HR Tech 2025

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. AI hype is loud, messy, and often misguided. Jess Von Bank and Jason Averbook cut through the noise and get right to the uncomfortable truth. Most companies aren’t ready for AI because they haven’t fixed the basics: broken systems, outdated processes, and low organizational literacy. This conversation gets into the heart of what actually needs to change before AI can deliver real value. In this episode we speak with Jess Von Bank and Jason Averbook about responsible AI, organizational readiness, governance, incentives, failed expectations, and why rethinking work itself matters more than any new tool. Key Takeaways AI won’t fix anything until organizations fix their fundamentals Governance, literacy, and incentives decide whether AI succeeds Automating old processes is not innovation Most AI failures come from bad expectations, not tech Leaders need to rethink how problems are defined The industry must stop “AI sprinkling” on outdated systems Real transformation requires behavior change and reimagining work Chapters 01:56 Why the TA and HR tech ROI hasn’t matched investment 02:45 The opportunity and danger inside the AI buzz 03:26 Human centricity, fairness, and literacy 04:11 The hype cycle and the rush to adopt 05:10 Asking “AI for what?” before chasing ROI 06:14 Why this is a reset, not another tech wave 07:33 Digital lipstick on an analog pig 08:11 Transformation vs ongoing evolution 09:52 What will happen to most vendors 10:39 Why AI projects fail 11:41 Redefining how companies solve problems 12:21 Defining success the right way 13:03 HR’s responsibility in making AI work 14:00 Leaders need AI literacy too 14:47 Productivity vs collective intelligence 15:55 Redeploying work, not displacing workers 16:24 The limits of current AI use cases 17:00 Why displacing jobs is the wrong metric 18:15 Vendors must solve real problems 18:59 Consolidation, infrastructure, and the ecosystem 20:04 Responsible innovation needs offense and defense 20:32 Why infrastructure consolidation matters 21:21 Why responsible AI starts with asking “why?” 22:01 Rethinking whether core HR practices still make sense 22:44 The crisis moment HR is facing 23:08 Closing thoughts and gratitude Guest Info Jess Von Bank, Global Leader, Digital HR Transformation LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessvonbank/ Jason Averbook, Sr. Partner Mercer LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/ Host Bob Pulver, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/ Connect with WRKdefined Site: ⁠http://www.wrkdefined.com⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/WRKdefined⁠ Substack: ⁠https://wrkdefined.substack.com/⁠

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. In this episode we talk about HR tech, PEOs, SMBs, AI in hiring, and why owning your own product roadmap matters. We walk through how CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve small businesses that often have no HR leader, how they think about employee experience and mobile access, what they are seeing on the Pitchfest stage, and why HR should be using AI as an additive tool instead of a replacement for real people strategy. Key Takeaways HR tech for SMBs is shifting from “forgotten buyer” to primary target, with more vendors openly building for small and midsize businesses. The PEO model plus a modern HCM platform lets SMBs pool benefits, workers’ comp, payroll, and 401(k) under one roof instead of stitching together point solutions. CoAdvantage’s CoAdQuantum platform and mobile app give employees browser-level access on their phones, including pay history and total compensation views. AI in hiring is getting congested and same-y, but the most interesting tools are removing identifiers and focusing on skills, language, and behavior to reduce bias. Performance management AI that “advocates” for employees by surfacing year-long contributions can fix the nine-month memory gap of annual reviews. Pitchfest revealed a divide between “sizzle” AI pitches and deeper semantic and behavioral models that are harder to explain in three minutes but more differentiated. HR is finally being talked about as a business impact driver, with clearer correlations between bad hires, brand damage, culture, and hard financial cost. There is a growing risk that free AI tools tempt leaders to skip a real people strategy, which turns HR tech into a liability instead of a safeguard. CoAdvantage built and owns its own technology so it would not be a small fish on someone else’s roadmap, and migrated clients to CoAdQuantum to control its destiny. The product “personality” the team aims for is flexible, honest, self-aware, reliable, and deeply listening to SMB clients, not pretending to be all-knowing. Chapters 00:00 AI, bias, and sanitizing candidate data 01:44 Katee and Robin intro Inclusive AF live at HR Tech with CoAdvantage | PrimePay 02:29 Who CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve and how the PEO model works for SMBs 04:55 Employee experience, mobile app, and total compensation visibility 07:27 Why CoAdvantage sponsored Pitchfest and what they are seeing in the HR tech startup field 10:33 AI tools that strip identifiers, de-bias hiring, and support performance management 12:12 The forgotten SMB HR tech buyer and why distribution strategy matters 16:03 Making HR credible to business leaders and tying HR decisions to ROI and risk 17:11 AI hype, liability risk, and why HR has to stay the protector of the business 18:28 If your product had a personality – how CoAdvantage describes its tech and service 20:54 Owning the tech stack, CoAdQuantum migrations, and controlling product destiny 22:01 Real-time client feedback, roadmap iteration, and bridging data and humans 23:05 Wrap up with Katee and Robin from the HR Executive studio Guest Information Caitlin Carragee – Head of Strategy, CoAdvantage | PrimePay Website: https://coadvantage.