50 Demos Before Launch: What I Learned About the Future of Hiring

Before we even launched Asendia AI, we booked 50+ demos with staffing agencies, recruiters, and TA leaders across the U.S.

Why? Because I believe you don’t build in isolation you build in conversation.

Those conversations taught me more about the state of recruiting than any report, survey, or trend analysis ever could. And here’s what I learned:

1. Hiring is Broken and Everyone Knows It

Recruiters are exhausted. They’re juggling hundreds of resumes, manually screening candidates, and wasting hours just to get to the first shortlist.

And yet, even after all that effort, they still struggle to find the right fit. One TA director told me:

“I feel like I’m making decisions blindfolded.”

That hit me hard. The problem isn’t a lack of effort. It’s a broken system.

2. Speed Isn’t a Luxury It’s Survival

Every staffing leader said the same thing:

“If we don’t move fast, we lose the candidate.”

Talent doesn’t wait. The best candidates get picked up in hours, not weeks. Agencies that still rely on manual screening are getting crushed by time-to-fill metrics.

Speed is no longer a competitive advantage it’s table stakes.

3. Tools Exist, But They Don’t Talk to Each Other

Most teams are stuck with 4–6 disconnected tools:

→ One for sourcing

→ Another for assessments

→ A third for video interviews

→ Plus spreadsheets for feedback

It’s chaos. They want one solution that handles the entire top of the funnel—from sourcing to interviewing to structured feedback.

4. AI Isn’t a “Nice to Have” Anymore It’s Expected

This one surprised me the most. Not one person asked, “Why AI?” Instead, they asked, “How human does it feel?”

Recruiters don’t want another chatbot. They want an AI recruiter that feels like a real conversation, not a script.

That’s why we built Sarah our AI recruiter to engage candidates in dynamic conversations, assess skills, and generate structured insights recruiters can trust.

The Big Takeaway?

Recruitment isn’t just ready for change it’s desperate for it.

And that’s why we’re building an end-to-end AI recruiting toolkit:

→ Context-aware resume screening

→ SMS & WhatsApp AI screening (where candidates actually are)

→ Real-time AI video assessments

→ Automatic feedback generation for instant decisions

Not to replace recruiters but to give them superpowers.

We’ve learned so much from these 50 demos, and this is just the beginning. If you’re in staffing or TA, I’d love to hear from you:

👉 What’s your biggest pain point at the top of the funnel?

Until next time,

Badis

Co-Founder, Asendia AI