Leadership + Hiring Trends: Insights from the Noto Group Team for 2026

[00:00:00] Roy Notowitz: Hello and welcome to How I Hire, the podcast where today's top executives share stories of their leadership journey, including the defining moments that tested their values, sharpened their judgment, and shaped how they build teams and lead with purpose. I'm Roy Notowitz, founder and CEO of Noto Group Executive Search. You can learn more about us at notogroup.com. As a trusted partner to mission and values-driven consumer brands, we've had the privilege of working alongside some of the world's most inspiring operators as they've tackled the challenge of building high performance leadership teams. In this podcast, we spark a conversation about how to achieve success in hiring and create purposeful leadership for the next generation of companies. Today, I'm with my team and we're here in person at the Noto Group headquarters in Portland, and we're here to talk about the current talent and leadership trends that we're seeing for 2026. I'm joined by Sara Spirko, who's our managing director and senior partner, as well as Tami Bumiller and John Copeland, who are both senior partners here. Welcome, everyone. It's great to have you here.

[00:01:14] Tami Bumiller: Nice to be here, Roy.

[00:01:15] John Copeland: Thanks for having us.

[00:01:16] Sara Spirko: Thanks.

[00:01:17] Roy Notowitz: Excellent. So, to kick us off, why don't you introduce yourselves, and give a peek into your role, and let us know what you love about working with our clients?

[00:01:27] John Copeland: Hi, my name is John Copeland. I'm a senior partner for Noto. Been with the company now for just over one year, and my role is working with clients, recruiting their senior leadership team across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and have now started working in projects in the US as well. What do I love about working with my clients? I think just watching and seeing the candidates we've placed and how they've grown and developed within the brands that we put them into is just great to see.

[00:01:54] Roy Notowitz: That's awesome.

[00:01:55] Tami Bumiller: I'm Tami Bumiller, and I've been with the firm for seven years.

[00:01:58] Roy Notowitz: Wow.

[00:01:59] Tami Bumiller: Favorite part of my job -- three things: really enjoy learning new businesses and business models. Secondly, I truly enjoy working with new leaders and learning their styles and what works for them and what doesn't. And my newest favorite piece is mentoring the younger people in our firm. I think we talk about this a lot as a firm that post-COVID, the succession planning and companies has really suffered in terms of development and onsite leadership, and we spend a lot of time working with our team that is coming up in the recruiting world, and that's a lot of fun.

[00:02:30] Sara Spirko: My name is Sara Spirko, and I've been with the firm for seven years as of January. In my role, I do 90% recruiting, but I also do some operational stuff with the firm, which I really love doing. It's fun to work with Roy and figure out, you know, what Noto 2.0, 3.0, 10.0 is going to look like, but I also just love seeing what our clients are doing and getting a peek behind the curtain, talking to all the candidates and just tearing their stories of how they got to where they're at. I absolutely love it when a candidate that we placed calls us and asks us to help them with a search with where they're at right now, where we placed them. It's really fun to see that full circle moment come to be.

[00:03:08] Roy Notowitz: Looking back at 2025, what made hiring top leaders especially challenging? And were there any unexpected obstacles or turning points that stand out for you from last year?

[00:03:21] Sara Spirko: Well, the obvious topic is the change in administration and tariffs. I think when the tariffs were put into place, there was no roadmap, There was no rule book. And so I think it really froze decision making, and that included who are we hiring and what do we need? So I think that, for our firm, was a big struggle in '25. And, I think, combined with that, we were still seeing the runoff of kind of the post-COVID outdoor industry decline, and a lot of companies were still struggling with inventory, still struggling with strategy, and that definitely showed up in, I would say, less work and much more specific work when we got it last year, compared to previous years with the firm. One of the candidates that I had talked to said that it felt like whiplash, last year, where things would get better, and then something would happen. And they just felt like they couldn't get into a steady state, and there was just a lot of uncertainty. And companies started just burying people with massive amounts of work. Positions just blew up in terms of scope. Expectations went through the roof of what clients were looking for out of candidates.

