Dennis Smith

For candidates, it can help refine examples, rehearse answers, research employers, and prepare for salary conversations.

• But AI should not make candidates sound like everyone else; it should help others understand the real person, including their experience, thinking, strengths, and problem-solving.
• For recruiters, Smith points to rising volumes of AI-generated resumes, AI-assisted interviews, and application inflation, and asks whether AI will solve recruiting's biggest problems or amplify them.
• Recruiter judgment becomes more important, not less.

One post contrasts mailing a printed resume to a physical Dallas address for a first recruiting job at AT&T Wireless with today's online application volumes.

• Smith recommends using AI as a practice partner to conduct interviews and challenge answers, while insisting candidates bring their own voice when the conversation begins.
• In another post, Smith points to Recruiting Future Episode 800 with Matt Alder, "Will AI Break Recruiting?," and argues that AI is improving recruiter productivity but making it harder to tell what is real from what is well-packaged: "AI may change the work.
• It will not replace the judgment."

Smith holds both sides of the argument at once. A post cites an experimental study finding that AI skills raised interview invitation rates by roughly 8 to 15 percentage points across several occupations, while still calling AI a buzzword on a resume.

Read original · Original 2

A hiring process can be fast and well-run yet still feel indifferent.

• Candidates—especially those who are not hired—remember long silences, delays, and the sense that they stopped mattering once they were no longer under consideration.
• The practices Smith names are deliberately ordinary and may never appear on a recruiting dashboard.

After a recommendation from Griff Servati, Smith reflects on Will Guidara's book "Unreasonable Hospitality" and lists what the idea looks like in recruiting: remember what matters to candidates, prepare them for interviews, communicate when there is no update, deliver rejection with dignity, and check in after they join. Smith's closing line: unreasonable hospitality begins when ordinary care stops being treated as an unreasonable expectation.

Read original

They prioritize local institutions and the people who staff them, connecting the new job to earlier service on a school board and to the argument that local institutions are only as strong as the people willing to show up for them.

Smith joined Texoma Community Center as HR Manager.

• They describe the organization as providing mental health, substance use, IDD, crisis, veteran, and forensic services across Grayson, Fannin, and Cooke counties, serving people whether they can pay or not.
• The post names the roles this work depends on—counselors, case managers, nurses, peer specialists, support staff, and leaders—and invites behavioral-health workers and Texoma employers to connect.

Read original

The framing is "open jobs, cautious hiring," with the practical implication that friction sits in the hiring process rather than in a shortage of roles.

Smith summarizes a mix of signals—U.S. jobs added in May, but slower hiring cycles and longer unemployment duration—and cites a Reuters report that job openings rose sharply in April while hiring declined. They pair this with a study showing AI skills improved interview invitation odds by roughly 8 to 15 percentage points, then undercut the point with a joke that AI is still a buzzword on a resume.

Read original

Start here for their view of AI as preparation, not a substitute for a candidate’s voice.

Smith contrasts applying for a first corporate recruiting job at AT&T Wireless through a Dallas Morning News classified ad—printing a resume and mailing it to a physical address—with today’s high-volume online applications.

• They recommend using AI as a practice partner for interviews, salary discussions, and follow-up messages, but warn against letting it make candidates sound like everyone else.
• Their goal is to help others understand the real person: their experiences, thought process, strengths, learning style, and problem-solving.

For brands planning a campaign

A useful angle for a recruitment technology company: frame AI as an interview-prep and confidence tool, not a resume generator, and build content around authenticity, preparation, and trust in hiring.

Start here for the move from enterprise recruiting to community behavioral health.

Smith describes 29 years in recruiting across global teams, thousands of hires, RPO and vendor management, dashboards, and work across time zones.

• Their next job is 30 minutes from home: HR Manager at TEXOMA COMMUNITY CENTER, which provides mental health, substance use, IDD, crisis, veteran, and forensic services across Grayson, Fannin, and Cooke counties.
• They connect the work to prior service on the Van Alstyne ISD school board and say local institutions are only as strong as the people who show up for them.

For brands planning a campaign

Supports content about purpose-driven HR, local hiring, and retention in behavioral health and underserved sectors, as well as how recruiting skills transfer to community institutions.

Start here for their strongest statement on how to treat candidates, especially those who are rejected.

After a recommendation from Griff Servati, Smith reflects on Will Guidara’s “Unreasonable Hospitality” and the idea that service is what you do while hospitality is how you make people feel.

• They say many candidates leave the process drained, remembering long silences, delays, and feeling unimportant after they are no longer considered.
• The post lists the basics: remember what matters to the candidate, prepare them for the interview, communicate when there is no update, deliver rejection with dignity, and check in after they join.
• These actions may never appear on a recruiting dashboard.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for TA leaders building candidate-experience playbooks: rejection communication, interview preparation, status updates, and post-hire check-ins offer concrete content and resource topics.

Start here for the recruiter-side view of AI-generated applications and interviews.

Smith points to rising volumes of AI-generated resumes, AI-assisted interviews, and application inflation, then asks whether AI will solve recruiting’s biggest problems or amplify them.

• The post references Recruiting Future Episode 800 with Matt Alder, “Will AI Break Recruiting?”
• They say AI is improving recruiter productivity but also making it harder to know what is real and what is well-packaged.
• Their conclusion: recruiter judgment matters more, not less; AI may change the work but will not replace that judgment.

For brands planning a campaign

Supports thought leadership on AI screening, application inflation, interview integrity, and the recruiter’s evolving judgment role.

Start here for their data-driven summary of cautious hiring and AI as a hiring signal.

Smith summarizes mixed labor-market signals: U.S. jobs added in May, but hiring cycles slowed, unemployment duration lengthened, and worker confidence fell.

• They cite a Reuters report that job openings rose sharply in April while actual hiring declined, framing an “open jobs, cautious hiring” tension.
• They also cite an experimental study finding that AI skills increased interview invitation probabilities by roughly 8 to 15 percentage points across several occupations, while noting that AI remains a buzzword on a resume.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for data-backed content aimed at TA leaders: hiring caution, open roles versus actual hires, and the measurable signaling value of AI skills in candidate screening.

For job seekers, they recommend using AI to refine resumes, rehearse interview answers, research employers, and prepare for salary conversations—while warning candidates not to let AI make them sound like everyone else.

• From the recruiter side, they point to AI-generated resumes, AI-assisted interviews, and application inflation, arguing that recruiter judgment becomes more important, not less.
• They also cite an experimental finding that AI skills raised interview invitation rates by roughly 8 to 15 percentage points, while noting that AI skills remain a resume buzzword.

Smith grounds the argument in current labor-market reports and a podcast conversation, then tests it against recruiting experience.

Smith cites evidence that AI skills improve interview prospects, yet calls the skill label a resume buzzword.

For brands planning a campaign

A recruitment technology company can use Smith's balanced commentary to frame AI adoption around better human judgment and signal quality, not replacement. They can address candidate-side AI use and recruiter-side verification, giving product content practical context.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

They recommend ordinary acts of care: remember what matters to the candidate, prepare them for the interview, communicate when there is no update, deliver rejection with dignity, and check in after they join. A process can be efficient and still feel indifferent, and candidates will remember how they were treated, especially when they are not hired.

Smith applies a hospitality-industry framework to recruiting operations.

For brands planning a campaign

For talent acquisition leaders, Smith can support content about candidate-experience design, communication cadence, and rejection practices. A campaign could show how tools help teams keep human touchpoints consistent without adding administrative overhead.

Examples: Source 1

They recommend AI as a practice partner: ask it to interview you, challenge your responses, and help prepare for salary discussions.

• The goal, they insist, is not to become a polished, generic candidate.
• Trust comes from preparation, honesty, and authenticity.

For brands planning a campaign

For recruitment technology content aimed at candidates or career-services audiences, Smith can offer practical guidance on using AI to prepare for a job search without erasing personal voice. Content could pair tool-based practice with interview readiness and authentic self-presentation.

Examples: Source 1

They tie the move to prior school-board service and argue that local institutions are only as strong as the people who show up for them. The post identifies hiring needs across counselors, case managers, nurses, peer specialists, and support staff, and invites behavioral-health workers and Texoma employers to connect.

For brands planning a campaign

For employers in behavioral health, nonprofit, or community services, Smith can speak to recruiting people into mission-driven work and building local talent pipelines. A campaign could use the career-change narrative to reach HR and TA leaders considering purpose-driven roles or regional hiring.

Examples: Source 1

The post describes the organization’s services across Grayson, Fannin, and Cooke counties and invites behavioral-health and HR contacts in the Texoma area to get in touch.

View example

The post does not confirm whether they worked there.

View example

The post does not say whether Smith appeared on the episode; ask them to clarify if that matters for a campaign.

View example

Mostyn's posts explain realistic job-search timelines and the confidence damage caused by long silences, the same emotional and process territory Smith covers when describing candidates drained by delays and rejection.

Mostyn's examples center on search-length benchmarks and private-client coaching, with a direct invitation to book time; Smith ranges wider across AI, recruiter judgment, and hospitality, with less focus on service conversion.

Read original · Original 2

Trieu's resumeless-hiring post covers AI-flooded applications, skills-based evaluation, and the trade-offs of work samples, overlapping with Smith's concern about AI-generated resumes and recruiter judgment.

Trieu writes longer scenario analysis, including a forecast of how a prolonged U.S./Israel-Iran conflict would split hiring; Smith's posts are shorter, more practical commentaries anchored in current experience and candidate communication.

Read original · Original 2

Mikowski's response is to help candidates stand out with a personality assessment; Smith's is to protect judgment, voice, and respectful process.

Mikowski is product-led, naming SureCoach.ai and a PRISM profile and running an active CRO search; Smith presents neither a product nor an open role, writing instead about how hiring should feel and how recruiters should decide.

Read original · Original 2

They turn a vague waiting period into numbers a candidate can check: a median unemployment duration of about 11 weeks, an average closer to 24 weeks, 6 to 9 months as common for executives, and a short read on where a search stands at 4, 8, and 12 weeks.

• The second post supplies the emotional half of the same job: rebuilding confidence after months of silence, with small adjustments to resume, LinkedIn, and interview preparation.
• If the package needs a resource for job seekers who feel invisible, Mostyn already writes that material.

The subject stays candidate-side.

• Mostyn’s posts describe how a search stalls because of positioning, clarity, and execution, then route interested readers to a profile booking link or a comment keyword.
• The writing sits closer to coaching services than to recruiter operations, screening design, or hiring-team operations.
• A TA-leader audience would get a campaign framing and a timeline to share with candidates, not guidance on its own process.
• The posts show no TA decision-maker audience or commercial partnership format.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The longer post walks through what US hiring could do if a conflict ran six months or more: selective rather than smaller hiring, longer approval and compensation cycles, candidates switching from excitement to resilience, layoffs and urgent hiring happening at once, and clear communication as the thing that attracts talent.

• The resume post lays out both sides, lists pros and cons for resumeless hiring, and lands on a hybrid prediction of lightweight profiles, skills verification, and real work demonstrations.
• For a resource library built around decisions under uncertainty, these are ready-made teaching structures.

The writing reasons from macro scenarios and trends rather than firsthand recruiting operations.

• Predictions about hiring under prolonged conflict can date quickly or be read as forecasts, and the pieces close with open questions and comment prompts, giving buyers a debate rather than a decision framework.
• Ask for evidence of recruiting experience, such as their role, employer, or results, if practitioner credibility is important.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

One post lays out a live search for a Chief Revenue Officer, written as the recruiter on the mandate, with explicit must-haves: experience selling platform solutions to banks and credit unions, a first-hire mentality, startup operating experience, fifteen or more years of sales leadership, and an east-coast preference.

• The other describes attaching a visual personality profile to applications and the responses that followed, plus interviewers asking about communication style.
• For a brief built around assessment products or concrete executive hiring requirements, this is closer to the commercial subject than a general recruiting commentary angle.

Both posts serve a commercial purpose.

• One promotes a personality assessment product the writer says they built; the other promotes a specific search and asks readers to direct-message a resume, with a note that recruiters should stay away.
• To use either as neutral thought leadership, separate the argument from the pitch.
• The results shown are a single anecdote rather than campaign data, and the posts offer less published teaching on hiring-process design for TA leaders than a process-focused alternative.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2