Unlocking AI Insights

Chris Hoyt: So Joe, you had just asked Jerry a question. I want to make sure everybody heard it.

Joe Essenfeld: I just asked Jerry if he hiked the Narrows. Selfishly, I’m heading out there in about a month or so. So Jerry, have you hiked the Narrows?

Gerry Crispin: Well, here’s the thing. A lot of my cousins do a lot of hiking. I don’t hike. I try to drive somewhere. If I’m on a bike, it’s an electric bike. If I’m in a car, it’s a big truck that I can run people off the road with—but whatever. I get up to the thing, and then I can walk to the vista. For Zion National Park, it’s very cool.

Chris Hoyt: I’d like to just add to that—I’ve been in the car when Jerry drives. He absolutely will drive other people off the road. One hundred percent.

Joe Essenfeld: So, yeah, we’re going to Zion—beautiful park. A little family time.

Chris Hoyt: Have you been before?

Joe Essenfeld: No, none of us have been to a national park as a family yet, so we’re super excited. Got a little hiking gear. You know, we have to stay cool, though. Got these cool towels—brilliant marketing where they just sell you a washcloth but charge you more and call it a cold towel.

Chris Hoyt: But you have to provide your own cold water. There’s no cold included.

Joe Essenfeld: Exactly.

Chris Hoyt: And the kids—how old are they? Old enough now to “hike”?

Joe Essenfeld: We’ve been practicing a lot, getting the complaints pre-fielded. My son is seven and a half, my daughter just turned 10—just old enough to do it. We’ll go in with the best intentions and see how long we last.

Chris Hoyt: I wish I had known we were going to chat. I literally have a video of my kids—around that age—at Mount Zion crying because we walked like a quarter mile. Big crocodile tears. I’ll text that video to you. Even if you didn’t like my kids, it’s a funny video.

Joe Essenfeld: Please do! We have a Rottweiler at home. She’s still a puppy, but when we hike with her, she doesn’t let the kids stop. Unfortunately, she won’t be joining us in Zion, so my wife will have to play the role of the Rottie.

Chris Hoyt: I love that. Well, are we ready to talk a little bit of AI today?

Joe Essenfeld: Absolutely.

Chris Hoyt: Okay, let’s do it.

Announcer: CXR Channel—our premier podcast for talent acquisition and talent management. Listen in as the CXR community discusses a wide range of topics focused on attracting, engaging, and retaining the best talent. We’re glad you’re here.

Chris Hoyt: All right, everybody—welcome to another Recruiting Community Podcast. These are weekly insights and updates in the form of a conversation. I’m your host today, C-3PO, and I have with me the wise and wonderful co-host R2-D2. How are you, R2?

Gerry Crispin: I thought you were going to at least let me be Yoda. R2 is too easy!

Chris Hoyt: I fully expected a beep-beep or something from you.

Gerry Crispin: Beep.

Chris Hoyt: There it is. For those joining us this week, we’re welcoming longtime CXR friend and current CEO/founder of Fora, Joe Essenfeld. We’re going to talk about AI trends and how to best leverage AI.

Quick housekeeping: we’re streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can find us at cxr.works/podcast for past and future episodes. If you’re on LinkedIn today, say hello in the chat. If you have questions for Joe or want to weigh in, we might even throw your comment up on screen.

This podcast is ad-free—a labor of love. We don’t do this for profit. If someone’s here, it’s because they’re doing interesting work we think deserves your attention.

Gerry Crispin: We’ve also got a report coming out soon—creative is finalizing it.

Chris Hoyt: That’s right! It’s about transparency, conflicts of interest, and setting baseline practices around vendor relationships, disclosures, and recommendations. We’re seeing a lot of relevant LinkedIn threads too.

Gerry Crispin: The timing is right. I think people are ready for this conversation.

Chris Hoyt: I agree. I’m excited about the report and the bonus download we’re including. It’ll all be free and out soon.

All right, let’s bring Joe in. Welcome, Joe!

Joe Essenfeld: Hey Chris, hey Jerry! Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Chris Hoyt: For those who haven’t had the pleasure of knowing you as long as we have, give us an elevator pitch. Who is Joe Essenfeld?

Joe Essenfeld: Thanks! I’m the CEO and co-founder of Fora. I started in TA tech by founding a company called Jibe, a career site and CRM tech platform for large global companies. Jibe was acquired by iCIMS in 2019, where I spent four years in various exec roles.

Now with Fora, we’re building AI for the C-suite—helping organizations run more efficiently, productively, and improve customer retention and growth.

Chris Hoyt: I love that. It’s always surreal to realize how far back some of us go in this space.

Joe Essenfeld: Totally. I remember your early stories, Chris!

