Alex Mann
Harvey John
“Recruiters that don't use AI are the ones that get left behind.”
Alex Mann has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing the 100 most exceptional leaders and practitioners in talent acquisition. Honorees are selected by the Talent 100 committee from thousands of nominations and candidates across the industry, chosen for the impact of their work, the depth of their craft, and their influence on the future of recruiting. This is Alex's story.
Alex Mann has spent 12 years at one firm, and that longevity has shaped how he learns. Most recruiters accumulate perspective the easy way, collecting employers and managers over a career and absorbing something from each. Mann, at Harvey John, has had to build his education differently: when you cannot gain experience by moving between firms, you gain it by staying radically open to how everyone else works.
What drives that openness is a specific fear. He worries about becoming institutionalized, about doing things one way simply because that is the way they have always been done. His answer has been to make curiosity a deliberate strategy rather than a personality quirk. "I'm really nosy, I'm really curious," he says.
Learning From Everyone
In practice, that means talking to people constantly, inside the industry and well outside it, and always asking about their business. Mann cherry-picks advice wherever he finds it, then assembles the pieces into something that works for him. No single mentor has defined his path. Instead it has been an amalgamation of dozens of conversations and insights gathered over the years and pieced together into his own approach.
It is a mosaic model of professional development, built from many sources rather than one or two defining figures, and the fear of institutionalization is what keeps it in motion. He never wants to do things a certain way merely because it is the only way he knows. So he stays curious, keeps asking questions, and keeps looking for the next insight that might change how he works.
A Big Believer in AI
Nowhere is that instinct clearer than in his stance on artificial intelligence, where Mann is a massive advocate. He believes "recruiters that don't use AI are the ones that get left behind," and he expects the next two to three years to deliver a shakeout, with some recruiters embracing the technology while others dig their heels in.
He frames it as the latest turn in a long evolution. Recruitment has always been synonymous with sales, he explains. In more recent years it became synonymous with marketing. Now it is going to be synonymous with how recruiters work with data.
The Work Looks Different Now
Mann uses AI all the time, for everything he does. It serves as a sense check, but also as a tool for generating trend analysis based on proprietary data, analysis he then uses to inform decisions. He brings it into his one-to-ones with his team, and he leans on it to be a more efficient recruiter.
The pace of that shift is what stands out to him most. Looking back at how his role has changed in just the last year, as AI has become more popularized, the difference is striking. The work his team does now, as individuals and collectively, is vastly different from what they were doing 12 months ago.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Alex. We are honored to welcome Alex Mann to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Alex. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
