The Recruiters Betting on Human Judgment in the Age of AI

Q: What is People ATX, and what are your backgrounds?

Jami: I've been in talent acquisition and recruiting for over 15 years. I started at an agency, worked my way up through building high performing recruiting teams, ran my own agency for a few years, and then moved into corporate, leading talent acquisition for Fortune 500 companies. Now we're excited to share the launch of People ATX. Andrés: I was born and raised in Colombia. My first recruiting job was recruiting tennis players to come to the University of Nebraska, and that's where I fell in love with the work. Since then I've done a bit of everything: consulting with Fortune 100 companies on talent strategy, an educational startup in Austin, and CPG, including time with Super Coffee. But the real story is Whole Foods Market. I fell in love with the company while doing my groceries in Omaha one random day, and in 2010 I came to Austin chasing it as a company I wanted to work for. In 2014 they posted their first corporate recruiting job, and I became their first corporate recruiter and built the function. After four years I moved into executive recruiting, which is the part I love. Then I met Jami, and last month we started People ATX.

Q: How is AI changing the hiring market right now?

Jami: It has opened up a lane that didn't exist before. The one thing that hasn't changed between how recruiting was done and how it's done today is the connection and the people aspect. You can't lose that. People want speed of hire, and they miss out on quality of hire. That's pushing everyone back toward actual conversations with actual candidates, to bring quality to the hire instead of just speed. Andrés: The need for technology, speed, and efficiency created a hole in recruiting. What you want is the best person for your role. People, depending on fit, can be good, great, or amazing, and amazing people perform at a 10x level. Making the ATS faster and the application process faster is actually making it harder to find that gem. Even with hybrid workforces and AI agents everywhere, the human aspect of recruiting and running companies is still the most valuable thing that will propel or break a company. Jami: Which is why People ATX exists. We named it People because we still want the people interaction.

Q: What's the biggest thing companies get wrong about hiring?

Andrés: The objectivity that should go into hiring gets overlooked. You need to build a team that complements one another, but I naturally gravitate toward people I like, maybe because we both enjoy tennis or came from the same background. Taking that human bias out of the hiring decision is what gets missed most. It doesn't mean hiring someone you don't like. There has to be chemistry. But chemistry can't be the biggest factor. Jami: And before that: when people hire, they start with paper first, a job description, and it's usually antiquated. We want to peel that back. What is it you really want? What are you trying to accomplish over the next six months to a year, versus having someone sit in a seat for 40 hours? Answer that, then rewrite the job description around it, then find the right person. The speed of modern hiring just rushes candidates to an interview to verify they match the paper. We need to reopen the lane where people can actually talk about what they bring to the table.

Q: What's it like working with People ATX?

Andrés: One of the things we decided is that People ATX is going to be evolving. The needs of this market today will be different in six months and in a year. The core of the business is connecting talent with companies that have a clear purpose and clear goals, so the person flourishes and the company hits its hiring objectives. We use AI for research and summarizing, the efficiencies, which frees us up for what's most important: connecting with people and coaching people. Jami: We place director level and above, though those titles are evolving and may not literally say director. We've also both worked every side of talent acquisition, so we can help a company with workforce planning and org development, fill the roles that need filling, and then help onboard those hires so they're successful. And for candidates who don't fit the director-and-above niche, we can coach and develop them to run their own job search and find the company that will be their home.

Q: Why Austin?

Andrés: The need for talent to fill all these companies moving to Austin. I particularly love the founder scene, and I love CPG because of my Whole Foods background. As a founder, you often don't have the resources to do recruiting really well, or to hire a big search firm and go through a costly, slow process. We connect with the passion founders have and the drive to do more with less. And we're very plugged into the community, so it's fun to work somewhere we know the people running these companies. Plus the wellness vibe, the food, the dogs. It's natural to network with folks doing the things we love. Jami: I moved here for my previous role, and I chose to stay. For me it's personal and business. You get to make your own path, build your community, and work with the people you've been fortunate to meet along the way.

Q: What's your advice for a founder making their first hires?

Jami: Don't be afraid to talk to people, and don't just hire your friend. Founders have a way of keeping things in-house and only looking at a select group. Talk to people, hear other opinions on your business, and be open to interviewing people who don't follow the same path as you. Andrés: Hold out for talent. That doesn't mean slowing the process down. It means taking time to dissect what you need. You may not need a hire at all. You may need a consultant for three to six months. Work on the bigger buckets first: what's the business strategy, what are the goals for the next two years? Work backwards from that, and you'll know whether you need a CMO, a chief of staff, or a couple of tactical people. Have isolated objective mechanisms throughout your recruiting process, because one hiring decision at that early stage can make or break the company. Jami: Early hires also set the pace. Think about what you want your company to look like three years down the road, not just today, and whether this is the person who gets you there.

