Behind the Hiring Curtain: What’s Really Happening

Episode 330 - Patrick Dunlop, organisational psychologist and Future of Work professor, shares what he learned from studying recruiters, what’s overhyped, what’s still painfully manual, and how experienced candidates can move with confidence through modern selection processes.Spend enough time around job seekers and you will hear the same diagnosis: “Hiring is broken.”Spend enough time around recruiters and you will hear a different one: “We’re drowning.”Both can be true. What has changed in the last few years is not simply the technology inside recruitment. It’s the volume, the noise, and the mismatch between what candidates think is happening and what is actually happening inside organisations.In my conversation with Professor Patrick Dunlop, an organisational psychologist at Curtin University, one theme kept resurfacing: the biggest misunderstanding is not about AI. It’s about realism. Hiring varies wildly from one organisation to the next, and much of what candidates assume is “automated” is still surprisingly manual, uneven, and dependent on human judgement.What follows is a structured, evidence-informed way to think about modern hiring if you are an experienced professional, particularly in your 40s and beyond.Read the full Blog on the Website31 Days of Action for Job SeekersFind Your Talents: Learn About Your Strengths, and Watch Your Career GrowJoin 5,000+ Readers of The Job Hunting Newsletter: Subscribe NowLear More About Renata's career coaching and coursesTimestamps to guide your listening:00:00 Understanding Assessment Tools00:52 The Importance of Job Analysis03:48 Designing Effective Assessment Processes06:53 The Role of Simulations and Case Studies09:59 Concerns About Psychometric Testing12:56 Faking in Assessments and Its Implications15:50 Cultural Differences in Assessment Responses26:44 Cross-Cultural Assessment in Personality Testing30:57 Candidate Experience and Recruitment Processes36:10 The Impact of AI on Job Applications39:04 Adapting to New Technologies in Job Search49:19 Future Trends in Recruitment and AssessmentLinks mentioned in this episode:Patrick Dunlop's LinkedIn ProfileAbout the host, Renata BernardeHello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. Watch the Episodes on YouTubeFollow Renata on Social Media:LinkedInInstagramFacebookX / Twitter