CFOs Are Buying Bots, Not Bodies

Signal Summary: CFOs are deliberately trading headcount for automation, bad news for staffing firms already bleeding temp volume. Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts are slapping "underperform" on the biggest names in recruiting as AI threatens to cut staffing firms out of the hiring loop entirely. And the guy who invented the online job posting just declared his own creation brain-dead. Plus, three calls. Zero good news. One very guilty recruiter.

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HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK ↓

SIGNAL 1
CFOs Want Robots, Not Recruiters

The budget numbers are in. Bodies are losing to bots.

The pivot:

• 75% of CFOs expect bigger tech budgets in 2026 - 48% anticipating 10%+ increases

• Headcount growth expectations collapsed from 6% in 2025 to just 2% in 2026

• Only 21% of CFOs plan staff increases of 4–9%, down from 31% last year

The translation: CFOs aren't confused about the economy - they're deliberately swapping headcount for automation. "Productivity gains without proportional headcount increases" is the new corporate mantra, and they're not apologizing for it.

Signal → Strategy: Target CFO-adjacent contacts at tech, banking, and healthcare - the sectors spending fastest. Position your firm as the bridge to specialized talent while their automation rollouts are still half-baked and incomplete.

Go deeper: CFO Dive – Gartner IT Budget Report

SIGNAL 2
AI Is Coming for Your Placement Fees

The robots aren't just taking jobs - they're taking the jobs of the people who fill jobs.

The threat is real:

• AI now screens résumés, ranks applicants, and runs preliminary interviews without recruiters

• Temp workers are 40% more likely to hold roles at high risk of automation than the broader workforce

• Upwork generates $595M gross profit with ~600 employees; Robert Half needs 14,700 to generate $2.25B - do that math

The gut punch: Analysts at Jefferies and BNP Paribas have slapped "underperform" ratings on Robert Half, PageGroup, and Adecco. Wall Street is already pricing in the disruption. "Disruption from automation has taken some volumes that will never return."

Signal → Strategy: Consider a pivot toward blue-collar and industrial clients - ManpowerGroup says those roles show more AI resilience. White-collar generalist recruiting is the red zone. Know which side of that line your book of business sits on before your clients figure it out first.

Go deeper: SIA – Could AI Disrupt Staffing Firms?

SIGNAL 3
The Résumé Is Dead. Monster.com's Founder Killed It.

The guy who invented the online job posting just declared his own creation obsolete. Bold move.

The announcement:

• Jeff Taylor, Monster.com founder, launched Boomband - an AI-native marketplace replacing résumés and job descriptions with rich candidate "dossiers"

• Résumés are "a pile of keywords" that AI doesn't actually want - it wants a "dump truck of information."

• Closed a $4M seed round; launching March 2026

The zinger: Taylor literally said résumé and job posting are "at end of life." The man put the first résumé on the internet and now he's eulogizing it. Pour one out.

Signal → Strategy: Investigate Boomband and similar AI-native platforms as early integration partners. Staffing firms that help clients interpret richer candidate profiles will outlast firms just shuffling PDFs between ATS systems.

Go deeper: HR Brew – Monster.com Founder Launches Boomband

RECRUITING CONFESSIONAL
Three Calls. Zero Good News. One Very Guilty Recruiter.

Recruiting Confessional A weekly series featuring anonymous stories from recruiting and staffing professionals. Submit yours here.

The Setup: Standard follow-up calls to candidates who'd gone radio silent. Just another Tuesday in industrial staffing.

The Disasters: Called a candidate who ghosted me twice and sent a polite "sorry to see you go" message. Turns out she hadn't ghosted - she'd fallen off a third-floor balcony and was in the hospital. For the record, I had literally said "she better have fallen off a roof" when she stood me up. I manifested it. I will never say that again. Called a second candidate - told he'd just been arrested. Called a third, a colleague of the first two at the same place - he had been murdered. 😕

The Aftermath: Three calls. Three catastrophes. One very quiet afternoon of existential reflection.

Have a story? Submit it here

WEEKLY POLL

SHARE THE SIGNALS
3 people you should share these signals with:

1. Your client contact at a tech or healthcare company quietly replacing headcount with software

2. Your sales rep who's still pitching white-collar generalist recruiting like it's 2019

3. The recruiter on your team who still leads every conversation with "send me your résumé"