A Recap of RecFest Nashville USA (2024)

Heather Barbour Fenty
Latest posts by Heather Barbour Fenty (see all)

I recently attended RecFest Nashville. The event had a fun festival feel and turned Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park into a lively meeting spot for recruiters, sourcers, hiring managers, and other talent acquisition professionals.

Inspired by its UK origins at Knebworth Park, RecFest USA brought attendees, speakers, and vendors together in a unique way. Between creative vendor activities, great content, and networking under big tents, it’s clear why this event is a favorite in the TA community.

Here’s my take on what I learned, who I met, and the fun I had. I am already planning to attend RecFest Nashville 2025!

RecFest Nashville Event Map

I heard RecFest UK is much bigger and more spread out than RecFest USA, but my guess is the US version will grow with time too. I found this event map really helpful while making my way through the 2-day event:

recfest nashville event map

There were 4 big top stages, with speakers presenting throughout each day. Demo stations were set up where vendors shared product overviews with a side of networking.

Vendor tents sprinkled across Bicentennial Park offered fun activities like personalizing trucker hats or cowboy hats, creating your own flower bouquets, screen printing t-shirts, prosecco tasting, caricature art, and Tarot card reading.

There were coffee trucks, fun carnival-like games, a Farmer’s Market for loads of lunch choices, and a beautiful view of Nashville’s Capitol Hill. The weather was a bit rainy, but we all survived. And what is a UK-inspired conference without some rainy grey weather anyway?!

I even made some time to check out the music scene after the conference ended!

heather tarot cards
fortune teller
qualifi games
nashville farmers market
nashville capitol hill
pillar shirt making
blues music
painters alley

Who I Met at RecFest Nashville

Now, let’s talk about who I met. I landed in Nashville, aka the heart of Tennessee or “Music City,” the afternoon before RecFest USA kicked off. So, I had a chance to attend Hope Leigh Marketing’s rooftop Networking event at Lou/Na.

This was just the beginning of meeting some ultimate TA pros. Here’s a list of who I connected with during my 3-day trip. I am linking their LinkedIn profiles in case you want to connect with them, too:

Sessions I Attended at RecFest Nashville 2024

I tried to balance attending sessions with visiting vendor booths (and networking). Here’s a breakdown of the sessions I attended (in the order I attended them). I was so busy listening that I didn’t get many photos. Next time!

But, below I tried to summarize what I learned in a few sentences. Note: If you were one of the speakers and want me to link your slide deck, I would be happy to! Just reach out on my LinkedIn.

The Future of Tech Sourcing

Mark Chaffey Hackajob

Mark Chaffey from Hackajob discussed how old-school tech sourcing isn’t cutting it anymore. They’re launching some new tools that’ll save time and help us refocus on strategic hiring instead of wasting hours digging through outdated channels. It was all about smarter, not harder.

Employer Brand 🤝🏾 DEI: 100+ ERG Interviews & An NPS of 80+

Ankit Pathak

Ankit Pathak from Spring Health talked about the power of employer branding tied to DEI, especially through employee resource groups and coffee chats. The big takeaway? Listening to employees and involving them in the branding process really amps up your company’s DEI cred (+ your Net Promoter Score) and helps create a more inclusive brand.

From Silos to Synergy: Transforming Your TA Technology

Julia Levy

AutoZone‘s Julia Levy’s session was all about cleaning up messy tech stacks. Julia showed how consolidating tools and simplifying workflows can make our processes so much smoother. Julia spoke to cutting the clutter and focusing on what really works. Even if you need multiple tools, ensure they can work together to help improve your HR workflows.

How to Build an Award-Winning Employer Brand

Ed Nathanson

Ed Nathanson from Synopsys took us through his journey of building Synopsys’s employer brand from scratch. The key lesson? Start by listening to employees and leaning on existing company values, then build from there. He gave a great roadmap on turning a company’s culture into a strong, award-winning brand.

Ed also gave some big props to CultureHQ for their help along the way.

Attracting & Assessing Diverse Tech Talent

A panel session hosted by Ariana Moon, Carlos Monteagudo, Alexandra Holien, Kasi Riley, and Nick Greenston. The panel touched on the challenge of attracting diverse talent. The main point was to create supportive environments that help underrepresented candidates thrive.

Everyone had great tips on making the hiring process less biased, starting with fair interviews, using blind hiring tools, and figuring out a way to make women’s hair show up on Zoom calls! 🙂

Embracing Pay Transparency: Enhancing Trust and Attracting Top Talent

In this session, Justin King and Kristi Lisbon from Advanced RPO shared that pay transparency isn’t just a trend — it’s becoming a must-have for building trust and attracting candidates. And, TA teams can play a big role in advocating for it. The gist was, showing the money (literally) can really set your company apart.

They also talked about the challenges of approaching the new levels transparency with long-time employees who may not be a huge fan of making the same pay as someone who just got hired.

Talent Strategy: The Recruiter’s Secret Paintbrush

Donald Knight from Warner’s Brothers Discovery spoke about AI’s role in recruitment—basically, how it’s like a secret tool that can really sharpen our strategies. My takeaway from the session…it’s all about blending AI with our gut instincts to make better, data-driven decisions without losing the human touch.

And, here are 3 key takeaways from Donald himself:

AI as a Strategic Tool: Recruiters should view AI not just as a technology but as a strategic asset that enhances their ability to make informed, data-driven decisions in workforce planning.
Enhanced Precision and Efficiency: AI empowers recruiters to streamline talent acquisition processes, making them more precise and efficient, which leads to better alignment with long-term business goals.
Human-AI Collaboration: The presentation underscored the importance of blending AI with human insight, allowing recruiters to leverage technology while maintaining the creativity and intuition that define great talent strategy.

Reduce Time to Hire, Using Equitable Hiring Practices

Jo Weech’s talk was all about speeding up the hiring process (aka “time to hire”) without compromising fairness. Structured interviews and training managers to follow the plan were the big tips.

The idea is to reduce bias and make sure we’re getting the best candidates in a timely way. Jo shared personal and professional stories and a book (Talent Makers) from Greenhouse Co-founders Daniel Chait and Jon Stross that helped lay the groundwork for better processes in her work.

Key Themes & Trends from RecFest Nashville

Here are some key trends and themes I took away from RecFest Nashville. To me these highlight where the future of recruitment is heading:

  • AI is playing a bigger role in recruitment, but balancing it with human insight remains essential.
  • Though there’s growing fatigue around using too many tools, specialized solutions are still necessary.
  • Smarter tech sourcing tools are becoming increasingly popular.
  • Pay transparency is no longer optional—it’s becoming a must-have.
  • Employer branding that emphasizes inclusion and equity can significantly enhance a company’s reputation.
  • Skills-based hiring that reduces bias continues to gain momentum.

Why I Wrote This:

I hope this RecFest Nashville recap sparks some ideas for your own recruitment journey. If you’re curious about how my team can help solve some of talent acquisition’s biggest challenges, head over to Ongig.com to request a demo, or feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect!

by in HR Content