Veteran recruiting firm TalentBridge revolutionizes professional recruitment by harnessing the power of AI.

CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESS Newswire / October 23, 2025 / It's no exaggeration to say Thomas Ioele, CEO, and Cory Kennedy, COO, of talent solutions firm TalentBridge are working toward the future of recruiting. In fact, they're leading the way.

Founded 40 years ago in Rochester, New York, by Ioele and his father, TalentBridge began as a traditional industrial staffing company. As the U.S. workforce evolved, the company pivoted to serve professional business sectors instead. But its most impactful move to date has been the development of an AI recruiting assistant named Caroline, the brainchild of Ioele and Kennedy.

Although Caroline was initially developed to support TalentBridge's internal staff, the AI assistant has emerged as a game changer in helping clients and candidates alike work efficiently through a more streamlined and accelerated search process.

Envisioning the Future

When a client signs on with the firm, Caroline mines TalentBridge's database of nearly 5 million potential candidates for those whose skill set most closely matches the client's job description. It then reaches out to thousands of potential candidates via text to gauge interest.

Interested candidates receive a follow-up phone call directly from Caroline where the AI assistant conducts an initial screening for information like salary requirements and updated experience.

Once Caroline has enough data, the AI assistant assigns candidates a job fitness score, ranging from 50% to 100%. "Our experience has been that anyone she rates above 75% is capable of doing the job," says Ioele. Caroline then connects potential candidates with human recruiters who share more about the cultural aspects of the job and dive deeper into the candidate's background.

"We combine the best of human and technology to get clients an almost 100% match for their open roles," says Ioele.

Results that Speak for Themselves

Headquartered in Charlotte, the banking capital of the South, TalentBridge works with professional services companies of all sizes across the U.S., India, and Canada, and soon South America and the United Arab Emirates. The firm offers executive search and contract staffing services for accounting, marketing, human resources, operations, and more, placing qualified candidates in roles ranging from entry-level customer service positions all the way to C-Suite executives.

Across the board, Caroline has been well received by clients and candidates, especially in the C-suite sector. Working with AI improved recruiters' workloads, making their role fun again. Recruiters can spend more time on the enjoyable, qualitative parts of the job rather than the more mundane ones.

"Humans take a lot of time to make those initial calls," says Kennedy. "With Caroline, customers see highly qualified candidates at a much higher speed to market, so jobs are filled faster, and candidates still get properly vetted."

In the end, Caroline only furthers the mission of the company Ioele and his father founded. "I like solving problems for candidates and clients," says Ioele. "We believe in doing the right thing for everyone we serve." When asked how Caroline competes with some of the biggest search firms in the nation, Ioele smiles and notes: "Remember ‘The Little Engine That Could?' We're not such a Little Engine anymore."

SOURCE: TalentBridge Inc