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlincarragee Mark Zimmerman – Chief Information Officer, CoAdvantage Website: https://coadvantage.com/leadership/mark-zimmerman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markzimmerman Hosts Katee Van Horn – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – https://www.linkedin.com/in/katee-van-horn/ Robin Schooling – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinschooling

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Hiring has never been louder, faster, or more chaotic. Daniel Chait breaks down why great hiring still comes down to disciplined systems, data, and the courage to say no to feature-chasing. This is a real look at how Greenhouse thinks about customers, product, and what “great at hiring” actually means in 2025. In this episode we speak with Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse about founder lessons, product vision, hiring discipline, fraud in the talent market, and why recruiting teams need better data to earn real credibility with the business. Key Takeaway Great strategy dies fast if you cannot hire the talent to execute it Listening to customers without a clear product vision creates a bloated, incoherent platform New Greenhouse Analytics puts real hiring metrics in the hands of recruiters and leaders Most TA teams still cannot answer basic questions on attrition, time to fill, or funnel health Fraud, AI generated resumes, and deepfakes are reshaping how employers vet candidates Real Talent focuses on signal, identity, and reducing noise in overwhelming pipelines High volume and professional hiring are converging on similar experiences and expectations Being right is not enough in legal or business fights if the time and cost kill the company Chapters 00:00 Why great hiring beats any strategy on paper 02:00 Daniel’s path from programmer to founder 03:40 Discovering hiring as an engineering problem 05:27 Ambitious, collaborative customers as the ideal partners 06:55 Balancing customer asks with a clear product vision 09:40 How Greenhouse stays out of the “feature soup” trap 11:42 New Greenhouse Analytics and what it unlocks 13:31 Why most companies still lack basic recruiting data 15:19 Data as the language that earns TA a real seat at the table 17:39 Launching “Real Talent” to combat fraud and misrepresentation 19:16 AI resumes, spam pipelines, and candidate frustration 21:01 Helping real candidates stand out in noisy markets 21:46 My Greenhouse, job alerts, and the “dream job” signal 23:18 Convergence of frontline and salaried hiring experiences 24:34 One system to support all types of hiring 26:33 Where automation stops and human touch still matters 28:41 A painful early lawsuit and the cost of being “right” 31:24 How that lesson now shapes partnership and customer decisions 33:35 Final thoughts and where to learn more about Greenhouse Guest Info Daniel Chait, Co-founder & CEO, Greenhouse Website: https://www.greenhouse.com Host Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt Connect with WRKdefined Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. AI gets loud, fast, and overpromised. This conversation cuts through the noise. When the entire talent lifecycle sits on fragmented systems, AI becomes guesswork. When the data is unified, you unlock precision, prediction, and real outcomes. Rebecca and Dan lay out why SmartRecruiters and SAP SuccessFactors fit together, what Winston can actually do in the flow of work, and how the TA ecosystem changes when recruiting, HR, learning, contingent labor, and analytics all live on one plane. In this episode we speak with Rebecca Carr and Dan Beck about AI trust, cross-lifecycle data, workforce planning, agentic systems, shared incentives, and the future of TA inside the world’s largest enterprise HR suite. Key Takeaways AI is only as good as the data foundation it sits on Recruiting data alone can’t deliver lifecycle intelligence Unifying HR, learning, finance, and contingent labor unlocks new predictions Winston works because it stays in the flow of work and builds trust slowly Shared incentives between TA and TM matter more than ownership Agentic AI needs clean inputs, not shortcuts Workforce planning becomes work planning when analytics are unified Chapters 00:15 Why SAP chose SmartRecruiters 00:32 Autonomy, agents, and better data 01:04 Live from HR Tech 2025 01:22 Rebecca’s background 01:54 