Agenda at a Glance
Pre-Conference Workshops
Monday, July 21, 2025
9:00–11:00 am PDT
Beyond the Surface: Diving into Deep Web Sourcing and Automation for Talent Discovery (Read More)
What if the perfect candidate for your role isn’t on LinkedIn? What if they’re hidden in plain sight — buried in the comment sections of niche blogs, mentioned in obscure meeting minutes, or captured in the attendee lists of industry events? The overabundance of content means that sourcing the right talent demands precision, ingenuity, creativity, and the ability to look past the obvious to search beyond the surface.
Join Shally Steckerl for an electrifying two-hour deep dive into advanced techniques that redefine what’s possible in talent discovery. Shally will reveal strategies to uncover untapped talent pools by harnessing the full power of the deep web, unconventional platforms, and simple automations.
Key Takeaways
- Crack the Deep Web Code: Learn to search where others don’t, from image and video metadata to blog post comments, mailing list archives, and user groups.
- Master Peer Regression: Identify influencers and thought leaders, then track down their hidden networks to find their peers and collaborators.
- Reverse-Engineer Talent Profiles: Discover the language candidates use to describe themselves, their work, and their communities, and use it to refine your searches.
- Turn Old Data into Gold: Use modern natural language search techniques to surface candidates from ATS systems, databases, and even hidden corners of LinkedIn.
- Automate for Scale: Apply cutting-edge automation to streamline your sourcing efforts without sacrificing precision.
In this session, Shally will equip you with hacks that transcend Boolean logic and tap into unconventional data sources, giving you a competitive edge in any market. Walk away with strategies you can implement immediately, and tools to build pipelines of talent you didn’t even know existed.
Are you ready to move beyond the surface and revolutionize your sourcing game? This is your opportunity to explore the future of talent discovery with one of the industry’s most innovative minds.
11:30 am–1:30 pm PDT
How to Successfully Implement Strategies for Filling Hard-to-Fill Roles (Read More)
Have you ever had a job you consider hard to fill? The thing is, hard to fill doesn't always mean the same thing for everyone. Join fellow attendees to engage with industry veteran Carrie Corbin, as she shares the "how to" details with an expert who has navigated some of the harder to fill roles in our space (i.e., global STEM roles to niche skilled trade with some high-volume thrown in for fun!)
Day 1 — Social Recruiting Strategies Conference
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
8:15–8:30 am PDT
Welcome to TA Week and Day One Opening Remarks
8:30–9:10 am PDT
Future Shock: Is Traditional Employment Dead? Employee Experience Design (EXD) in the Age of AI and Automation (Read More)
Unveiling the era of AI, virtual realities, and the decentralized work revolution for the next evolution of talent attraction. Join us for this opening session that examines the current and future state of the industry.
9:15–9:55 am PDT
Bridging the Gap: Leveraging Gen Z Talent Data into a Recruitment Playbook (Read More)
Gen Z candidates are reshaping the recruitment landscape with high expectations for rapid employer response times, an increasing reliance on AI in their job search, and a tendency to keep searching for opportunities even after accepting offers.
In this session, RippleMatch will unveil the latest data on how Gen Z approaches their job hunt, and what drives their decisions. You’ll leave with the most up-to-date insights on Gen Z talent trends, along with clear, actionable steps to integrate into your recruitment strategy, helping you attract and retain this new generation of top talent.
9:45–10:00 am PDT
Break
10:00–10:40 am PDT
Maximize TA with a Winning Recruitment Channel Strategy (Read More)
Join us for this engaging session that discusses modern recruiting and social media strategies on various platforms. Access a live breakdown of successful social recruiting campaigns.
10:45–11:25 am PDT
AI and Government Regulations Impacting Talent Acquisition Today (Read More)
11:30–11:45 am PDT
Networking Break
11:45 am–12:25 pm PDT
Top Ten Tools to Help You Leverage Your Recruitment Strategy (Read More)
Here's what all TA pros need to know and use for their social media recruiting efforts!
Join talent attraction industry expert Craig Fisher for a crash course in current platforms and new releases. He will share ten tools — ten up-and-coming products in the industry — to help leverage your recruitment strategy.
