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)

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/Daughter relationships in the Drag world, he challenges the corporate model of mentoring as too safe, too polite, and too low impact.

This episode explores a different lens - one built on identity, accountability, belonging, and legacy - and asks a bold question:

Have we completely misunderstood what real mentorship is supposed to be?

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

The End of CoEs and the Rise of Total Talent

In 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 traditionally owned by HR, Edan explores what this means for the structure of People functions. From the slow decline of HR Operations, to the identity crisis facing People Partnering, and the quiet disappearance of standalone OD… nothing is off limits.

The big question: if those pillars start to fall, what rises in their place?

Edan makes the case for Talent stepping into the spotlight… not just as hiring, but as the core operating system for workforce strategy, experience, and capability.

This isn’t about HR being broken.
It’s about whether it evolves… or gets left behind.

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