[00:04:29] John Copeland: I think quarter one certainly was impacted, but, by quarter two, companies, I think, had to make a decision, had to move forward, and we knew that the tariff situation wasn't going to go away. We didn't know what percentages it was going to be, but, ultimately. We've got to keep going, and things did definitely pick up for us.

[00:04:48] Roy Notowitz: Yeah. Once they get a better handle on the math and how-- and a path forward, with regard to how to offset the tariffs. I think that's when things really accelerated, the second half of the year. Coming into 2026, what shifts are you seeing in client, company, and candidate priorities and needs? Both in North America, and then also for John in Europe.

[00:05:10] Sara Spirko: I think companies are not as patient with onboarding. They want their person who they hire to make an impact right away because they need it. And I think that needs to be a bigger conversation now of to set the candidate up for success, then you need to give them the space to be successful.

[00:05:26] Tami Bumiller: I think a word that I've heard more this year than we've heard ever, maybe, in my time with Noto Group, is transformation. I want someone who understands transformation. So whether that's business growth, whether that's change of direction, whether that's creativity, it's all about this-- sort of the new buzzword with a leader is, "I want transformation." And then the other piece I think that I've seen a lot is our business tends to ebb and flow with the economy, so depending on what's being prioritized in the economy, that's the kind of roles we tend to see come to fruition in that given year. And right now, I feel like we have wholesale roles again, and we have D to C roles again, which D to C roles were quiet last year. And, in some cases, I feel like these retail roles are starting to pop up, which retail has been very quiet, but brands that we're working with are starting to consider retail strategy again. So those are some things that I'm noticing just out the gate in Q1.

[00:06:26] John Copeland: I think there was a number of companies who've grown extremely fast over the last few years, and they want to retain that entrepreneurial and agile spirit, but still bring in people who've got experience with companies that are significantly bigger than they are and are afraid of, when they bring those people in, are they going to change the way that they operate? Are they going to change the culture? Is it going to be more of a culture fit, as opposed to a culture add? So I think a lot of companies are looking at that.

[00:06:54] Roy Notowitz: Yeah, for sure. Is there anything specific in Europe, John, that you're seeing? In terms of mismatches between what candidates want and what companies are offering? Or any other aspects of your work?

[00:07:09] John Copeland: Yeah, certainly in Europe, when you're relocating people from country to country, an area that we're looking at now, or have done for a number of years, is schooling. International schooling is really expensive, so that's something that clients are looking at potentially introducing as part of a package, which will help attract talent into the country. The other areas, um, sabbaticals is something that's being offered for companies and coaching, executive coaching for their execs.

[00:07:35] Roy Notowitz: That's great. I wish we had more of that in the US. So, examining the changing landscape. What are new competencies and capabilities that are emerging as absolutely essential for leadership? Tami, you talked a little bit about transformation.

[00:07:50] Tami Bumiller: The obvious one is everyone's talking about AI -- doesn't mean they know exactly what they want to do with it, but everyone's using that as a, "How has Candidate X utilized AI to inform, transform, make change in their business?" So that's an obvious one. The transformation skill, again, business transformation -- proven and demonstrated ability to scale, and grow, and create EBITDA and multiples for private equity companies is something that a lot of our clients are talking about. And then, I think this balance between being a leader that can galvanize teams, and be decisive, and get results -- to your earlier point, Sara, of that sort of unicorn leader is -- top of mind for a lot of our clients. They have these big, growth goals, and they want people who have all of those skill sets, plus more, that they believe is what the recipe is going to be to actually get to that growth goal.

[00:08:45] Sara Spirko: I hear a lot of change management, and I think it's just the dynamic, even since COVID, I mean, it's just been, like, a continual flux of change since then, and you hear about boards or private equity firms needing leaders who can come in and manage a team through pivots.