Q: Any advice for people starting a business in general?

Jami: It's a great time to start a business, and a great time to link arms with other people doing it. Don't be afraid to ask questions, reach out, build your community, and learn from others. Andrés: Start a business around something you love. Not something you like. Something you can dream about every day, that you don't mind working on late at night or early in the morning. That's what helps you organically find business leads, and it keeps you from getting frustrated when things go sideways. You can bring in all the AI tools and agents you want, but what drives everything is your core expertise and critical thinking about one industry, one vertical.

Q: Why this business, and why now?

Andrés: I've been studying happiness, fulfillment, and joy my entire career. When I worked with candidates at Whole Foods and elsewhere, my goal was to help you be happy when you find a job, and to help the leader be happy when they find the person joining their team. That matters to me right now: work that is fulfilling, that gives me meaning, and that challenges me, because I have a partner who thinks differently and pushes me to do better. We're at this stage to be fulfilled, happy, and to give back, because we've been fortunate. Jami: Working at large corporations got me to the place I always thought I wanted to be. Then you start thinking, "What's next? I have more people to help and lead. How do I do that in a different way?" It was important to build that with someone I trust and want to work with every day. It fulfills my other goal, which is to challenge myself and learn every day. So People ATX is perfect timing.

This week's Founder Friday features two veteran recruiters who believe hiring has gotten faster, but not necessarily better.

Jami and Andrés recently launched People ATX after spending decades across agency recruiting, Fortune 500 talent teams, executive search, and companies like Whole Foods.

Their thesis is straightforward: AI can make research, sourcing, and hiring workflows more efficient, but it can't replace the judgment required to understand what a company actually needs, who will thrive there, and whether a hire will still make sense three years from now.

What founders can steal from this:

Define the business outcome before writing the job description
Don't confuse speed of hire with quality of hire
Your first hires should fit the company you're building, not just the company you have today

Here's what Jami and Andrés shared about hiring in an increasingly automated market.

What is People ATX, and what are your backgrounds?

Jami: I've been in talent acquisition and recruiting for over 15 years. I started at an agency, worked my way up through building high performing recruiting teams, ran my own agency for a few years, and then moved into corporate, leading talent acquisition for Fortune 500 companies. Now we're excited to share the launch of People ATX.

Andrés: I was born and raised in Colombia. My first recruiting job was recruiting tennis players to come to the University of Nebraska, and that's where I fell in love with the work. Since then I've done a bit of everything: consulting with Fortune 100 companies on talent strategy, an educational startup in Austin, and CPG, including time with Super Coffee. But the real story is Whole Foods Market. I fell in love with the company while doing my groceries in Omaha one random day, and in 2010 I came to Austin chasing it as a company I wanted to work for. In 2014 they posted their first corporate recruiting job, and I became their first corporate recruiter and built the function. After four years I moved into executive recruiting, which is the part I love. Then I met Jami, and last month we started People ATX.

How is AI changing the hiring market right now?

Jami: It has opened up a lane that didn't exist before. The one thing that hasn't changed between how recruiting was done and how it's done today is the connection and the people aspect. You can't lose that. People want speed of hire, and they miss out on quality of hire. That's pushing everyone back toward actual conversations with actual candidates, to bring quality to the hire instead of just speed.

Andrés: The need for technology, speed, and efficiency created a hole in recruiting. What you want is the best person for your role. People, depending on fit, can be good, great, or amazing, and amazing people perform at a 10x level. Making the ATS faster and the application process faster is actually making it harder to find that gem. Even with hybrid workforces and AI agents everywhere, the human aspect of recruiting and running companies is still the most valuable thing that will propel or break a company.

Jami: Which is why People ATX exists. We named it People because we still want the people interaction.

What's the biggest thing companies get wrong about hiring?

Andrés: The objectivity that should go into hiring gets overlooked. You need to build a team that complements one another, but I naturally gravitate toward people I like, maybe because we both enjoy tennis or came from the same background. Taking that human bias out of the hiring decision is what gets missed most. It doesn't mean hiring someone you don't like. There has to be chemistry. But chemistry can't be the biggest factor.

