After 28 years and nearly a thousand placements, Averity’s own relationship king, Alex Dubovoy, explains why trust, conversations, and community still outperform any algorithm in a so-called AI-obsessed world.
People Hire People—Not Algorithms
AI is everywhere in recruiting. It sources candidates, screens them, handles scheduling and in some cases, it’s even conducting the interviews.
We’re living in a time where human first recruiting in an AI world isn’t just a catchy phrase, it’s a competitive advantage.
Chris Allaire jokes that we’re heading toward a world where an AI agent representing the company argues with an AI agent representing the candidate—Alexa vs. Siri fighting it out while the humans watch from the sidelines.
For Alex Dubovoy, nearly three decades into recruiting, that future isn’t just silly. It’s dangerous.
“In my 28 years in recruitment,” Alex says, “I have never not one time placed a person without having a detailed conversation with them. Never. Not once.”
Because the real mechanics of hiring still live in one place: human nuance.
It’s not just what people say—it’s what they don’t say.
- The wobble behind a confident voice.
- The excitement hiding under hesitation.
- The difference between “I want $200K” and “I’d take $180K for the right home.”
A bot can’t hear that.
A seasoned recruiter can.
Hearing What Candidates Aren’t Saying
Alex tells a familiar story: a candidate who sounded flat and distracted on a call. A bot would have rejected him instantly.
Alex heard something else: nerves.
So he did the most “low-tech” thing imaginable—he became human.
Cracked a joke. Opened up. Created safety.
And suddenly the candidate came alive.
He became someone with a story, skills, ambition, and heart.
That kind of transformation doesn’t happen in a screening portal.
Same with relocation.
A bot hears:
“I’d consider moving from Delaware to New York.” ✔️
Alex hears:
“Wait—why would someone move from a low cost-of-living area to New York while fully employed? What’s really happening?”
Same with compensation.
A bot hears:
“I want $200K.” ✖️ Too expensive. Reject.
Alex asks:
“If you absolutely loved the job, would $180K work?”
The candidate:
“Yeah… of course.”
That small space between checkbox answers and real conversations?
That’s where recruiting actually happens and where human first recruiting in an AI world quietly outperforms automated decision-making.
Where AI Does Belong in Recruiting
Alex isn’t anti-AI. Not even close.
He loves AI—when it’s used in the right places.
“I want to be on the phone all day,” he says. “Talking to interesting people. Solving business problems. If AI gives me more time to talk to humans, I’m in.”
Here’s where AI earns its keep:
1. Transcribing job intake calls
When a CTO fires off five roles and three urgent business problems in 90 seconds, AI keeps track.
2. Summarizing candidate conversations
Not rewriting resumes—but capturing real human stories in the candidate’s actual words.
3. Reminders and follow-up tasks
Humans forget. AI doesn’t.
Where AI belongs:
➡️ The back office (busywork)
Where humans belong:
➡️ The front office (trust, judgment, relationships)
Recruiting is relationship-first.
Technology is support-first.
That’s the essence of human first recruiting in an AI world: let machines handle mechanics so humans can handle meaning.
Your Network Is Why You Can Feed Your Kids
When Chris asks how important the network really is, Alex doesn’t blink:
“It’s why I can feed my children.”
Averity isn’t hired because we run clever Boolean strings.
We’re hired because of who answers the phone when we call.
Alex’s first-level network isn’t contacts—it’s a community built over 28 years:
People who return calls same-day.
Leaders who say, “Tell me what you’re working on.”
Engineers who trust him enough to consider opportunities they weren’t even looking for.
That’s why Alex is radically transparent. If a role is outside his lane, he says so. And when it is in his network?
That’s when lightning strikes.
Two examples Chris and Alex laugh about:
• The FileMaker developer
Met through a friend. No open roles. One week later, a client says, “Know any FileMaker folks?”
That developer has now been there 14 years.
• The Go engineer
Chris insisted a client meet him even though there wasn’t an exact role.
The company created a job, paid above budget, hired him and later exited in a multi-billion-dollar sale.
You don’t get that from bots.
You get that from long-term relationships.
Trust Is at an All-Time Low—Which Makes It More Valuable Than Ever
Alex makes a sharp observation: trust in this industry is the lowest he’s ever seen.
Resumes are AI-polished.
Profiles can be fake.
Candidates can be fabricated outright.
He tells the story of a candidate whose background looked “too good to be true.”
It scared him enough to check Averity’s database.
There he has been logged since 2018.
A real human.
The fact that he had to verify it says everything.
Trust is now currency.
It’s the engineer who calls you the moment they’re laid off.
The CTO who sighs with relief when you ask, “What business problem are we actually solving?”
The candidate who calls back years later just to say:
“You changed my life. You opened the door.”
Bots don’t build that.
People do.
Culture, Tenure, and Why Some Teams Become Unstoppable
Chris drops a powerful reminder:
You spend 75–80% of your waking life working—or preparing for work.
If that’s true, then who you work with matters more than anything.
That’s why Averity obsesses over humans, not just acronyms.
It’s why our average recruiter tenure is around seven years in an industry famous for churn.
It’s why Alex runs DevOps & Drinks, the largest DevOps meetup in NYC, built on three rules:
No recruiting.
No sales pitches.
No demos.
Just people showing up for connection, learning, and community.
Because when great humans choose to work together, you don’t just build teams.
You build momentum.
You build trust.
You build outcomes.
“People hire people,” Alex says. “When you get the right group of humans together, you’re an unstoppable force.”
The Takeaway for Tech Leaders
If you’re hiring especially in AI, ML, Cyber, DevOps, Product, or Software Engineering—here’s the bottom line:
1. Use AI to eliminate friction.
Automation is great for transcripts, summaries, scheduling, and reminders.
2. Use humans to build trust.
You cannot outsource judgment, nuance, or relationship-building.
3. Invest in your network before you need it.
Your future hires already exist, you just haven’t met them yet.
4. Never outsource your first impression to a bot.
Your employer brand lives or dies on human connection.
Because at the end of the day, your hiring success won’t be defined by your tech stack.
It’ll be defined by a single line we hear more and more in conversations with candidates and clients:
“I’m just glad you’re not a bot.”
That’s the quiet power of human first recruiting in an AI world—and it’s not going away.
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