[00:08:59] John Copeland: I think working in, in the outdoor industry, there's a number of companies that are looking to bring people in from-- with CPG backgrounds. And I think the skillset that they can bring dealing with particular trade term, dealing with big box retailers, and the complexity around that is an interesting dynamic. Whether that fit is right for an organization, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Remains to be seen.

[00:09:22] Roy Notowitz: I was looking at the results of our 2026 Leadership and Hiring Trends Report, and what our client said was profitability as a top business imperative this year, coming into 2026 and growth orientation is the leadership capability that most organizations want to strengthen in 2026. So, what are the best indicators to predict executive success in today's environment?

[00:09:47] Tami Bumiller: Proven results is, typically, the number one that any company is looking for. So, do I know how to lead? Do I know how to innovate? And do I understand how to go to market in my particular industry or discipline? So, that's always number one. And I think the other piece that I'm seeing more is that leaders want, also, people who come to the table with the ability to quickly pivot when Strategy X goes awry and moving to Strategy Y. And that isn't necessarily new, but it can go up and down in priority, depending on where we are as an economy.

[00:10:25] Roy Notowitz: So adaptability.

[00:10:26] Tami Bumiller: Adaptability. Yep. And then, I think the last thing is -- I think John said this earlier -- is looking at people who are culture additive, versus just culture fit and being able to have really smart dialogue with your clients about what that means to them. And so, clients that are more open to that, we-- I think we tend to do better with, generally, and we bring better talent to the table because we're not just looking at a cookie cutter of another person that's already in the brand.

[00:10:53] Roy Notowitz: What's your current best thinking on how CEOs and boards can get the best results when engaging with a search firm?

[00:10:59] Sara Spirko: I would say making the role mandate really real. So, defining the authority, resources, what winning looks like.There's a lot of really high performing leaders who are cautious about leaving a company right now because there's so many dynamics in the world. They need to know -- "they" being the CEO, the board -- they need to know what the opportunity is that they're providing a candidate and being able to sell it. That will give candidates more confidence as well. So I think it's how do you create the value add for a candidate to leave when maybe the economy is a little bit touch and go? Like, how do you make it a safe move for them to make?

[00:11:37] Tami Bumiller: Okay. These things for me never change. So, if you listen to our podcast two years ago or whatever it was, I'd say the same thing. So, for me, best results look like clear and open communication about what you need, why you need it, and share as much information with me as you can so that I can steward the position and your brand through the process, because the more I know and can represent you to the candidate, the better the candidate experience is and the better candidates I'll bring to you. So that's number one. The second is actionable feedback. So, when you review candidates, when you interview candidates, and you have feedback, I, in order to refine and really nail the person that you want, we need to understand what were the things that you liked and didn't like? And less about cursory or surface things, but where their skillsets aligned or where they didn't. A lot of openness and curiosity about candidate potential. So, can I bring candidates from an adjacent industry rather than an exact industry? To John's earlier point, outdoor industry is starting to look at that CPG skillset. A lot of that is because the outdoor industry is known to have grassroots growth, whereas CPG is very formulaic. There's a lot of great P&L training early in your career when you're with CPG, and so they bring this commercial skillset that necessarily outdoor industry doesn't have wired. And then, the last thing I would just say is, to Sara's point, make sure that your process is well defined, fluent, and that it's got a timestamp on it. Because, as you drag out candidate interview process with an executive team that is really hard to reach or get to, the candidate starts formulating opinions about, "How are decisions made within this company? Because I've been interviewing for three months now, and I still don't have an idea of how I fit into the mix." So, having a really clear and defined process is pivotal and important to not only getting you the hire, but how the candidate perceives your brand. Candidates are interviewing you as well as you're interviewing them.

[00:13:41] John Copeland: The only thing I think I'd add to that is, for us, we want to be a true partner to the business and be an extension of your HR function. Being fully conversant and understand what the drivers are behind the business. Interviewing. When you get a leadership team who, who are going to interview the candidate, make sure that they understand where are the areas they want to focus on? I've had lots of candidates come back to me and say, "Oh, I interviewed with about seven people, and pretty much most of the interviews were the same, and they asked me the same questions." You've got this candidate for seven hours, so make sure that you're asking the right questions. Pick ones you want to focus on, pick on the competencies, and give one of your team two or three to focus on, and then spread it out. And then feedback so everybody knows what's going on.

