The Chad & Cheese Podcast

Get ready for a jam-packed episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast as hosts Joel Cheesman, Chad Sowash, and Emi B serve up their trademark mix of industry news, corporate earnings, and unfiltered banter. The episode kicks off with personal updates and shout-outs, covering everything from Chad’s slippery "Charlie Brown" beach wipeout in Portugal to a Harvard report on workplace outcomes, the rise of late-night interviews for night owls. As the episode shifts into corporate strategy, the hosts put the latest financial filings and major market moves under the microscope. You will hear them break down the Q2 earnings, cost-cutting strategies, and future outlooks for ZipRecruiter, Recruit Holdings, and Indeed. The team then brings back their signature "Buy or Sell" segment to grade recent consolidation in the space, evaluating MetaView’s acquisition of Reval (and its autonomous coworker "fillmore"), CareerMinds picking up Jobrapido, and the big transition of a long-time leader at LinkUp. Finally, the episode tackles the serious side of hiring tech with a look at global regulatory compliance and vendor transparency involving Maki People, Mochi AI Assessments and Recruitics, before winding down with a nostalgic debate over the unexpected relaunch of MySpace. To find out who gets a "Buy," who gets a "Sell," and exactly why the hosts are skeptical of the latest AI trends, you will have to tune in to the full episode.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

Ageism is out in the open, AI is masking mass corporate cost-cutting, and 1 in 3 job postings might be completely fake. In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, 20-year HR executive Cassell Kaye from The Reframed Collective pulls back the curtain on a brutal modern job market. Drawing on her leadership experience at tech and entertainment giants like Disney, Yahoo, and Amazon, she exposes the calculated corporate math pushing older workers out, explaining why companies now treat discrimination lawsuits as just another line-item cost of doing business. Cassell also deconstructs the current tech hype, framing AI not as a revolutionary replacement for human workers, but as a convenient smokescreen for aggressive corporate cost-cutting and margin protection. She highlights how automated tracking systems scale existing biases at an unprecedented rate, creating a virtual trap for applicants where even opting out for a "human review" simply results in a resume disappearing into an ignored pile. Finally, the episode tackles the rise of the "ghost job" phenomenon, explaining the strategic corporate reasons behind the massive 2-million job gap between reported openings and actual hires. If you want to understand how the hiring game is truly rigged and how to navigate a system missing its old safety nets, you cannot miss this candid conversation. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Cassell and her background 01:56 - Cassell discusses ageism and workforce bias 04:08 - Impact of AI on layoffs and employment practices 05:54 - Legal risks and the role of government regulation 08:10 - The future of AI and its influence on workforce demographics 10:06 - Advice for workers over 50 facing layoffs 11:57 - The problem with ghost jobs and transparency 13:57 - The role of vendors and bias in AI systems 16:06 - Government actions and the regulation landscape 18:01 - The impact of AI on hiring processes and bias 20:00 - The political and legal challenges in regulating AI 22:07 - The lagging indicators in employment data 24:04 - The real state of the job market and ghost jobs 25:59 - The influence of corporate signaling and investor perceptions 28:03 - Automation, AI, and the future of talent acquisition 29:47 - The role of government and legal actions in employment law 31:57 - Final thoughts and where to follow Cassell Links https://www.youtube.com/@cassellkaye https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassell/ https://www.tiktok.com/@the.reframed.collective https://www.instagram.com/thereframedcollective/

