Sarah Smart - The Future of Talent Acquisition in the Age of AI

Sarah Smart, founder of Horizon Human Resources and a seasoned talent acquisition (TA) leader, joins us this episode to discuss the transformational impact of AI on talent acquisition. We explore how AI is reshaping TA roles, from coordinators to sourcers, and make the case for a fundamental shift in how organizations structure and skill their recruiting teams for the future. Sarah also provides critical advice for CHROs on adopting a skills-first strategy and integrating workforce planning directly into the TA organization to create a more predictive, data-driven, and effective hiring engine. [0:00] Introduction Welcome, Sarah! Today’s Topic: The Transformation of Talent Acquisition in the Age of AI [5:28] How is AI impacting Talent Acquisition today? AI has been a part of TA for over a decade, but its implementation requires more wisdom and due diligence now than ever before. The ROI for new technology should be based on strategic outcomes, like quality of hire or speed, not just headcount reduction. [20:32] How will TA structure and skills evolve over the next two years? Sourcing will become a more strategic function, using AI to combine talent marketing with deep candidate intelligence to nurture relationships over time. Workforce planning should be owned by Talent Acquisition to enable “predictive demand control” and align hiring strategy with business capacity and needs. [36:18] What is your advice for CHROs? Effective TA organizations are no longer built on “super recruiters”; they require investment in creating metrics-driven, data-literate, and technology-fluent teams. Organizations must adopt a “skills-first” approach, mapping current capabilities to future needs to inform buy vs. build talent strategies. [44:19] Closing Thanks for listening! Quick Quote “When you flip everything on its head and think skills first, it completely changes the structure of your organization.”