BOOK • MODERN RECRUITING

Hiring Humans

A practical guide to modern recruiting, candidate experience, and human-centered hiring—built for teams navigating automation and AI without losing trust, clarity, or conversion.

If your hiring feels harder than it should…
  • Candidate drop-off, ghosting, and low response rates
  • Automation that creates friction instead of speed
  • Inconsistent hiring experience across recruiters, managers, and tools
  • Processes that look efficient but don’t improve hiring outcomes

Who this book is for

Talent acquisition leaders Recruiters & sourcers HR / People Ops Employer brand & recruitment marketing HR tech & services leaders

Hiring Humans helps you redesign hiring to be clearer, more consistent, and more human—so you can improve trust, reduce friction, and increase conversion from apply → interview → hire.

What you’ll get

  • Human-centered hiring frameworks you can apply immediately
  • Where automation helps vs. hurts (with practical guidance)
  • Better candidate experience without slowing down the process
  • Alignment across recruiters, hiring managers, and technology
  • Clear actions for improving conversion and completion
  • Language you can use with executives and stakeholders
  • Examples and “what to do Monday” moves
  • A grounded, realistic view of AI’s role in hiring

What’s inside

Candidate Experience
Reduce friction, rebuild trust, improve completion.
Recruiting Operations
Make the process consistent, measurable, and scalable.
Human + Automation
Balance efficiency with empathy and outcomes.
Employer Brand Impact
How hiring experience shapes reputation and conversion.

Praise for Hiring Humans

Few people on this planet have the depth and breadth of experience across all facets of hiring as Craig Fisher. Hiring Humans is both inspirational and actionable, and will leave readers with a wealth of ideas to help them hire successfully in the new world of work.
Lars Schmidt Founder, Amplify Talent
His extensive experience and skill are evident in Hiring Humans as he hits bullseye on all the targets that keeps job seekers and recruiting professionals up at night. Great advice, a quick read and a must for every library.
Gerry Crispin Principal & Co-Founder, CareerXroads
Despite Craig's marquee-studded career, he approaches hiring humans (the book and the concept) with incredible thoughtfulness and practicality. It's a quick and easy read and perfect for taking notes in!
Maren Hogan CEO, Red Branch Media
Amazing book for Talent Acquisition Leaders! Craig understands what it takes to get your recruiting function to world-class. It’s an enjoyable read that will leave you full of ideas!
Tim Sackett President, HRU Technical Resources
This is a must read for all TA professionals, and especially for those that are truly interested in improving TA performance. This book isn't a tool, it's a weapon in the TA arsenal!
Jim D'Amico Director, Shoreside Talent Acquisition, Holland America Group

Free Chapter 1 Download

Want a preview first? Get Chapter 1 of Hiring Humans to see the tone, frameworks, and practical “what to do Monday” guidance.

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Looking for the next step?
Paint Your Store

Hiring Humans explains how hiring should work—clear, consistent, and human. Paint Your Store helps you apply those ideas to career sites, job content, employer branding, and attraction/conversion.

Explore Paint Your Store
Paint Your Store book cover by Craig Fisher

FAQ

What is Hiring Humans about?
It’s a practical guide to improving recruiting outcomes by designing hiring experiences that are clear, consistent, and human-centered—even when automation is involved.
Who should read Hiring Humans?
TA leaders, recruiters, HR/People Ops, employer brand teams, and HR tech/services leaders who want better conversion, less friction, and more trust in hiring.
How is it different from Paint Your Store?
Hiring Humans is the strategy and hiring philosophy. Paint Your Store is the execution: career site experience, job content, employer brand, and attraction/conversion improvements.