Navigating the Agentic Revolution: Popp’s Talent Acquisition Event Recap

Popp is proud to announce that it has been named a winner of the Breakthrough Culture Awards 2024, an honour that recognises the greatest companies to work for in the UK. This award celebrates organisations that are redefining workplace culture by putting people first, building environments where employees truly thrive.

The Breakthrough Culture Awards spotlight the top 100 growing companies across the UK, showcasing the evolving cultures they’ve built and the people behind them. Unlike traditional workplace rankings, these awards dive deep—beyond the surface perks and policies—to reveal what it truly means to work inside a company that cares about its people.

This year, the awards reviewed thousands of companies of all sizes and interviewed over 20,000 employees to identify workplaces where people feel valued, inspired, and fulfilled. Popp’s commitment to fostering a progressive, people-centric culture earned it a spot among the elite.

“At Popp, we’ve always believed that work should be meaningful—that it’s not just about what you do, but who you do it with. Winning the Breakthrough Culture Award isn’t just an achievement; it’s a testament to the incredible team that makes Popp what it is. We’re not building a company; we’re building a community where people are empowered to grow, challenge the status quo, and find purpose in their work. We’re honoured to be recognised among companies that are reshaping the workplace for the better.”

Sam Dhesi, Co-founder & CEO of Popp

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The Breakthrough Culture Award winners are redefining what it means to be an exceptional workplace—where culture isn’t just a buzzword but a commitment. Popp is proud to be part of this movement, championing a better way to work.

About Popp
Popp is revolutionising talent acquisition through AI-driven recruitment solutions designed to make hiring faster, fairer, and more human. By focusing on building meaningful connections between organisations and candidates, Popp is changing the way companies grow—one hire at a time.

About the Breakthrough Culture Awards
The Breakthrough Culture Awards recognise and celebrate the greatest companies to work for in the UK, honouring those that are building progressive, people-first workplaces. The awards explore the ever-evolving cultures of the UK’s top 100 growing companies, bringing to life what it truly means to work inside organisations that prioritise their people.

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AI is transforming recruitment, from resume screening to candidate shortlisting to interview analysis. By automating these processes, recruitment tech platforms enable hiring teams to focus on building relationships rather than getting bogged down in admin. But beyond efficiency, AI brings another major advantage: it can help make hiring fairer than traditional, human-led processes.

The Reality of Bias in Human Hiring

Bias in hiring isn’t new, and it’s not unique to AI. Studies have consistently shown that human recruiters and hiring managers make biased decisions, often without realizing it.

• Resume name bias: A famous 2003 study found that identical resumes with names commonly associated with white applicants received 50% more callbacks than those with names commonly associated with Black applicants.
• Age bias: Older candidates are often overlooked, with research showing that resumes indicating longer experience receive fewer interview invitations.
• Affinity bias: Humans tend to favor candidates who remind them of themselves, whether through shared backgrounds, hobbies, or alma maters.

These biases happen subconsciously, making them hard to prevent through training alone. AI, when properly designed and monitored, offers a way to reduce these biases and make hiring more objective.

How AI Can Improve Fairness in Hiring

AI has the potential to be a powerful tool for fairer hiring, but only if it’s built and used responsibly. Here’s how AI can outperform human decision-making when it comes to fairness:

✅ AI focuses on skills and qualifications, not irrelevant personal factors.
While human recruiters might be swayed by a candidate’s name, accent, or background (or how they feel before or after lunch), AI can be designed to assess only the data that matters for the job: work experience, skills, and competencies.

✅ AI can be audited and improved over time.
Unlike human decision-making, which is inconsistent and difficult to track, AI hiring tools can be regularly audited to ensure they are working fairly. AI bias audits can measure and correct disparities in hiring outcomes, something that isn’t possible with human judgment alone.

✅ AI can analyze hiring patterns and flag unfair trends.
AI can process vast amounts of hiring data to identify patterns that might indicate bias—such as a hiring process disproportionately favoring one demographic group over another. This allows recruitment teams to adjust their processes proactively.

Ensuring AI Hiring is Truly Fair

Of course, AI is only as fair as the data it learns from. If trained on biased hiring data, AI can replicate those biases. This is why responsible AI assurance is critical.

To ensure AI is a force for fairness in hiring, recruitment tech providers and hiring teams should:

• Use diverse training data to reduce historical biases.
• Regularly audit AI models to detect and correct bias.
• Ensure transparency by making AI-driven decisions explainable.
• Maintain human oversight at key decision points.

One example of regulatory oversight on AI hiring is NYC Local Law 144, which requires companies using AI-driven hiring tools to conduct annual bias audits and share the results. This regulation sets a precedent for fairness and transparency in AI hiring. As similar laws emerge in other regions, recruitment platforms will need to adopt AI bias auditing as a best practice - not just for compliance, but to build trust with candidates and employers.

Conclusion

The debate over AI in hiring shouldn’t be about whether AI is biased, it should be about whether it’s less biased than humans. AI, when built and monitored correctly, has the potential to make hiring fairer, more consistent, and more objective than traditional human decision-making. The key is to approach AI hiring with responsibility and transparency, ensuring that technology reduces bias rather than reinforcing it.

With the right safeguards in place, AI can be more than a tool for efficiency, it can be a tool for fairer hiring.

About Warden AI

Warden AI is the specialist AI auditor for HR Tech. Their AI assurance platform continuously monitors for bias, and audits protected characteristics using proprietary datasets. They work with leading talent platforms like Popp to ensure their AI solutions are fair, transparent, and compliant with regulations like NYC Local Law 144 and EU AI Act.

