Drea Codispoti is Director of Network Operations at Top Echelon, where he helps recruiting agencies build stronger partnerships and use their networks more productively and profitably.

Recruiting is getting harder, and Drea Codispoti explains why the people who survive will rely on grit, collaboration, creativity, sales discipline and human judgment, not simply more outreach.

Recruiting is getting harder, even for industry veterans. Drea Codispoti joins Denise Chaffin to examine which recruiters will survive the shift and why grit alone is not enough. They explore candidate attention, recruiter collaboration, silver-medalist talent, changing industry demand, AI’s limits, and the leap from corporate recruiting to agency ownership. The conversation reveals why relationships, creativity, training, sales ability, and a strong professional network remain the recruiter’s most durable competitive advantages in a changing market.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Meet Drea Codispoti

(01:47) Why Recruiting Is Getting Harder

(03:42) The Strong Will Survive

(04:55) Where Hiring Demand Is Moving

(07:07) The Surprising Growth of Legal Recruiting

(10:57) What Happens to the Candidates You Do Not Hire?

(14:10) Competition or Collaboration?

(15:41) Candidate Attention Is the New Bottleneck

(19:15) Are You Made of Steel?

(21:25) Is AI Really a Threat to Recruiters?

(24:21) Who Thrives Outside Corporate Recruiting?

(27:59) Recruiting’s Three-Headed Sales Monster

(29:18) What to Know Before Starting an Agency

(30:49) Why Your Digital Footprint Matters

Amy Oxley, Chief of Staff, Product at SmartRecruiters, joins Talking TA Tech Stack to discuss why AI adoption in hiring depends on usability, trust, and how well technology fits into the everyday recruiting workflow.

AI is entering talent acquisition fast, but the harder question is not whether teams have access to AI. It is whether they can use it consistently, safely, and meaningfully inside the hiring process.

This episode explores ATS fatigue, AI adoption, recruiting operations, governance, user experience, and what TA and HR leaders should consider when evaluating AI-enabled hiring technology. The conversation uses SmartRecruiters and Winston as a practical lens for understanding how AI can support recruiters, hiring managers, and global hiring teams without becoming another unused layer in the tech stack.

Listeners will walk away thinking less about AI as a feature and more about AI as an operating decision: who controls it, how teams adopt it, and whether it actually improves the way hiring gets done.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why AI Tools Still Go Unused

(02:25) Why Teams Buy AI They Don’t Use

(04:17) Where Recruiting Breaks Down

(07:45) The Candidate Experience Problem

(09:04) Introducing Winston

(15:21) AI That Guides, Not Decides

(18:08) Why AI Needs Better Context

(21:02) How Winston Supports TA Practitioners

(23:00) Demo: Finding the Right Candidates Faster

(30:03) Giving Teams Flexibility and Control

(40:40) What Leaders Need From AI Adoption

(42:01) Governance, Compliance, and Global Hiring

(46:04) Where AI in Hiring Goes Next

(47:19) From AI Fatigue to Tools That Work

Mike Scafidi is a digital transformation strategist who helps organizations rethink performance, leadership, and growth in the modern workplace.

What if the biggest threat to your organization is not talent scarcity or AI disruption, but the metrics you use to measure success?

Summary

In this episode of Talking TA, host Denise Chaffin sits down with Mike Scafidi to explore how leadership metrics shape HR strategy, talent acquisition, recruiting performance, and workplace culture. Mike explains why many organizations say they want innovation, while their KPIs reward efficiency over growth. The conversation covers data-driven versus data-informed decision making, retention through career growth, distributed teams, AI in HR, and why digital transformation starts with mindset before technology.

Takeaway

Listeners will be talking about the hidden cost of measuring the wrong things, and why the future of work requires leaders to build cultures that reward judgment, adaptability, and long-term growth.

Timestamps

(00:00) Are Your Metrics Holding You Back?

(01:40) Meet Mike Scafidi

(04:50) The Problem with Efficiency Metrics

(10:30) Growth vs. Efficiency Leadership

(18:20) Data-Driven vs. Data-Informed Decisions

(27:10) Retention and Career Growth

(34:40) Distributed Teams and Culture

(41:20) AI, Judgment, and Leadership

(47:00) Final Takeaways