Dan’s background 02:36 Innovation and why the partnership made sense 03:03 What brought the companies together 03:57 Why SmartRecruiters was the pick 04:21 AI’s power with end-to-end data 04:49 What the acquisition unlocks 05:11 Product and cultural alignment 05:55 Customer-obsessed DNA 06:05 Why lifecycle visibility changes everything 06:46 Shared incentives across TA and TM 07:16 Early integration conversations 07:31 Workforce planning meets recruiting 08:13 Data loops inside SAP’s platform 08:26 Building an AI-first data plane 08:58 How better data drives autonomous agents 09:15 Finance, HR, and contingent labor convergence 10:30 The extended workforce lens 11:07 Non-employee analytics and certification 12:07 Winston’s role inside SuccessFactors 12:46 Why Winston boosts engagement and data quality 13:59 How SAP plans to anchor TA around this roadmap 14:35 AI literacy and readiness across teams 15:01 Why “just automate it” doesn’t build trust 16:06 Winston’s one-job-at-a-time model 17:02 How trust becomes experimentation 17:27 Designing rollout journeys with customers 18:17 Real-world enterprise AI adoption 18:53 Why Winston accelerates AI maturity Guest Info Rebecca Carr, CEO SmartRecruiters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccajcarr/ Dan Beck, General Manager and Chief Produc Officer, SmartRecruiters LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-beck/ Host Bob Holver, Elevate Your AiQ Podcast LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bobpulver Connect with WRKdefined Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. We sit down with VONQ CEO Ritu Mohanka at HR Tech to unpack what really changed at the top of the funnel. Recruiters are drowning in volume and starving for relevance, so VONQ is leaning into programmatic job distribution, embedded marketplaces, and AI screening agents that send 20 signal-rich candidates instead of 200 random applies. We walk through their global channel model, new fraud and AI-usage detection, and why building in public on LinkedIn is part of their transparency and trust story. In this episode we talk about AI agents, recruitment advertising, fraud detection, candidate volume, and LinkedIn as the new front door for talent tech. Ritu traces the journey from Kenexa and Glint to leading VONQ, then breaks down how a platform that touches 5,000 channels can quietly sit inside your ATS and still change the shape of your funnel. Key Takeaways Recruiters don’t want 200 applicants anymore. They want 20 high intent candidates who already passed knockout questions and early screening. VONQ evolved from an ad agency into a global recruitment platform that distributes jobs across thousands of channels with programmatic controls focused on outcomes like cost per hire, speed, and quality. In North America VONQ acts as infrastructure. Everything runs through ATS and HCM marketplaces so recruiters never leave the system where they create jobs. Embedded multiposting, LinkedIn CPA Plus, and AI screening agents deliver shortlists instead of noise, and all the agents are already built and deployed before launch. VONQ now surfaces “signals” of AI or fraud inside the candidate dossier so recruiters know when automation helped versus when it crossed a line. Building in public on LinkedIn is part of the trust play in a noisy AI market. The real bet is recruiter enablement. Less admin, cleaner workflows, faster paths to shortlists. The industry is shifting from volume to relevance, and VONQ’s platform and agent strategy is aligned to that pivot. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters 0:00 Cold open – “The newest pain point is volume. We don’t want that much volume.” 1:00 Welcome back to WorkTech at HR Tech and live-audience setup 1:40 Ritu’s background – Connexa, Glint, LinkedIn, and finding “home” again in HR tech 3:04 What’s different on the floor – AI agents everywhere, screening at the top of the funnel, and the rise of fraud detection 4:04 Old-school assessments vs AI-driven screening and ranking 5:42 VONQ’s evolution – from recruitment ad agency to global recruitment advertising platform 6:39 Platform over point solutions – 5,000 channels and programmatic distribution 7:52 Global go-to-market – direct in Europe, channel and marketplace model in North America 8:51 Embedded in ATS and HCM – why recruiters should never have to leave where they create jobs 10:15 CPA Plus with LinkedIn – cost-per-application-plus, not just eyeballs and clicks 10:54 From 200 applies to 20 shortlists – high intent, knockout questions, and six-minute voice interviews 12:20 Detecting AI usage and fraud – “signals not flags” for cover letters, chats, and voice screenings 13:58 The ecosystem view – platforms selling AI while also protecting against AI abuse 14:47 Finding VONQ on LinkedIn and why building in public matters Guest Info Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ Website: https://www.vonq.com Host George LaRocque, WorkTech Podcast

