SIA Report: The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026

Linkup published their august 2026 jobs report; Key Takeaways Job openings stayed flat: Active job listings rose 0.1% in August 2026, to 4.96 million from 4.95 million in July. This suggests that underlying labor demand in the U.S. remained steady, alongside seasonal recruitment adjustments. Broad-based industry gains: Industries that saw an increase in job postings include Wholesale Trade (2.7k), Construction (1.6k), and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (1.2k). However, Retail Trade saw the largest decrease (-4.8k). Major occupation drops: Office and Administrative Support occupations experienced the largest drop (-9.4k) followed by Installation, Maintenance, and Repair (-7.0k), and Production (-6.1k).  https://hrtechfeed.com/august-2026-jobs-recap/ UKG has introduced several new AI-driven capabilities aimed at supporting frontline workforces, accelerating bulk recruitment, and preventing costly payroll discrepancies. Key among these updates is UKG Bryte Voice, a voice-enabled assistant integrated with UKG Pro that allows deskless staff—such as retail and healthcare workers—to execute routine tasks (like checking schedules, reviewing timecards, or updating direct deposit information) hands-free via Siri or Google Assistant.  For talent acquisition, the platform now provides AI-assisted high-volume hiring tools, including candidate job recommendations, profile summaries, and a "Bulk Apply" workflow capable of processing up to 100 applicants simultaneously. Finally, UKG rolled out Agentic Pay, which allows administrators to examine historical pay data and resolve discrepancies before processing payroll through natural language queries to eliminate costly errors.  https://hrtechfeed.com/ukg-launches-voice-enabled-ai-and-agentic-pay-tools-to-support-frontline-workers/ TORONTO — 7shifts, the restaurant HR platform, today announced the launch of Employee Training, a restaurant-specific training solution built directly into 7shifts. The new offering gives restaurants a simpler way to train their teams without adding another standalone tool. The launch expands 7shifts’ role across the restaurant employee lifecycle, bringing hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, pay, and retention together in one platform. Formerly known for scheduling and payroll, 7shifts has now fully evolved into a comprehensive HR platform. “Operators are done paying for separate software to hire, onboard, train, schedule, and pay their staff, they want one system for the entire HR employee lifecycle, not a patchwork of tools that don’t talk to each other,” said Jordan Boesch, chief executive officer at 7shifts. “When it’s all in one place, teams get strong faster and managers get time back to actually develop their people.” https://hrtechfeed.com/restaurant-hr-platform-adds-employee-training-feature/ In HR tech partnership news Match2, the platform powering the Universal Candidate Profile™, today announced that its Connected Talent Solutions™ is now available on SAP® Store, the online marketplace for SAP and partner offerings.  PageUp, a global leader in talent acquisition software, and Sapia.ai, the pioneer in conversational AI for talent evaluation, today announced an enhanced strategic partnership. Building on their established relationship, the deepened integration links Sapia.ai’s autonomous, skills-based interviewing with PageUp’s newly advanced AI functionality.   Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, and ADP, a global leader in HR and payroll solutions, today announced an expanded, strategic partnership. The partnership affirms AWS as ADP’s strategic cloud provider, enabling its continued AI transformation and ongoing innovation of generative and agentic AI solutions for its more than 1.1 million clients across 140 countries and territories.  https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-partnerships-in-the-news/ And finally the CEO of Hackajob Mark Chaffey share d on Linkedin today that the company will now be known as its core product name, Archer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining me today is John Nurthen, Executive Director of Global Research at Staffing Industry Analysts. John has spent more than three decades in the staffing industry—and he has just authored a global research report titled The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026. In it, John maps out how digital worker agents——are moving from the fringes directly into the recruiting lifecycle. We’ll be breaking down why the future isn't about fully replacing human recruiters, the hidden risks of 'AI sprawl' and compliance liabilities, and how leaders must learn to manage a mixed workforce of employees, contractors, and algorithms.  https://www.staffingindustry.com/who-we-are/john-nurthen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weeks episode sponsored by Dalia.co * Hibob gets infusion of cash, Recruiter.com acquires Feenyx, Staffmark's report on AI in recruiting, new features from ICIMS and Vervoe. READ ON https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Chris Russell explores how job seekers are taking transparency into their own hands with new consumer tools like DidTheyGhostYou.com and JobScamScore.com. We break down how public ghosting leaderboards and AI scam-detection tools actually work, why they are becoming an early-warning radar for your employer brand, and the practical steps recruiters can take to protect candidate trust and optimize their ATS workflows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First up: If you’ve logged into your recruitment dashboard recently and noticed your LinkedIn ad campaigns look a little different, you aren't imagining it. LinkedIn officially retired its daily and 30-day "slot" campaigns