TalentNet

Home
Canada
Toronto, ON
TalentNet

Directions Website

TalentNet is the software house that is shaping the world of direct source technology by connecting top talent with top employment brands in new ways.

TalentNet Inc. - The Leader in Self-Sourcing / Direct-Sourcing and Private Talent Community Technology. TalentNet Inc. is a privately owned and operated global organization holding a WBE (Women Business Enterprise) Certification for supplier diversity initiatives. was founded in November of 2013 and is a leading provider of professional payroll and self-sourcing alumni/redeployment solutions. As an innovator in the staffing industry, TalentNet successfully deployed the industry’s first payroll redeployment solution offering in January 2014. TalentNet’s estimated 2016 revenues will exceed $200 million deploying over 1000 active consultants on client locations across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe. TalentNet's vision is to set a new standard of excellence in the contingent labour marketplace by leading innovation, encouraging transformational thinking and exemplifying superior client partnership. TalentNet believes in serving as a true strategic partner to our clients, empowering them to build stronger relationships with their contingent labour workforce while decreasing talent acquisition costs.

10/15/2026

The line from Brad's Agent Sessions episode worth pausing on.

"Everybody is talking about agentic AI right now. But most people are getting it wrong."

The conversation has only gotten louder. It has not gotten clearer.

Agentic is not a chatbot with better prompts. It is not a workflow with automation stitched into it. It is a system where an agent takes an action, observes the result, and decides what to do next, inside constraints a human has set.

The distinction matters because the deployment risks are different. So is the value.

Brad Clayton, VP of AI and Transformation at TalentNet.

Learn more at https://hubs.li/Q04yDx2Q0.

Class is in session.

10/14/2026

Why do Direct Sourcing programs struggle to deliver results?

Direct Sourcing helps employers attract, engage and hire contingent workers through their own branded Talent Communities, often starting with former employees, previous contractors and other known talent.

Yet adoption has hovered between 30% and 36% since 2016, despite significant improvements in the platforms available.

The problem often isn't the technology. It's the operating model around it.

Too many programs launch a platform, load it with resumes, open a candidate portal and wait for results. Months later, the database is sitting idle, hiring managers have returned to familiar channels, and meaningful fills remain hard to come by.

Three gaps commonly hold Direct Sourcing programs back.

🔎 1. Curation and candidate engagement
A Talent Community needs more than a database. Candidates need to be screened, re-engaged and matched to relevant opportunities. Availability changes, contact details go stale, and qualified candidates move on. Technology can help prioritize and match talent, but ongoing engagement is what keeps a community active.

🤝 2. Hiring manager adoption
Hiring managers need a reason to change how they hire. If the first candidates presented aren't a strong fit, they'll return to the staffing relationships and processes they already trust. Consistent candidate quality and early wins help build confidence in the program.

✅ 3. Employment and onboarding infrastructure
Finding the right candidate is only part of the process. Employment arrangements, payroll, worker classification and jurisdictional requirements all need to be addressed. Without that infrastructure, a successful match can stall before the worker starts.

What does it take to make Direct Sourcing successful?

A connected operating model that brings together technology, active curation, hiring manager engagement, change management and employment infrastructure.

The platform matters. But results depend on how the entire program works together.

Because a growing Talent Community is only one measure of progress. The real test is whether it delivers quality candidates, more placements and measurable business value.

Want to build a Direct Sourcing program that delivers more than a growing database? Explore Direct Sourcing at https://hubs.li/Q04B22y10.

10/13/2026

9,000 job applications. Every minute.

That’s what recruiters were up against in 2025. Employers now average 180 applicants per hire, and up to 80% of job board applicants aren’t qualified.

More applications don’t mean better hires. They just mean more noise.

So how do you find that one in a hundred?

Agentic AI. It doesn’t sit and wait for a prompt. It’s a talent agent that works toward a goal and gets smarter as it goes:

🎯 Matches résumés to role requirements automatically
📝 Summarizes candidate profiles in seconds
🗂️ Builds and manages pre-qualified talent pools before a role even opens

Recruiters spend less time sifting and more time on what AI can’t do: building real relationships with the right people.

Read the full blog to see how Direct Sourcing puts agentic AI to work.
🔗 https://hubs.li/Q04z_QNB0

10/08/2026

The AI pilot is not the hard part. The pilot-to-production leap is.

Stanford's 2025 AI Index has documented a widening gap. Enterprise AI adoption keeps rising. The share of organizations reporting meaningful business gains has barely moved.

Not for lack of technology. For lack of business fit.

The pattern is consistent. A team builds something impressive. It works in a demo. It stalls when it hits real workflow, real users, real change management.

The projects that make it past the wall share three things.

The scope is small enough to describe in a sentence.

The human still owns the decision the AI is not qualified to make.

Someone in the room can point to what changed in the numbers after it shipped.

TalentNet's agents were designed against the same three-part test. Not because those constraints are limits. Because they are the difference between a pilot and a program.

