The Chad & Cheese Podcast

"We went from 34% fully staffed to 96% fully staffed" Imagine needing to hire 3,000 part-time coaches in a chaotic 6-to-8-week summer sprint. For Elevo Learning, missing that target meant operational nightmares and broken client promises. In this episode, Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman sit down with Kristen Reilly to look under the hood of an incredible hiring turnaround. By ditching manual, archaic workflows and going "all in" on conversational AI, Elevo transformed their biggest bottleneck into a massive competitive advantage. The Highlights: The 96% Turnaround: How automating candidate engagement flipped their Day One staffing rate from a stressful 34% to a near-perfect 96%. Recruiter Happiness Skyrockets: How stripping away hours of manual administrative "busy work" sent Elevo's internal Employee Net Promoter Score from a dismal 16 to a staggering 68. The Next Frontier: Kristen previews how they are tackling the next big hurdle—frictionless onboarding from the first text message to the school field. Automation is Human: Why freeing up recruiters from administrative hell actually allows them to do what they do best: build relationships and scale the business into new states. Ready to see how automation can scale your seasonal hiring? Tune in now!

Maureen sits down with Dan Lyons — bestselling author of Disrupted, former Newsweek and Forbes journalist, and writer for HBO’s hit series Silicon Valley. At 52 years old, Dan made the jump from traditional media into a hyped tech startup… and quickly discovered he was suddenly “ancient” in an industry that worships youth. From bouncy ball chairs and candy walls to getting sized up as “someone’s parent” on day one, Dan delivers hilarious, painful, and brutally honest stories about ageism in tech. He breaks down the infamous CEO quote that sparked a company-wide controversy (“Gray hair and experience are overrated”), his wild ride writing for Silicon Valley, and what he uncovered in his follow-up book Lab Rats about toxic work culture, psychological burnout, and why so many companies treat employees like disposable kids. If you’re in recruiting, HR, or tech — and especially if you’re over 40 and wondering whether experience still has value — this conversation is equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and eye-opening. Needless to day, Dan Lyons doesn’t hold back.

Next on Chad & Cheese: Hired to Chair in 3 Days ✂️🔥 Chad and Joel are punching the recruiting industry right where it hurts with Gustavo Serbia, CHRO at Hair Cuttery Family of Brands. They dive into the wild, hyper-competitive world of managing 6,000 stylists where the barriers to entry are zero and the drama is real. Quick Cuts: Slashing Time-to-Hire: How they used Paradox to ditch their sluggish legacy ATS and compress a 17-day hiring process down to just 3 days. Gamifying Commission: Inside the custom app that shows stylists exactly what they make in real time to incentivize higher earnings. The "Polite Poach": Why recruiting in a fragmented industry means ditching traditional applications, hunting state board lists, and walking straight to the talent. AI & Raw Data: How Gustavo bypassed pivot tables to build an entire funnel analysis in minutes using AI—and what's next on his tech wishlist. "In this industry, you know to a tee when someone leaves. My CEO knows exactly what it's costing us right then and there." — Gustavo Serbia, CHRO Want to know how to manage high-turnover talent, build a booming rehire pipeline, and make tech work for a fiercely human business? Hit play on the AI series now.

On this week's episode: The Football Flops: Portugal woke up, while England was lulled to sleep and Emi is losing her mind over corporate "hydration breaks". The Hype Block: The hosts rip into Snapchat’s new $2,300 glasses (a chunky, $3 billion boat anchor that makes a good-looking CEO completely unfuckable). Meanwhile, Anthropic's CEO is treating his LLM like a "superweapon" that practically needs a gun license just to drive up valuation. Who’d You Rather?: Emi tries to take home three startups (Sloneek, HeyMilo, and Orbio) for an HR foursome. The New Indoor Malls: Oracle is slashing 21,000 jobs to build data centers, and Google is training blue-collar workers for $166 a pop. Chad serves a history lesson: we are overbuilding data centers just like 1980s indoor malls. Ghostbusters in NY: New York is passing a bill to fine companies $2,500 for posting fake "ghost jobs" used for resume harvesting. Emi wants more guidance; Chad says stop making excuses. Tune in, skip the scams, and Go Portugal!

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Face it, "The Resumes" is officially dead, and generative AI just blew it to pieces. With 86% of hiring managers admitting that AI makes it too easy to fake skills on paper, corporate hiring is facing a massive identity crisis. The old way is broken—so what comes next? The Face-Off: In this fast-paced episode of HR's most dangerous podcast, host Chad Sowash moderates a high-stakes debate between two tech founders reshaping talent acquisition: Phuong Vu (CEO of Telexa): The advocate for the "skills-first" organization. Phuong argues that true skills-based hiring means moving away from static keyword libraries and focusing on real-world evidence, human adaptability, and transferable capabilities. Dr. Maya Huber (CEO of Tadio): The champion of performance intelligence. Maya warns that "skills hiring" will become an empty buzzword if we keep relying on old, text-based data. Her radical fix? Ditch applications entirely and have candidates try out the job through live simulations before they ever talk to a recruiter. Inside the Episode: Are companies treating employees like "disposable heroes" instead of upskilling them? Has "culture fit" just become a lazy excuse to hire people exactly like ourselves? How do you screen for technical skills when the technology changes faster than the workforce? The Bottom Line: Stop asking candidates what they claim they can do. Learn how to evaluate how they actually think, adapt, and execute. Listen now to find out who wins the duel.

