Alden Pennington

Founder at: and Entrepreneur, Occasional Provocateur. I help PE firms hire and design winning teams.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

Your recruiting funnel didn't break at the interview, it broke on your career page.

TalentSignal shows you how candidates see and experience your employment brand, with a full consulting grade audit.

Most agencies charge $15k. We charge $499

https://t.co/T09px5eY0r

[reason @reason]

If Nathan Fielder did a Trump documentary...

[Chris Bailey @Kentuckyweather]

I'm adding Knoxville to all our weather maps since it's now owned by Kentucky.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

I keep hearing alarms on hiring volume. Not just fewer openings, but more competition per role and more friction in the process.

Layer in AI and automation pressure…and the job hunt has never felt more unforgiving

[Heather Long @byHeatherLong]

Here's the key data: Hiring
Hiring was anemic in November.
The 3.2% hiring rate was one of the worst since the Great Recession era.

The United States is in a hiring recession. Virtually no jobs added since April outside of healthcare.

Both blue-collar and white-collar industries aren't hiring. And Americans are feeling it. Not only is it hard to find a job, wage growth is slowing.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

I am once again asking everyone involved in hiring
to stop posting jobs that say:

“Great opportunity.”

That’s not a description, it's the bare minimum....

Great for who?
Great why?
Great compared to what?

Want candidates to take notice?

Clarity is the flex....

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@CoachDanGo Indeed.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@wildcatnews Stadiums that size seem so quaint.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@thejustinwelsh Biggest flex I've seen on 2025.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@matt_gray_ 2026

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@bhalligan Simplicity for the win...

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

The person you listen to most is yourself.

That voice is always learning : for better or worse.

Try not to lose their respect.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

I review KPIs pretty seriously.

This year, the most important ones all cleared the bar.

Healthy family.
Meaningful work.
Enough margin to enjoy it.

Turns out my highest-leverage KPI isn’t on a dashboard.

It’s who’s in this picture.

2026 — let’s go!

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@girdley Sure, but its gonna get harder and harder to tell...

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

I mean.....

[Andrew Gazdecki @agazdecki]

This will still be true for startups in 2027:

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@aymanalabdul Love the framing.

CEO's focused only on operational excellence miss the boat on the need for evangelizing the vision...

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

Excluding COVID, unemployment is at its highest level in 8+ years.

Youth unemployment is even worse: 10.6%.

That’s not just an economic issue, it’s a visibility problem.

I know countless 6 figure sales jobs available, with desperate employers.

Why the disconnect here?

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@RosserJobs Every. Time.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@pmitu Its always about distribution. Easier to build than sell.

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@DearS_o_n Get your kids out of the house and into college, etc. They're the traffickers of germs..

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@agazdecki #Persistence

[Alden Pennington @TalentaHR]

@KingOfPhinland For those who've been around a bit...This was the only outcome possible.