"Jobs near me" has been the most common job search for 20 years, and with the introduction of AI, it's on the verge of disappearing. Candidates have stopped typing keywords. They're asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude for jobs that fit their experience, their schedules and their lives. If your jobs aren't in the handful of answers those tools give, candidates never see you. And because the AI platforms share no search data, most employers have no idea what candidates are asking. In this episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host AJ Selvey of DirectEmployers Association sits down with Ben Russell, co-founder of SonicJobs, to talk about what's changed, the misconceptions costing employers good candidates, and how CareerGPT brings a ChatGPT-style conversation to your existing career site without replacing your website or ATS. Ben also shares early CareerGPT data showing that more than half of candidate conversations lead to an application start.

What you'll learn:

• Why "jobs near me" may soon disappear as candidates move to natural-language search
• Why being left out of AI answers makes employers invisible to job seekers
• How good and bad application friction affect completion rates
• How CareerGPT adds conversational AI to your existing career site without an ATS overhaul
• Why future career sites will need to serve both candidates and AI agents

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As of September 21, 2026, a Final rule from the OFCCP removed three long-standing Section 503 requirements for federal contractors: the 7% utilization goal, the related annual data analysis, and the CC-305 disability self-identification form. In this episode, guest host PJ Rossi of Forte Advisory Group and HR Compliance Consultant at DirectEmployers talks with disability advocate Felicia Nurmsen, Founder of Inclusion Without Illusion, about what the change means in practice, bringing together an HR compliance practitioner view and an advocacy view on the same set of questions: how employers might approach measurement and accountability without a required benchmark, the distinction between self-identification and disclosure and what that means for employees with non-apparent disabilities, how AI-driven hiring tools intersect with accessibility and accommodation, and how employers and their nonprofit and workforce-agency partners might evaluate their recruitment relationships going forward.

This podcast is for general discussion purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice.

In this episode of the DE Talk Podcast, host Shannon Offord sits down with Sam Fitzroy, co-founder and CEO of candidate conversion platform, Dalia. Bringing over 15 years of industry experience—including key leadership roles at Indeed and The Muse—Fitzroy offers a candid look at the friction points plaguing modern recruitment. Together, they break down the flaws of volume-based hiring models, the impact of AI auto-apply tools flooding applicant tracking systems, and why making job applications overly complex harms both candidates and employers. Fitzroy also shares how talent acquisition teams can optimize content for generative AI search engines and previews Dalia’s upcoming candidate-support initiative designed to ensure job seekers never feel alone in their search.