James MeinckePodcasts – Apple led the charge a number of years ago in making user-generated audio more available. Since then they’ve only gotten more popular. In fact, in a 2018 survey, over 25% of people reported listening to a podcast the previous month.
This American Life, Serial, and WTF are just a few of the blockbusters that have led the way – but while those tend to be more entertaining than educational, podcasts are more than just a fun way to pass the time. In other words, podcasts are great for both personal and professional development, too – and you can sneak in some extra learning just about anywhere.
But the best part? They’re free, giving you an inexpensive and convenient way to invest in yourself as a hiring manager. We dug through the piles of recruiting and HR podcasts and came up with a list of some of the best ones out there.
1. Hiring On All Cylinders – Rob Stevenson of Entelo
Hiring On All Cylinders is a weekly podcast powered by Entelo that covers topics in recruiting, hiring, and everything that spans the distance between them. Hosted by Rob Stevenson and various other members of Entelo’s talent team. Each week is a sit-down with some of the recruiting world’s best: people like Booking.com’s Jen Boulanger or recruitHER’s Ashley Doyal, alongside influencers like Stacy Zapar.
Each podcast dissects pain points, solutions, and trends, as well as expert hiring tips, commentary, and real-world examples.
Recommended episode: Marvin Stickel’s D&I Taskforce. In it Marvin talks about forming Google’s first diversity-focused sourcing task force.
2. The Talent Cast – James Ellis
The Talent Cast may just be the most fun recruitment podcast out there. Host James Ellis talks about the myriad of different aspects of recruiting for the 21st century – in a straightforward, open way. Much of what he discusses has to do with employer branding and recruitment marketing. If you’re in need of a smile, but want to learn how to “punch above your weight in the war for talent” – this is the one for you.
Recommended episode: Episode 041 — Recruiting Happiness?. James talks about whether recruiters can actually expect “such a thing as recruiting happiness”.
3. Recruiting Future – Matt Alder
Recruiting Future 
is a podcast for recruiters, by recruiters. Hosted by talent consultant Matt Alder, in each weekly episode Alder interviews thought leaders and practitioners in the industry, especially on topics of innovation and “futurology” in HR. But really, no topic in talent acquisition is off-limits, from in-house recruiting, to global talent branding and even people analytics.
Recruiting Future is one of the most substantial, best-produced recruiting podcasts out there. It provides an effortless way to stay abreast of the latest trends and topics on your morning commute. And with a handy text-summary of each episode, you can grab the highlights when you’re in a hurry, too.
Recommended episode: Ep. 68: How To Source The Very Best Talent. Matt dives deep on the role of sourcing in corporate recruiting with guest Chris Shaw of Meteor.
4. Renegade Recruiter – Terry Edwards
The Renegade Recruiter – Terry Edwards – offers a fast, fun, and brash podcast. Although specializing in agency recruiting, Edwards often veers from that area into overall business building and growth. So if you’ve got entrepreneurial ambitions, this is a great podcast for you.
Recommended episode: #65: Why Good Recruiters Struggle. Terry discusses his first years as an independent recruiter and lessons learned.
5. Recruiters Live Lounge – Roy Ripper
Recruiters Live Lounge
with Roy Ripper takes a unique angle on HR learning: rather than focus on the latest trends or technology, it’s all about sharing inspiring and motivational stories from successful recruitment leaders. Episode titles like The Right Mindset for Success and Loving What You Do say it all.
But arguably the best thing about Recruiters Live Lounge is the type of stories it includes. Interviews don’t just focus on the successes of guests, or how they do things – rather, time is spent on challenges they faced, failures, and eureka moments. A great listen when you need a boost.
Recommended episode: 3: Alice Weightman talks about the importance of passion, energy and drive.
6. HR Happy Hour – Steve Boese & Trish McFarlane
HR Happy Hour is the longest-running and most-downloaded HR podcast available to date. Co-host Steve Boese is the Co-chair of the HR Technology Conference, and the other co-host is Trish McFarlane, author of the HR Ringleader blog and a speaker. Between the two, they often host expert guests and discuss emerging trends, new tactics, strategies for improving company culture and more – anything related to HR, management, leadership, and workforce tech.
On the shorter side, they’re a great listen on your commute or while running errands.
Recommended episode: HR Happy Hour 123 ‘Next Generation HR Service Delivery’. Steve and Trish talk about adapting to meet the rising challenges caused by increased global competition.
7. The Recruitment Leaders’ Podcast – Lisa Jones & Wayne Barclay
The Recruitment Leaders’ Podcast
is powered by Barclay Jones, an agency that specializes in technology and social media for recruitment, focuses on just that: recruitment technology solutions and developments there. But even if you’re not very interested in that space, it’s still a great listen: hosted by Lisa Jones and Wayne Barclay, the podcast features interviews with top influencers and providers.
Topics typically cover account-based recruiting, innovation in recruitment, and GDPR for recruiters, among others.
Recommended episode: Barclay Jones – Making Recruiters More Successful. Topics discussed: personal brand, candidate loyalty problem, practical hacks, and more.
8. Recruiting Daily
Recruiting Daily is a network of blogs, conferences, webinars, and more, all on topics related to recruiting – so you’ve probably already heard of them, and it shouldn’t be surprising that they have a podcast, too. Topics range from building a sourcing community, to retaining candidates during the interview process – and everything in between.
Recommended episode: Are Robots Replacing Recruiters? Hell No with Amy Miller and Mike Wolford. A genuine discussion on how AI won’t kill recruiting.
9. Human Capital Institute
The Human Capital Institute brings in experts – authors, academics, and from fortune 1,000 – to speak about trends and strategies in HR. Each episode is like a case study in miniature, which makes this a great podcast to gain detailed information on how top people in the industry are handling problems, adapting, and evolving to keep up with market demands. Topics vary from talent acquisition, engagement, and retention, to people analytics and development.
HCI’s podcast is a great one for taking yourself to the next level, or finding out how you can overcome a specific tactical pain point.
Recommended episode: Activity to Outcome How to form your D&I Strategy. Judith Williams of SAP talks building a successful D&I strategy and practices to avoid.
10. HBR Ideacast
HBR Ideacast’s weekly podcast brings in leading thinkers in business and management from Harvard Business Review. Although it covers hiring and HR extensively, their 600+ episode library covers the gamut of business insights and topics. So while HBR Ideacast has great HR episodes on topics like How Google Manages Talent, or Fixing the College Grad Hiring Process, you can get some solid crossover from episodes like How To Negotiate Better, How To Give Constructive Feedback, or How to Conduct Great Interviews.
There’s a lot to learn about hiring, HR, and business skills in general that can improve your hiring game.
Recommended episode: 644: Managing Someone Who’s Too Collaborative. Rebecca Shambaugh talks about the dangers of “too much collaboration” and managing people who are too collaborative.
Wrapping up
Podcasts are nothing new – whether for entertainment or professional development – but they may be new to you. You can listen to them just about anywhere, anytime – during busy work, commutes, workouts, making breakfast, doing laundry… the list goes on.
And with the myriad benefits to be gained by keeping your finger on the pulse of the industry, do yourself a big favor: subscribe to one of the podcasts above and start learning. You just might pick up some tips that help you hire your next top performer.
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