[00:14:25] Tami Bumiller: And I would just add to John's point, for our clients to know out there, whoever's listening, we are always happy to help write those interview guides and help you organize that so that it takes pressure off your executive team, because it's not a surprise to us that your executives are busy. So, we've got that skill set and we can really help organize that with and for you, so never hesitate to ask.

And as important as the interview is the feedback loop then that you conduct with your executive team, and making sure that that's timely, and that there's an organized structure for that. So it's more about whether or not the candidate is bringing the skills and how you experienced each candidate against the skillset that we're hiring for. If you're not getting that feedback, it's not a complete cycle, and it's not an effective process, and you likely will end up hiring the wrong person.

[00:15:12] Roy Notowitz: A lot of people ask me, what exactly do you do at Noto Group? We partner with entrepreneurs, founders, executives, investors, and boards to help them build high performance leadership teams that excel and endure. We've had the privilege of working with more than 250 leading brands, from early stage innovators to global icons, and we've placed hundreds of executives along the way. As a certified B Corp since 2013, and proud 1% for the Planet member, it always starts with your mission, and values, and finding leaders who can bring those to life. If you're curious, you can find out more by visiting our website notogroup.com. Thanks, and now let's get back to our episode. As we're coming in here to 2026 -- we're two months in, coming into the third month. So is 2026 shaping up to be a tougher or a smoother ride when it comes to filling executive roles, and why?

[00:16:12] John Copeland: I mean, we've started off really strong this year. I think all the things that we've discussed today are-- still are in play. And what clients are looking for and their expectations, so it's managing those and that's our job to manage effectively. If we're doing our job properly, hopefully we can advise our clients accordingly and make it a lot easier and smoother ride. We have the pay transparency coming into force in Europe, but it's something that you've experienced in the US for some time, and now it's going to come over to Europe in, uh, late on this year. So that's also something we've got to look at.

[00:16:46] Tami Bumiller: How will that be received, do you think? Will it be easier for you or harder for you?

[00:16:50] John Copeland: I think that'll be harder. I think companies aren't ready. And, in terms of pay gap between, uh, genders, that's got to be transparent as well. And then we've always been in a case of we'll look at somebody's experience, and then we will determine what we think they should be paid, as opposed to, "Okay, this role is 160,000. If somebody's paying 160,000, then that's what the job is worth." So getting around that mindset and thinking, "Okay, well there's somebody there who's on a hundred thousand today. Do we take advantage of that person because they were potentially being paid less?" Or do we see them as being, "Okay, they're coming into a role that is at 160,000?"

[00:17:30] Sara Spirko: I'm seeing the whole back in office thing. During COVID times, people moved to where they wanted to be and most-- a lot of our searches now, especially here in the US, are asking for candidates in office three to four days a week. Which, if you're in a not as big metropolitan area that's requiring relocation for candidates, and there's a lot of people who still don't want to relocate. That's still going to be a tension, I think, for a long time. But it looks like companies are winning that tug of war a little bit, and that's just something clients need to understand. If you are going to require relocation in an in-office, you are going to probably have to pay people a little bit more to incentivize them to uproot their family.

[00:18:09] Tami Bumiller: I don't know if it's shaping up to be tougher or smoother, but I will say there's two different points that I'm running into that I don't feel like I've run into before. The whole, you know, how we love to title things these days, the job hugging piece. And so there's definite job hugging with the state of the world, and the economy, and kind of the divisiveness that we're experiencing right now. And then I would say the second thing that's really new for me is I have had candidates inquire about political leanings of the brand before they enter the process. So some of the political landscape is showing up in who and how I want to work and with whom, and will I take a risk if they don't share my same, not value set as much, but sort of affiliation, lifestyle, political leanings? And that is a little newer for me, and I've had that, eh, a half dozen times maybe this year. And it's only Q1, so it's a little different.