If you’ve been wondering why the modern job market feels like a dystopian simulation, the latest episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast is here to validate your existential dread. Chad, JT, and Lieven are back to dissect the tech industry's latest "innovations" with their usual cocktail of empathy, candor, and plenty of well-deserved swearing. Indeed’s Blind Faith in AI Sourcing The Stanford Study: Proof You're Being Blacklisted Teaching Your Humanoid Replacement Zuckerberg Says "My Bad" (Sort Of) "Generating assumptive qualifications or requirements is a hiring decision... If AI's doing that for you... it's the most stupid fucking non-scalable thing." — Chad Sowash "No job seeker should be required to give their data, not know where it's going, and not know how it's being used. And this is what got exposed." — JT O'Donnell Are we heading toward JT's utopian dream of golfing all day while robots do the laundry, or are we just funding our own automation? Stop screaming into the ATS void. Hit play, get educated, and subscribe to HR’s most dangerous podcast right now.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Get ready for an explosive episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast as hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcome Jack McFarland, a 32-year DEA veteran and former Quantico instructor, to HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast. In this high-stakes interview, McFarland bridges the gap between federal law enforcement and corporate leadership, sharing gripping stories from his rise through the streets of Philadelphia during the crack epidemic to commanding major cartel investigations and leading elite teams in the Caribbean. He breaks down the elite psychology of hand-picking teams, the critical art of vetting human intelligence, and why managing special agents is exactly like coaching high school football. From his old-school 1987 application process to a wild, modern-day run in the casting semi-finals for reality TV's The Traitors, Jack blends sharp humor with serious operational wisdom. Plus, he pulls back the curtain on federal mandatory retirement at age 57, delivering a raw look at institutional ageism and why agencies are forced to rehire retirees to fix massive staffing shortages. Whether you are scaling a company, managing risk, or navigating corporate politics, this wide-ranging conversation delivers actionable leadership principles straight from the front lines. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Jack McFarland 02:59 - Jack's Journey to the DEA 05:54 - The Interview Process for Reality TV 08:59 - The Evolution of the DEA's Brand 11:49 - Managing Diverse Teams in Law Enforcement 19:39 - Career Progression and Leadership Roles 21:02 - Ageism and Mandatory Retirement in Law Enforcement 23:12 - Financial Motivations Behind Hiring Practices 24:31 - Rehired Annuitants: A New Approach to Staffing 26:46 - Transitioning to Civilian Life After Law Enforcement 29:32 - The Importance of Networking in Career Advancement 30:01 - Managing Human Intelligence and Informants 34:47 - Actionable Intelligence and Avoiding Bias in Law Enforcement

The band is finally back together! This week on HR’s most dangerous podcast, Chad, Mo, and Lieven team up for a wild ride across dystopian corporate tracking, AI bias, and the shifting sands of global recruitment. If you thought the job market couldn’t get any weirder, you’re going to want to hear this. Here is a look at what the crew is tackling on this week's show: Indeed Goes In For The Kill: Indeed’s new "changing landscape" FAQ drops a massive hint about their latest agenda. Chad explains why the platform is trying to squeeze out recruitment agencies entirely. IBM Tells Boomers to Pack Their Bags: A juicy new lawsuit alleges that IBM used automated hiring tech to block older, laid-off workers from returning. ChatGPT’s "AI Job Slop": OpenAI launched conversational job searching partnered with Indeed, Upwork, and Appcast. Lieven tests it via VPN with hilarious, glitchy results , while Chad exposes how the platform is already infected with the exact same scam jobs and candidate-harvesting schemes plaguing Google. Meta's Dystopian Trap: Mark Zuckerberg wants you to think Meta is saving the world with a $115M workforce training academy. In reality, the team connects the dots. Plus: Stick around to hear about Mo's questionable obsession with a fictional hockey captain , Lieven's take on European pay transparency , and a binary dad joke. Are we descending into a corporate tech dystopia, or can we build guardrails before the robots completely take over?

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Chad and Joel, drag Meghan Rhatigan (VP of Talent Acquisition Experience at Marriott International) into the interrogation room to find out how a hospitality giant survives a global punch in the face. Marriott used to live in a pre-2020 la-la land where millions of candidates just fell into their laps organically. Then the pandemic hit, the world shut down, and Marriott was caught flat-footed trying to fill 200,000 global roles using the same old clunky tech and slow-as-molasses hiring managers. Enter Meghan and her organizational change management background to fix a "fat funnel" nightmare where the interview process alone took two agonizing weeks. The "Legal AI" Secret Sauce The ROI: The 5-Million Candidate Bench The Loyalty Program Hustle: Listen and enjoy!

It is officially Joel-Free June, which means Joel is off on an extended European holiday while Chad holds down the fort with two brilliant industry heavyweights: Emi Beredugo and JT O'Donnell. From boardroom coups and high-stakes acquisitions to massive corporate grifts, the trio dives deep into a chaotic week of HR technology news. Stepstone's Plot Twist JobGet Snaps Up Ripple Match The Job.com Meltdown The Point Solution Funeral Billionaires, Layoffs, & Job Slop AI Lost in Translation Listener Shoutout: A massive shoutout to TA champion Terry Dewey for slashing their organization's Indeed spend over the past 12 months by putting our podcast strategies to work! Keep the cash, Terry, but feel free to ship that bottle of whiskey to the studio anyway. Don't miss Chad and Emi live at Recfest UK on July 2nd at Knebworth Park! Emi is taking over the Innovate Stage as MC, while Chad and a freshly returned Joel will be bringing the noise to the Disrupt Stage. Get your incredibly soft The Chad & Cheese t-shirts, free beer, and free whiskey by heading over to chadandcheese.com/free.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast Just Dropped a Big Gulp of Truth. 🥤 Think automated hiring is just a cold, heartless robot out to steal your corporate badge? Think again. Chad and Cheese sit down with Rachel Allen, Senior Director of TA at 7-Eleven. She manages over 110,000 hires a year and automated 95% of their store recruitment. The result? They slashed time-to-hire from 10+ days to under three (and sometimes three hours, because speed kills). Meet "Rita": The AI assistant so good, store managers literally asked to meet her in person. (Awkward...) "Help is Coming": How to drop a massive tech overhaul on your staff without causing a mutiny. The Marketing Hijack: How the TA team hitched a ride on product shipments to score free recruitment marketing. Accidental Quality: How solving for pure speed accidentally fixed their crap candidate quality and retention problems. "Where we mess up sometimes is we lead with the technology—the shiny new thing—versus what are we solving for?" — Rachel Allen, 7-Eleven Whether you’re drowning in high-volume resumes or sweating bullets that a chatbot is coming for your sourcing desk, Rachel drops a masterclass on putting humans where they actually matter.