Learn more at https://hubs.li/Q04zrZZs0.

Class is in session.

Source: Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, 2025 AI Index Report.

10/07/2026

Your candidates are interviewing you too.

The best talent is usually off the market in about 10 days (SIA). So a slow, silent or generic hiring process costs you the hire.

In the latest Direct Sourcing, Simplified, Anne Llewellin, Director of Customer Success at TalentNet, covers 3 mistakes that push great talent away:

1. Poor communication. Silence kills momentum.
2. Slow processes. Too many steps and unclear timelines lead to drop-off.
3. Generic engagement. Candidates can tell when they're getting a mass message.

Done right, Direct Sourcing makes hiring faster and more human from the very first touchpoint.
Which of these do you see most often? 👇

Learn more at https://hubs.li/Q04zrYjz0

10/06/2026

Fast fills are great. Fast fills that last are better.

Direct Sourcing can help improve contingent labor quality by putting known, proven talent first:

📍Pre-vetted Talent Communities built around your brand
📍 Skills-based recommendations instead of keyword guesswork
📍Proven former workers prioritized for redeployment

It’s not just about filling roles faster. It’s about filling them with the right people.

Our latest blog breaks down how Direct Sourcing platforms can raise the quality of your contingent workforce.

Read it here. https://hubs.li/Q04zgTX10

10/01/2026

The line from Justin's Agent Sessions episode worth pausing on.

"Direct sourcing changed contract hiring once. Agentic is about to do it again."

The first shift moved the work from staffing agencies to enterprise talent teams. Brand, community, platform. The employer became the hiring channel.

The second shift moves the coordination work off the recruiter's plate. Agents run the search, the scoring, the drafting, the follow-up. The human runs the decisions.

That is the sentence that sets the frame for the whole series.

Justin Lumby, President of TalentNet.

Learn more at https://hubs.li/Q04yDcfs0.

Class is in session.

09/30/2026

Two days at SIA CWS Summit North America. Booth #400 is packed up, and Dallas gave us plenty to think about.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and got into the real questions around Direct Sourcing:

How do you build a Talent Community?
How do you hire from talent you already know?
And what happens when TalentAgents take on more of the coordination work?

A few highlights:
🔥 A packed room for Anne Llewellin’s “Building Talent Communities: Is It Worth the Effort?” roundtable. The answer from the room: yes.
✍️ And plenty of names embossed at the booth. A little something to take home from the conversation.
💬 Great conversations with Anne, Matt Redling, Dylan Halpin, PY Brennan, Sathi Ganpat, and so many others.

The numbers still tell the story: $3M average savings, 140 placements, 36% fulfillment, and 70% Talent Community growth in year one.

If we talked at the booth, we’ll be in touch. If we missed you, the conversation is still open at https://hubs.li/Q04yKrcF0.

Until next time, Dallas. 👋

09/29/2026

2027 budgets are being set now. So if Direct Sourcing is on the plan, it’s time to put your platform under a little pressure.

Before you sign a new contract or renew what you have, pressure-test these five things:

🔗 VMS integration: Is it truly bi-directional and real-time, or are your teams still moving data between systems?
🔒 Enterprise security: Look for the certifications and controls your organization requires, including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, 27017, 27701 and 42001.
⚡ Candidate experience: Registration should be fast, the experience should be fully branded, and candidates should know exactly where they are.
🌍 Scale: Can the platform support the talent you actually use, across regions, worker types and hiring programs?
⏱️ Less manual work: Technology should give your Curators time back. If it just adds another dashboard to manage, ask why.

And here’s one more question every vendor should be ready to answer:
Who owns your candidate data if you walk away?

We put together the full checklist, a step-by-step evaluation plan, and three common platform failures to watch for as you plan for 2027.

👉 Read the full guide: https://hubs.li/Q04yD2Y80

09/28/2026

We’re LIVE at Staffing Industry Analysts CWS Summit North America! 📍 Booth #400.

Our team is here to talk program strategy, Talent Communities, contingent workforce management, and the practical realities of making Direct Sourcing work at enterprise scale.

Connect with Anne Llewellin, Matt Redling, Dylan Halpin, PY Brennan, and Sathi Ganpat. Bring your toughest question. Leave with a new perspective.

You’ll also get a look at TalentAgents in action, taking on the busywork so your people can spend more time making the decisions that matter

And today, there’s a little something extra. 👀

Stop by before 4pm to get your name on a custom canvas tote and embossed leather luggage tag, personalized on the spot.

If you’re at CWS right now, make sure you grab a seat for Anne’s roundtable, happening from 10:30am–12pm:

Building Talent Communities: Is It Worth the Effort?

Building a Talent Community takes time and investment. Anne will dig into what it actually takes to make it worthwhile.

📍 Then find us at Booth #400.

Address

120 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 202
Toronto, ON
M4P1E2

Website

http://talentnet.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when TalentNet posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your business to be the top-listed business in Toronto?