Recruiting has changed. Candidates have changed. Clients have changed. Technology and AI continue to reshape how recruiters work.

Matthew Deutsch

The question is: Has your recruiting approach changed with them?

At TE Connect Fall 2026 in Chicago, industry trainer and recruiting expert Barb Bruno will lead three interactive Master Classes designed to help TE Network members rethink how they attract candidates, win clients, and spend their time.

These sessions aren’t based on hypothetical challenges, either. They directly address the issues TE Network members identified in the recent member survey, including candidate generation, candidate response rates, and the biggest challenge of all: client acquisition.

Even better, Barb’s sessions are designed around implementation. You won’t just hear ideas that sound good while you’re sitting in the room. You’ll leave with specific changes you can put into action when you return to your desk.

The Recruiter Reinvention: What Worked Then Won’t Win Now

Barb’s opening Master Class tackles a reality every agency recruiter must confront: The recruiting strategies that produced results five or 10 years ago might not produce the same results today.

Candidates receive more messages. They have more ways to research opportunities and recruiters. Their expectations surrounding communication have evolved. Meanwhile, AI and other technologies are transforming how people find and evaluate opportunities.

Continuing to recruit exactly the same way while expecting the same response rates is becoming increasingly difficult.

During “The Recruiter Reinvention: What Worked Then Won’t Win Now,” Barb will challenge long-held recruiting practices and show attendees how to become recruiters candidates actually want to call back.

You’ll learn how to change your approach and communication to generate more responses, as well as how to create a renewable talent pipeline so you’re not starting every new search from scratch.

Barb will also explore how one candidate conversation can create multiple future opportunities. Referrals, relationships, and continued communication can transform one recruiting call into far more than an attempt to fill a single opening.

The session will include a live interactive exercise, and attendees will identify three changes they can make to their recruiting approach starting Monday morning.

Stop Selling Recruiting and Start Becoming a Resource

Finding candidates is only half the agency recruiting equation. You also need clients willing to give you searches.

According to the Top Echelon member survey, client acquisition was the #1 challenge identified by members.

The instinctive response to that challenge might be to increase activity. Make more calls. Send more emails. Reach out to more prospects.

Barb will offer another perspective during “Stop Selling Recruiting: Become the Resource for Talent They Can’t Afford to Lose.”

The goal is to stop being perceived as another recruiter asking for a job order and start becoming a knowledgeable resource hiring authorities want to speak with.

That distinction is increasingly important when hiring managers and company leaders are overwhelmed with recruiter outreach.

During this interactive Master Class, Barb will show TE Network members how to change conversations with prospects and clients. Instead of focusing primarily on whether an organization has an opening you can fill, you can learn more about what the organization is trying to accomplish.

Attendees will learn how to ask better questions that uncover the desired business outcomes behind an opening. Understanding those outcomes can help recruiters demonstrate their expertise, differentiate themselves from competitors, and provide greater value throughout the hiring process.

It’s about changing the conversation from “Do you have a job I can work?” to “What are you trying to accomplish, and how can the right talent help you accomplish it?”

That can be a very different conversation.

Give Your Recruiting Desk a 30-Day Reset

You can generate candidates. You can win clients. But there’s another resource every recruiter needs to manage effectively: time.

Recruiters have no shortage of things competing for their attention. Emails, database updates, sourcing, phone calls, meetings, administrative work, social media, research, follow-ups, and countless interruptions can consume the day.

But activity and productivity are not necessarily the same thing.

In Barb’s final Master Class, “The Million-Dollar Desk Reset,” attendees will examine where their time actually goes and whether those activities are contributing to placements and revenue.

The premise is straightforward: You don’t necessarily need more hours in your day. You need to make better use of the hours you already have.

Barb will help attendees identify and protect the highest-value activities that contribute to placements. She’ll also challenge recruiters to determine what they should automate, delegate, eliminate, or personally dominate.

Another important component of the session will involve measurement. Rather than simply tracking how busy you were, Barb will discuss the numbers and behaviors that can help predict future production.

The session will conclude with an interactive exercise in which attendees develop their own 30-Day Desk Reset to implement after TE Connect.

Three Sessions, One Goal: Better Recruiting Results

Barb’s three Master Classes cover different parts of an agency recruiter’s desk, but they all point toward the same objective: helping recruiters become more effective in a changing profession.

The first asks you to reconsider how you attract and engage candidates.

The second challenges you to improve how you approach prospects and clients.

The third examines how you spend your time and generate production.

Together, they address three fundamental questions every agency recruiter should be asking:

1. Are the recruiting methods I’m using today still working?
2. Am I giving clients and prospects a compelling reason to talk with me?
3. Am I spending enough of my time on activities that actually lead to placements?

At TE Connect Fall 2026, you’ll have the opportunity to answer those questions alongside other TE Network members and leave Chicago with concrete strategies for improving your desk.

TE Connect Fall 2026 will be held October 29-30 at the Sheraton Suites Chicago O’Hare. Registration is $375 per person.

If you’re ready to stop relying on what worked yesterday and start building the recruiting desk you need for tomorrow, Barb Bruno’s three interactive Master Classes are three more reasons to join your fellow TE Network members in Chicago this fall.