Grab your pastel shorts and a cold drink because Chad is broadcasting live from Portugal, celebrating his birthday alongside a local bar owner while Joel prepares for a milestone anniversary trip to Italy.  In this high-energy, unfiltered episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the boys take a sledgehammer to the current AI hype cycle, contrasting Workday’s massive earnings and $500 million agentic AI run rate against the harsh reality of Microsoft and Uber scaling back their tech due to exploding compute costs. From Stepstone’s new EU compliance push to Indeed’s automated features, Chad drops a massive hot take on how over-engineered recruiting tools create dangerous compliance risks and automation bias. They tie up the loose ends of the global economy by breaking down everything from the historic Indy 500 finish and a comedic eulogy for Schlitz beer, to the Pope's latest tech warnings and the EU's pivot to renewable energy as a national security weapon. It is the perfect, loose, and brutally honest mix of global geopolitics, HR tech consolidation, and birthday banter that you absolutely cannot miss. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Personal Milestones 02:08 - Joel and Chad's Birthdays and Anniversaries 04:27 - Industry Conference Insights: Old Dogs vs. Disruptors 08:34 - Shoutouts and Personal Highlights 11:28 - Indy 500 Race Highlights and Experience 16:28 - Workday's Earnings and AI Investment 20:04 - AI Market Race: Google, OpenAI, and Industry Disruption 23:06 - Historical Perspective: Netscape and Microsoft's Browser War 27:39 - Top Tall's Acquisition Strategy and Market Position 30:02 - EU and US AI Regulations and Industry Impact 40:05 - AI's Cost Challenges and Economic Realities 44:23 - Public Perception and Future of AI 47:50 - Global Energy Transition and Geopolitical Implications 54:38 - US Dollar, Oil, and Global Power Dynamics 55:23 - Humorous Close and Birthday Wishes

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Joel and Chad catch up with Patti Tabris, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at ResultsCX, to discuss the massive impact of AI on global, high-volume hiring. The Highlights: The Power of "Olivia": The AI assistant that answered 1.8 million questions and scheduled over 100,000 interviews in just 12 months. From Friction to Flow: Patti boosted assessment completion rates from 30% to 90%. Chat-First Applications: An impressive 80% conversion rate! The Funding Hack: A how-to on funding new tech. More Than a Bot: Beyond hiring, the team is now implementing AI for onboarding to handle first-day FAQs and pre-boarding care. "Recruiting is all about getting to meet as many people to see if they're qualified... if we can implement AI to do the administrative work, recruiters can spend more time with candidates." — Patti Tabris

What happens when HR tech giants crush earnings while the rest of the industry faces massive layoffs? In this special episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel Cheesman is joined by guest co-host J.T. O'Donnell to deliver a dose of optimistic realism on the chaotic state of the 2026 job market. Before diving into the heavy-hitting industry news, the duo kicks things off with plenty of humor, swapping banter over deviled egg recipes, Memorial Day cookout plans, upcoming European travel, and why Southwest Airlines is making headlines with a strict new ban on humanoid robots. They also share a quick streaming recommendation for Apple TV's Your Friends and Neighbors and give a nod to the Crime Junkies podcast before getting down to business.The core of the episode spotlights a deeply divided job market where massive tech layoffs collide with explosive corporate growth. Joel and J.T. break down the staggering down-sizing trends hitting Meta and LinkedIn, contrasting those cuts with the massive, expectation-shattering earnings report just released by Recruit Holdings, the parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor. J.T. lends her expertise to LinkedIn’s aggressive new strategy to launch thousands of gated, paid creator-led virtual events to combat generic platform "slop." Finally, the hosts look at the changing face of automation, analyzing how artificial intelligence is shifting call center dynamics abroad, and exploring Amazon’s eerie new Alexa capability that generates fully synthetic podcasts on demand.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

How Ace Hardware Scaled to 100 Years with AI Can a century-old brand out-recruit Amazon? In this episode, Stef Nikitas and Kaleigh Burns from Ace Hardware join Chad and Cheese to discuss "Project Hurricane"—the total overhaul of their hiring process. They share how they transformed a $500k "flyers and softball" budget into a $4 million automated recruiting machine. Key Highlights: Who is this... Grace? The "Toy" Test: Differentiate or Die The 2-Minute App Stop "posting and praying" and start listening to how one of America’s most iconic brands is winning the talent war through high-tech helpfulness. How did the Ace team manage the "culture shock" of introducing AI to a workforce with such long-standing tenure?