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Hiring teams are burnt out, candidates are overwhelmed, and tech is changing faster than anyone can keep up. Desiree Goldey and Ashley King break down what recruiters are actually dealing with right now, why the work feels heavier, and where the talent function needs to evolve next. No polish. No filters. Just two recruiters telling the truth. In this episode we speak with Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless, and Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless, about recruiter burnout, broken expectations, messy hiring pipelines, candidate fatigue, and the gap between HR tech promises and real recruiter workflows. Key Takeaways Recruiters are carrying emotional labor no one talks about Hiring velocity hides broken processes Candidates are overwhelmed by noisy pipelines Most teams are under-skilled in real candidate communication Tech doesn’t fix chaos if leaders don’t change behavior Burnout is coming from expectations, not workload Honest feedback loops are missing across TA Chapters 00:00 Why recruiting feels heavier 01:10 The emotional load of TA 02:04 Candidate chaos in 2025 03:22 Broken communication loops 04:40 When tech makes it worse 06:15 Burnout signals recruiters ignore 07:30 What leaders still don’t get 08:55 Where the function needs to go Host Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireegoldey/ Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleykingdei/ Connect with WRKdefined Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Large enterprises are dragging legacy systems, legal risk, and AI anxiety into every talent conversation, while the next wave of tools is already capable of automating massive chunks of recruiting. In this HR Tech Live conversation, WorkTech host George LaRocque sits down with Jeremy Roberts from Tenzo AI to unpack what happens when AI interviewing is done right, why most teams are still evaluating yesterday’s tech, and how this changes the shape of recruiting departments going forward. In this episode we speak with Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead at Tenzo AI, about evaluating AI interview platforms, rebuilding workflows around skills and signals instead of résumés, how to get past the “cool demo” to real compliance and transparency, and why he chose Tenzo after vetting the entire AI interview landscape. Key Takeaways Most large companies are stalled by legal risk and legacy systems while AI is already capable of automating much of early-stage recruiting AI interviewing shifts evaluation from incomplete résumés to structured skills evidence and every spoken word in context The real disruption isn’t the tech, it’s the requirement to tear down and rebuild talent workflows from scratch Vendors that win will be the ones who can explain every decision to legal, compliance, and AI governance councils High-volume use cases are just the starting point; AI interviewing is already good enough for knowledge workers and senior roles Tenzo’s focus on debiasing, transparency, and explainability was the differentiator in Jeremy’s market-wide evaluation Founding customer success roles sit at the center of product, sales, and customers, shaping the roadmap in real time Chapters 00:00 AI, legacy systems, and what could be automated 01:02 Live at HR Tech and intro to Jeremy 02:05 Jeremy’s path from recruiter to AI startup 05:14 Vetting the AI interview market 07:26 How AI interviewing changes workflows 10:45 Why Tenzo stood out 13:37 Compliance, explainability, and safer evaluation 16:12 Where Tenzo sits in the TA stack 18:21 Data, CRM potential, and personalization 21:02 Jeremy’s role as founding customer success lead 23:24 Culture, humility, and building the right way 24:23 Wrap up and HR Tech Pitchfest shout Guest Info Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead, Tenzo AI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyroberts/ Host George LaRocque, Founder and Principal Analyst, WorkTech and host of The Work Tech Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelarocque/ Connect with WRKdefined Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

People analytics hit its peak in 2022. Then the bottom dropped out. Roles disappeared. Teams shrank. And everyone started asking the same question: did people analytics miss its moment? Cole Napper doesn’t think so. He argues the opposite. The field isn’t dying. It’s shifting. The future is AI transformation, workforce modeling, and organizational change at scale. And the people who’ve lived inside the analytics trenches are the only ones with the skill stack to actually pull it off. Data. Tech. AI. Change. It’s all converging, and the HR teams who ignore it are about to get left behind. In this episode we talk about people analytics, AI, workforce transformation, storytelling with data, fraud in talent acquisition, geopolitics, and why the industry is about to rename itself. Cole breaks down what’s happening, what’s coming next, and why the “weather report” days of HR data are officially over.  