The next good recruiting ...

Abhishek Kaushik

Abhishek Kaushik

— 3 min read
The next good recruiting ...


The next good search is NO SEARCH (google → chatgpt)
The next good programming is NO PROGRAMMING (vscode → cursor)
The next good driving is NO DRIVING (drivers → waymo)

The next good __ (so many things) would truly be transformed by AI Agents.

The next good recruiting wouldn't just be faster or more automated. It's a complete inversion of the traditional process.

Let's dive into history a bit

The journey of recruiting has mirrored the evolution of economy itself:

  • Agrarian Economy: Skills were inherited. People worked where they were born. No resumes.
  • Industrial Economy: Labor was commodified. Hiring was about compliance and scale. Resumes began.
  • Knowledge Economy: Hiring became a game of pedigree and pattern-matching. Keywords ruled. LinkedIn flourished.

In each era, hiring methods were built for the economic model of the time. But the digital and AI-native era demands something more fluid, more real-time, more trustworthy.

The cracks are now too big to ignore:

  • Top talent avoids ATS systems entirely.
  • Candidates game resumes using GPT.
  • Recruiters spend more time filtering noise than spotting signals.
  • Interviews are more about performance than substance.

What really is Recruiting?

If we strip away all tools, jargon, and processes - what is recruiting, really?

At its core, recruiting is the transfer of trust between a candidate and a company & vice-versa

From this lens, we can reframe everything:

  • A resume? A proxy for trust.
  • A referral? A social shortcut for trust.
  • An interview? A simulation of trust.

But here’s the problem: these proxies are broken. They’re gamed, biased, or outdated.

So what is the next good proxy?

  • Demonstrated ability.
  • Public proof of agency.
  • Real-world signals of action, not just intention.

Trust must now be earned - not claimed.

The "Next Good" Models

This shift to next good model isn't new. We've seen it across industries:

  • Search: From Google (you ask) to ChatGPT and Perplexity (you converse, context persists). Next good search = no search.
  • Transportation: From taxis (hail) to Uber (summon). Next good commute = no coordination.
  • Writing: From Word (you write) to Notion AI (you prompt). Next good document = co-created.
  • Retail: From Walmart to Amazon to TikTok Shop. Next good shopping = discovery-led, not catalog-driven.

Each of these transitions followed the same trajectory:

  1. Remove friction
  2. Embed intelligence
  3. Shift from reactive to proactive

Recruiting is next.

The Next Good Recruiting

Let’s define what "next good recruiting" looks like:

1. Demonstrated, Not Declared

No more "claims" of skill. Candidates collaborates with AI and AI learns how they think, work and solve problems

2. AI-Native, Not AI-Assisted

The system doesn’t help you recruit. It recruits for you - all tailored to your context.

3. Signal-Rich, Noise-Free

Signals of agency, and culture-fit. Not hundreds of resumes. Just a few right ones.

4. Time-Bending

Hiring goes from 30 days to 3. Because intent, readiness, and capability are captured upfront.

5. Trust at the Core

Platforms and tools that don’t just collect data - they earn belief.

But why now?

1. Agency is the New Talent

Intelligence is now cheap (thanks to AI). But agency - the ability to take initiative, navigate chaos, and produce results is rare. The next good recruiter will spot agency faster than a degree.

2. Time is the Scarcity, Not People

In a world flooded with applicants, your time and the candidate's is what must be respected. So, platforms must reduce wasted cycles.

3. Don't trust, Verify

Hiring used to work by association: "He worked at Google, must be good may not always work. "Now, we demand: "Show me what she built, shipped, or solved."

4. Work is Becoming Modular and Open

People work part-time, on gigs, or via DAOs. Recruiting must move from full-time tunnel vision to outcome-based engagements.

The Future of Recruiting

Imagine this:

  • You write a job prompt.
  • The system finds 5 people who’ve already shown signals of excellence for that problem.
  • One-click invites them to interact.
  • They solve, respond, or counter-signal.
  • You hop on a call with 1–2. Done.

This is not a pipe dream. It is emerging infrastructure, waiting to be productized well.

For companies:

  • You get to hire doers, not talkers.
  • You compress weeks into hours.

For job seekers:

  • You don't have to prove yourself everyday.
  • You are more than your resume.
  • You get to show, not tell.

For society:

  • The talent graph becomes fairer.
  • Opportunity becomes intent-based, not pedigree-bound.

This is not just better recruiting. It’s more human, more fair, and more real.

Recruiting is not a pipeline. It’s not a funnel. It’s not a CRM.

It’s the curation of trust between humans and work.

The next good recruiting is not another software tool. It’s a system that respects:

  • Time
  • Proof
  • Agency
  • Intent

And most of all — people.

Let’s build it. Let’s make recruiting good again.

—

Written for founders, builders, recruiters, and talent agents who believe we can do better than resumes, and faster than filters.

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