Week of April 21st, 2025
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What the NFL Draft Teaches Us in RecOps by Jeremy Lyons
Let’s start with a confession: I’ve never been invited to an NFL war room on draft day (I’d love to be). But as someone who’s spent a career in RecOps, I can’t help but see the parallels between the spectacle of the NFL Draft and the behind-the-scenes work of building high-performing recruiting teams. Especially since the NFL draft might just be the largest candidate debrief ever.
Why do we obsess over the draft?
Because it’s the ultimate exercise in potential versus performance. Every team is chasing that elusive player who will not only fill a gap, but elevate the entire organization. Sound familiar? It should because TA/Recruiting is about chasing the potential (and HM/HR are about getting the most out of their performance). That’s the same game we’re playing in RecOps, just with fewer ESPN cameras and a lot more spreadsheets. We are there to help enable that potential to shine.
Start with Why (Seriously, Always)
NFL teams don’t just draft for the sake of drafting. There’s a why behind every pick: a philosophy, a need, a vision for the future. In RecOps, if you’re not starting with why this role/process/program, why now, why this person - you’re already behind. Too often, we get caught up in the what (the req) and the how (the process), and forget to ask the foundational questions that actually drive results.
Lesson: Before you even post the job, ask: What problem is our team helping to solve? What story are we trying to tell with this data? If you can’t answer that, you’re just picking names off a board.
Data Is Only as Good as the Story It Tells
NFL scouts love their metrics: 40-yard dash times, vertical jumps, Wonderlic scores. But here’s the secret—they’re just proxies. The real question is, why does this data matter? What does it tell us about how a player will perform when it’s 4th and goal and everything’s on the line?
In RecOps, we’re drowning in dashboards. Time to fill, time to start, pipeline conversion rates—you name it, we track it. But data without context is just noise (or as I’ve said before data without purpose is just empty calories). The real magic happens when you use data to answer the right why: Why did this process break down? Why did this candidate succeed where others didn’t?
Lesson: Don’t just deliver numbers. Deliver insight. Tell the story behind the data, and use it to drive action.
Process Is the Unsung Hero
NFL teams that consistently draft well aren’t just lucky—they’ve built systems that outlast any one coach or GM. They know when to trust their gut, when to trust the data, and when to challenge their own assumptions.
RecOps is the same. The best teams aren’t just winging it—they’ve built processes that flex with the business, adapt to change, and leave room for human judgment. And they’re not afraid to ask, “Why are we doing it this way?” and “Is there a better way?”
Lesson: Build processes that are strong enough to scale, but flexible enough to evolve. And never stop asking why.
Final Thought:
The NFL Draft is a spectacle, but the real work happens in the months of prep, the late-night debates, and the willingness to ask hard questions about what success really looks like. In RecOps, our draft day happens every time we make a decision. If we start with why, use data wisely, and build resilient processes, we might just build a team that wins—not just on paper, but where it counts.
And if you ever find yourself stuck, just remember: even the best teams miss sometimes. The real pros learn, adapt, and come back stronger the next round.
What’s your why this draft season?
Weekly Survey
RecOps - The GPT
RecOps - Available in the OpenAI store and free to use.
Articles / Industry News
📖 🎧 Articles/Graphics/Podcasts/Posts On Our Radar (sorted by type - Bolded denotes individuals)
Johannes Sundlo’s The end of knowledge work as we know it? (article)
John Vlastelica’s Ready, Fire, Aim? Why Great TA Teams Pause to Aim First (article)
Steve Levy’s The Nefarious Side of AI for Talent Acquisition (article)
Cnect’s The Rise of Skills-Based Hiring: Why Resumes Are Becoming Less Relevant (blog)
JobSync’s Future Proofing Our Profession - A LIVE JobSync Roundtable Discussion
📰 Product News
Ashby (AiO) - New Feature: Native Texting, Feature update: Fine-tune availability
Brighthire (Interview Intelligence) - New Feature: Compensation Insights
Cronofy (Scheduling) - New Feature: Update scheduled events
Guide (Recruiting Coordination) - New Feature: Confirm invites through Slack
Juicebox (Sourcing/CRM) - Feature update: New Sequence Experience, your Shortlist and All Contacts pages, Project History in Profiles, Manually Add Emails to Profiles, Revamped Activities Page, Nested Job Title + Company Search, LinkedIn Personalized Invites
Kula (AiO) - Feature updates: Smart Availability Matching (Self-scheduling links), Bulk Self-Scheduling, Manual Scheduling
SmartRecruiters (ATS) - Product Releases: April 2025
Permanent Articles
Recruiting Operations: Dictionary & Resources
Events
Week of April 28th
Pinpoint’s Less Admin, More Impact: Exclusive First-Look at Pinpoint’s Workflow Automations
Recruit CRM’s Don’t panic… AI is changing hiring faster than anyone predicted, but here’s what you can do!
SourceWhale/Recruiterflow’s 3 Productivity Boosters That Can Cut Your Time to Fill by 30%
Pillar/Employ’s Hiring Smarter: The Power of Structured Interviews in Talent Selection
CodeSignal’s Demystifying AI in Hiring—Balancing Innovation & Compliance
ModernLoop/SmartRecruiters’s Overview & Preview the New Integration
Week of May 12th
Week of May 19th
Week of June 2nd
Talent Collective’s Talentsphere Summit. For an additional 10% off, use the code RECOPS.
Greenhouse’s Open for Ops (SF)
Growth by Design Talent’s Becoming a Trusted Advisor Training
Week of June 9th
Greenhouse’s Open for Ops (NY)
Week of June 23rd
Week of July 21st
Week of September 29th
Week of November 3rd
Job Search
Here is the list of previously listed jobs, which may or may not be available.
Additional Resource
We consolidated this section into job search resources on our Linktree
Boolean Strings for Specific ATS Job Search
We’ve consolidated our list of Boolean search strings for RecOps professionals to make them more accessible for everyone. Check out the list here. Kaitlyn Elting also built a generator for you if you are worried about your attention to detail.
Thank you to Steve Levy for contributing so many beautiful and Gabi Preston-Phypers for QA help. Follow both of them for excellent Boolean and sourcing content.
#YourNextHire / People Looking In the RecOps Community
Are you a RecOps professional looking for work? If you have 5 minutes, take the opportunity to complete this quick questionnaire. Not only will you be featured in an upcoming Roundup, it will also help us mention your name when people ask for referrals.
Here is a Google Sheet View for a list of people who were previously featured and are still looking.
🎉 Reminders and Disclaimers 🎉
If you’d like to contribute a job, an article (one you found or wrote), or you are a company and have a product update you want featured, contact Jeremy Lyons.
Please use this form if you or someone you know would like to be featured in our #YourNextHire section. The only condition is that you are a RecOps professional.
Disclaimer #1: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis do not reflect the position of any entity other than the author. As critically thinking professionals, these views are always subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time. They are not to be held in perpetuity.
Disclaimer #2: We are sponsor-free. No company below has paid us to advertise their products or share their open jobs. If that changes, we will deliberately call out where we stand to benefit. Additionally, sharing these opportunities and information should not be read as support for these companies or their practices. Regarding jobs, we share these opportunities with the community and only post roles from the company's website. We encourage possible candidates to research each one, as their inclusion does not mean we support the companies or their values.
Until next week, Regulators 😊