[00:19:05] Roy Notowitz: Interesting.

[00:19:06] Tami Bumiller: Yeah.

[00:19:07] Roy Notowitz: So we have seen in the results of our survey that the workplace arrangements have rebalanced a little bit. Some people are going more towards remote. I think that could be because of talent availability or being able to take advantage of talent in a broader geography. And we also saw an increase in in-office, which we defined as four to five days a week in the office. So any insights you have on that, given what you're seeing out there?

[00:19:36] Sara Spirko: I've had two scenarios recently. One where we were looking for a VP of Sales position, and the client really wanted the person on-site. and it was not the most desirable location, and they ended up hiring someone who will eventually move there, but they decided the best talent is more important than location, which I think is usually, probably, a good place to land. And then I'm working with another client right now where a lot of their teams are still remote because they had that policy with COVID, and they're not going to force people to come back, but, with any new hire, the new hire has to be in the office. So they're starting to transition people back into the office, and there's no negotiation on that one because they want all of their senior leaders -- so that would be senior director and above -- they all have to be in office, whereas some of the more manager level don't have to be. So it's interesting to see how companies are trying to reconcile people who moved away. They don't want to lose that talent. But how do you get people back in office with that?

[00:20:34] Roy Notowitz: So how are compensation packages evolving, especially in private companies?

[00:20:38] John Copeland: I think I said before that companies now need to be a little bit more innovative in their approach, and not only the basic salaries and the bonus, but whether it's an LTIP, equity, and then also schooling, sabbaticals, coaching for their executive leaders, I think really do make a difference.

[00:20:57] Tami Bumiller: I feel like in North America, compensation conversation has been a little flat over the last year. A couple things that I've seen are candidates are much more interested in truly understanding an equity offer, rather than just saying, "we have equity." What does it mean? How does it pay out? What's the vesting period? What is the likelihood of a sale? They're much more invested in their due diligence, which I think is a good thing.

[00:21:22] Roy Notowitz: A little bit more than napkin math. Yeah.

[00:21:24] Tami Bumiller: And then the other thing is I've had many more candidates ask about severance when they're negotiating their deal. And I think the state of unrest in the US, and business, and acquisitions, and CEO leadership changes, all of those things have made the candidates a little savvier around their upside protection when they take a new role. Candidates are also getting savvy about, "Okay, if I'm making an offer for 250,000, a 40% bonus," the candidate wants to know: what is the track record of bonus paying out over the last three years?

[00:21:58] Roy Notowitz: Yes.

[00:21:59] Tami Bumiller: And that-- when I first started with Noto Group, I did not have candidates inquire about that. So they're becoming a lot more savvy with compensation being less creative or maybe less elements. They're being more savvy about asking very specific questions around each element.

[00:22:14] Roy Notowitz: Yeah.

[00:22:14] Tami Bumiller: Because a bonus structure that hasn't paid out in five years means nothing to me, especially if the salary was less than I thought it was going to be.

[00:22:22] Sara Spirko: I've had a lot of candidates ask me about PTO. That's been a big thing in the last few searches where they wanted to know: do they start at the three week, you minimum? I've had a few candidates push back. They're like, "I'm not going back to three weeks of vacation. I have eight weeks. I want eight weeks in the new company." So that's kind of an interesting thing. And I think this goes back to the trying to find some sort of semblance of work-life balance when you are going back into the office more often. I think that's how people are trying to compensate for that.

[00:22:50] Roy Notowitz: I feel like the paid time off and vacation is something that is a little bit easier for companies to offer. It's not the worst thing for our candidate to ask for.

[00:23:00] Tami Bumiller: Yeah.

[00:23:01] Roy Notowitz: In that sense.

[00:23:02] Tami Bumiller: And I always encourage our clients to have one thing that you're willing to negotiate with a candidate because it puts a candidate in a little bit more of a driver's seat. But, more importantly than the driver's seat, it builds trust right out of the gate. If I have something that's really important to me, if it's PTO or if it's bonus percentage, or if it's, I don't know, education for my children. If you have something that you're willing to give, that bridge of trust happens right out of the gate, and it builds loyalty.

