Every hiring system in the world depends on one assumption:

The information applicants submit tells employers something meaningful about what they can actually do.

That assumption is beginning to collapse.

Artificial intelligence now allows job seekers to generate customized resumes in seconds. Employers are using AI to generate job descriptions. Applicant Tracking Systems are using AI to rank candidates. Meanwhile application volumes are exploding.

The result?

Everyone looks qualified.

Recruiters are drowning in applications.

Employers are adding more requirements simply to reduce the number of people they have to review.

And the signals that hiring systems have relied on for decades are becoming increasingly difficult to trust.

In Part 3 of In Search of Signals, Ian Davidson sits down with Andrew Cunsolo, Principal Customer Solutions Partner at Employ, one of the world's largest Applicant Tracking System providers. With more than twenty-five years spent building recruiting technology—including some of the earliest resume parsing systems—Andrew has watched hiring evolve from keyword searches to AI-powered ranking.

His conclusion is surprisingly simple.

The problem isn't AI.

AI is exposing weaknesses that were already built into hiring.

Together, Ian and Andrew explore why applicant tracking systems behave the way they do, how employers actually use resumes, why application volumes are skyrocketing, and what happens when every candidate begins looking equally qualified.

More importantly, they explore what comes next.

Throughout the conversation they discuss how trusted, verifiable information—from digital credentials to Learning and Employment Records to the Trusted Career Profile—could fundamentally change how hiring systems understand people.

Rather than asking recruiters to work harder, the future may depend on giving systems better information.

This episode is part of In Search of Signals, a five-part investigation from Signol Labs examining how employers, recruiters, technology platforms, and marketplaces evaluate human potential.

Each episode follows another layer of hiring infrastructure.

Together they reveal a much bigger question:

If our systems can't reliably understand people today, how will they understand human potential in an AI-driven economy?

Guest

Andrew Cunsolo Principal Customer Solutions Partner Employ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/acunsolo/

Employ: https://www.employinc.com/

About Signol Labs

Signol Labs helps organizations design the infrastructure of opportunity by connecting learning, work, skills, credentials, identity, and workforce technology.

Learn more: https://signollabs.com

Signal Mapping: https://signollabs.com/blog-signal-mapping/

Connect with Ian Davidson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwdavidson/

If your organization is exploring skills-based hiring, workforce strategy, digital credentials, Learning and Employment Records, talent marketplaces, or trusted hiring data, we'd love to hear from you.

https://signollabs.com/contact-us/

Most hiring systems are designed to answer one question:

Can this person do the job?

Recruiters spend their time answering a very different one:

Will this person thrive here?

That distinction sits at the heart of Episode 6 of The Signal Lab. In the second installment of our five-part investigation into how hiring decisions are really made, Ian Davidson sits down with Jordan Franklin, co-founder and CEO of Stratus Consulting, an IT staffing firm that speaks with hundreds of candidates every week and has placed thousands of professionals into organizations ranging from Northwest Arkansas startups to Fortune 1 companies.

What emerges from the conversation is a fascinating realization: staffing firms aren't simply matching resumes to job descriptions. They're filling in the gaps left by the hiring systems we've built.

Jordan explains that her recruiters certainly evaluate technical skills—but they lean heavily on assessments to validate those. The real work happens somewhere else.

Most importantly, they try to answer a question no résumé can:

What will this person actually be like to work with?

Along the way, Jordan shares why many of her clients never publicly post open positions, why passive candidates often become the strongest hires, and why staffing firms function as trusted advisors for both employers and candidates.

She also introduces the philosophy behind Gumption, the AI-powered platform Stratus is building after years of learning what traditional hiring systems fail to capture. Rather than simply matching people to jobs, Gumption aims to understand the human behind the résumé and match people to the teams where they'll actually succeed.

Signal Mapping Connection

Throughout this series, The Signal Lab is reverse-engineering hiring.

Hiring managers look for trust, character, and judgment.

Recruiters look for motivation, culture fit, and long-term success.

Assessments validate technical capability.

Each stage relies on different signals.

If we hope to build better digital credentials, better learner records, better AI, and better workforce systems, we first need to understand what information humans actually use to make hiring decisions.

Recruiters have quietly spent decades building richer profiles because the systems around them haven't.

Perhaps the next generation of workforce infrastructure shouldn't replace that understanding.

It should make it portable.

Resources

Jordan Franklin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-franklin-gumption/

Stratice Consulting: https://mystratice.com/

Signol Labs: https://signollabs.com/

Signal Mapping: https://signollabs.com/blog-signal-mapping/

Connect with Ian Davidson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwdavidson/

Schedule a conversation: https://signollabs.com/contact-us/

If your organization is designing hiring technology, talent marketplaces, digital credentials, Learning and Employment Records, or workforce infrastructure, we'd love to compare notes. This investigation is helping shape a practical framework for understanding the signals that actually drive hiring decisions.

The hiring process is full of advice.

Optimize your resume.

Use the right keywords.

Build your LinkedIn profile.

Customize every application.

But what actually matters once a human being sits across the table from another human being and decides whether to make an offer?

That's the question at the center of Episode 5 of The Signal Lab.

To answer it, Ian Davidson speaks with three employers who hire in completely different environments:

Brad Robinson, District Manager at Mattress Firm, who has hired hundreds of sales professionals and built one of the strongest retention records in the company.

James Harris, CEO of High Impact Analytics, who recruits analysts, consultants, and business leaders in the Walmart ecosystem.

Christy Lamers, founder of Blossom Landscape Design and co-founder of Life Outside, who hires almost entirely through relationships, reputation, and instinct.

The result is an unusually honest look at how people actually make hiring decisions.

What emerges is both simple and surprising.

Resumes matter—but only as a starting point.

The interview matters more.

And what employers are really trying to understand isn't who you were.

It's who you'll become after they hire you.

Will you stay?

Will you solve problems?

Will you work well with others?

Will you ask for help when you need it?

Will you care about the people around you?

Will you make the culture stronger?

Across industries, the same themes keep appearing: honesty, curiosity, coachability, teamwork, resilience, and the ability to do hard things. Employers consistently look for signals that extend far beyond education, certifications, or job titles.

The conversation also reveals a deeper challenge.

Many people possess valuable experiences, skills, and capabilities that never appear on a resume because they don't believe those experiences matter. Yet those hidden signals are often exactly what employers wish they could see.

This episode is the first installment in a four-part Signal Mapping series exploring how hiring decisions are made—and what information actually matters at each stage of the process.

Signal Mapping Connection

If we want digital credentials, learner records, and talent marketplaces to create better outcomes, we first need to understand the demand side of the market.

What information do employers actually use?

What signals do they trust?

What helps them predict success?

This episode starts answering those questions.

Resources

Brad Robinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-robinson-sales-management/

James Harris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-harris-a777055/

Signol Labs: https://signollabs.com/

Signal Mapping: https://signollabs.com/blog-signal-mapping/

Connect with Ian Davidson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwdavidson/

Schedule a conversation: https://signollabs.com/contact-us/

Thank you for listening to The Signal Lab.

The future of opportunity is being built in many different rooms.

Let's connect them.