The 2026 Recruiting Playbook: Less No-Shows and More Conversations — Rachel Gartner

Rachel Gartner, CEO of Carework, joins host David Knack to discuss the state of recruiting in 2026. Rachel shares her big mistake of running the old 2025 playbook where relying on free Indeed job postings and scheduling interviews caused massive inefficiencies.

She explains how using AI to automatically schedule interviews actually caused her recruiters' live phone time to plummet. Instead of playing phone tag, Carework now uses AI to filter out unqualified applicants and immediately transfer ready caregivers to a live human.

Lesson Takeaways:
1. Texting is Out, Calling is In: Texting engages caregivers but lacks commitment. Using AI to call candidates scales efficiently and connects you with applicants who are actually ready to work.
2. Stop Scheduling Interviews: Automated scheduling leads to massive no show rates and lowers recruiter efficiency. Instead, use AI to qualify candidates and transfer them live to a human.
3. Treat Scheduled Interviews as Missed Calls: If a candidate schedules a time, do not wait for the appointment. Call them right away because the first agency to offer a job usually wins.
4. Free Indeed Ads No Longer Work: You can no longer dump free job posts and hope for results. Agencies must sponsor their ads and stay in contact with their Indeed reps.
5. Let AI Handle Unqualified Calls: Recruiters burn out answering unqualified applicants or people ordering fast food. AI filters these out so your team only talks to qualified caregivers. 

Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction to the 2026 recruiting playbook
02:29 — Rachel introduces Carework and staff recruiting
06:41 — The big mistake of relying on free Indeed ads
09:57 — Why caregivers are completely comfortable with AI
11:40 — The hot take that texting is out and calling is in
15:55 — Why scheduling interviews ruins recruiter efficiency
18:54 — Tracking live conversations instead of booked appointments
22:20 — The frustration of no shows for high volume agencies
26:22 — High leverage emergencies versus silly caller requests
30:47 — How AI filters out applicants calling from the drive through
33:48 — Preventing burnout for the recruiters who actually care
37:22 — How the new hiring process feels like a recruiter dream

Quotes:
Rachel Gartner: "We're not trying to use AI here to replace humans, it actually is really helping us have more good conversations with caregivers."

Rachel Gartner: "Your mindset should be, 'They tried to get in touch with us. I need to call them right now.'"

David Knack: "Because AI's here, because caregivers are adopting AI, actually this provides as good or better an experience than a person did."

David Knack: "A successful recruiter was a recruiter who had a calendar full of scheduled interviews, the new metric to measure is conversations."

Resources:
1. Connect with Rachel Gartner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelgartner/
2. Learn more about Carework: https://www.careworkus.com/
3. Email Rachel: rachel@careworkus.com
4. Connect with David Knack on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-knack/
5. Powered by Zingage: https://zingage.com
6. Watch this episode on Zingage's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Zingage