What We Cover The rise and dip of people analytics roles Why AI, agents, and automation are shifting the playing field Storytelling vs AI-generated insights Fraud across TA, payroll, and analytics The future of workforce planning How data companies like Lightcast power the HR ecosystem Why “AI” as a label is about to get boring What HR leaders actually want: predictions, not dashboards Key Takeaways People analytics hit a high watermark in 2022, then declined  AI transformation and workforce transformation are the real next wave  People analytics talent already has the four skills the future requires: data, tech, AI, and change management  Storytelling still separates good analysts from bad ones Fraud has spiked in talent acquisition and bleeds into analytics now  AI terms will fade as the tech becomes baseline Workforce planning is hotter now than at any point since 2008  Leaders don’t want data weather reports. They want “do I need an umbrella?” answers  Lightcast’s data powers nearly 100 HR tech vendors  Chapters 0:00 The High Watermark and Decline of People Analytics  2:00 Who is Cole? IO Psych, Data, and Directionally Correct 4:50 The Real Skills HR Needs: Data, Tech, AI, Change 6:00 Storytelling vs AI-Generated Insights 7:30 Fraud in TA, Analytics, and Payroll 9:20 Workforce Trends and Seeing Around Corners 10:30 Why “AI” Will Become Boring 11:30 The Weather Report Problem in HR Data 12:20 Lightcast’s Ecosystem and Workforce Planning Surge 13:30 What We’ll Be Talking About Next Year Guest Cole Naper. VP Research, Innovation, & Talent Insights at Lightcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colenapper Host of the Directionally Correct Podcast Host: William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. AI promises magic, but data is still the fuel and most teams are running on fumes. Ike Benion breaks down why TA keeps hitting walls, why fragmented stacks kill insight, and how agentic AI is about to raise both the stakes and the expectations for recruiters. This one is for anyone drowning in tools, noise, and hype. In this episode we speak with Ike Bennion, VP of Product at Visier about data integrity, people analytics, predictive modeling, agentic AI, TA workflow fragmentation, and how organizations can build smarter, cleaner systems. Key Takeaways Data is the fuel for AI and most TA teams are feeding engines garbage Fragmented stacks and weak data collection crush predictive analytics People analytics teams hold the keys to real hiring insight More data reduces false positives and sharpens talent signals Agentic AI raises expectations but exposes messy foundations Most teams regret not collecting critical fields six months earlier Contextualization matters more than prompts for high impact AI work LLMs accelerate research but can’t fix broken processes AI washing is everywhere and buyers need sharper questions You can’t skip the hard part of making data work together Chapters 00:00 Why companies still don’t understand the data problem 01:00 What Ike is building at Visier 01:20 Helping managers make better decisions 01:49 How TA and people analytics should partner 02:30 Unlocking predictive hiring with cleaner data 03:03 What company-level data can reveal about candidates 03:38 Why more data scrapes out false positives 04:09 The chaos of 10+ tools in TA stacks 04:46 What data teams wish TA understood 05:14 Why data construction determines future insight 06:06 How AI accelerates recruiters but can’t erase history 06:25 The power of contextualizing AI for better decisions 06:42 Where agentic AI fits in recruiting 07:07 Do you say please and thank you to your AI 07:26 The environmental side of AI usage 07:37 Why fragmented stacks make AI risky 07:47 The rise of AI washing 08:07 Why bad data breaks every AI promise 08:57 The hype cycle and why we’re not in enlightenment 09:21 Why expectations have snapped back 09:43 Agents vs basic LLMs 10:37 Why organizations will feel the bubble pop 11:02 The promise and limits of predictive people analytics 12:12 Why analytic reasoning is now the top skill 12:34 What buyers should ask to avoid AI washing 13:03 The two biggest forms of AI washing 14:08 What future of work questions buyers should ask 14:30 Why we need to rethink work itself 15:02 How AI should transform processes 15:08 How to stay connected with Ike Guest Info Ike Benion, VP of Product, Visier Website: https://www.visier.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikebennion/ Host Brandon Jeffs, Host of the Rebel TA Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandohires/ Connect with WRKdefined Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. HR leaders are staring at louder demands, faster change, and more legal landmines than ever. Jocelyn King breaks down how compliance is shifting from reactive to proactive and why most HR teams still feel behind. Real talk on tech, complexity, and what HR needs next. In this episode we talk about AI roadmaps, HRIS integrations, compliance automation, risk mitigation, and the tech skills HR can’t avoid anymore. Key Takeaways HR leaders lack clarity on AI strategy and need real frameworks Integrations flip compliance from reactive to proactive Locality coverage is a massive differentiator in labor law Embedded compliance in HRIS workflows reduces risk instantly Automation frees HR for people strategy instead of research Partnership channels will drive most future growth Credible data models beat open source in compliance every time Change management is the missing