Edan Haddock - Total Talent 🇦🇺
Raw, unfiltered insights from inside the world of Talent Acquisition and Talent Management. No guests. No sponsors. No agenda. Just real talk from an in-house talent leader on what’s working, what’s broken, and what’s next. Each week, Edan Haddock shares honest reflections from the front line of talent — straight from the tools, for the people who live it every day.
Episodes
27 episodes
Australia: The Eurovision Entry of Talent Acquisition
This week on Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan takes Talent Acquisition somewhere unexpected… Eurovision.As Australia steps onto the world stage once again, Edan explores why Australian Talent Acquisition still seems to seek permission t...
The Third Seat at the Table: Why Workforce Planning Can’t Survive Without Technology
In this episode of Edan Haddock - Total Talent, Edan Haddock explores why traditional workforce planning models are breaking in the era of AI and Workforce 5.0.As technology rapidly reshapes jobs and capability needs, Edan argues ...
Stop Hiring. Start Designing: The Double Diamond Playbook for Talent Acquisition
In this episode, Edan Haddock unpacks Design Thinking through the Double Diamond model and why Talent Acquisition needs to stop jumping straight to hiring… and start designing better outcomes.Most TA teams are solving the wrong problem, ...
Talent Acquisition Is Dying. We Backed the Wrong Future
In this episode, Edan Haddock challenges the future of Talent Acquisition and whether it even has one.As AI, hiring managers, and access to talent reshape the hiring landscape, TA isn’t being replaced overnight… it’s being quietly stripp...
What Replaces EVP in a World Where Truth Is Decentralised?
In this episode, Edan Haddock calls out one of Talent’s biggest blind spots - EVP.For years, organisations have invested heavily in crafting the perfect Employer Value Proposition. But in a world where truth is decentralised, candidates ...
Job Hoppers Aren’t the Problem. Your Hiring Mindset Is.
In this episode, Edan Haddock takes aim at one of the most outdated beliefs in hiring: that candidates who “move around a lot” are a problem.What if they’re not?From the collapse of traditional career paths to the rise of Workforc...
You’re Not a Talent Leader. You’re a Product Manager.
In this episode, Edan Haddock challenges one of the biggest assumptions in Talent Acquisition.What if hiring isn’t a process to optimise… but a product to build?Most Talent teams are still operating like service desks. Taking brie...
What Drag Queens Taught Me About Mentorship (And Why Corporate Got It Wrong)
In this episode, Edan unpacks what happened when he was matched with a mentee through Movember’s MoMentor program - and why it made him question everything we think we know about mentoring.Drawing on a past conversation exploring Mother/...
HR Isn’t Broken… It’s Being Replaced
The End of CoEs and the Rise of Total TalentIn this episode, Edan Haddock takes on one of HR’s most established models… the Centre of Excellence.As technology accelerates and AI begins to take on more of the work t...
Presence Isn’t Productivity
In this episode, Edan Haddock dives into one of the most heated debates in modern work: return-to-office, hybrid, and working from home.Rather than taking sides in the location debate, Edan argues that the entire conversation is m...
HR Has a Bias Problem. And It’s Not the One We Talk About
In this episode, Edan Haddock explores a difficult but necessary conversation for HR and Talent teams: bias inside our own profession.HR spends a lot of time helping leaders understand bias in hiring, promotion and performance dec...
AI Is Forcing Recruiting To Be Human Again
In this episode, Edan challenges one of the biggest assumptions in Talent Acquisition: that more automation means less humanity.After years of digitising applications, scorecards and reference checks to survive scale, AI is now removing ...
Predictive Engagement: From Feedback to Firepower
In this episode, Edan pulls apart the engagement survey playbook and asks a tough question: is it driving performance, or just collecting complaints?As engagement increasingly moves into Talent functions, Edan explains why this shift mat...
Stop Policing Talent. Start Empowering It
In this episode, Edan Haddock shares his perspective on the growing culture of audits, rankings, and public critique within the Talent industry. He explores how this trend can create fear, discourage experimentation, and push organisations towa...
Humans, AI & Australia’s 2025 Talent Event Shake-Up
In this episode of the Total Talent Podcast, host Edan Haddock dives into the future of Talent in Australia and why our HR industry is leading the global transformation. From the electric energy of ATC at Fed Square to the reflective str...
Candidate Fraud, Fear-mongering, and the Future of Hiring
AI-generated résumés. Voice-cloned interviews. Dark-web fraud rings plotting to infiltrate your payroll. Sounds like a cyber-thriller, right?This episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent rips the mask off the panic narrative and cal...
Boundaries – The Real Talent Edge
Edan Haddock dives deep into the messy reality of boundaries in modern Talent work. From 24/7 LinkedIn messages to global-time-zone burnout, he calls out the culture of constant availability - and offers raw, practical ways to protect your ener...
Talent Tech Stacks: Play Loud, Build Smart
In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan Haddock takes Talent teams behind the curtain on how to research, design, and select a Talent Tech Stack that actually works.Forget the glossy vendor pitches and consultant pl...
No More With Less: The Productivity Rebellion in Talent Acquisition
In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan takes a sledgehammer to one of the most toxic myths in Talent Acquisition: that leaders in 2025 must “do more with less.” Instead, he flips the script — showing how the future of TA ...
From Checklists to Chaos: The Death of Skills-Based Hiring
Skills-based hiring was once the rebel of recruitment. It tore down degree snobbery, broke open new talent pools, and promised a fairer future of work. But in Workforce 5.0, it’s already obsolete. In this episode of Edan Haddock ...
Partner → Inform → Transform – A Simple, Effective Framework for Building People & Talent Strategy
In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan dives deep into a simple but powerful framework for building a Talent Acquisition and People Experience strategy: Partner → Inform → Transform.Drawing on a recent Movem...
Beyond the Blind: Why Personalisation Wins in 2025
In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan dives deep into the hot topic of blind resumes and blind job applications. Sparked by two recent experiences—one colleague curious after reading about blind resumes, and a leading su...
Succession Secrets: How TA Can Future-Proof Roles and People
Host Edan Haddock unpacks how Talent Acquisition teams can step into the driver’s seat of succession planning.Edan breaks succession planning into two sides of the coin:The Person – using the 6-Box Talent Gri...
Agentic AI in Talent Acquisition: Are We Ready?
In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan unpacks the results of a recent LinkedIn poll on Agentic AI in recruitment interviewing – and the Talent Acquisition community is split. While some teams are already using or ...
Top 20 HR Influencers in Australia 2025 – Spotlight & Stories
In this episode of Edan Haddock - Total Talent, host Edan Haddock breaks down Favikon’s Top 20 HR Influencers in Australia for 2025.Discover the leaders shaping the future of work — from employer branding spec...