What does it mean to truly workforce plan?

Jonathan F. Kestenbaum, managing director of AMS, a Korn Ferry company, joins the High Volume Hiring Podcast to talk with cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site about why yesterday's organization design is resulting in today's poor returns on their investments into AI. Adding AI beside or on top of tools that may be great but which don't share data well is inevitably going to lead to problems, as will other problems like the decisions about what tech to buy or how to use it being made by the wrong people or departments. And should departments like IT and HR that have long existed within our organizations even continue to exist as they have been, or are they about to merge or morph into something quite different?

Today's High Volume Hiring Podcast marks a bit of a turning point, and cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site hope that you like the change. Instead of snackable episodes of about 15-minutes every other week, we're moving to in-depth of about 30-minutes on the second Thursday of each month. Subscribe! Dave Vu is the co-founder and COO of Ribbon.ai, an AI-powered, video interviewing tool that serves mostly large employers globally. His strong background in leading talent acquisition teams shines through. He's building to help, not replace, recruiters. He's building to improve retention, not just put butts into seats. Dave believes that candidates should be put at ease when interviewed. They should be asked structured questions, but also be able to add information not asked and ask their own questions. And they should be able to do that in a place and at a time that works for them, not just the employer.

Regular listeners and viewers of the High Volume Hiring Podcast will know that cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site regularly cover how AI is impacting recruiting. Today's episode does, but in quite a different way. Our guest, Ryan Reisner, is the founder of SeekerPitch and The Reisner Group, and describes himself as a recruiter by day and dad by night. Whether his clients are using Sophia or other TA tech from SeekerPitch or recruitment services from Reisner Group, they're consistently seeing some of the same issues, and we're here to discuss those today. We touch on fake applications, including 40 different candidates applying to the same job but with the same home address (see https://seekerpitch.com/insights/forty-resumes-one-address ), but focus on how soft skills are now far more important, both for the candidate and the hiring manager.

Today's guest on the High Volume Hiring Podcast is Antony Baker, CEO and founder of 15 Group, a UK-based technology and recruiting company. Antony is a former professional athlete and big believer in structure, despite learning only a couple of years ago that he has ADHD. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site talk with Antony about some of his successes, failures, and how those both informed the process his team follows when helping employers who are hiring at scale. Part of that is the requirement that all stakeholders, even the client's leadership, need to pass a four-part test. How does the name 15 relate to the test? Antony shares that fun fact with our audience.

Are the technology tools that we're using to manage our high-volume hiring efforts causing the very problems that we're trying to solve? Today on the High Volume Hiring Podcast we're joined by Matt Charney, executive editor Mediabistro, principal analyst for Kyle & Co., and writer of some of the most thoughtful and yet also entertaining articles about the talent acquisition technology industry. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site talk with Matt about when the use of these tools make sense, when they don't, and why the vendor pricing models have changed so radically from flat- to variable-based.

Today's guest on the High Volume Hiring Podcast is John Baldino, President at Humareso, a leading HR strategy and outsourced administrator for businesses of all types.  He's also the cohost of the But First, Coffee, a live, weekly, podcast. John and cohost Jackye Clayton bring candid, insightful conversations about the world of work, leadership, and all things people. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site talk with John about how much more difficult it has become for organizations of any size to plan almost anything, including their future staffing needs...and some solutions that may surprise you.

It's fair to say that there's a lot wrong with recruitment in 2026, for candidates, employers, and others. But it's not all bad. In fact, some of what is working has only started to work well this year. Today's guest is David Noe, human resources and brand advocacy manager for Payroll Partners, Inc and host of the SpeakEasy HR podcast. David brings to the discussion a wealth of knowledge from the world of recruiting by small- and medium-sized businesses, some of which are rapidly scaling up by hiring dozens or even hundreds over a few months. And he also brings the perspective from the other side of the table: the candidates who are impacted by the recruiting practices of employers of all sizes. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site share some of their experiences, as well as lot of envy for the fine collection of bourbon bottles within easy reach of David should a little celebrating be warranted.

Today's guest on the High Volume Hiring Podcast says that he loves reference checks, which might sound odd until you understand that he's sat on just about every side of the desk during his 20 years in the HR tech space. James Lord is the Head of Americas for Refapp, which develops intuitive digital tools that help recruiters and hiring teams make accurate, secure, and seamless hiring decisions. Refapp modernizes the reference checking process by giving references the flexibility to respond when it suits them, in a way that’s easy, professional, and safe. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site talk with James about the difference between background and reference checks, when reference checks should happen in the hiring process, best practices for what questions to ask, and how to get actionable information back within 24-hours.

Months ago, we saw a post on LinkedIn from recruiting extraordinaire Amy Miller then of Amazon and now of Portal Space Systems. In the post, Amy asked why we can track a pizza delivery from Domino's but ATS don't allow candidates to track where they're at in the hiring process. Today's guest on the High Volume Hiring Podcast, Chris Connors of candidate.fyi, commented that their product does exactly that. Our cohosts, Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site, talk with Chris about the benefits to the candidates and employers of adding a candidate portal on top of the existing ATS. Yes, candidates can use them to track their progress, but also schedule interviews, watch employment branding videos, submit documents, and more. In 1897, Francis Church wrote, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause", in an editorial in the New York newspaper, The Sun. Turns out, in 2026, yes Virginia, we can both improve the efficiency of how we hire while also making that hiring experience far better for candidates.

Employers hiring at scale often employ a lot of people who are paid hourly and whose wages are too low for them to afford health insurance. Those workers tend to be less loyal, less engaged, and more likely to quit as soon as they can find a job with health insurance. Our cohosts, Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site, interview Michael Gomez of MGI International on today's episode of the High Volume Hiring Podcast. His previous role was VP HR at Tasty Restaurant Group, a franchisee of Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut with 7,000 employees in 23 U.S. states. At Tasty, Michael contracted with WorXsiteHR, creator of Healthworx, a no-cost medical plan managed by a non-profit, to allow lower income, part-time, and seasonal workers access to useable and affordable healthcare. Michael loves how the plan is ERISA and Section 125 compliant, no-cost to both employee and employer, and generates substantial employer FICA tax savings.