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For years, companies have turned to recruitment agencies as the default solution to hiring challenges. Need to scale quickly? Call an agency. Struggling to find niche talent? Call an agency. But as hiring costs rise and efficiency becomes more critical, businesses are realizing that there’s a better way.

Recruitment agencies charge 15-30% of a candidate’s first-year salary, sometimes higher for hard-to-fill roles. That’s $15,000-$30,000 per hire on a $100,000 salary—without any long-term guarantee that the hire will stick.

So, what’s the alternative?

Smarter hiring strategies that put control back in your hands, cut costs, and improve long-term hiring outcomes. Here’s what’s working for fast-scaling startups, SMEs, and enterprise talent teams today.

1. In-House Talent Acquisition: Build Instead of Buy

Bringing recruitment in-house is one of the most effective ways to reduce hiring costs and improve hiring quality.

Why it works:

✔ Lower long-term costs: Internal recruiters cost less per hire than agencies when hiring at scale.
✔ Stronger employer branding: Agencies pitch multiple companies; your in-house team sells your vision.
✔ Better retention: Employees hired directly by companies stay 41% longer (SHRM).

How to do it right:

• Invest in strong in-house recruiters who understand your culture and hiring needs.
• Use technology to automate sourcing, screening, and scheduling (more on that below).
• Develop talent pipelines so you’re not starting from scratch with each hire.

Cost savings? A five-person in-house talent team (at ~$120K per recruiter) can fill 100+ roles per year—cutting recruitment costs by 50% or more compared to agency spend.

2. Employee Referral Programs:

Tap Into Your Best Hiring SourceYour best hires are often the ones who come from within your own network.

Why it works:

✔ Referral hires are 55% faster to hire than sourced candidates (Jobvite).
✔ They stay 70% longer than hires from job boards or agencies (LinkedIn).
✔ They cost significantly less than agency hires (referral bonuses are usually a fraction of agency fees).

How to do it right:

• Offer a structured referral bonus (e.g., $2,000 for a successful hire—far cheaper than a recruiter’s fee).
• Make referring easy with one-click submission portals.
• Keep employees engaged by updating them on the status of their referrals.

Real-world impact? Companies with strong referral programs fill 30% of their roles through referrals—saving thousands on hiring costs every year.

3. Direct Sourcing:

Own Your Talent PipelineInstead of paying an agency to find candidates, build your own sourcing strategy—giving you long-term hiring control.

Why it works:

✔ Cuts sourcing costs: Eliminates recruiter markups.
✔ Faster hiring: Engage talent directly, skipping middlemen.
✔ Higher quality candidates: Target passive talent that agencies don’t always reach.
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How to do it right:

• Use AI-driven sourcing tools to scan millions of profiles and surface top candidates instantly.
• Build and nurture a talent community (LinkedIn groups, events, newsletters) to engage potential future hires.
• Track high-quality applicants who weren’t the right fit now but may be later.

The numbers? Companies that invest in direct sourcing reduce hiring costs by 38% compared to agency-heavy hiring (Aberdeen Group).

4. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO):

A Scalable Alternative to AgenciesUnlike traditional agencies, RPOs act as an extension of your team—handling end-to-end recruitment but with a long-term focus rather than a per-hire fee structure.

Why it works:

✔ More cost-effective than agencies—especially for high-volume hiring.
✔ Provides scalability without losing hiring quality.
✔ Data-driven hiring with better long-term outcomes.

How to do it right:

• Choose an RPO partner that aligns with your industry and hiring needs.
• Ensure they integrate with your existing HR tech stack.
• Focus on long-term partnerships, not transactional hires.

Companies that switch from agencies to RPO save 30-50% on hiring costs while improving quality of hire (Everest Group).

5. Hiring Marketplaces & Gig Platforms:

On-Demand Talent Without the Hefty FeesFor project-based work or contract hiring, platforms like Toptal, Upwork, and Fiverr provide high-quality talent without agency markups.

Why it works:

✔ Faster hiring: Access pre-vetted professionals instantly.
✔ Lower costs: No agency fees—just direct marketplace pricing.
✔ More flexibility: Scale teams up or down as needed.\How to do it right:

How to do it right:

• Define clear job scopes to attract the right talent.
• Vet freelancers thoroughly—platform ratings help, but test projects work best.
• Use contract-to-hire models if long-term employment is a possibility.

Impact? Companies using gig platforms for hiring reduce time-to-hire by 60% while cutting recruitment costs significantly.

6. Tech-Enabled Hiring: The Future of Smart Talent Acquisition

The best alternative to recruitment agencies? Technology-driven hiring that automates the slow, expensive parts of the process.

Why it works:

✔ AI sourcing tools find top candidates 10x faster than manual searches.
✔ Automated screening & scheduling cuts recruiter workload by 30-50%.
✔ Predictive hiring analytics improve hiring quality and retention.

How to do it right:

• Use AI-driven sourcing (like Popp) to identify top talent instantly.
• Automate screening and scheduling to reduce time-to-hire.
• Track real-time hiring data to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Results? Companies that invest in hiring automation cut costs by 35% and fill roles 40% faster (Gartner).

The Takeaway: Smarter Hiring Without the Agency Markups

Recruitment agencies aren’t the only option. Companies that rethink hiring save millions while building stronger, more engaged teams.Key Takeaways:

• In-house recruitment saves 30-50% on hiring costs while improving retention.
• Referrals, direct sourcing, and RPOs provide high-quality candidates at a lower cost.
• Hiring tech and automation cut recruiter workload by 30-50% and reduce time-to-hire by 40%.

At Popp, we help companies hire smarter by automating sourcing, screening, and hiring workflows—so you can build great teams without relying on expensive agencies.

Want to see how it works? Let’s talk.