Keeping It Real

The Most Overused Word in Contingent Workforce Right Now?
“Strategic.”

Let’s be honest — if we turned “strategic” into a drinking game, nobody would make it to the Q&A. It’s everywhere. 

Strategic supplier.
Strategic sourcing.
Strategic alignment.

I’m not casting shade — I’ve used it too (probably this week).

But here’s the problem: when everything is strategic, nothing is.

We use the word as a placeholder for “important” or “we like them” or “they’ve been around a while.”

The more we toss it around, the more we actually believe it.

Have we ever paused and asked: what do we mean by strategic?

Is it suppliers who help solve real problems, not just fill reqs?
Is it sourcing models that drive outcomes, not just transactions?
Is it partnerships based on shared risk and growth, not just compliance?

“Strategic” shouldn’t be a vibe — it should be a definition. If we can’t explain why something is strategic, it probably isn’t.

Time to stop using the word as a badge and start using it as a bar.

Did You Catch This?

The Growing Role of AI in Recruitment

🔥 Hot Take #1: AI Isn’t Replacing Recruiters — It’s Finally Giving Them a Fighting Chance

Recruiters have been drowning in admin work for years. AI isn’t a threat — it’s the lifeboat. Writing job ads, juggling interviews, digging through resumes… these aren’t strategic tasks, they’re survival tasks.
AI stepping in here isn’t replacing the recruiter — it’s freeing them to finally be one.

🔥 Hot Take #2: A Wider Net Means Nothing Without a Sharper Lens

AI can help recruiters cast a wider net — surfacing more candidates from more places, which is great in theory. But more volume isn’t the win — better candidate quality is. If your team can’t cut through the noise, more becomes a burden, rather than an advantage.

Has AI hit the mark, flushing out the best candidate from the sea of possibilities?

TBD.

🔥 Hot Take #3: If You Use AI to Attack the Market, Don’t Be Surprised When It Attacks Back

Sure, GenAI can clean up your job postings — but if the role itself is unclear, overloaded, or unrealistic, you’re just polishing a mess. And here’s the kicker: if you’re using AI to generate bloated job descriptions, don’t be surprised when candidates respond with equally bloated, AI-generated résumés.

Garbage in, garbage out — but now with perfect grammar.

From the Murmur-verse

There is a growing pressure on 🇨🇦 Canadian companies 🇨🇦 to rethink how they source and manage talent — and let’s be real: CW programs are packed with U.S.-owned suppliers.

At Murmur, we are growing our network of Canadian-owned staffing suppliers who provide Canadian talent to Canadian companies.

This is about building resilience, relevance, and a supplier base that is deeply invested in Canada’s future.

If you're looking to strengthen your supply chain with trusted, homegrown partners, Murmur can help you do exactly that.