Chris Hoyt: Let’s talk AI. Everyone’s slapping “AI” on their products. In TA, what trends or evolutions are actually legit and having a real impact?

Joe Essenfeld: Great question. First, to touch on what you and Jerry mentioned earlier—there’s a ton of VC money being poured into AI, just like the early days of food delivery and ride-shares. The result? Users are getting highly subsidized compute—basically, you’re getting $3 of AI for every $1 you invest.

So now is the time to experiment.

As for real trends: I compare using AI to asking a 5-year-old a question. You get a better answer the more context you provide. Same with AI. If you want real value, give it access to your proprietary data—HCMs, job boards, analytics. The more context you give, the better the results.

Chris Hoyt: That’s a great analogy. It reminds me of something Bill Gates said—whoever nails the AI “assistant” concept will win. And a good assistant has access to everything.

Joe Essenfeld: Exactly. And companies are letting AI in—but mainly through incumbents. If you already have your data in Microsoft, Google, Zoom, etc., it’s easier to experiment. For startups, it’s harder unless you’re solving a problem the CIO is already frustrated about—like too many meeting note takers, which is a mess right now.

Chris Hoyt: Let’s zoom out a bit—what is Fora exactly?

Joe Essenfeld: Fora connects to your qualitative data—meetings, chats, emails—and summarizes it, tying it to goals and objectives. We give you a daily digest of what’s coming and what happened, personalized to your span of control.

It’s about helping teams do more with less and start conversations with context.

Gerry Crispin: Is it designed differently for different execs, or is it one-size-fits-all leadership?

Joe Essenfeld: Great question. The only way to deliver value to the C-suite is to make it work for everyone else too. So we built for ICs and managers first, making sure it’s useful to them. Then it naturally bubbles up insights for execs.

Gerry Crispin: That bottom-up approach builds trust and improves data quality at the top.

Joe Essenfeld: Absolutely. Everyone in our company sees every meeting—unless it’s HR-confidential. Sales calls, investor updates—engineers can listen in. It gives everyone shared context and boosts engagement.

Chris Hoyt: That transparency must be an adjustment.

Joe Essenfeld: It goes away surprisingly fast. People are more honest and upfront, and it builds stronger bonds. It’s been a unique but powerful experience.

Chris Hoyt: Okay, let’s circle back to TA. What has been the most transformative impact of AI on recruiting so far?

Joe Essenfeld: Definitely in recruitment marketing. Gen AI helps teams produce way more content, more authentically, for employer branding. One person can now do what used to take 10 people.

Next frontier? Candidate interviews and job creation. BrightHire and HireVue are doing some interesting things. The goal is to keep the personal touch but do it at scale.

Chris Hoyt: I’ve heard it called the “centaur recruiter”—a bionic improvement. I agree, interviews and assessments are ripe for change.

Gerry Crispin: I’d go a step further. AI could take over top-of-funnel interviews. Why not interview all 500 applicants instead of just 10? It increases fairness and consistency.

Joe Essenfeld: I love that—but I still believe AI should assist, not lead. We’ve always had the fantasy of AI magically surfacing five perfect candidates. But it works better when AI provides insights and suggestions to a human recruiter.

Chris Hoyt: And we don’t have to miss anyone. With AI, we can truly give everyone a fair first-round interview.

Gerry Crispin: The only caveat? Candidates might also be using AI during those interviews. So now it’s AI talking to AI.

Joe Essenfeld: You’re right. We’re heading toward a future where every person has an AI agent negotiating on their behalf. That raises questions about truth and authenticity in skills and qualifications.

Gerry Crispin: In the end, the employer needs to decide, “Can they do the job?” The candidate needs to decide, “Will I do it?” And AI will be part of that negotiation.

Chris Hoyt: Joe, before we wrap: if you were to write a book on this topic, what would the title be?

Joe Essenfeld: AI Is Both Dumber and More Useful Than We All Think.

Chris Hoyt: I love it. Who gets the first signed copy?

Joe Essenfeld: My kids. I talk about AI constantly, and they deserve it. Plus, they’d think it’s cool.

Gerry Crispin: Bring it on the hike—just keep the pack light.

Chris Hoyt: That must be an amazing conversation at home. Kids growing up with AI as native—fascinating.

Joe Essenfeld: It is. They have opinions on which AI is “smarter,” and they miss voice assistants like Sky from OpenAI. It’s a wild ride.

Chris Hoyt: Joe, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure. Can’t wait to see what you build next—and enjoy Zion!

Joe Essenfeld: Thanks so much. Great to see you both.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the CXR Channel. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Learn more at cxr.works and follow us on social @careerxroads. Catch you next time.