Grab your favorite beverage for a special, highly opinionated "just us girls" episode of the podcast, featuring Joel Cheesman and Maureen “Moe” Clough taking the mic without the rest of the usual crew. This week, the duo delivers a light-hearted yet deeply substantive look into the massive worker backlash against artificial intelligence and the brutal realities of today's hiring market. The hosts kick things off with quick hits covering a disastrous, heavily booed commencement speech at the University of Central Florida and a surprising take on the narrative depth of The Devil Wears Prada 2. From there, the conversation tackles major industry shifts as massive job platforms like Upwork and ZipRecruiter face severe financial softening, sparking a debate on whether automation is permanently consuming traditional contractor roles. The gloves come off as they dissect a bold claim from Andreessen Horowitz labeling legacy HR software giants like Workday a "cartel," while analyzing how defensive tech acquisitions—such as Ashby buying Talent Llama—signal a broader software-as-a-service apocalypse. Moe offers her expertise on age discrimination, discussing a lawsuit against Bloomberg Industry Group. The discussion moves to the backlash against automated hiring tools and LinkedIn’s new paid consultation feature. Finally, there is a disagreement over Google's new Gemini-powered smart glasses. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts 01:35 - Current Events and AI's Impact 05:30 - AI and the Youth Perspective 10:01 - Data Centers and Community Impact16:31Industry News: Upwork, ZipRecruiter, and Workday 19:59 - The Future of Work and AI's Role 22:00 - The SaaS Cartel and Its Challenges 25:02 - Age Discrimination in the Workplace 34:56 - AI's Role in Hiring and Recruitment 42:21 - The Rapid Evolution of AI in Hiring 45:04 - LinkedIn's New Monetization Features 52:51 - The Controversy of Smart Glasses 01:03:01 - The Inevitable Rise of Smart Technology

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

The "Lean, Mean, Hiring Machine": 6 Recruiters vs. 2,400 Locations How do you hire for Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Planet Fitness without losing your mind? If you’re Mark Gibson at Flynn Group, you don’t—you let a robot named Frankie do it. In this episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast, we hang out with the man managing the world’s largest franchise empire with a recruiting team so small they could all fit in one booth at Applebee's. Mark breaks down how they ditched boring forms for text-based AI, turning their six recruiters into "high-level media buyers" instead of resume-shuffling zombies. What’s inside: The "Midnight Million": What happens when you flip the switch on a new system and wake up to a literal mountain of applicants. Frankie Goes to Hollywood (and Pizza Hut): How an AI assistant handles the "boring stuff" so humans can actually be human. TikTok vs. The Churn: Using Gen Z influencers to drive talent and AI surveys to make sure they don't "ghost" after day three. Judgment Day: Mark addresses the "Terminator" fears of automation. Spoiler alert: the robots aren't making the pizzas... yet. From "black card" memberships for fries to surviving the HR tech "Judgment Day," this is a deep dive into how to scale a global empire without the overhead. Grab a snack and listen in—Frankie is watching. If you could automate the single most annoying part of your job today, what would it be?

Hold onto your hats for another candid episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, where the industry’s most opinionated trio—Chad Sowash, Joel Cheesman, and JT O’Donnell—break down the latest HR tech shakeups. Between JT’s "29th" birthday celebrations and Chad "hydrating" with a Guinness in Portugal, the group dives deep into the iCIMS leadership change. Is a CFO-turned-CEO a sign of a bold new chapter or a flashing "For Sale" sign? The hosts don’t hold back on what this means for employees and customers alike.The acquisition trail is just as heated, as the team debates Phenom snapping up Plum.io and questions whether more "psychobabble" assessments actually solve hiring problems. On the flip side, there’s plenty of buzz around Greenhouse’s bet on Ezra AI Labs and the massive revenue potential behind LinkedIn’s new Agentic AI hiring tools. JT shares her exclusive early-access results, while the guys debate whether it’s a recruiter’s dream or just a glorified search bar. From a look at LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads to a fiery discussion on living wages and a shout-out to King Charles, this episode is packed with industry realism and sharp wit. It all culminates in a high-stakes round of "Who’d You Rather?" where the team chooses between the AI talent agents at Dex and the personalized coaching of Blooma.  Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Celebrations 02:56 - World Cup Ticket Prices and Attendance Concerns 05:57 - The Cost of Experiences and Living Wages 08:55 - Innovative Advertising on LinkedIn 12:00 - Political Commentary and Economic Insights 14:57 - Upcoming Events and Travel Plans 17:10 - Chicago Delicacies and Nostalgia 18:25 - Leadership Changes at iCims 19:15 - The Impact of New Leadership 22:19 - The Future of iCims 26:26 - Acquisitions in the Talent Assessment Space 30:08 - Behavioral Testing: A Critical Perspective 34:15 - Greenhouse's Strategic Acquisition of Ezra AI Labs 39:14 - The Value of Timing in Business Decisions 42:13 - LinkedIn's New AI Hiring Tools 50:10 - The Evolution of Recruitment Skills 54:11 - Innovative Job Seeking Strategies 01:00:24 - Comparing New Startups: Dex vs. Blooma

