete. In reality, AI

CGC Here’s Why Top Talent Is Quietly Walking Away Imagine this: a highly qualified candidate applies for a role at your company. They’re...

AI is revolutionizing recruitment, but it won't replace executive recruiters. Here’s why: 1. Human Connection and Empathy: Recruitment is...

Human Resources (HR) plays a crucial role in any organization, handling between 6 to 12 functions depending on the company. Among these...

About 70% of companies have transitioned to predominantly virtual recruitment and onboarding processes, with 10% fully embracing the...