AI & Keeping the Human Touch in Recruiting

Cisso Bean & Dutch reached out to Amanda Piriano to get her thoughts on AI and high-touch recruiting, especially from the perspective of a recruiting research firm. Roland Hearns, Principal at Cisso Bean & Dutch HR Consultants has worked with Amanda and Thorn Network over the years and thought she would be the ideal person to offer her perspective. The blog that follows highlights Thorn Network’s (now Thorn Recruitment) high touch model and Amanda’s candidate focused approach. See Amanda’s bio at the end of this blog! We wish to thank Amanda for being a part of our Guest Blogger Series.

What do we talk about when we talk about recruiting?

For many of us, any conversation about talent acquisition is implicitly a conversation about algorithms, automation, and AI. That last one is particularly top of mind for most. And it makes sense: after all, AI-powered platforms promise to revolutionize recruiting by sourcing and screening candidates at a scale and speed previously unimaginable.

But scale and speed aren’t the whole picture! In some ways, it’s helpful to think of AI as a “force multiplier.” Matching the right person with the right role has a qualitative side that’s crucially important. Sidelining the human element entirely might mean achieving results you don’t want…or making mistakes at scale in record time!

So what is the solution? How can we make use of these powerful new tools without losing the “human touch” that best recruiting practices require?

In my experiences over the years at Thorn Recruitment, my philosophy was always built on relationship recruiting and client-centricity. For this blog, we’ll explore how AI tools and human ingenuity can bring out the best in all involved in the talent acquisition process.

A Legacy of Connection

After college, I was lucky enough to enter into the recruitment research industry to learn from the best, even without a computer! After a couple of years into the industry, I quickly moved up the ranks, became owner and moved from Chicago to Dallas to grow the business. My business was built on a principle that feels almost radical today: technology is an exceptional tool for organization, but genuine, personal interaction is the non-negotiable key to successful recruitment of the top passive talent.

We intentionally used a model that has earned the trust of clients nationwide. This model was centered around two core insights:

• The top passive talent is not held in databases, they are working for top competitors and need to be approached with a high personal Great software can sort by keywords, it cannot understand a company’s culture or a candidate’s unspoken motivations. At Thorn, each search started fresh without relying on databases of names, which often had no connection to a search.

Although your talent network is built over time, the true strength lies not so much in its size, but in the quality of the connections within it.

• Technology is strictly in service of this human-centric mission. It organizes a world of candidates by company, project, position, and location, creating an orderly framework so that its expert (your) recruiters can do the real work of engagement.

It’s All About High-Touch Recruiting

From my experience in talent acquisition, particularly in finding the elusive “purple squirrel” talent that ignores conventional outreach, it’s due to its methodical and human-driven process. Our focus was always on handling the first three-fourths of the retained executive search process, focusing energy where human expertise is most critical. Four key steps in high- touch recruiting follows:

1. The Foundation: Identification and Strategy
   Thorn search begins with a conversation.
   • The team invests significant time upfront to understand not just the position’s requirements, but the client’s organizational DNA—its mission, culture and values, objectives, and management style.
   • This deep, consultative dive allows us to work as a seamless extension of the client’s internal team.
   • Based on this close understanding, we collaborate to build a bespoke research strategy, mapping out the search with a clear, mutual grasp of scope, direction, and potential challenges.
2. The Investigation: Methodical Targeting
   With a clear strategy, Thorn’s researchers employ a disciplined approach to identify and source passive talent from targeted organizations.
   • This is not a simple keyword search! And although LinkedIn is a wonderful tool, Thorn utilizes other alternatives such as professional organizations, University alumni groups, local chambers of commerce, boolean string searches and networking with key leaders.
   • Rather, it is an investigative process that combines deep market knowledge with relentless curiosity to uncover the names and titles of ideal candidates who are not actively looking for a new role.

3. The Connection: The Power of the Interview
   This is the heart of the Thorn model.
   • Thorn’s experts directly contact potential candidates via the phone, email, texting with the goal of conducting in-depth telephone interviews designed to do far more than verify a resume.
   • In these conversations, we build rapport, establish trust, and assess the subtle qualifications—ambition, cultural fit, leadership potential—that an algorithm cannot parse.
   • This personal touch is indispensable for the hundreds of annual confidential searches, where discretion and a trusted human voice are paramount to approaching high-level talent without revealing the client’s identity.
4. The Presentation: Curated Selection
   Finally, Thorn presents the client with detailed profiles of candidates who are not only fully qualified but also genuinely interested.
   • The client then takes over for the final stages: face-to-face interviews, background checks, and negotiations.
   • The handoff is a transfer of trust; Thorn delivers a slate of thoroughly vetted individuals, enabling the client to focus their energy on the final decision.

The Right Tool for the Job

When I ventured out to start my own recruiting research firm, the talent acquisition landscape was very different (remember paper resumes that were sent by mail or faxed?). It’s been my experience that the most powerful tool in recruiting is not a faster algorithm, but a deeper conversation…a human connection. In an era racing even beyond automation, I’m reminded that to find the best people, you must connect with them as people first. Perhaps Jeff Moore, VP of Talent Acquisition at Toast, said it best “Never forget that behind every resume is a person who deserves respect and consideration throughout the hiring process.”

 For 35 years, Amanda Piriano and her team at Thorn, a nationally recognized leader in recruitment research, have championed the human element in every interaction. In an era increasingly shaped by technology and AI, Thorn remains grounded in what matters most: people. Amanda’s unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional candidate and client experiences has positioned Thorn as a trusted partner across industries. Their approach blends data-driven insight with genuine connection, ensuring that every search is not just strategic, but deeply personal. For more on Amanda, visit her LinkedIn profile here.