The latest episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast with Emi and Lieven is officially live, and it is a certified must-watch. In this episode, the crew dives straight into a massive legal showdown brewing in the tech world, breaking down the explosive trade secret drama between Rippling and Runlayer. They also discuss a massive $50M acquisition move by Deel involving Clarity to fight a terrifying new trend in hiring, begging the question: is big tech done buying smaller tools for good? The conversation takes a sharp turn into the ultimate AI casualties, analyzing how one freelance giant’s stock has cratered a staggering 94% since ChatGPT entered the chat. The team breaks down the absolute collapse of Fiverr and discusses why their desperate pivot to save the platform might already be too late. Meanwhile, they expose why AI adoption has completely stalled across Europe, how companies are fighting weak data foundations, and the massive compliance hurdles that are about to change the landscape for international employers.Finally, the bots are officially taking over, and the major job platforms are panicking. he hosts talk about how LinkedIn just quietly rolled out a brand-new button to fight the wave of artificial content taking over your feed, while Indeed was forced to hit the emergency brakes on their aggressive new automation feature after severe user backlash. Want to know what the crew really thinks about these massive shifts? Tune in to the full episode now on your favorite podcast platform or watch it on YouTube! Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Episode Overview 01:14 - European Culture and Vacation Trends 03:26 - Review of the Odyssey Movie 04:45 - Discussion on AI in Entertainment and Media 07:14 - Controversies in FIFA and Sports Politics 09:18 - Belgian Football and World Cup Highlights 11:21 - Deep Fake Detection and HR Security 18:41 - Rippling and Deal Legal Drama 29:39 - Fiverr and AI Displacement of Freelance Work 38:33 - European AI Adoption and Cultural Barriers 49:32 - LinkedIn and Indeed AI Content and Automation 52:48 - Future of AI Regulation and Ethical Concerns

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

In this episode, HR veteran Jolene Hostal joins Joel and Chad to discuss how a legacy brand like Stanley Steemer stays "young and vibrant" in a competitive labor market. Managing high-volume hiring for thousands of technicians across 57 corporate locations, Jolene breaks down how modern tech integrations, fast candidate screening, and a strong culture drive their talent acquisition strategy. Mobile-First High-Volume Hiring: Because candidates for cleaning technician roles are constantly on the move, Stanley Steemer uses Paradox’s chatbot ("Maria") to let applicants apply in 90 seconds or less. Open Architecture Tech Stack: Jolene explains choosing Dayforce as their HCM due to its strong API connections, allowing seamless integration with Paradox and background check partners like First Advantage. The "90-Day" Retention Milestone: Highlighting the physical demands of technician roles, Jolene notes that if a technician stays for 90 days, they almost always stay for a full year. Career Progression from the Trucks: The company boasts strong internal mobility—73% of company managers started out as service technicians, proving that entry-level roles can lead to long-term career paths. Keeping the Remote Workforce Connected: Field technicians receive job dispatches, safety updates, and communication through in-van tablets and driver safety monitoring systems.

Is LinkedIn turning into a bot-ridden wasteland? Is Google actively blowing up its own revenue model? And are AI agents already plotting their escape from human containment? The crew is back together, hot out of the chamber, to slice through corporate PR and tackle the messiest stories in tech and workplace culture. From outrageous ageism in the C-suite to the high-stakes risk of unchecked AI, Chad, JT, and Mo are serving up the unfettered truth with zero filters. Surveillance, Smoke, & Creepy Ray-Bans The $600K Employee Influencer Win Lattice CEO’s "Calcified" Slip-Up "Just because you can doesn't mean you should, is my theme for 2026 on this pod... You don't replace judgment and have AI do it." — JT O'Donnell LinkedIn: Sexy Bots & The King of Slop The Nano-Influencer Arbitrage. Google Search Enters Its Zero-Click Era Autonomous Bots & The AI Singularity "I'm going to tell you right now, if you're at a party and you're not at least asking Charney for his vape pen, you're wrong. Charney brings the best weed." — Chad Sowash Enjoy!