skill in most HR teams Chapters 00:00 Why HR struggles with AI roadmaps 00:20 The integrations that change compliance 00:37 HR’s invisible emotional labor 01:26 What Virgil HR actually does 02:45 Why compliance needs automation 03:34 The heart and team behind the company 04:34 How Virgil HR is scaling 04:47 Global expansion, AI roadmap, and integrations 05:41 How embedded compliance actually works 06:02 Direct vs indirect sales and partnerships 07:02 The new AI trained bot 08:07 Why locality law is a major differentiator 09:25 Automating critical pay and compliance tasks 10:11 HR’s real value and strategic shift 11:34 Jocelyn’s animal rescue work 13:12 Her deeper mission behind HR for HR 14:31 Why HR must be tech ready now 16:04 Building a real AI roadmap 17:08 How to pick the right tech on the HR Tech floor 18:44 Vetting, alignment, and involving CIO/CTO 20:10 Implementing tech with real change management 21:02 Jocelyn’s favorite thing to do in Vegas Guest Info Jocelyn King,CEO & Founder, VirgilHR Website: https://www.virgilhr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynking/ Host Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-henika/ Connect with WRKdefined Site:http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Recruiting is moving faster than most teams can keep up with. AI isn’t a side feature anymore. It’s the engine. And companies that refuse to test it are holding themselves back in real time. Don Tomlinson steps into that gap with a point of view that’s hard to ignore. Daxtra isn’t “just a parser” anymore. They’re operating at a scale that makes you rethink the entire funnel. When you’re parsing 120 million resumes a month, you stop guessing about what the market is doing. You start seeing patterns before everyone else, and that kind of visibility forces better decisions, cleaner workflows, and more accountability across the board. In this episode we talk about AI, HR Tech, recruitment, identity verification, data quality, automation, screening, candidate engagement, and the future of personalized recruiting. Don walks through Daxtra’s evolution, why explainability matters, and what’s about to break next in the hiring process. What We Cover The rapid adoption of AI in HR Daxtra’s evolution from parsing to platform Data-driven decision making Explainability in AI matching Candidate engagement and screening Identity verification challenges Future-proofing recruitment with personalization Key Takeaways Organizations are adopting AI fast Not testing AI is a disadvantage Daxtra shifted from parsing to full platform Data drives smarter decisions AI improves matching explainability Candidate engagement is mission critical Identity verification is now a core risk Bad hires cost real money AI can generate tailored resumes Future tech is agile and personalized Chapters 0:00 The Rapid Adoption of AI in HR 3:00 Daxtra’s Evolution and Innovations 6:13 Data-Driven Recruitment and AI’s Role 9:12 Enhancing Candidate Engagement and Screening 11:59 Identity Verification and AI Challenges 14:46 Future of Recruitment Technology and Personalization Guest Don Tomlinson, CTO of Daxtra LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/dontomlinson/⁠ Host: William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. HR teams are still dragging around the habits they built on old systems. Too much comfort. Too much duct tape. Too much “this is how we’ve always done it.” Moving to something like Oracle HCM forces a reset. You can’t customize your way out of every problem anymore. You have to learn the system, adapt, and build processes that actually scale. That’s the part most organizations avoid, and it’s why so many implementations fall flat. The moment you stop treating HR tech like bespoke software and start treating it like a strategic operating model, the entire company runs cleaner. In this episode we talk about HR systems, AI in recruitment, candidate experience, vendor partnerships, tribal employment, performance management, generative AI, and what it really takes to drive adoption inside an organization. The conversation hits on where HR leaders get stuck, how to pick the right partner, and why excitement about tech is still the best fuel for engagement. What We Cover Navigating change in HR systems AI’s role in modern recruitment Vendor partnerships that actually work Improving candidate experience Tribal employment preferences Performance management and process clarity Tech adoption and the excitement factor Key Takeaways We got way too accustomed to old systems Adaptation matters more than perfection Modern HR tech is configuration, not custom builds Ask vendors for real live demos Your implementation partner matters as much as the product Fix the candidate experience first Tribal preference is key in Native American orgs AI upgrades matching and recruiting speed Clear HR processes prevent chaos Energy and excitement drive adoption Chapters 0:00 Navigating Change in HR Systems 2:54 The Role of AI in Recruitment 6:04 Building Effective Partnerships with Vendors 8:56 Enhancing Candidate Experience 12:11 Understanding Tribal Employment Preferences 15:05 Future Innovations in HR Technology