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this session, Jeff Taylor, the legendary founder of MonsterBoard and Monster.com, joins Chad to discuss his re-entry into the talent space after a 20-year hiatus. Taylor reflects on the industry’s "Jurassic period" and outlines his plan to disrupt the market once more with his new venture, Boomband. Episode Highlights The LinkedIn "What If": Jeff details the 2003 deal to buy LinkedIn for $304 million that was killed by his board because the company was "too profitable". Super Bowl Secrets: A look back at how a "failed" ironic ad led to a 700% traffic spike for Monster. The AI Wave: Why Jeff believes the current AI explosion rhymes with the 1997 dot-com bubble and his predictions for the next two years. Mapping the Market: An introduction to Boomband’s mission to map 175 million U.S. workers and eliminate the "hostage data model" of stagnant resumes. Disruption Philosophy: Why Jeff believes you have to "break your own shit" in the middle of the night before someone else does it for you. Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Personio: Going Big or Staying Home? After a grueling multi-year restructuring and retreating from the US market, Personio has finally reported its first profitable quarter in Q1 2026. However, the hosts argue the company chose to "stay home" rather than "go big" by releasing a "slop". announcement that lacked actual revenue figures and buried the lead under a "thirsty" acquisition of Aurio, an AI agent startup. The AI Layoff : Big tech giants like Meta and Amazon are slashing thousands of jobs to fund a massive $130 billion race into AI, essentially forcing employees to train the algorithms that may eventually replace them. UK vs. US Quality of Life: The team debates data suggesting the UK outperforms the US in healthcare, paid maternity leave, and life expectancy, though it still trails behind Belgium in several social metrics. Ethical Warfare at Palantir: Discussion centers on Alex Karp’s "techno-fascism" and the plight of engineers stuck between their moral beliefs and an "evil empire" involved in controversial government contracts. Nomad Health’s Strategic Pivot: Nomad Health is transitioning from a staffing agency to a software platform, aiming to become the "operating system" for the healthcare hiring industry to capture higher margins with lower headcount. LinkedIn’s Leadership Shakeup: Dan Shapiro replaces Ryan Roslansky as CEO, inheriting a mandate to reinvent the platform as AI shifts the fundamental landscape of professional networking.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this high-stakes episode of HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast, Joel and Chad swap their usual banter for a masterclass in human psychology with Jim Lawler, a former CIA case officer who spent 25 years convincing people to commit treason for the United States. Lawler pulls back the curtain on the "addictive" world of espionage, describing his career across posh European postings as a relentless pursuit of the "adrenaline junkie" high that comes from subverting foreign governments. From his early days nearly skipping the agency for a "miserable" family business to the pinnacle of his career dismantling nuclear networks, Lawler shares the gritty reality of being a "professional manipulator" within the lanes of U.S. law. The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Lawler translates his CIA tradecraft into actionable wisdom for HR and recruiters. He breaks down the legendary MICE framework—Money, Ideology, Coercion, and Ego—explaining why he never recruited a "happy person" and why ego is often the most powerful leverage point for turning an asset. Whether it’s his ten qualities of a top recruiter—like "mastery of the metaphysics" and finding the "cracks" in a candidate’s psychological armor—or his surreal story of sitting on $1 billion in gold in a Swiss vault, this episode is a deep dive into the art of building trust in the most untrustworthy environments.

Forget the "walled gardens" of enterprise tech; it’s time to talk about what happens when the walls finally come down. In this episode of Mallorca Talks, Chad Sowash and SmartRecruiters CEO Rebecca Carr strip away the corporate ego to reveal a future of radical connectivity. Backed by a fleet of 120 SAP engineers, they’re ditching rigid job descriptions for a world where AI agents handle the grind and humans are free to create. It’s bold, it’s transparent, and it’s changing everything. Chapters: 0:00:24 — The Vision of Connected Ecosystems 0:04:46 — Agentic Workflows and Messaging Connectivity 0:06:26 — Case Study: Real-Time Behavioral Feedback 0:08:43 — The New Model of Partnerships and Pricing 0:12:27 — SAP’s Commitment: The Engineering "Fleet" 0:21:12 — Fixing the "Leaky Bucket" of Recruitment Marketing 0:25:46 — From "Jobs" to "Tasks-to-be-Done" 0:37:06 — Creativity Unleashed: The Future of Work

Buckle up, HR tech nerds, because the boys are back to save you from your own snooze-fest industry. On this episode of HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast, Joel and Chad are diving headfirst into the chaotic vibes of 2026. They kick things off with a wild ride through the future—from the engineering feat of cleaning toilets on the Artemis moon missions to the "side hustle seduction" of the AI training gold rush. While platforms like Handshake and Mercor see revenues skyrocket, the big question remains: are experts actually mentoring AI, or just training their own replacements? The cynicism stays high as the duo tackles the latest drama from Silicon Valley elites, including Molotov cocktails at Sam Altman’s house and Mark Zuckerberg’s creepy AI twin. They dig into the "existential threat" AI poses to Gen Z, who are using the tech weekly but fear it’s gutting their wages and killing their creativity. On the industry front, they break down Humanly’s acquisition of Anthill, questioning if this is a masterstroke in the frontline workforce game or just a high-speed fire sale. Expect the usual blend of sharp analysis, 90s music nostalgia, and enough dad jokes to make you regret your career choices. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast and Current Events 03:00 - Reflections on Space Exploration and Sports 05:58 - Oasis and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 09:55 - Candidate Fraud and AI Training Market 14:58 - The Future of AI and Human Involvement 21:47 - The Future of AI and Human Interaction 24:21 - Silicon Valley's Controversial Figures 27:43 - The Impact of AI on Jobs and Society 35:10 - Generational Perspectives on AI 41:14 - Humanly's Strategic Acquisitions and Market Positioning

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Recruiting hasn’t just evolved—it’s being completely rewritten. For decades, the hiring process has been a "black hole" of static resumes and guarded information, but the walls are finally coming down. In this episode, Allyn Bailey (SmartRecruiters) joins Chad Sowash to expose why traditional systems are becoming irrelevant. They dive into the shift from isolated tech to AI-driven, data-connected ecosystems where agents live directly within your daily workflows. More importantly, they tackle the industry’s biggest taboo: Transparency. From real-time candidate scoring to the end of salary secrecy, learn why the redistribution of power is inevitable—and why companies clinging to the old ways of "control" will be the first to lose the war for talent. Key Takeaways: Why integration with AI is a real breakthrough. The transition from static job descriptions to dynamic talent maps. How AI is replacing candidate silence with actionable feedback and roadmaps.