[00:23:30] Roy Notowitz: Yeah.

[00:23:30] Tami Bumiller: It builds loyalty.

[00:23:31] Roy Notowitz: And it can be little things too, just with consideration of the candidate and what their situation might be.

[00:23:37] Sara Spirko: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:38] Roy Notowitz: So do you perceive any shifts on how companies are thinking about or optimizing the hybrid and remote leader?

[00:23:45] Tami Bumiller: With our client base, leadership is, more often than not, required to be in-office. I would say an average of four for my clients this year, sometimes three. And less enthusiasm around commuting executives because of the cost associated with commuting. And, in some cases, our clients really want executives that are embedded in the community.

[00:24:12] John Copeland: Europe is still two to three days in the office. There is a bit of a push to go in for more, but generally speaking it's two to three days.

[00:24:19] Tami Bumiller: I think when the COVID boom ended, CEOs had to make really hard decisions around business results, and a very natural place for CEOs to go is pre-COVID, we were all in a room together and our results were this. Now we're not all in a room together creating, innovating, ideating, whatever you want to call it, and so I'm going to use that as a lever to pull to see if I can get back to where I want. It's one lever, but I'm going to pull it. And some really savvy CEOs are seeing that the lack of development and succession planning within their company in a remote environment, it's really hard to teach what you need to teach around creativity, and innovation, and teamwork, and hierarchy and all the things that are important, you just can't learn them over a Zoom screen. And so balancing the convenience of remote and some-- in some cases, best talent, because I might find the best talent in Alaska. Who knows? But it doesn't replace what you learn when you sit in a meeting with leadership, and you listen to the dialogue, and you have someone mentoring you at your desk or saying, "That was a great meeting. Here are three things that I might've done differently next time." You just don't. I think we're losing that, and so a lot of the, I think, savvier CEOs are starting to see and feel that, that development, that succession is not as existent as it was before we all went remote in 2020.

[00:25:45] Roy Notowitz: Yeah.

[00:25:46] John Copeland: Yeah. Definitely harder for the younger generation.

[00:25:48] Roy Notowitz: Some of the CEOs I've been talking to who are in the hybrid, three to four days a week in the office, they've been talking about, "How do you really optimize the time that they do have together with their teams?" They're trying to figure out, "How do we really make the most of this and get traction?" I've always thought things would go back into full-time in the office four or more days a week much sooner. I've actually been surprised at how durable that arrangement has been actually post-COVID.

[00:26:21] Tami Bumiller: Yet in some cases, companies don't have a choice because we have several clients who gave up office space.

[00:26:27] John Copeland: Mm-hmm.

[00:26:28] Tami Bumiller: Who went fully remote and literally released their leases. And I have one client who they changed buildings during COVID, and so they don't have enough space for all their employees. So, even if they wanted to, unless they take on another lease, they can't. And, again, all of this is so unwritten. Like, we haven't been in a decade that has been this way before, so there isn't a rule book and there isn't guard rails or guidelines. And so, you have to have a leadership team and an HR team that's really invested in figuring out what does right look like now? And how does it look in the future? And if we are going to be remote, how do we develop the next generation? Because that still is a CEO's accountability, is, "How do I create succession within my brand and develop people to run the next five or 10 years of my business?"

[00:27:15] Roy Notowitz: So what advice or guidance do you have for executive-level leaders who are considering making a move this year in 2026?

[00:27:24] John Copeland: There's a lot of candidates out there, all vying for those jobs, and there aren't that many. So, I think just being patient, resilient, using your network. It's amazing how many people I speak to who are just starting to look, they potentially hasn't been looking for a job for many years. It's like, "Okay. Who do you know? Who have you reached out to? Have you worked with over the years? Have moved on to other brands that could be interesting brands for you?" And then you're having to go out and start afresh. So start those conversations now, even if you're not looking and build that up. The other things I would say is be realistic in your expectations. We've got some people that we've spoken to who just want to be a CEO, but they're not ready yet. And so just sort of managing those expectations are important.

