Guest Author: Adam Gordon, Co-Founder, Poetry, the recruiter enablement workspace

Recruitment is evolving, aligning more closely than ever with sales and marketing in its processes, technology, and strategies. This isn’t new—it’s a direction we’ve been heading for years.

As I wrote back in 2020 in "Recruitment Marketing Blackjack," for Recruiting Daily, the crossover between recruitment and marketing is undeniable. But what’s taken longer is recruitment’s adoption of marketing’s robust tools and enablement infrastructure. While these advancements are now on our doorstep, recruiters and talent acquisition (TA) leaders must close the gap to catch up with the high-performing sales and marketing teams of today.

For some time, I wondered if the evaluation of talent was the unique differentiator in recruitment—similar to the qualification process in sales. But on closer inspection, both areas focus on identifying and engaging the right “fit,” whether a candidate or a client. So why is TA behind?

The truth lies in market size and economics. Any groundbreaking technology typically goes to sales and marketing first, where the stakes are higher and the budgets bigger. After all, the recruitment software market is around $10 billion, while marketing technology alone surpasses $344 billion. As Steven Long, a seasoned recruiter and influence coach, explains, “When you’re building relationships with both candidates and hiring managers, it’s about precision in communication and process. Sales got there first, but recruitment has the same potential for influence.”

The Delta: Recruitment Enablement vs. Sales Enablement  

OMERS Ventures recently highlighted the parallels between the recruitment and sales stacks, noting, “The core premise of our thesis on the recruiting stack is that talent acquisition organizations of the future will resemble the high-performing sales organizations of today. Recruiting Ops is a requirement, not a luxury.” Today, TA leaders have a massive opportunity to close the gap by building frameworks and investing in recruiting enablement—strategies and tools that support recruiters with training, technology, and centralized resources. 

In my experience running focus groups across TA functions, I discovered that recruitment has become more marketing-led than ever, requiring recruiters to be skilled marketers, writers, and communicators. As Kat Symons, Global Talent Enablement Lead at Wise, shares, “For me, it’s about enabling recruiters to do their best work through standardized tools and consistent processes that enhance the candidate and hiring manager experience.”

Yet many TA teams still lack centralized resources for common recruiting needs like social media copy, InMail templates, and job ads. During a recent focus group, one talent acquisition manager revealed that on a single day, three recruiters on her team created and posted different versions of the same job ad—one good, one average, one poor. As Kat further explains, “A consistent toolkit, like our recruiting playbook at Wise, helps recruiters deliver a high-standard candidate experience and minimizes unnecessary work.”

The Training Gap 

Another glaring issue in TA is the lack of effective onboarding. The phrase “thrown in at the deep end” came up frequently in my focus groups, with new recruiters receiving minimal on-the-job guidance. Many are expected to start calling candidates immediately, often without a solid understanding of the systems and tools they need to succeed. 

Angelo Pancho, a recruitment enablement expert and principal here at the Talent Upskill community, emphasized, “We need to go step-by-step with training, regardless of a recruiter’s experience. When we introduce new technology or processes, I make sure my training is accessible and takes into account everyone’s varying levels of expertise.” 

The Resource Puzzle 

In addition to insufficient training, recruiters often lack access to necessary resources or are overwhelmed by niche tools. As Ben Aber, Recruiting Operations Lead at Google Fiber, notes, “Enablement isn’t just putting a process in place; it’s helping recruiters bring their full potential to life by minimizing time on admin and focusing on relationship-building with candidates.” This mirrors mainstream sales, where companies have invested heavily in enablement platforms like Seismic and Highspot for over a decade.

As we evolve our recruitment processes, the talent tech landscape should begin mirroring that of sales and marketing. Aspect43’s Sarah White recently shared on LinkedIn, “Much like sales enablement is a vital part of your business strategy, I firmly believe we’re on the cusp of a massive shift in how talent acquisition teams are trained, supported, and developed. Sales and marcom-inspired tech is reaching across the aisle, looking to understand TA.”

As TA leaders, we now have the opportunity to follow the sales and marketing blueprint, creating a holistic enablement strategy that encompasses training, standardized tools, and tech integration.

The goal?

To elevate recruitment into a sophisticated, marketing-aligned discipline—no longer just catching up but setting its own standards in the workplace.

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