12:30–1:10 pm PDT
Thought Leadership
How to Level Up Your Hiring Strategy with Video (Read More)
Video is no longer a nice-to-have—it's a must-have to break through the noise and connect with candidates in a meaningful, authentic way. In fact, 85% of talent professionals say their investment in video delivered strong ROI. But what types of video truly move the needle?
In this actionable, insight-rich session, Anna Lippe, Director of Customer Services at Stories Inc., will share proven strategies for creating and distributing compelling recruitment videos that drive real hiring results. You’ll learn:
- From company culture videos to realistic job previews, which types of videos have the biggest impact on candidate attraction and conversion
- Best practices for creating videos that are both authentic and scalable—from the storytelling experts themselves
- How to choose the right channels to meet candidates where they are and measure what’s working
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to elevate your current video strategy, you’ll leave with fresh ideas and frameworks you can apply immediately.
1:15–2:00 pm PDT
Panel Discussion
Talk Ops to Me: How to Gain Buy-in From the C-Suite (Read More)
Optimizing end-to-end recruitment process is no easy task. The recruiting operations role is critical to not only improving the efficiency of recruitment processes but also driving innovation to stay ahead in the competitive talent landscape.
Join us for this lively panel discussion on RecOps and how to gain buy-in from the C-Suite. Delve into the key trends reshaping RecOps and understand how leading organizations are adapting to these changes.
Senior Director, Global Talent Acquisitions; Operations & Sourcing COE
U.S. Renal Care

2:00 pm PDT
Day One Concludes
Day 2 — Talent Sourcing Strategies Summit
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
8:15–8:30 am PDT
Opening Remarks (Read More)
Welcome to day two of TA Week! Join our host Steve Levy as he kicks off today's sourcing sessions.
8:30–9:10 am PDT
Keynote
Building Talent Pipelines through Communities: Strategies for Leveraging Nontraditional Networks (Read More)
This session explores how recruiters can break sourcing molds and build community-driven pipelines by tapping into overlooked talent pools. Attendees will walk away with real-world strategies to leverage nontraditional networks, engage untapped talent, and build a more inclusive hiring ecosystem.
9:15–9:55 am PDT
Boolean to AI: Evolving Sourcing Tools and Tactics (Read More)
Catch up on the rapid advancements in the sourcing space. Brandon will show you how to bring your LinkedIn spend to $0 — yes, really. As the recruiter role evolves, so should your tools and tactics for sourcing. Spoiler alert: Relying on inbound applications in an employer's market is not a strategy. Forget complex Boolean strings and guesswork. This session will cover how to A/B test AI agent-based sourcing strategies that build sustainable pipelines. You’ll leave with practical, budget-friendly ways to level up your top-of-funnel with strong signal and cut through the noise.
9:45–10:00 am PDT
Break
10:00–10:40 am PDT
Tactical Talent Mapping: Cost-Effective Strategies for Data-Driven Sourcing (Read More)
In this session, Kenzie will share tactics to find and engage underrepresented talent. She will discuss the cultural landscape using data storytelling and market intelligence, utilizing inclusive vocabulary and organizational goals. Attendees will learn how to plan and execute a strategy using primary sourcing channels, inclusive job descriptions, partnerships, and events, as well as bias mitigation and effective messaging and sourcing techniques.
Join this session to learn how to:
- actively seek out diverse talent pools through targeted sourcing strategies;
- broaden your search beyond traditional channels to reach candidates from underrepresented demographics;
- and actively work to build sustainable connections and nurture your network to further the continuous journey that allows underrepresented talent to feel valued and welcome.
10:45–11:25 am PDT
Three Impactful Strategies for Harnessing Chat GPT for Sourcing (Read More)
ChatGPT isn't just a tool for generating text; it's a powerful AI engine that can analyze and process massive amounts of data to identify hidden patterns and uncover valuable insights. This data-driven approach takes candidate sourcing to a whole new level. Take a deep dive into ChatGPT and learn how to use it for sourcing talent, what the ROI is, and how to convert leads into hires.