and migrated everyone over to a Pay-for-Performance—or P4P—model. Here’s what that actually means for your hiring budget: Instead of buying calendar airtime where you pay regardless of engagement, you now pick a fixed budget tier—either $299, $399, or $549. You only pay when a candidate clicks "Apply." Sounds great, right? But here’s the catch you need to know about: Your campaign ends as soon as the budget is spent, or after 30 days—whichever comes first. That means a high-demand role could burn through a $399 budget in twelve days, leaving your listing inactive for the rest of the month if you don't keep an eye on it. Plus, unused budget operates on a "use-it-or-lose-it" rule and won't roll over. Check your account settings this week to make sure your tier matches your hiring volume—and don't forget to verify your LinkedIn Company Page to keep your free organic listings flowing. Moving on to funding news: Background screening and workforce safety platform Yardstik has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Harbert Growth Partners, bringing their total capital raised to $65 million. Why is this important? Because traditional background checks have historically been built around a single "moment in time"—the day someone gets hired. But as Yardstik points out, workforce risk changes every single day. Yardstik is using this cash to double down on fraud prevention and continuous workforce monitoring. Instead of waiting for an annual review, their system alerts employers in real-time if a worker’s driver’s license lapses, insurance expires, or a regulatory exclusion occurs. With 98% account retention and clients like Gopuff and TaskRabbit, Yardstik is proving that ongoing fraud protection isn't just a premium add-on anymore—it's becoming the standard foundation for contingent and traditional workforces alike. In product news today, we have two major updates aimed at making talent acquisition smarter and faster. First, iHire released its new Hiring Market Insights dashboard. It lets recruiters compare candidate availability directly against job demand across specific metros and skills. If you’re struggling to hire a specific role, it tells you whether it's a candidate shortage or an overcrowded job market—helping you tweak job titles and expectations before launching a campaign. Meanwhile, assessment provider eSkill introduced Linea, an AI-powered intelligence layer built right into their platform using Anthropic's Claude models. Here’s why recruiters will love it: You can drop a job description into Linea, and in seconds, it drafts a custom skill assessment pulled from eSkill's library of 70,000 validated questions. Crucially, eSkill designed Linea with a "human-in-the-loop" approach—showing the AI's reasoning for every question so recruiters stay in full control of the final test. Finally, a brand new study from financial tech firms Branch and Stripe reveals a massive shift in how people work: Gig work is officially no longer just a "side hustle." According to their Gig Workforce Index—which surveyed over 1,000 flexible workers—56% of gig workers now rely on platform work for the majority of their household income. A few eye-opening stats from the report: The Competition is Wild: 60% of workers say they have to accept a posted gig in under two minutes before someone else snatches it up. The Multi-App Hustle: Nearly half balance three or more different apps simultaneously to keep income steady. Cash Flow is King: 78% experience weekly income fluctuations, and 72% spend their earnings within 24 hours just to cover gas, groceries, and bills. The takeaway for HR and platform leaders? Fast payouts and financial management tools are no longer perk add-ons—they are the primary driver of worker retention. https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Employers using Dalia can double their conversion of career site visitors into qualified applicants and hires. Double the hires from traffic you already have. That's how you start cutting your dependence on Indeed. Learn more at dalia.co. That's D-A-L-I-A dot C-O. SAN FRANCISCO — Lattice, the best-in-class people platform where people and AI succeed together, today announced the acquisition of Pando, the just-in-time performance platform, and the appointment of Pando founder and CEO Barbra Gago as Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer.  https://hrtechfeed.com/lattice-acquires-a-performance-platform/ CEO Hayden Brown detailed a structural transformation across the platform. While automated tools and AI solutions are reducing client demand for basic, entry-level freelance tasks, demand for specialized talent and complex projects is surging: https://hrtechfeed.com/upwork-pivots-to-high-value-work-as-ai-automation-weighs-on-volume-and-guidance/ Major announcements from two HR tech firms…hireEZ and Hirevue highlight two complementary trends driving the AI evolutionhe rise of agentic AI workflows that co-pilot talent acquisition, and a shift toward validated, science-backed skills evaluation.  https://hrtechfeed.com/beyond-the-resume-how-2-hr-tech-firms-are-rebuilding-enterprise-recruitment-around-ai-agents-and-skills/ SAN FRANCISCO — Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ: UPWK) reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results, beating quarterly profit expectations through disciplined cost management but trimming its full-year outlook as artificial intelligence continues to automate lower-complexity tasks on the freelance platform.Key Q2 2026 Financial Highlights Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stef Bloom is now the Chief People Officer at Spear Physical & Occupational Therapy, where she leads the company's people strategy across talent, culture, leadership development, and organizational growth. She brings nearly 20 years of experience building and scaling People functions at high-growth brands, including Framebridge, Casper, and Warby Parker. We talked about their HR tech stack, building culture and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is sponsored by Dalia— Who's ready for a cold hard fact? Indeed's pricing model -- and all programmatic job advertising -- is based on driving volume. Not outcomes. Job boards are incentivized to send you more volume.  