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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’ve all been there. We find human resources job seekers who check all of the boxes and who prove to be the best candidate for the role we’re looking to fill. They have the right skills and work experience. Great attitude and energy. They fit-in. And then we lose him/her to another organization. When this happens, do you ask yourself what went wrong? Was it:
- Your office culture or the hiring manager?
- An unrealistic compensation range or a failure to identify your business need?
- Did the interview process not move quickly enough or did you neglect to follow-up to ensure they understand what the process looks like?
Any of these missteps can lead to losing the best human resources candidates.
Plus, if you work for mid-size and smaller organizations, you also have to compete for landing the best talent with large corporations like Amazon and Google who have large recruiting teams on a constant look-out for that same talent.
We get it. Over the years we have seen organizations fail to land the best human resources candidates many times. It’s a lot to manage and there’s no silver bullet. However, we’ve learned how to prevent your frustration and implement steps to land the best human resources hires.
To help you land the best human resources candidates, we put together key actions you can take to succeed.
We’ll review . . .
- How do we define Top Talent? And what are they looking for in a new job?
The qualities, personality traits and desires of the top talent- What they look for in a career
- The importance of corporate culture
- How they will support your organization
- Challenges most recruiters face
Typical challenges/reasons why organizations struggle to attract top talent - Steps to overcome the challenges
The steps it takes to land Top Human Resources Talent:- How to identify the “best” job seeker
- How to make your organization attractive to the “best” job seeker
- How to go above and beyond to make the “best” job seeker believe they can’t not take the job
- Trends that impress the “best” job seeker
What Does Top Human Resources Talent Look For?
Seeking to understand human resources job seekers’ motivations for exploring new opportunities helps you identify the top talent. With human resources professionals, you want to remember that they are looking for new opportunities that:
- Offer a strategic role. Human resources has shifted beyond payroll and benefits, the best candidates want to play a strategic role at the leadership-level of the organizations they work for.
- Have defined opportunities for growth. They want to know there is a path for growth in these roles, where these paths are going and what that looks like.
- Provide flexibility on the job. This may include the option to work from home or flex-time.
You also want to remember that the top human resources candidates are also those who have proven track records and promotions within an organization.
Challenges to Landing the Top Human Resources Talent
The challenges to landing the top human resources talent vary, but they focus primarily on:
- Engaging candidates who tend to stay with their current jobs and so may be open to opportunities, but are generally more passive about the job search.
- Recognizing that those candidates who are actively searching for new opportunities tend to have multiple offers.
- Selling candidates on the benefits of a smaller company, when many want to go to larger organizations.
Overcoming the Challenges to Landing the Top Best Human Resources Talent
While the challenges may feel like a lot to take on, there are ways to overcome them.
Highlight the Exposure at Smaller Organizations
The top human resources candidates may want to go to larger organizations, but you can show them the exposure they’ll receive to the range of different opportunities at smaller ones where there is a greater need for their skills.
Offer Candidates Insight Into the Market
You are available to offer them guidance on whether opportunities are good or bad, and when an organization is not an ideal fit. You can play this role even when it’s not a placement you’re working on. You’re there to help.
Show the Opportunities for Growth
Do your homework, human resources professionals want to know that if they look at new opportunities there is a path for career growth, that what they need to accomplish along that path is defined.
Know the Full Package
The top human resources candidates care about flexibility on the job, working from home, as well as time-off and other benefits, this is important to them, and key for you to be able to define what’s available.
For more guidance, you may be interested in the following. . .
Final Thoughts
When it comes to landing the top human resources talent, we see where recruiters don’t always come clean with them about when they’re no longer in the running for a position.
But this is where you can focus on ensuring they know that you are there to be their guide and that you will be transparent and provide them with accurate information.
You can focus on engaging passive candidates by showing them what the market looks like and the benefits that are available to them.
You can also show them where the opportunities for growth lie and the path for getting there.
And when they tell you that they prefer to work for a big organization, you can illustrate for them how smaller organizations offer them more opportunities to build their skills.
Hirewell is Your Partner to Help You Make The Best Hires for Your Organization
We’re here to provide you with the guidance you need to land the top human resources talent.
Want guides to other specialties? View our guides to landing the top Technology, Marketing and Sales hires, too.
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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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