11:30–11:45 am PDT
Networking Break
11:45 am–12:25 pm PDT
Why Every Recruiter Needs Their Own GPT (And How to Build One) (Read More)
AI won’t replace recruiters — but recruiters who use AI well might just outpace everyone else. In this live session, I’ll show you why building your own custom GPT is one of the smartest moves you can make right now. We’ll explore how to train it around your tone, tasks, and target audience — so it becomes your behind-the-scenes assistant for sourcing, outreach, and more. Whether you’re AI-curious or already prompt-happy, you’ll walk away with ideas (and a free builder tool) to start shaping a GPT that works your way.
12:30–1:10 pm PDT
Thought Leadership
Mastering Recruiting Outreach: Email Benchmarks and Best Practices (Read More)
Finding great talent to source is just half the battle. Convincing them to take a call and apply is the next challenge. But generic recruiting emails don’t cut it. We have the data to prove it.
To effectively get a candidate’s attention, recruiters need to deploy the same strategies and tactics that sales pros use to build pipelines. That means creating compelling hooks, crisp copy, and most of all… good timing!
Join us as Steve Bartel, CEO at Gem, walks through the latest recruiting email benchmarks and discusses best practices on how recruiters can optimize their outbound efforts with high-converting email outreach.
What to expect:
- Benchmarks on email conversion, like open, reply, and interested rates
- Top-performing subject lines and email copy
- Optimal send times and spacing for email sequences that convert at higher rates
- Best practices for creating email outreach, from the subject line, sender, and the email body itself
1:15–2:00 pm PDT
Panel Discussion
How to Keep Your Pipeline Warm During a Hiring Freeze (Read More)
When faced with a frozen job market, things can appear bleak. However, there are useful strategies to keep your pipeline warm. Join this insightful panel discussion on strategies for maintaining consistent communication and engagement with potential candidates — even when a company is not actively hiring — including tips and examples for ensuring candidates remain interested in future opportunities when the freeze lifts:
- regular updates on company developments;
- sharing relevant industry insights;
- and fostering a positive relationship.
2:00 pm PDT
Day Two Concludes
Day 3 — EBrandCon
Thursday, July 24, 2025
8:15–8:30 am PDT
Opening Remarks (Read More)
Join our amazing host Dwane Lay for a warm welcome to day three, EBrandCon!
8:30–9:10 am PDT
Keynote
10 Game-Changing Employer Branding Tips (Read More)
With a title like that, I know what you're expecting: "Create advocates!" and "Make more content!" Nope. This is NOT going to be that kind of session.
This is going to be more of a "flip the tables over and set fire to the entire industry" session. The kind that may completely change your mind about what employer branding can be and do at your company.
In this provocative and brutally honest presentation, we'll challenge everything you've been told about employer branding. We'll expose why 95% of employer branding deliverables are expensive decoration that recruiters never use, why the standard six-month timeline is a revenue strategy (not a necessity), and why your generic "great culture" claims are killing your response rates.
It's time to have your assumptions challenged and leave with practical strategies that will fundamentally change how you approach employer branding—transforming it from a cost center into a competitive advantage that drives revenue, reduces costs, and accelerates growth.
Warning: Side effects may include the sudden urge to completely rebuild your recruiting strategy and uncomfortable questions for your current branding agency.
9:15–9:55 am PDT
The State of Talent Attraction: Identify Current Trends Shaping the Industry Today (Read More)
Session details coming soon!
9:45–10:00 am PDT
Break
10:00–10:40 am PDT
Crafting a Candidate Experience That Stands Out (Read More)
Talent Acquisition leaders can ditch the cookie-cutter playbook and create experiences that candidates will remember as candidates but also as future brand advocates. This session is all about keeping hiring human — by balancing creativity and technology, transparency, a bit of creative flair, and aligning a creative and engaging candidate experience that mirrors your onboarding and employee experience — with the ultimate goal of increasing candidate and employee satisfaction.
10:45–11:25 am PDT
Attract and Engage Gen Z Talent (Read More)
The conditions defining Gen Z's experience are unlike any before. Traditional employee engagement models, leadership paradigms, and work-life-balance frameworks were not built for a generation that expects psychological safety, demands flexibility, and prioritizes well-being alongside professional growth.