Meanwhile, TA teams know their career site is already their best source of quality applicants who get hired. Dalia fixes that. Millions of job seekers use Dalia every month to seamlessly connect to employer career sites and apply to jobs using their universal candidate profile. It integrates directly into your ATS, and it works instantly on any career site.  Employers using Dalia can double their conversion of career site visitors into qualified applicants and hires. Double the hires from traffic you already have. That's how you start cutting your dependence on Indeed. Learn more at dalia.co. That's D-A-L-I-A dot C-O. Alright rec techies…..here’s what's happening this week. Toby Dayton, the longtime CEO of job market data firm LinkUp and Managing Director at parent company GlobalData, announced on Monday that he will step down at the end of September after a 25-year tenure at the helm. His monthly column on the job market was a must read. https://hrtechfeed.com/linkup-ceo-toby-dayton-to-step-down-after-25-years/ WILMINGTON, Del. — Careerminds, a global workforce solutions and career technology provider, announced today that it has acquired Jobrapido, one of the world’s leading job search and job distribution platforms. https://hrtechfeed.com/careerminds-acquires-jobrapido/ CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Medality, a TrueLearn brand, announced the launch of the Medality Job Board at jobs.medality.com, a hiring platform built exclusively for radiology. The new job board helps radiologists, residents, and fellows discover vetted career opportunities from leading academic institutions, private practices, and health systems, while giving employers direct access to the highly engaged physicians who already make up Medality’s education community.  https://hrtechfeed.com/medality-launches-job-board-connecting-employers-with-radiology-talent/ Recruit Holdings released its Q1 FY2026 earnings results (covering April 1 to June 30, 2026), and the headline story is a massive performance boost driven primarily by its HR Technology segment—led by strong dynamics in the U.S. market. https://hrtechfeed.com/recruit-holdings-hr-tech-segment-soars-q1-results-and-big-guidance-upgrades/ SAN FRANCISCO—-Metaview, the Agentic Recruiting Platform trusted by more than 5,000 companies, today announced the acquisition of AI-native recruiting firm Reval. Founders Seth Tilliss and Aditya Gupta will join Metaview to accelerate development of fillmore, its autonomous AI coworker that owns recruiting top of funnel, from sourcing candidates to booking qualified screening calls.  https://hrtechfeed.com/metaview-acquires-reval-to-accelerate-the-shift-from-ai-assistants-to-ai-coworkers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I’ll be talking with Joe Meyer the founder and CEO ExecThread which just turned 10 years old… If you dont know ExecThread they are a curated marketplace of crowdsourced career opportunities for the C-Suite & Board level. Joe shared on Linkedin recently that they just surpassed 900,000 registered members so i Thought it would be a good time to catch up with him and the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Job search giant Indeed has officially paused the fully automated mode of its newly launched “Apply for Me” feature, following swift resistance from recruiters and employers concerned about paying for bot-generated job applications. https://hrtechfeed.com/indeed-hits-pause-on-apply-for-me-ai-feature-after-employer-pushback/ ZIP Recruiter Total Revenue: $118.1 million, a 5% increase year-over-year and $6 million above the midpoint of the company’s previous guidance. https://hrtechfeed.com/ziprecruiter-tops-q2-2026-expectations-as-ai-matching-drives-growth-and-debt-buyback-boosts-profits/ Clearanjob Revenue grew 14% year-over-year to $15.6 million. Dice Revenue dropped 14% year-over-year to $15.8 million. https://hrtechfeed.com/dhi-group-reports-mixed-q2-2026-results-defense-hiring-soars-as-tech-market-struggles-to-recover/ NEW YORK — Symphony Talent, a global leader in talent acquisition solutions, today announced the launch of AI Search Visibility Solutions, a new offering that gives talent acquisition (TA) and employer brand (EB) leaders a benchmarked, repeatable way to understand, influence, and continuously improve how their organization appears across leading AI search platforms  https://hrtechfeed.com/symphony-talent-launches-ai-search-visibility-solutions/ SAN FRANCISCO — Global HR and payroll platform Deel has announced the acquisition of Clarity, an AI cybersecurity company specializing in deepfake detection, identity verification, and fraud prevention. https://hrtechfeed.com/deel-crosses-1-5b-arr-announces-its-15th-acquisition/ SANTA MONICA, Calif. — ZipRecruiter, Inc. (NYSE: ZIP) reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results on Wednesday, delivering revenue that topped company expectations alongside a substantial boost to net income. Key Financial HighlightsColo. — DHI Group, Inc. (NYSE: DHX), the parent company behind online career marketplaces ClearanceJobs and Dice, reported its second-quarter 2026 financial results on Wednesday. The report highlights a stark contrast between two distinct segments of the employment landscape: a booming defense sector and a sluggish general technology hiring market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices