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In this episode of The Hirewell Update, Ryan Ross sits down with Charlie Saffro, founder and CEO of CS Recruiting, ...
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We hear it all the time: Looks aren’t everything. But personality? That’s a different story. A candidate’s personality will make or break things. However, it isn’t quite that easy.
Personality fit depends on organizational culture. And you can’t seek to understand how a job seeker will fit in with the team without first knowing what kind of personalities play well within the company.
The following five qualities are fairly universal among the personality traits that every company says they want in a job seeker and hire.
1. Transparency
A job seeker can’t expect to achieve long-term success by lying their way through the interview process. The job seeker has to be honest about their strengths, weaknesses and personal narrative. Transparency is key—and a good recruiter can spot a slippery candidate. If someone isn’t transparent in the interview process, odds are that will only get worse once you’ve hired them.
2. Self-awareness
The job seeker needs to be self-aware. You need to ask questions that probe how self-aware they really are and assess their responses. For example, what do they say are their areas for improvement? Further, throughout the interview process, gauge whether the job seeker has a negative outlook on their job search or their previous company(s), if they display arrogance or humility, and their level of professionalism. Try to identify whether they’re assertive and inspired (great), or overzealous and aggressive (not so great).
3. Motivations
Multiple questions can get to the root of what drives a job seeker. What gets them out of bed in the morning? What do they feel most passionate about? What are they most proud of? You can also ask about job history, including why they made different moves and the criteria the job seeker focused on to make those decisions. Their answers should illuminate whether they’re title and/or money-driven. If they’re not able to articulate a clear and concise reasoning for their motivations and moves, this may reflect that they’re trying to hide something, they don’t really know what they are looking for or they aren’t really serious about making a move. This is also about doing your job as a recruiter, however. You need to understand how you will determine what motivates a candidate outside of merely asking them “what motivates you?” Otherwise, you risk getting a lot of stock answers. It also helps to determine motivations during your first conversation with the candidate, because they will have more clarity about the available opportunities when they can see how their motivations align with them.
4. Kindness
A core trait of all good co-workers (and good people) is kindness. Nobody enjoys working with jerks and so when we have to work with people who are rude, bring negative attitudes to the office or publicly undermine you in meetings, even showing-up for work can feel unbearable. Push to hire people who understand that their actions have an impact on others and strive to be a great colleague.
5. Communication
Companies want to hire people who communicate well and this takes many forms. Were they able to write a cogent cover letter? Can the job seeker tell their story in an articulate manner? Do they ask good questions? Are they responsive to communications pertaining to the job search itself, following-up when they’re expected to and doing so in a professional tone and manner? Can they write a personalized note that recaps details from the interview and how/why they are interested in the opportunity? Strong, proactive communicators are essential to success in all organizations. Sniffing out those that are not early, will avoid a lot of headaches down the line.
In the end, it’s your job to educate the job seeker at all phases of the hiring process and set them up for success.
Final Thoughts
Your job is to understand the personality of the company you’re hiring for. Start there, and then find the candidates whose personality and skills are the right fit.
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Plenty has been written about AI over the past two years. For much of that time, AI has been more hype than reality. I THINK 2026 is when that starts to change.
Here’s the first in a three part series of where we see AI going in the recruiting world.
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For the last few years, most companies treated AI like a recruiting assistant. It helped draft job descriptions, summarize resumes, and speed up outreach. Useful, sure. But it didn’t fundamentally change how hiring worked. And oftentimes, things needed to be double checked before hitting send.
I think that’s going to change.
In 2026, we’re seeing the rise of agentic HR. These are systems that don’t just support recruiters. They can execute work autonomously inside defined guardrails.
That shift is forcing talent leaders to rethink what recruiting teams are actually responsible for and what still requires a human.
From Copilot AI to Agentic Recruiting Systems
Traditional recruiting AI waited for humans to click “next.”
Agentic systems don’t.
They can interpret real-time funnel data, align to hiring goals, and take multi-step action. That includes adjusting sourcing spend, coordinating interview schedules, and triggering workflow changes without manual oversight.
This isn’t automation layered onto old processes. It’s the early version of a self-driving recruiting function.
The Metric That Matters More Than Time-to-Fill
Time-to-fill and cost-per-hire still matter. They just don’t fully capture what’s changing.
A concept showing up more in 2026 is Return on Autonomy. It measures the value created when humans and autonomous systems are paired intentionally.
In plain terms, the question is simple.
Are we using technology to eliminate busywork, or are we just doing the same work faster?
Because speed doesn’t help if it leads to worse decisions, a weaker candidate experience, or more noise in the funnel.
Why This Changes the Role of TA Leadership
As agentic systems absorb transactional work like screening, scheduling, and coordination, the role of recruiting leadership shifts.
The best TA leaders are spending less time managing process and more time doing what actually drives hiring outcomes. That includes aligning hiring to business priorities, building trust with candidates, and improving decision quality.
The real opportunity of 2026 isn’t more AI. It’s that recruiters finally get to focus on the work that requires being human.
The Mistake Companies Are Making Right Now
Here’s the trap.
Companies adopt advanced recruiting technology but keep the same habits. Long approval chains. Inconsistent communication. Unclear evaluation criteria.
When that happens, speed increases, but trust collapses.
Candidates don’t experience innovation. They experience silence, confusion, and a process that feels even more impersonal than before.
In 2026, the human experience of hiring is becoming a differentiator again because so many companies are getting it wrong.
What Talent Leaders Should Be Thinking About Now
You don’t need a total rebuild tomorrow. But you do need clarity.
The companies winning in 2026 are asking the right questions.
What parts of our hiring process truly require human judgment?
Where are we slowing things down out of habit?
Are recruiters trained for strategic work, or just process management?
Do our systems increase transparency, or just efficiency?
These aren’t technology questions. They’re leadership questions.
What’s Next
Agentic HR is changing how recruiting works. It’s also creating a new challenge.
As employers deploy autonomous systems, candidates are doing the same. The result is an emerging AI-on-AI hiring arms race that’s flooding pipelines with highly optimized but low-trust applications.
Next in this series: The AI-on-AI Hiring Arms Race and How to Protect Hiring Quality Without Breaking Trust
A lot of companies are going to try to AI their way into faster hiring this year and still end up with worse results. If you want to build a recruiting model that actually works in 2026, one that balances speed, quality, and credibility, we can help. Reach out if you want a second set of eyes on your hiring approach.
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