[00:28:10] Sara Spirko: I think prepping for an interview is really important because it is a crowded market, and, to stand out, you have to be very articulate with what you bring to the table. So, going through your background and pulling out those stories, those key achievements, it's amazing how people don't prep for interviews. It doesn't matter if you're talking to, like, an agency, or an in-house recruiter, or a CEO, you know, if they're like, "Hey, give us your background in five minutes." Keep it five minutes. This is not a 30 minute rambling because you will be out.

[00:28:38] Tami Bumiller: My best advice to candidates when I'm talking to them is: you as a candidate have to treat yourself like your own go-to-market strategy. What do I want? What am I good at? Where do I want to play? What space do I want to play in? What do I bring to the table that differentiates me? And, if I get an interview, I need to invest. I need to invest with energy. I need to invest with research. I need to go to a store. I need to look at the website. I need to look at the competitors. And, when I show up, I need to have a point of view. And my point of view should not be disparaging, but it could be opportunistic. "I saw this, and if I were in the role, I might look at it this way." And if you don't show up with those tight stories, your ability to articulate where you've demonstrated results, transformation, any of those buzzwords that we've talked through all through this podcast, and you can't show interest and energy into the business that you're interviewing for, you won't make it past the first round. And then, my only other thing is: if you have been in a role and you haven't been in the marketplace for five or more years, you have a lot of work to do. You have work to do on your resume. You should practice with a peer, with a spouse, with a partner on what interviewing looks like, because the market changes month to month, year to year, and if you haven't interviewed in five years, you're rusty. So make sure that you invest in yourself to be prepared for that interview because you could be the perfect person for the job, but if you don't show up prepared, it won't matter if you're perfect or not.

[00:30:13] John Copeland: Consistency between a CV and LinkedIn is super important.

[00:30:16] Tami Bumiller: A hundred percent.

[00:30:17] John Copeland: It's a big--

[00:30:17] Tami Bumiller: A thousand percent.

[00:30:18] John Copeland: --Of mine. The client is going to look at both.

[00:30:20] Tami Bumiller: A hundred percent.

[00:30:21] Sara Spirko: They're going to go to LinkedIn first.

[00:30:22] John Copeland: Absolutely.

[00:30:22] Tami Bumiller: The minute we say, "I'm going to interview John Copeland for this job," he's going to your LinkedIn, and if your LinkedIn doesn't match your resume -- immediate trust challenge, immediate skepticism. Your LinkedIn should be your resume. And a hundred recruiters will tell you a hundred things, but I am telling you the Noto Group knows best on this one.

[00:30:39] Sara Spirko: We do. I agree.

[00:30:41] John Copeland: Yeah. And take the calls from recruiters. I mean, it's so important. Even if you're busy. Either take a call or at least respond and say, "Do you know what? Great role, not for me." It's amazing how many people come to me and it's like, oh, it's the first time I'm going out to a recruiter for 20 years. You should already be in contact with three, four, five, six different companies.

[00:31:04] Tami Bumiller: Well, and the moment that you need a recruiter, you want to have--

[00:31:09] Roy Notowitz: A relationship.

[00:31:09] Tami Bumiller: --three, four, five relationships that you can easily call and say, "John, guess what? I got laid off today." And let me tell you, if John-- if you picked up the phone when John called you about a job four years ago that you weren't interested in, he's going to remember you.

[00:31:21] Roy Notowitz: Yeah.

[00:31:21] John Copeland: When people reach out to us, they say, "Oh, I'm, I'm open. Would you like to have a chat?" We're, we'd love to if we had the time, but we can't chat to everybody. So just when you send a message, give a little bit of context that, "This is what I've been doing, this is what I'm looking to do. This is the type of company that I want to work with. The location, the comp level," and that just gives us a bit of steer and more information that will help us and being able to evaluate you.

