Why I joined Asendia AI - Derek Arnel

Why Asendia

I was running recruitment strategy at one of the fastest-growing healthcare staffing companies. We needed an AI partner. We became an Asendia customer.

The product is the best thing I have used on a desk. I have looked at what else is out there. Not close.That still was not the interesting part. The team outshined the product.

What I Saw as a Customer

Here is what most people do not tell you about buying software for a staffing desk. The tool you buy on day one is not the tool you need on day ninety.The industry moves too fast for that.

Candidate behavior shift. Outreach that worked last month stops working. A better idea shows up on a Tuesday and cannot wait for next quarter.

I wanted to change things every day. Not because anything was broken but because the industry was moving extremely fast, and I found a team that could move with it.Most vendors treat a change request like a project. Ticket, queue, roadmap review, maybe next quarter. Asendia treated it like a conversation. I asked, and got the change. Same day.

I also got real control over our process and outreach. Not a locked-down tool that did one thing one way. A product I could shape around how our desk actually worked.That is hard to give up once you have had it.

My Role at Asendia

I am joining Asendia as the first hire on the growth side.I started on a recruiting desk, became a customer who kept sending feedback, and now I sit on the other side of that same-day change. Same people. Different seat.

Growth here means one question: how do more staffing leaders find what I found? 🚀

AI is where staffing is going. That part is no longer a debate. What is still unsettled is which tools will last. Most of what is getting sold right now will not survive a real desk. Open reqs, impatient hiring managers, candidates who go quiet. A great demo does not hold up against that.This product already had. This team already had. I had watched both from the customer side.

Most firms bolt AI onto workflows built for humans. Asendia redesigns the workflow around the recruiter. So I stopped being the customer and joined.

Looking Ahead

I joined for the product, the momentum, and most importantly the people, to build something genuinely rare. Our co-founders, Rihab Lajmi and Badis Zormati, are the reason the team moves the way it does. They built a company where a good idea does not need permission to become a product. I saw that as a customer, and I see it every day now.

If your recruiting stack cannot change as fast as your week does, you do not have a stack. You have a delay.

Want to talk staffing, AI, or growth? Connect with me on LinkedIn.