RecTalk at RecFest UK: Is Agency Recruitment Making a Comeback? | Mike Peditto

RecTalk is live from RecFest UK, with Nitin Sharma and Sean Kennedy joined by Mike Peditto — one of the most recognisable voices creating content around recruitment, HR and careers.Mike is an active Director of Recruiting, consultant and content creator with an audience of around 400,000 followers across LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram. In this episode, the conversation goes well beyond the usual recruitment-event chat.Mike shares his perspective on the differences between recruitment in the US and UK, why recruiters and Talent Acquisition teams are often misunderstood, and why agency recruitment could be heading for a resurgence in the US.The discussion explores how an oversaturated candidate market, fake CVs and huge volumes of applicants are creating new challenges for internal recruitment teams — and why a genuinely specialist agency partner can potentially cut through the noise and identify the people worth speaking to.Mike, Nitin and Sean also discuss the importance of niche recruitment and why the tech hiring market shouldn't be treated as a proxy for recruitment as a whole. While technology has experienced significant layoffs, sectors including healthcare, construction and hospitality can tell a very different story.They also tackle the growing number of UK recruitment agencies looking to enter the US market, asking whether international agencies should be seen as competition or simply as another potential source of great candidates and recruitment expertise.And, as you would expect from a conversation recorded live at RecFest, there's plenty of banter along the way — from the very different cultures of RecFest UK and RecFest US to recruitment events, content creation and the realities of being a recruiter.Most importantly, Mike finishes with a message that will resonate with recruiters everywhere: find your people. Recruitment can be an isolating profession, particularly when you're working remotely or feel undervalued by the business. Building a community and staying connected with other recruiters can make a huge difference.GUEST — Mike Peditto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeditto/HOSTSSean Kennedy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanthetaguy/Nitin Sharma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitin-rectools/SPONSORED BYNOVA by Dweet — Define what good looks like. Screen, source, and shortlist talent automatically. Nova works with your hiring team to build structured scoring criteria for each role, then screens every applicant, resurfaces past candidates, and finds new ones automatically.https://nova.dweet.com/Zyverno — builds Frontline Hiring Intelligence for logistics, care, hospitality and retail: the sectors where a single vacancy can attract hundreds of applications that never get properly assessed. Its AI agent, Lina, conducts structured screening interviews against manager-defined criteria and returns ranked, scored shortlists. Lina screens and ranks. Hiring managers make every decision.https://www.zyverno.app/Screenloop — is the all-in-one ATS built for SMEs. Replace your scattered stack of tools, from ATS to interview intelligence, scheduling, scorecards, and note-taking tools with one intuitive platform. Backed by AI time-saving features and an award-winning support team. That way, you save time, cut tooling costs, and make smarter hiring decisions faster.https://www.screenloop.com/Find out more about RecFest UK: https://recfest.com/uk/Discover recruitment tools and services: https://www.rectools.io/Listen to RecTalk on another platform: https://rectalk.co.uk/#RecTalk #RecFest #Recruitment #Recruiting #TalentAcquisition #HR #AgencyRecruitment #RecruitmentIndustry #RecruitmentMarketing #RecruitmentContent #EmployerBrand #RecTech #Recruiters