[00:31:48] Roy Notowitz: Speaking of technology and interviewing and job searching, let's talk a little bit about AI and how that might influence whether you're a candidate or whether you're a hiring manager. We've heard stories about candidates having AI pulled up when they're doing interviews via Zoom and things like that to help them respond. What's your point of view on helping candidates show up properly and authentically, but also helping companies understand how to get to what's real?

[00:32:22] Sara Spirko: I think AI can be a good tool for maybe helping you condense a resume. So let's say you have a five page resume, and you need to get it down to two, AI can help with stuff like that. You still need to look at it after. AI condenses it down for you. AI is not personal. And so, as soon as you start pulling up AI, like, you can have AI listen to the interview question that someone's asking you and it generates a response, don't do that. I mean, if you can't talk articulately about your background without the use of AI, you need to spend some time thinking about your background. I mean, seriously, like, you still need to use your own brain. AI is a supplemental tool. It is not the tool. It's-- it can help with time. If you're really busy, fine. If you're interviewing candidates, it's a great way to say, "Hey, here's my job description. Here's what we're looking for. Here's a couple questions that you could ask to get to what you're looking at." But we can't have an over-reliance on AI. It's AI. Recruiting is a very human thing, and you can't lose that humanness.

[00:33:19] Roy Notowitz: So, in wrapping this up, I think it'd be great if you could just share a little bit of information about how best for candidates to connect and get into our ecosystem at Noto Group.

[00:33:30] Sara Spirko: One, I would do research to see if the type of roles we recruit for are even a fit with your background, i.e., if you're in IT, we're probably not going to be for you. So do your homework on what kind of positions and industries we represent. Go to our job board first. If you see anything that looks of interest to you, apply for it. Feel free to reach out to one of us. Just know we are inundated because there are a lot of people looking for jobs. If you are looking for a job like John had mentioned, send us your resume, but send us, like, a very brief synopsis of who you are and what you want to do. We are probably not going to have time to talk to you if we don't have an open role that's a fit for your background, but give us enough information so we can put you into our system so when we do have an open role, the likelihood of us reaching out to you is going to be a little bit higher. But just-- we don't have time to do a 30 minute conversation with everyone that reaches out, or we will never get our job done.

[00:34:21] Tami Bumiller: I think there's some really easy ways. One, you should sign up for our newsletter, which is a great newsletter. It comes out once a month. It has one of Roy's awesome podcasts, and so you start to get a feel for the ecosystem that exists within Noto Group. So that's number one. Number two, follow our socials -- LinkedIn, Instagram. Because, in between our newsletter that comes once a month directly to your email, we post new jobs and new roles, so that's a good way to keep informed.

[00:34:45] Roy Notowitz: I would also say sometimes candidates email or InMail everyone in the firm, and I wouldn't recommend that.

[00:34:51] Tami Bumiller: Don't do that.

[00:34:51] Roy Notowitz: Because it takes seven times the amount of hours for us to respond to all those. And so, for efficiency sake, just know that we work collaboratively, internally, and reaching out to one of us is usually plenty. It's great having you all in the HQ this week, and thank you for taking time to share your insights on what's happening in 2026.

[00:35:19] Tami Bumiller: Thanks, Roy. Always fun.

[00:35:20] John Copeland: Thanks Roy. It's been great.

[00:35:22] Sara Spirko: Congratulations to John for doing his first podcast at Noto Group.

[00:35:26] John Copeland: Thank you, Sara.

[00:35:30] Roy Notowitz: Thanks for tuning in to How I Hire. Visit howihire.com for details about the show. You can follow Tami, John, and Sara on LinkedIn for more of their expertise. How I Hire is created by Noto Group Executive Search. To find out more about us, visit notogroup.com. You can also sign up for our monthly email job alert newsletter there, and find additional job search strategy resources, as well as more content on hiring. This podcast was produced by Anna McClain. To learn more about her and her team's work, visit aomcclain.com.

‍