This week on HR's most dangerous podcast, Chad and JT are cutting through the seasonal slush and corporate spin. The BLS Fairy Tale: The White House is hailing a "golden age" of job growth, but we’re pulling back the curtain on a report filled with striking workers returning to payrolls and construction crews finally seeing the sun. The Agentic Takeover: Paylocity acquires Grayscale as the industry pivots from simple SMS pings to full-blown AI orchestration. Is this a high-value play or just an "aqua-hire" to survive the tech-debt race?. Uncle Sam’s Playbook: Healthcare startup Clasp raises $20M by dusting off a 100-year-old military model to trade student loan debt for employee tenure. The Dorsey Doctrine: We dive into Jack Dorsey’s "heady" vision of a remote-first world where AI maintains a company’s "world model," effectively flattening the hierarchy and making middle management obsolete. Is the economy actually booming, or is it just a "two-week" soundbite on loop?. Grab a whiskey (preferably Blanton's) and find out.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

It’s the podcast your mom warned you about, and this week, Chad & Cheese are digging into the trenches of the medical imaging world with Josh Block, author of People Matter at Work. From the "FUNCY" streets of Muncie, Indiana, to unexpectedly becoming the president of a $30M family business over a single weekend, Josh shares his wild ride of scaling an organization to over $200M by betting everything on healthy culture. In this episode, the guys tackle why healthcare management is notoriously broken, the reality of imposter syndrome when you're handed the keys to the kingdom at 29, and the "stop sign revelation" in Indiana that sparked a six-year journey to prove that people actually matter in the workplace. Forget the polished marketing fluff; this is a raw look at workforce leadership, Big Ten rivalries, and whether or not Josh was actually tapped on the shoulder by a ghost—or just a local in Muncie—to tell his story. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Josh Block and His Journey 03:04 - The Importance of Culture in the Workplace 05:56 - Challenges in Healthcare and the Role of AI 08:56 - Creating a Healthy Work Environment 12:05 - Navigating Growth and Change in Organizations 15:07 - The Impact of Remote Work on Company Culture 18:04 - Flexibility and Retention Strategies 20:51 - Addressing Politics in the Workplace 23:58 - Cultural Identity and Employee Engagement 26:58 - Retention and Employee Tenure Insights

Get ready for another round of high-stakes industry talk and "light-hearted" chaos on this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast. The boys are back, with Chad recapping a whirlwind UK tour of scotch and golf while revealing a brand-new tattoo that has Joel feeling a bit "cheated" on. Between Emi’s pivot from Sri Lanka to Brazil and a heated debate over whether they’d sell out their friends for a MrBeast-sized jackpot, the team dives into the heavy hitters: Oracle’s massive AI-driven layoffs and the fallout of the Mercor data breach. The conversation turns sharp as they dissect the US Senate’s investigation into data brokers like Findem and LinkedIn’s latest power move to kill spontaneous live streaming in favor of monetization. From Citi banker Jay Collins’ dire warnings about AI threatening the middle class to Melania Trump’s vision of humanoid robots in the classroom, no stone is left unturned.  Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Personal Updates 03:20 - Travel Tales and Experiences 06:21 - Shout Outs and Current Events 09:37 - Tech Layoffs and AI Concerns 11:16 - Entertainment and Reality Shows 15:47 - Beer and Events: A Lighthearted Start 17:10 - Upcoming Events and Networking Opportunities 19:06 - Traitify Acquisition Update 21:12 Mercor Data Breach: A Serious Concern 30:31 Senate Investigation into Data Brokers, Findem 39:04 The Value of Transparency in Data Handling 40:01 The Future of Live Streaming on LinkedIn 47:05 AI and the Threat to Capitalism 58:08 Education in the Age of AI

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Is "Agentic Recruiting" the end of HR friction? Chad Sowash sits down with Shiran Yaroslavsky to discuss the shift from clunky dashboards to seamless AI orchestration. Shiran shares how to wake up "zombie" talent pools, slash ATS migrations from months to weeks, and build transparent, bias-monitored systems. It’s a masterclass in making AI work for the recruiter, not the other way around.

In this episode of HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast, Joel Cheesman is joined by guest host JT O’Donnell for a candid, high-energy deep dive into the chaotic labor market of 2026. The duo kicks things off with "girl talk," debating the age-old GIF vs. Jif controversy and sharing a wild March Madness story involving a chance elevator encounter with a college coach. The banter quickly turns to the business of sports, exploring how NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals are shifting the coaching landscape and the mental health hurdles athletes face when the big checks stop rolling in. The heart of the episode tackles the "don’t know what’s real anymore" era of Artificial Intelligence. Joel and JT dissect the drama surrounding OpenAI’s Sora and a viral TikTok "roast" that turned out to be AI-generated marketing slop. They explore the booming AI-clip economy, where creators are using tools like Opus Pro to rake in six-figure incomes without ever stepping in front of a camera. However, the corporate side of AI presents a grimmer reality; according to the Randstad Workmonitor 2026, 76% of employers expect half of entry-level roles to vanish within five years due to automation—a looming crisis that many workers have yet to acknowledge. The conversation gets real about the current white-collar job market, noting that 40% of job-switchers are taking massive pay cuts just to stay employed. They pull no punches on the rise of "reverse recruiting," labeling services that charge desperate job seekers thousands of dollars as potential scams. From rumors of massive layoffs at Talent.com to the surge in demand for "AI Trainers" and "agentic" skills, this episode is a must-listen for anyone trying to navigate a world where traditional career paths are breaking. Whether it’s legal drama at Deel, LinkedIn virality in the NBA, or JT’s upcoming appearance at Harvard Business School, this episode blends snarky industry critiques with essential survival tips for the modern workforce. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Banter 03:09 - Streaming and Content Consumption Trends 05:52 - March Madness and Coaching Dynamics 08:55 - NIL and Financial Literacy for Athletes 12:00 - AI in Recruitment and Marketing 15:59 - The Evolution of Influencer Marketing 19:59 - Shout Outs and Unique Stories 21:57 - Sperm Donation Controversies 23:36 - Shout Out to Harvard Business School 27:11 - Upcoming Events and Networking 28:02 - Talent.com Layoffs and Domain Investments 31:49 - Salary Cuts for White Collar Workers 38:10 - AI's Impact on Entry-Level Jobs 40:43 - Generational Perspectives on Work 47:42 - Understanding Reverse Recruiting 47:52 - The Rise of Reverse Recruiting 52:10 - AI Integration in Corporate Structures 55:48 - The Future of Executive Decision-Making with AI 58:38 - Opportunities in the AI Job Market 01:00:10 - Industry News and Trends

