Edan Haddock - Total Talent 🇦🇺

LinkedIn used to be a professional networking platform.  Now? It feels more like performance art. In this episode of Edan Haddock - Total Talent, Edan unpacks the strange evolution of LinkedIn and what it’s doing to Recruitment, Talent Acquisition and leadership culture. From recruiter influencers and AI-generated thought leadership to performative vulnerability, personal branding and the rise of...

This week on Edan Haddock – Total Talent, Edan takes Talent Acquisition somewhere unexpected… Eurovision. As Australia steps onto the world stage once again, Edan explores why Australian Talent Acquisition still seems to seek permission to belong in the global conversation. From the dominance of the US and UK, to the rise of markets like Singapore and the Netherlands, this episode breaks down who...

In this episode of Edan Haddock - Total Talent , Edan Haddock explores why traditional workforce planning models are breaking in the era of AI and Workforce 5.0. As technology rapidly reshapes jobs and capability needs, Edan argues workforce planning can no longer sit solely between HR and Finance. Enter the “Workforce Triangle” - HR, Finance and Technology designing the future of work together. T...

In this episode, Edan Haddock unpacks Design Thinking through the Double Diamond model and why Talent Acquisition needs to stop jumping straight to hiring… and start designing better outcomes. Most TA teams are solving the wrong problem, just very efficiently. A role gets opened, a brief gets taken, and the machine kicks off without ever really understanding what’s broken underneath. This episode...

In this episode, Edan Haddock challenges the future of Talent Acquisition and whether it even has one. As AI, hiring managers, and access to talent reshape the hiring landscape, TA isn’t being replaced overnight… it’s being quietly stripped back. But the real tension? It’s not just external disruption. It’s that TA backed the wrong future. From the rise (and quiet stall) of skills marketplaces to...

In this episode, Edan Haddock calls out one of Talent’s biggest blind spots - EVP. For years, organisations have invested heavily in crafting the perfect Employer Value Proposition. But in a world where truth is decentralised, candidates no longer rely on what companies say… they rely on what employees share. So what happens when you don’t control the narrative anymore? Edan unpacks the shift from...

In this episode, Edan Haddock takes aim at one of the most outdated beliefs in hiring: that candidates who “move around a lot” are a problem. What if they’re not? From the collapse of traditional career paths to the rise of Workforce 5.0 and portfolio careers, Edan explores why the idea of loyalty tied to tenure no longer holds up and why Talent leaders might be filtering out exactly the people th...

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,...

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 diff...

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,...

In this episode, Edan Haddock dives into one of the most heated debates in modern work: return-to-office, hybrid, and working from home. Rather than taking sides in the location debate, Edan argues that the entire conversation is missing the real issue. The problem isn’t where people work. It’s how we measure work. Edan explores why he has always believed in Work/Life Integration rather than Work/...

In this episode, Edan Haddock explores a difficult but necessary conversation for HR and Talent teams: bias inside our own profession. HR spends a lot of time helping leaders understand bias in hiring, promotion and performance decisions. But the deeper question is rarely asked. What bias exists inside HR itself? Edan explores the different types of bias that appear in Talent Acquisition and Peopl...

In this episode, Edan challenges one of the biggest assumptions in Talent Acquisition: that more automation means less humanity. After years of digitising applications, scorecards and reference checks to survive scale, AI is now removing the manual admin that justified those systems in the first place. If the work disappears, what’s left for recruiters? Using reference checks as the anchor, Edan e...

In this episode, Edan pulls apart the engagement survey playbook and asks a tough question: is it driving performance, or just collecting complaints? As engagement increasingly moves into Talent functions, Edan explains why this shift matters and why Talent teams are uniquely positioned to turn engagement from a reactive survey into a predictive, strategic lever. He dives into the structural flaws...

In this episode, Edan Haddock shares his perspective on the growing culture of audits, rankings, and public critique within the Talent industry. He explores how this trend can create fear, discourage experimentation, and push organisations toward safe, bland approaches rather than authentic ones. Edan argues that there is no universal best practice in Talent, only what is real and true for your or...

In this episode of the Total Talent Podcast, host Edan Haddock dives into the future of Talent in Australia and why our HR industry is leading the global transformation. From the electric energy of ATC at Fed Square to the reflective strategic depth of Ashton Media’s HR Retreat at Cape Schanck, Edan explores how homegrown events are shaping a new era in workforce design. He takes listeners behind...

AI-generated résumés. Voice-cloned interviews. Dark-web fraud rings plotting to infiltrate your payroll. Sounds like a cyber-thriller, right? This episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent rips the mask off the panic narrative and calls out the fearmongering. Candidate fraud isn’t new, and organisations with strong hiring fundamentals already shut most of it down without breaking a sweat. Edan argues...

Edan Haddock dives deep into the messy reality of boundaries in modern Talent work. From 24/7 LinkedIn messages to global-time-zone burnout, he calls out the culture of constant availability - and offers raw, practical ways to protect your energy, your creativity, and your career. A sharp, honest, rock-and-roll reminder that doing meaningful work starts with respecting your own limits. 🎙️ 30 Days....

In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan Haddock takes Talent teams behind the curtain on how to research, design, and select a Talent Tech Stack that actually works. Forget the glossy vendor pitches and consultant playbooks — Edan lays down practical, no-nonsense tips that cut through the noise. He unpacks why every stack should start with the HRIS, how to test platforms through a to...

In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan takes a sledgehammer to one of the most toxic myths in Talent Acquisition: that leaders in 2025 must “do more with less.” Instead, he flips the script — showing how the future of TA is about working smarter, not harder. Edan dives deep into the productivity revolution, exploring how AI agents, smarter HRIS platforms, and integrated talent ecosy...

Skills-based hiring was once the rebel of recruitment. It tore down degree snobbery, broke open new talent pools, and promised a fairer future of work.  But in Workforce 5.0, it’s already obsolete. In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan rips into the myth of skills-based hiring, explains why static skills frameworks don’t survive in a world of AI and fluid roles, and lays out his th...

In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan dives deep into a simple but powerful framework for building a Talent Acquisition and People Experience strategy: Partner → Inform → Transform. Drawing on a recent Movember Strategy Day as a live case study, Edan shows how his team built trust ( Partner ), used insights and storytelling ( Inform ), and created bold, practical change ( Transform...

In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan dives deep into the hot topic of blind resumes and blind job applications. Sparked by two recent experiences—one colleague curious after reading about blind resumes, and a leading survey that framed them as “best practice”—Edan unpacks both sides of the debate. He explores the promise of blind applications in reducing bias, but also the pitfall...

Host Edan Haddock unpacks how Talent Acquisition teams can step into the driver’s seat of succession planning. Edan breaks succession planning into two sides of the coin: The Person – using the 6-Box Talent Grid to assess performance and potential, and identify who’s ready now and who’s still developing. The Role – using the Role Criticality vs Vacancy Risk matrix to understand which positions pos...

In this episode of Edan Haddock – Total Talent , Edan unpacks the results of a recent LinkedIn poll on Agentic AI in recruitment interviewing – and the Talent Acquisition community is split. While some teams are already using or testing AI tools, nearly half said “No Way.” Edan explores why this divide exists, the real benefits AI can deliver for candidates – from flexibility and accessibility to...