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

On this week's The Chad & Cheese Podcast interview episode, Joel and Chad sit down with Kristy McCann founder, former CEO of Skill Cycle, and overall HR force of nature who proves the ultimate golden rule: Do NOT mess with HR. Ever wondered what a founder’s absolute worst nightmare looks like? Picture this: You bootstrap your HR tech startup, navigate COVID without losing your shirt, grow fourfold, and then win an "Opportunity Fund" competition. Sounds great, right? Except the folks writing the checks didn't just want a seat at the table they wanted to lock you out of the house, revalue your $30 million company down to $8 million, and suggest you replace your human coaching marketplace with an AI bot. In this wildly candid episode, Kristy spills all the tea (and Burger King) on: The Georgia Ambush VC Playbooks & "Pay-to-Play" RICO & Receipts It’s a cautionary tale full of red flags, "bipolar 5.5-sense" gut instincts, and a Masterclass in why discovery in a courtroom is a VC's absolute worst enemy. "You wanna fuck with me? Fine. Let's bring it out into a courtroom." — Kristy McCann Grab your popcorn, founders you’re going to want to take notes on this one.

The latest episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast kicks off with hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash diving into a massive recap of the World Cup tournament, complete with a look at the spectacular multi-artist halftime show, light political jabs, a hilarious Taco Bell fast-food mishap, and a celebratory beer for a record-breaking Scottish runner. After sharing details on how you can score a free podcast t-shirt, the boys move straight into their high-stakes "Buy or Sell" segment, where they aggressively debate the business prospects of recent major industry acquisitions and funding rounds involving Signal Labs, BrassRing, Adzuna, JobLift, and the controversial candidate-pays model of Refer. The main events of the episode take an even sharper turn into major industry compliance, legal drama, and worker rights. First, Chad and Joel unleash a highly critical teardown of the brand-new terms of service rolling out from Indeed, exposing massive financial and legal implications for both employers and job seekers. Next, they tackle the legal spotlight hitting LinkedIn, debating whether a high-profile investigation by the Texas Attorney General is necessary platform accountability or just pure political theater. Finally, the hosts wrap up by throwing their support behind a massive internal worker movement at Google, analyzing whether a new 4,500-employee petition will actually force the tech giant's hand or simply stall out. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Episode Overview 00:33 - Travel and Cultural Observations from the World Cup 02:07 - US as a Host and International Perceptions 03:07 - Final World Cup Matches and Team Performances 04:20 - Analysis of England vs. Argentina and Paraguay vs. France 05:45 - Messi's Performance and the Final Match Insights 06:20 - Spain’s Defensive Mastery and Tournament Highlights 07:37 - Halftime Show and Cultural Impact 13:43 - History of Halftime Shows and Cultural Shifts 15:26 - Record-Breaking Mile Run and Celebrations 17:23 - Buy or Sell Segment: Signal Labs and Brass Ring 21:56 - Adzuna’s Acquisition of JobLift and Market Strategy 25:16 - Rise of Talent Marketplaces and New Funding 29:30 - Discussion on Company Buybacks, Severance, and Employee Rights 41:08 - Texas Investigation into LinkedIn Ghost Jobs 48:32 - Political Theater and Lawsuits in the Job Market 54:41 - Humor and Closing Remarks

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

The TL;DR: What happens when HR tech's most prominent conversational AI platform gets swallowed by an enterprise titan? In this high-octane episode, Chad and Cheese sit down with Adam Godson—the newly crowned GM of Talent Acquisition Products at Workday—to dissect the aftermath of the Paradox acquisition. Forget standard corporate buzzwords; this is a raw look at how AI "agents" are systematically dismantling traditional software, why the SAS pricing model is officially on life support, and what it actually takes to survive the "SAS Apocalypse." The Death of the "Click-and-Scroll" ATS The "SAS Apocalypse" is Real Resumes are "Lousy" 2D Artifacts Recruiting is Splitting in Two "What you get rid of is the people that wish they were talking to candidates, but are clicking buttons in the system. And that's a good thing." — Adam Godson Why it matters: This episode serves as a blueprint for the next five years of recruitment tech. If you are still relying on legacy keywords, manual data entry, and traditional seat licenses, your strategy is already on borrowed time.