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this episode of "HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast," Joel and Chad sit down with Paul Price, CEO of CodeWall, to discuss a startling security demonstration involving the AI recruitment startup Jack and Jill. Price explains how his autonomous AI agents "chained" together several minor, trivial vulnerabilities to gain full access to the recruitment data of major companies like Monzo and Anthropic. The conversation takes a futuristic turn as Price describes how his AI began socially engineering Jack and Jill's own AI voice agents, even attempting to pose as a TechCrunch journalist to extract exclusive funding details. Price warns that we have reached a dangerous "inflection point" where attackers use AI to clone voices with just ten seconds of audio to deceive employees and recruiters. With deepfakes already being used by international hackers to ace job interviews and infiltrate corporate systems, this episode serves as a sobering wake-up call for the industry to build its own AI defense armies.

The Chad & Cheese Podcast is back with another explosive episode, and this week, hosts Chad Sowash (when he's not beach-bound), Joel Cheesman, and Lieven dive headfirst into the escalating "cage match" between recruiting's two 800-pound gorillas: Indeed and LinkedIn. Is Indeed getting desperate? The trio dissects rumors of a bold (and highly suspicious) "spend-matching" pilot program—think a direct "Pepsi Challenge" aimed at poaching market share from LinkedIn. As Chad highlights, this incentive play comes loaded with major strings attached, raising questions about long-term sustainability and whether it's a genuine innovation or a frantic defensive move in a shrinking ad-spend pie. Meanwhile, LinkedIn isn't playing defense. They're rolling out AI-powered initial interview screening (now in early testing for Hiring Pro users), where an AI interviewer handles audio/video screens for up to 40 candidates per role. The system generates questions based on the job description, suggests ideal answers for recruiters to tweak, and scores responses on alignment—potentially streamlining the funnel but sparking debate on whether it truly improves quality or just adds more automation noise. The conversation gets spicy with "banana in the tailpipe" tactics (classic sabotage vibes), the real cost of Indeed’s incentives, and whether LinkedIn's automated screens will actually fix the hiring funnel—or create new bottlenecks. They also touch on emerging trends like the rise of "vibe-coding" (AI-assisted low/no-code hacks) making ATS integrations faster and easier than ever, plus Travis Kalanick's big reveal: his long-stealth company Atoms launching fleets of specialized industrial robots for food, mining, transport, and beyond—wheeled "gainfully employed" bots, not sci-fi humanoids. If you're in HR, recruiting, or just love watching tech titans slug it out, this episode is pure chaos and insight. Tune in for the unfiltered takes on who's winning the war for talent acquisition dollars in 2026. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Light Banter 02:48 - Chad's New Car Adventure 04:44 - European Perspectives on American Politics 07:24 - Midterm Elections and Political Climate 08:44 - Shout Outs and Industry Insights 12:34 - The Future of ATS Integrations and AI 15:11 - The Challenge of Change in HR Tools 15:59 - Vibe Coding: Revolutionizing Prototyping 17:05 - Travis Kalanick's New Venture: Industrial Robots 18:35 - The Future of Work: Robots as Employees 19:42 - The Impact of Automation on Jobs 22:45 - Upcoming RLX Retreat: AI and Hiring Discussion 23:17 - Rumors of Acquisition: Paradox's Tradify 24:32 - Indeed vs. LinkedIn: The Battle for Recruitment 30:51 - The Future of AI in Recruitment 32:56 - LinkedIn's Slow but Steady Progress 35:59 - The Rise of AI Agents and Automation 42:58 - The Future of Employment in an AI-Driven World 46:13 - Government Regulations and AI: A Double-Edged Sword 53:05 - Cybersecurity Challenges in the Age of AI

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Chad is back, this time in Mallorca, with Rebecca Carr who just dropped a Molotov cocktail on traditional recruiting. This isn’t “optimize your ATS” talk—this is burn it down and rebuild with AI agents running the show. SmartRecruiters went from “just another platform” to SAP’s shiny new weapon, and Rebecca’s here to explain how betting big on AI turned a commodity into a category killer. We dig into: Why ATS platforms are living on borrowed time How AI agents will replace interfaces with conversations The real reason candidates don’t trust hiring tech (hint: black box BS) Why most companies are stuck in Frankenstein tech stacks they’re too scared to leave And how SAP is using SmartRecruiters as a test lab for the future of work Rebecca also pulls back the curtain on leadership—making hard calls, killing distractions, and why playing it safe is the fastest way to get left behind. Bottom line: if your hiring strategy still looks like 2015… you’re already screwed.

