QXO appoints new president and COO
QXO Inc., Greenwich, Conn., has announced Ken West as its new president and chief operating officer effective Sept. 1. West will report to QXO Chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs and will be responsible for QXO’s day-to-day operations.
West most recently served as president and CEO of Honeywell Process Technology, which holds the leading global position in process technology. He has more than 20 years of experience leading large, complex industrial businesses across operations, strategy, finance and integration. West was responsible for the acquisition of Johnson Matthey’s Catalyst Technologies business and led its integration.
“[West] is an exceptional operator with the executional rigor to lead QXO’s operations,” Jacobs says. “He has demonstrated an ability to achieve outstanding results across a number of industrial businesses. His leadership will be instrumental as we look to scale our platform and deliver outsized shareholder value.”
Job candidates can use AI to cheat their way to an offer
Fabric, an AI interview platform, performed an analysis of 19,368 artificial intelligence-powered interviews conducted between July 2025 and January 2026 and found 38.5% of candidates were flagged for AI-cheating behavior, according to Forbes.
Although AI can streamline some processes on the employer side, it also has made the hiring process more complicated. Candidates use AI to try to optimize their resumes—matching job descriptions, exaggerating experience and convincingly describing desired skills even if they are unqualified. Additionally, “AI can now generate interview answers in real time, coach candidates into fluency before they walk into a conversation, and in some cases feed responses during a live interview without the hiring manager knowing,” according to the analysis. With AI assistance, a candidate can make it through the entire hiring process without knowing how to do the job.
In a survey done by Checkr, a background checking platform, out of 3,000 hiring managers, 59% said they had suspected a candidate of using AI to misrepresent themselves during the hiring process.
Forbes shares the following tips for shifting the hiring process to lessen the influence of AI.
- Verify a resume before treating it as evidence. Be sure to verify employment history, qualifications, references, certifications and relevant experience.
- Test what candidates can do. Hiring processes should allow candidates to demonstrate their skills through role-specific tasks or practical assessments.
- Build interviews around the candidate’s answers. Use a candidate’s responses to ask follow-up questions during the interview.
- Keep human judgement in the process. Don’t allow AI resume-filtering to throw out good candidates. Your human assessments and insights are crucial for hiring decisions.
Roofing Alliance offers new class
The Roofing Alliance-Clemson University Professional Training Program has launched its newest course: Roofing Sustainability and Resiliency. This fully online, self-paced training course gives roofing professionals practical knowledge of sustainability and resiliency across the roofing supply chain. Participants can now earn up to eight AIA Continuing Education credits.
Topics explored throughout the new course include sustainability and resiliency, raw material extraction and procurement, manufacturing and production processes, distribution considerations, roof construction and installation, installation quality assurance and quality control, post-construction performance and maintenance, life-cycle assessment, innovations in roofing, market drivers—trainings and certifications, and challenges and commitment to sustainability.
The training program’s three existing professional training courses include Roofing Fundamentals, Roofing Management, and Roofing Business and Leadership.
Participants have 60 days to complete each course and earn a Certificate of Completion when they finish the coursework and final examination. NRCA members save $100 per course and Roofing Alliance members save $300 per course. Bulk pricing is also available. For more information, visit roofingalliance.net/education.