Jami: And before that: when people hire, they start with paper first, a job description, and it's usually antiquated. We want to peel that back. What is it you really want? What are you trying to accomplish over the next six months to a year, versus having someone sit in a seat for 40 hours? Answer that, then rewrite the job description around it, then find the right person. The speed of modern hiring just rushes candidates to an interview to verify they match the paper. We need to reopen the lane where people can actually talk about what they bring to the table.

What's it like working with People ATX?

Andrés: One of the things we decided is that People ATX is going to be evolving. The needs of this market today will be different in six months and in a year. The core of the business is connecting talent with companies that have a clear purpose and clear goals, so the person flourishes and the company hits its hiring objectives. We use AI for research and summarizing, the efficiencies, which frees us up for what's most important: connecting with people and coaching people.

Jami: We place director level and above, though those titles are evolving and may not literally say director. We've also both worked every side of talent acquisition, so we can help a company with workforce planning and org development, fill the roles that need filling, and then help onboard those hires so they're successful. And for candidates who don't fit the director-and-above niche, we can coach and develop them to run their own job search and find the company that will be their home.

Why Austin?

Andrés: The need for talent to fill all these companies moving to Austin. I particularly love the founder scene, and I love CPG because of my Whole Foods background. As a founder, you often don't have the resources to do recruiting really well, or to hire a big search firm and go through a costly, slow process. We connect with the passion founders have and the drive to do more with less. And we're very plugged into the community, so it's fun to work somewhere we know the people running these companies. Plus the wellness vibe, the food, the dogs. It's natural to network with folks doing the things we love.

Jami: I moved here for my previous role, and I chose to stay. For me it's personal and business. You get to make your own path, build your community, and work with the people you've been fortunate to meet along the way.

What's your advice for a founder making their first hires?

Jami: Don't be afraid to talk to people, and don't just hire your friend. Founders have a way of keeping things in-house and only looking at a select group. Talk to people, hear other opinions on your business, and be open to interviewing people who don't follow the same path as you.

Andrés: Hold out for talent. That doesn't mean slowing the process down. It means taking time to dissect what you need. You may not need a hire at all. You may need a consultant for three to six months. Work on the bigger buckets first: what's the business strategy, what are the goals for the next two years? Work backwards from that, and you'll know whether you need a CMO, a chief of staff, or a couple of tactical people. Have isolated objective mechanisms throughout your recruiting process, because one hiring decision at that early stage can make or break the company.

Jami: Early hires also set the pace. Think about what you want your company to look like three years down the road, not just today, and whether this is the person who gets you there.

Any advice for people starting a business in general?

Jami: It's a great time to start a business, and a great time to link arms with other people doing it. Don't be afraid to ask questions, reach out, build your community, and learn from others.

Andrés: Start a business around something you love. Not something you like. Something you can dream about every day, that you don't mind working on late at night or early in the morning. That's what helps you organically find business leads, and it keeps you from getting frustrated when things go sideways. You can bring in all the AI tools and agents you want, but what drives everything is your core expertise and critical thinking about one industry, one vertical.

Why this business, and why now?

Andrés: I've been studying happiness, fulfillment, and joy my entire career. When I worked with candidates at Whole Foods and elsewhere, my goal was to help you be happy when you find a job, and to help the leader be happy when they find the person joining their team. That matters to me right now: work that is fulfilling, that gives me meaning, and that challenges me, because I have a partner who thinks differently and pushes me to do better. We're at this stage to be fulfilled, happy, and to give back, because we've been fortunate.

Jami: Working at large corporations got me to the place I always thought I wanted to be. Then you start thinking, "What's next? I have more people to help and lead. How do I do that in a different way?" It was important to build that with someone I trust and want to work with every day. It fulfills my other goal, which is to challenge myself and learn every day. So People ATX is perfect timing.

How can the Austin community help?

Jami and Andrés want to connect with Austin founders, executives, and growing companies that are hiring senior talent, rethinking their org structure, or trying to figure out what kind of hire they actually need next.

They're especially interested in helping teams with director-level and executive search, workforce planning, and early-stage hiring decisions where one person can have an outsized impact on the company.

They also want to meet professionals navigating their own career transitions and people interested in a more human approach to hiring in an increasingly automated market.

Where can people learn more?

Learn more at peopleatx.com, connect with Jami and Andrés on LinkedIn, subscribe to The People Brief, and check out their podcast Path Forward.