The boys are diving headfirst into the algorithmic trenches as LinkedIn battles a massive influx of AI-generated content that is actively derailing user feeds. This automation wave is sparking a larger debate on the future of recruitment, especially as Indeed looks to double down on automated agents to reshape how hiring works. However, this aggressive tech pivot is already causing serious friction in the real world. A major multi-unit franchisee, Hamra Enterprises, found itself locked in a high-stakes standoff with Indeed over systemic backend glitches that disrupted major brand campaigns and nearly triggered a massive spending boycott. Beyond the corporate drama, the boys lock in their predictions for a massive international soccer finale and share a wild, graphic true-crime story from overseas that you truly have to hear to believe. Plus, the HR tech landscape is shifting fast with a wave of new product drops and strategic alliances. The crew breaks down the massive legal and compliance risks hidden inside the latest Recruitics and Maki People integration, dissects the market strategy behind the newest Appcast launch, and debates whether a three-way partnership between HireEZ, Next, and Talroo is a brilliant counter-strategy to industry giants or just a culturally messy survival play. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Episode Overview 01:00 - Chad's Wreckfest and World Cup Adventures 04:24 - AI in Movies and the Slotbuster Phenomenon 06:20 - AI-generated Content on Social Media 08:35 - World Cup Predictions and Rivalries 11:45 - Shoutouts and Political Satire 16:30 - Moscow Penis Biting Incident and Legal Penalties 22:08 - Indeed's Disposition Data and Industry Pushback 30:27 - The Future of Job Search and AI Agents 36:40 - Sponsorships and Recruitment Tech Announcements 37:26 - Recruitics Partnership with Mackey and AI Screening 45:32 - Industry Consolidation and Strategic Moves 53:46 - Closing Remarks and Dad Jokes

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 Cheese drag Josh Secrest, Paradox’s Head of Marketing, into the hot seat. Josh’s resume boasts stints at both Abercrombie & Fitch and McDonald's. Once the guys stop badgering Josh about the Golden Arches, they get into why your current frontline application process is a flaming dumpster fire: The Velocity Deficit: The average restaurant or retail shop takes 16 painful days to lock down a frontline worker. The automated elite? They’re doing it in 3.5 days. Frontline candidates are applying to 25 jobs simultaneously; if you aren't the first to text them back, you’re just a ghost in their inbox while your remaining staff burns out. The Real Cost of "Quick Quits": Josh officially declares standard "time to hire" dead. The only metrics that actually impact the C-suite are the Break-Even Point (the magic 31-day mark where a worker finally stops costing you money) and the Retention Sticking Point (day 100, where they actually become a fixture). If your hires drop out before day 31, congratulations—you just subsidized their brief stint at your expense. Administrative Errand Boys: Your highly paid store managers are burning 10 to 12 hours a week acting as calendar secretaries, copy-pasting interview schedules and building shift templates. Paradox aims to execute that administrative trivia so managers can do the unfathomable: stand front-of-house and generate revenue. The Cold Hard Truth: Stop making people take a 45-minute personality quiz to flip a burger or stock a shelf. Automate the blocking and tackling, match their schedule instantly, or get used to looking at a red balance sheet.

Hide your kids and grab your bourbon, because The Chad & Cheese Podcast is back! Joel is finally home from his pretentious European tour—blaming jet lag for being completely rusty—and Emi is here to keep him from totally derailing. Together, they are tackling a corporate landscape that looks like a beautiful car crash. They're dissecting the massive corporate marriages of Korn Ferry buying AMS and Handshake grabbing Uplimit—are these brilliant strategic moves or absolute train wrecks? Next, they dive into the giant AI oopsies of the week, laughing as Ford frantically rehires 350 human engineers because their robots built junk, and Mark Zuckerberg publicly admits Meta totally misjudged the AI hype train. They also break down why The Wall Street Journal says Gen X is getting absolutely crushed by unemployment, why Scott Galloway thinks working from home is ruining America's youth, and whether a fully robot-operated hotel in China is a budget dream or a horror movie. Tune in for the travel stories, the savage HR gossip, and the brutal return of Joel's awful dad jokes! Website: https://www.chadcheese.com/ Make sure you check FREE Stuff: https://www.chadcheese.com/free Subscribe for an audio version: https://www.chadcheese.com/subscribe

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.

"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.