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 briefs, filling roles, and measuring speed all while calling it strategy. But in a world shaped by AI, shifting candidate expectations, and constant organisational change, that model is starting to break.

Edan explores what it really means to apply product thinking to Talent:

Designing experiences instead of managing processes.
Treating candidates and hiring managers as users.
Iterating constantly instead of waiting for perfection.
Using data as signals to improve, not just report.

He also dives into the rise of augmented teams where humans and AI agents work side by side and what this means for how Talent functions are designed going forward.

This episode is a challenge to rethink the role of Talent entirely.

Because if you’re not treating hiring like a product… you’re already behind.

Join the Edan Haddock - Total Talent community (formerly Rubberband)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Hey, welcome back to Eden Haddock Total Talent. No guests, no sponsors, no agenda. Just me on the tools. And this week, I've been sitting with something that I can't quite shake. It's been following me through conversations, through hiring meetings, through the way talent teams talk about themselves. And the thought is this. Most talent teams think they're strategic. But if I'm honest, you're running a service desk. Yeah, I said it. A few things have led me to think about this this week. And before you switch this off, before you go, nah, Eden, not us. Just sit with it for a second. Because I'm not having a go. Believe me, I've been there. And I've built teams like that. I've led teams like that. I've been in environments where I feel it creeping in. I've had conversations even recently where I feel it keeping creeping in. But the more I look at where the world is going, AI, candidate expectations, the speed of change in organizations, the more I realize this model doesn't hold anymore. And what's replacing it? It's not another framework. And it's not another HR trend. It's a completely different way of thinking. Because what if hiring isn't a process? What if it's a product? And what if you're not a talent leader? You're a product manager. Let's get into it. All right, well, let's start with where we are today. Because this isn't about the future. This is about right now. Most talent functions, whether we like it or not, are built like service functions. And it shows up everywhere. Let's call it what it is. A role opens, a hiring manager reaches out, you book an intake, you take notes, you ask about competencies, experience, nice to have. You go away, you post the role, you source, you screen, you manage the end-to-end process, and you close. And then you do it all again. And again, and again. Now, we've dressed this up over the years. We've added language, we've added frameworks, we've added dashboards. But at its core, it's ticket handling. Intake meeting, that's ticket logging. Hiring manager, that's your customer. Recruiter, order taker. Time to hire, speed of ticket resolution. And look, there's nothing wrong with being efficient. I love efficiency. But here's the problem. We've optimized the wrong thing. We've optimized for speed, not effectiveness. We've optimized fulfilling roles, not building something better. And that's where this starts to break. Because the world around us has changed. But this model, it hasn't. The cracks are showing, and you can feel it. You can feel it in candidate feedback. You may feel it in hiring manager frustration. You may feel it in talent teams burning out. Because no matter how fast you go, it's never enough. And that's the signal. Not that we need to go faster, but that we're playing the wrong game. So let's flip it. Forget process for a second. Forget frameworks. Forget everything you've been told hiring is. Let's look at it through a different lens. Product. Because when you look at hiring as a product, everything changes. Candidates, they're not applicants, they're users. Hiring managers, they're not stakeholders, they're also users. Your career site, that's your front-end experience. Your interview process, that's your product journey. Your employer brand, that's your marketing engine. And now suddenly you're not running a process. You're building something. Something people interact with. Something people experience. Something people judge. And right now, if we're honest, most of us wouldn't ship it. Make it real. Now, this isn't theory. This is where it gets practical. The reality. Because product thinking isn't just a mindset, it's a way of working. So what does that actually look like in a talent team? First thing. User obsession. And I mean real user obsession. Not surveys once a year. Not candidate NPS slapped on a dashboard. I mean understanding. What does it actually feel like to go through your hiring? Where do people drop off? Where do they get confused? Where do they get frustrated? Where do they get excited? Because in reality, most talent teams don't actually know. We assume, we guess, we rely on hiring managers to tell us. But we don't sit in it. However, product teams do. They watch users, they test experiences, they obsess over small details. And that's the shift. From managing a process to designing an experience. Let's talk iteration over perfection. This is the second stage. Iteration. This is a big one. Because talent loves perfection. We love frameworks. We love sign-offs. We love getting everything right before we launch. But product doesn't work like that. Product ships fast, then improves, then breaks, then fixes, then improves again. And again, and again. But in talent, we may redesign our process once every two years, roll it out, look at a new tech stack, and we hope it works. And look, that's not iteration, right? That's gambling. So what would it look like if you treated hiring like a live product? Your job ads changing weekly, your interview formats evolving, your assessment methods tested in real time, not waiting for permission, just building, learning, improving. And this is where data comes in. Because we all talk about being data driven. We do. But most of the time, we're just reporting. And reporting isn't the same as learning. When I think about that. Because let's be honest, most TA dashboards, they're for show. Time to hire, time to fill, source of hire, all packaged up nicely for a monthly report. But what does it actually change? Very little. Because real product thinking uses data differently. It's not about reporting what happened. It's about understanding what to do next. Where are candidates dropping out this week? Which questions are failing? Which hiring managers are slowing things down? Which roles are converting better with different approaches? That's signal. That's actionable. That's what drives change. Not a slide in a deck. And here's the big one: ownership. Ownership. Yeah. Because this is where most talent teams fall apart. Hiring is fragmented. TA owns sourcing. Hiring managers own interviews. HR owns onboarding. Brand can even own EVP. And no one owns the experience. No one owns the product. And when no one owns it, no one fixes it. Product teams don't work like that. There's a product owner, someone accountable end to end. Not just for delivery, but for quality, for experience, for outcomes. And that's the shift for talent leaders. You're not coordinating, you're owning. Now, before you go and try to do this, as I am, there are some traps. Because I see teams try to shift like this, including myself, and they get stuck fast. The first trap is waiting for permission. If we could just get leadership buy-in, if we could just redesign everything. You don't need permission to improve your product. Start small, ship something bigger. And second, over-engineering. New frameworks, new models, new terminology. No, forget it. Just make the experience better. And third, as I always say, the third trap is copying others. Best practice says this company does. Comparing yourself to your competitors, your so-called competitors, which by the way, they aren't. Best practice is just someone else's context. Build your own. And the fourth trap is this bizarre HR tech obsession. We need a new ATS. We need a new tool. You don't need new tech. You need better thinking. Tech amplifies, but it doesn't fix. Now, of course, time to talk about the thing everyone's still dancing around. AI. Because this is where this is where this gets real. AI isn't a tool you bolt on. It's actually part of the product. Screening, scheduling, engagement, communication already happening. And in my world, I've already seen this shift. I'm driving it. At Movember, I have a team where one of my direct reports is an AI agent named Joel. And that changes how you think. Because now you're not just designing for humans, you're designing systems, workflows, interactions between humans and AI. And the best talent teams, they won't be bigger. They'll be better designed. Leaner, sharper, more intentional. Because they're building products, not running processes. What does this actually mean for you? If you're in talent, leading a team, building something, it means this. Stop reporting on activity. Start owning outcomes. Stop asking for more headcount. Start redesigning the work. Stop waiting to be invited into strategy. Start building something worth being invited for. Because the truth is, if you're not shaping how hiring works, you're not leading it. So next time someone asks you what your talent team does, and they will, don't say you fill roles. Don't say you support hiring. Don't say you manage recruitment. Say this. We build products. Products that shape how people join this company. Products that define the experience of work before someone even starts. Because that's the game now. And if you're not building it, someone else will. This is Eden Haddock, Total Talent. No guests, no sponsors, no agenda. Just real conversations from someone still on the tools. And I'll see you next week.