Buckle up for another chaotic ride with HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast, where the banter is sharp, the takes are hot, and no industry sacred cow is safe from the slaughter. In this episode, Joel Cheesman, JT O’Donnell, and Maureen Clough (with a hit-and-run cameo from Chad Sowash) navigate a conversational minefield that stretches from high-stakes geopolitical dread to the gritty future of how we all get paid. The crew kicks things off with a dive into the "dark humor" of global escalations and movie hot takes before pivoting to the real-world anxieties of the modern professional. Is the resume finally dead, or is it just being fitted for a digital tuxedo? The team squares off on whether AI "slop" has officially broken the application process, leading to a fiery debate on why your personal brand might be the only life raft left in an unstable sea. From the rise of video-first branding to the "human-in-the-loop" reality of Anthropic’s latest AI study, the hosts dissect who is actually at risk of being replaced and who is just being handed better tools. The episode also serves up a masterclass in modern marketing, dissecting a viral $80M funding round that proves "knowledge creators" might be the new kings of recruiting—though Joel isn’t sold on the hype just yet. Between legacy tech acquisitions that feel a little too "desperate" and a sobering look at the "broken rung" still stalling women in leadership, this episode balances cynicism with a blueprint for survival. Whether you’re worried about flying cars or just trying to survive the next wave of AI-driven layoffs, this is the snark-filled reality check you need. Ready to hear why your LinkedIn engagement is tanking and why a Big Mac video might be the future of executive branding? Hit play and join the conversation. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Light Banter 01:20 - Current Events and Global Concerns 05:33 - Shifting Perspectives on War and Politics 08:30 - Innovations in Transportation: The Rise of EV Talls 10:51 - The Importance of Executive Branding 18:09 - The Death of the Resume: A New Era in Hiring 33:06 - AI's Impact on the Job Market 34:24 - Craftsmanship in the Age of AI 35:20 - The Importance of AI Literacy 36:49 - The Digital Renaissance and Career Opportunities 41:29 - Navigating Job Market Changes 56:23 - Women in the Workplace: Challenges and Opportunities

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Strap in, HR tech fans, because it’s time for a reality check on the 2024 job market. On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, we’re tearing down a landscape that isn't just "shifting"—it’s being dismantled and rebuilt by AI and corporate "cost-cutting." Joined by industry heavy-hitters Jillian O’Malior and JT O’Donnell, we dive into the brutal reality of the "ghosting" epidemic, where qualified candidates are trapped in months-long interview loops that lead to nowhere. We explore why your old-school connections aren't enough anymore and why building a visible personal brand is the only way to stay relevant. From the "executive squeeze"—where high-level roles are being swapped for lower titles with double the workload—to the rise of the augmented workforce, we’re delivering the snark and the strategies you need to survive. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Jillian O'Malior and her expertise 01:00 - Jillian's background in employer branding and talent marketing 02:20 - The realities of job searching in 2024: experiences and frustrations 05:12 - The long, arduous process of applying and interviewing 08:51 - The impact of economic restructuring and AI on hiring 10:46 - Changing hiring practices: from who you know to who knows you 12:11 - Wage suppression and the role of AI in job market dynamics 14:08 - The unrealistic expectations of AI making everyone a unicorn 15:05 - The pitfalls of lazy apply and AI-driven applications 18:11 - The significance of instant rejection and applicant experience 22:38 - The importance of transparency and candidate communication 27:25 - The emotional toll of unemployment and job search desperation 30:49 - Addressing the stigma and shame around layoffs 33:26 - The role of social media in job search and personal branding 37:54 - The holistic approach: showing your true self online 40:15 - Building a personal brand through honesty and content creation 45:17 - The importance of authenticity and transparency in professional branding 45:58 - Final thoughts and connecting with Jillian O'Malior

This week on The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the gang proves once again that you can’t separate HR from the real world—especially when the real world feels like it’s on fire. What starts as travel talk quickly spirals into global tension, disrupted plans, and a larger conversation about leadership in moments of chaos. Let’s just say when flights get rerouted and headlines get louder, it’s hard not to wonder how instability at the top trickles down to the rest of us. The trio doesn’t pretend to have foreign policy solutions—but they do have opinions. Lots of them. Of course, it wouldn’t be Chad & Cheese without a few sharp left turns. A certain fast-food giant’s awkward attempt at relatability gets the roast treatment, sparking a conversation about authenticity in the age of executive social media. That dovetails nicely into a broader debate about AI-generated marketing campaigns—especially when “people companies” experiment with removing actual people from the picture. Bold move? Lazy shortcut? Marketing genius? The gang weighs in. On the industry side, several heavy hitters are making moves. One longtime ATS player is rolling out a fresh brand and a shiny AI layer meant to unify its platform—raising questions about whether this is a true product evolution or a well-timed narrative shift. Another HR tech roll-up with a portfolio of recognizable recruiting brands has a new CEO at the helm, bringing big AI and SaaS credentials to what some see as a complex integration puzzle. Meanwhile, a job board giant finally makes a major technical leadership hire after years of operating without one—prompting debate about product vision, innovation debt, and what it really takes to modernize at scale. Add in contrasting approaches to AI-driven workforce strategy from major financial and retail employers, a glimmer of revenue optimism from a familiar job platform, a dad joke that absolutely no one asked for, and the usual sponsor shoutouts—and you’ve got classic Chad & Cheese: equal parts insight, irreverence, and “did they really just say that?” Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Current Events 02:57 - Impact of War on Travel and Daily Life 05:59 - Fast Food and Cultural Reflections 08:48 - Advertising Trends and AI in Marketing 11:59 - Privacy Concerns and Societal Reflections 14:57 - Shoutouts and Personal Reflections 16:28 - Introduction to Traders and Travel Plans 18:32 - Industry Changes and iSIMS' New Brand Identity 28:41 - The Importance of Execution in Branding 32:05 - Leadership Changes at Employee and Future Prospects 36:58 - The Future of ATS and Customer Retention 39:41 - Challenges Facing Legacy ATS Providers 44:52 - Leadership Changes at Indeed 47:18 - AI's Impact on Employment 55:43 - ZipRecruiter's Recent Growth and Strategy