With over two billion Gen Zers globally, around 70 million in the US alone, most conversations about them are primarily shaped by generational stereotypes. Today we hear directly from them. We believe you’ll appreciate their perspective which will aid in building high performing workplace teams.
Marketing Psychology Graduate Student
11:30–11:45 am PDT
Networking Break
11:45 am–12:25 pm PDT
Curate the Story of Your Company's Identity: EB Storytelling Strategies (Read More)
Employer brand storytelling isn’t about spinning a good tale—it’s about shaping perception, influencing behaviour, and forging connection at scale. In this session, Crystal Miller Lay—award-winning strategist and CEO of GBS Companies—breaks down how to craft an employer brand narrative rooted in the science of I/O psychology, fueled by positive psychology, and designed for real-world hiring results.
You’ll learn how to:
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Build psychologically resonant messaging that aligns to organisational goals and talent motivations.
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Infuse storytelling with positive psychology to spotlight strengths, foster emotional engagement, and elevate employer brand perception.
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Design story systems that are inclusive, emotionally intelligent, and scalable across platforms.
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Avoid the trap of generic brand content by tapping into behavioral data and your actual employee experience.
This isn’t fluff. It’s the science-backed, story-smart approach your brand needs to stand out in a market overwhelmed by sameness. If your company says it’s different, it’s time to show it—through better employer brand storytelling.
12:30–1:10 pm PDT
You have Finally Embraced AI – Now What? Mastering the Human-Machine Partnership (Read More)
In this session we'll explore how to overcome resistance to AI tools, identify where human judgment still matters most, and adapt your candidate experience for the AI age. You'll leave with practical frameworks for change management, strategies for balancing speed with quality, and techniques for maintaining authentic connections while leveraging AI efficiency.
Perfect for anyone navigating AI implementation or looking to optimize existing tools.
1:15–2:00 pm PDT
Panel Discussion
The Future of Employer Branding: 2025 Trends and Beyond (Read More)
In this panel discussion, engage with talent branding leaders on the key trends and challenges of today. Bring your questions and get ready for live Q&A!
2:00 pm PDT
Day Three Concludes
Day 4 — Trends & Challenges in Talent Attraction
Friday, July 25, 2025
8:15–8:30 am PDT
Opening Remarks (Read More)
Join us this final day of TA Week 2025! Our gracious host, Jackye Clayton, will guide you through the day of learning and sharing the latest in trends and challenges currently facing the talent attraction industry.
8:30–9:10 am PDT
5 Trends & Strategies for Engaging Early Talent (Read More)
9:15–9:55 am PDT
Thought Leadership
2025 Mid-Year Recruiting Trends (Read More)
Recruiting over the past year has been difficult as hiring plans change and uncertainty hangs in the air. Join Appcast for the session, 2025 Mid-Year Recruiting Trends, for a deep dive into the trends that will shape the rest of the year in recruiting to help you look ahead and prepare for what the future could bring.
Tune in to understand how US-based economic policies will impact hiring, discover new tools and strategies to close gaps in your talent pipeline, and learn what you should be aware of for the remainder of the year.
9:45–10:00 a.m. PDT
Networking Break
10:00–10:40 am PDT
Rethinking Talent Attraction: Steps to More Accessible and Inclusive Hiring Practices (Read More)
We all know by now that a diverse and inclusive workforce benefits businesses and organizations. An inclusive interview process is critical since the interview is often the first face-to-face interaction candidates have with your business.
Join this session for practical tips on how to make the experience more equitable and welcoming for everyone, so you can increase your chances of attracting a truly diverse team.
10:45–11:25 am PDT
Thought Leadership
The State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Talent Attraction
11:30 am–12:10 pm PDT
Tips, Tricks, and Tools for a Successful Sourcing Strategy (Read More)
In this session you will learn some of the newest tips, tricks and tools to take your recruiting and sourcing to the next level. Tips will include Boolean use to tear apart any social site. Tricks on how to get info from a site even when it's blurred. Tools that can do it all, for free or low cost. All this and more.
Sourcing Specialist
12:15–1:00 pm PDT
Panel Discussion
Transformation of Talent Attraction through Technological Innovation and the Practical Impacts on Candidates and Employers
1:00 pm PDT
Day Four Concludes