Recruiting EQ

Recent Episodes

1. Recruiting EQ E107: When AI Reaches Its Limits with Samuel Morhaim

   Aug 31, 2026

   Samuel Morhaim, founder and fractional CTO, discusses the limitations of AI in recruiting, screening, and healthcare compliance. He shares how his firm discovered candidates were using AI to cheat automated engineering tests, forcing a pivot toward assessing 'taste'—the ability to make contextual decisions and direct AI effectively. The conversation explores how AI commoditizes technical skills, elevating the value of soft skills like resourcefulness, creativity, and the ability to learn in the workplace.

2. Recruiting EQ E106: The Risks of Relying on AI with Natasha Lopoukhine

   Aug 24, 2026

   Natasha Lopoukhine, founder of Savvy Marketing Communications, discusses the risks and opportunities of relying on AI as a business tool. She explores how AI can be a force multiplier for small business owners while warning against over-reliance that leads to deskilling oneself in critical areas like strategic thinking and human connection. The conversation emphasizes the importance of maintaining humanity, emotional intelligence, and strategic clarity in an increasingly AI-driven business landscape, particularly within recruiting and B2B marketing.

3. Recruiting EQ E105: Recruiting in Today's AI Landscape with Callum Stainer

   Aug 17, 2026

   Callum Stainer, Managing Consultant at Eames Recruitment, discusses recruiting in the AI landscape, specifically for AI-native startups and data platform companies like Databricks and Snowflake, as well as their service partner ecosystem. He shares insights on the volatility of AI startups, candidate wariness after multiple failures, and strategies like PE relationship-building to identify stable opportunities. The conversation also explores how AI tools are changing recruitment workflows and the growing value of human creativity, critical thinking, and fundamentals in an increasingly automated industry.

4. Recruiting EQ E104: What Great Leadership Looks Like with Kenneth Greenberg

   Aug 10, 2026

   Kenneth Greenberg, Senior Managing Director at Octus Search Partners, discusses his new book "Leadership: A Short Manual to Success" and shares insights on what great leadership looks like in the lower middle market. The conversation explores how private equity portfolio companies recruit and develop C-suite executives, emphasizing that leadership is a critical lever of value creation. Greenberg and host Rick Coluccio delve into foundational questions about corporate purpose—arguing that delivering value to customers and clients should be the primary goal, with profitability as an outcome rather than the primary objective.

5. Recruiting EQ E103: Wired Different-Neurodivergent Hiring in the Age of AI

   Jul 27, 2026

   Russell Van Brocklin, a New York State-funded dyslexia researcher and educator, discusses how neurodivergent individuals—particularly those with dyslexia—possess distinct cognitive strengths that can be amplified through AI tools like Claude. The conversation explores dyslexia not as a deficit but as a difference in brain wiring that excels at specialized, narrowly-focused work, and demonstrates how proper use of AI (via high-thinking models and agentic workflows) can unlock productivity for both dyslexic knowledge workers and organizations hiring neurodivergent talent. Van Brocklin shares practical recruiting and problem-statement methodologies applicable across industries.

6. Recruiting EQ E102: EQ Hiring - The Person, Not The Resume with Kati Peterman

   Jul 20, 2026

   Kati Peterman, founder and CEO of FRX (Fractional Executive), discusses her mission to provide startups access to top-level executives and operational talent on a flexible, fractional basis. The conversation explores emotional intelligence in hiring, the importance of identifying whether founders are visionaries or operators, and the shift in entrepreneurial culture post-COVID. Peterman emphasizes hiring for human traits—resilience, learning ability, and integrity—over credentials alone, and advocates for a balanced approach to AI adoption that augments rather than replaces human expertise.

7. Recruiting EQ E101: EdTech and the Future of Education with HireEducation

   Jul 13, 2026

   Jess Weems, President and CEO of HireEducation, discusses the evolving edtech landscape with co-guest Emmett Cullen. The episode explores how edtech extends far beyond student-facing software to encompass K-12, higher education, and workforce development solutions. Key themes include the post-COVID shifts in education funding priorities, the decline of corporate L&D, the rise of experiential learning, and the workforce talent gaps facing both schools and corporations. Weems shares her unconventional career path from classroom teacher to marketer to recruiting agency owner, highlighting how mission-driven culture shapes the edtech sector.

8. Recruiting EQ E100: Featuring Alexis Alvarez, founder of Career Rockstars

   Jul 3, 2026

   Alexis Alvarez, founder and CEO of Career Rockstars, discusses her journey from HBO Europe to founding an executive search firm focused on diversity in private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital. She emphasizes the importance of broadening candidate pools beyond traditional playbook hiring, the critical role of emotional intelligence and relationship-building in the investment space, and how AI will shift hiring priorities toward uniquely human skills. Alvarez also shares her philosophy on embracing discomfort, personal branding, and leveraging unconventional approaches to stand out in traditionally conservative industries.

9. Recruiting EQ E99: Have You Considered a Franchise? with Rich Potter

   Jun 29, 2026

   Rich Potter, a franchise consultant and business owner based in Phoenix, Arizona, discusses his career trajectory from electronics sales to entrepreneurship and his current work helping people start businesses through franchising. The conversation covers the changing job market, AI's impact on employment, and the growing opportunities in franchise ownership across diverse industries including home services, senior care, recruiting, and wellness. Potter explains how franchise brokerages work, highlights some of the hottest franchise sectors, and explores franchising as a viable alternative to traditional employment for people at various career stages.

10. Recruiting EQ E98: Keeping Focus on Humans in an Efficiency-Driven Economy

    Jun 22, 2026

    John Pezoulas, co-founder of Ready Set Exec, a boutique executive search firm based in Ottawa, discusses the tension between automation and human-centered recruiting in an efficiency-driven economy. With 20 years in recruiting across staffing, enterprise search, and executive placement, John shares his perspective on AI's role in sourcing, the current economic climate's impact on hiring, and his bootstrapped firm's content-marketing strategy—including monthly events, a weekly podcast, and LinkedIn presence—to differentiate in a competitive market.