Pay used to decide who took the job. Now the first question most candidates ask is whether they can work from home, and companies still writing postings around salary alone are losing candidates before anyone even applies.
Myla Ramos, co-founder and CEO of SearchPros, built the company from a local Sacramento staffing firm into a nearly $175 million global managed service provider. She cut her company's time to hire by 45% using AI while keeping retention above 70%.
In this episode, she covers:
- Why flexible job postings pull in 10 times more applicants than office-only roles, and why candidates will take 30% less pay to get it
- How SearchPros cut time to hire by 45% by pointing AI at candidates it already had, instead of chasing new ones
- What determines whether a new hire survives the first 90 days, and why Ramos calls it a two way responsibility
Timestamps
[00:01:10] Myla's early years making 200 calls a day, and the shift required to stop doing the job yourself so the company can scale
[00:03:45] The origin of "Change the World Tuesday," SearchPros' internal term for rebuilding a broken process by the start of the next week
[00:05:04] The widest gap between what employers say they want and what candidates actually bring to the table right now
[00:08:41] What leaders get wrong about hiring and keeping Gen Z, beyond the usual complaints
[00:09:21] Why SearchPros dropped its call and placement quotas in favor of measuring results
[00:13:08] Why flexible postings draw 10 times more applicants than office-only roles, and why candidates will take 30% less pay for remote work
[00:15:43] The real hiccups of adopting AI in recruiting, and why there's no single tool that does all of it
[00:17:48] How SearchPros uses AI to mine a database of millions of existing resumes instead of chasing new candidate sources
[00:19:44] Why an estimated 85% of applicants inflate their information, and the in-person interview SearchPros added to catch it
[00:24:10] What actually determines whether a new hire survives the first 90 days, and why Ramos treats retention as a two way responsibility
Guest Bio
Myla Ramos is the CEO and Co-Founder of SearchPros, a full service provider of human capital and workforce solutions. A member of the 2024 SIA Global Power 150, Ramos has earned numerous leadership awards, including the Business Journals Most Admired CEO, Power 100, and Women Who Mean Business; and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Outstanding Women Leader of the Year. She is a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Ramos is proudest of SearchPros' "Best Place to Work" recognition from numerous organizations, including Inc., the Sacramento Business Journal, and SIA.
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Keywords: AI in recruiting, staffing industry, talent acquisition, Gen Z hiring, employee retention, flexible work, remote work, managed service provider, recruiter productivity, candidate experience, resume fraud, pay transparency, onboarding, contingent workforce, HR technology, time to hire, work from home, new hire retention
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