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Most companies swear they care about people, but the tools they use to understand those people are stuck in the past. Psychometric assessments were built for the few, not the many. They’re expensive, rigid, and treated like some secret language reserved for executives. Russ Mikowski walks straight into that gap. He’s pushing for a world where every employee gets access to the same level of insight, coaching, and clarity that top leaders take for granted. Not as a perk. As the baseline. And the moment you democratize that kind of self-understanding, everything inside a company shifts. Communication tightens. Leadership improves. Engagement climbs. The culture evolves because the people inside it are finally getting better in real time. In this episode we talk about psychometric assessments, AI coaching, leadership development, organizational growth, and what it really means to democratize learning inside a company. Russ explains why traditional assessments fall short, how SureCoach.ai gives everyone a personalized coach, and why speed, purpose, and strong partnerships matter more than ever in HR tech. What We Cover Democratizing psychometric assessments AI’s role in personal development Target industries and real-world impact Leadership development and relationship building Partnerships, purpose, and market strategy Learning from failure and iterating fast Key Takeaways Traditional psychometrics have real gaps Learning tools should be accessible to everyone SureCoach.ai gives personalized coaching at scale AI feedback can target strengths and blind spots Healthcare and retail are prime markets Leadership development drives better relationships Partnerships only work if values match Speed is a legit competitive advantage Failures teach strategy fast Communication is evolving, and engagement needs to follow Chapters 0:00 Democratizing Psychometric Assessments 2:58 The Role of AI in Personal Development 5:57 Target Industries and Impact 9:08 Leadership Development and Personal Growth 11:47 Navigating Partnerships and Market Strategy 14:59 Learning from Failures and Future Directions Guest: Russ Mikowski, SurePeople LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mikowski-a349903 Website: https://www.surepeople.com Host: Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. In this episode we talk about the real pressure behind executive hiring. Tech can speed things up, sure, but it can’t save you from picking the wrong leader. At this level every decision has weight. Timing matters. Fit matters. Board alignment matters. One mismatch can throw the whole company sideways. The conversation cuts through the noise and shows where tech helps, where expertise still calls the shots, and why assessment is the part no one can afford to skip. We get into how tech finally trims the busywork so research doesn’t take weeks. But we also call out the truth everyone ignores. Expertise still decides the outcome. Assessment is where the real risk lives. And the higher you climb, the louder the consequences get. A board out of sync. A leader who’s great on paper but not ready in reality. A hire that looks right for the moment but isn’t right for the future. What We Cover Why executive search is evolving How tech accelerates the research layer Where human judgment still matters Why timing is everything at the leadership level The reality of board alignment and mismatch Assessment as the true hard work Why a single exec can derail an entire org How to scale expertise without losing quality Key Takeaways We’re not trying to replace expertise The goal is applying expertise at scale Executive search should take minutes, not weeks Right person, wrong time happens often Board level misalignment kills deals One bad exec can ruin a company The stakes are higher for leadership hires Assessment is the real hard work Research and assessment drive better decisions Recruiting challenges get amplified at the board level Guest: Matthew Mooeny, Co-founder Marovi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewamooney/ Jin Ro, Co-founder Marovi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinro/ Vicky Wilkens, Co-founder Marovi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickywilkens/ Host: William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. ⁠Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series⁠ and ⁠visit ⁠⁠HRExecutive.com⁠⁠ for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. In this episode we talk about job market friction, hiring bias, AI-driven matching, candidate experience, talent scarcity, and the launch of Passive. Everyone keeps saying it’s hard to find great people. At the same time, every job seeker is exhausted, confused, or straight up burned out by how the system works. The conversation breaks down what’s actually broken, why HR leaders need to rethink the entire hiring flow, and how new tools are stepping in to fix the pointless chaos that slows everyone down. What We Cover The broken job application loop Why passive talent avoids the noise How AI can fix resume fatigue What HR gets wrong about culture and bias Why companies complain about talent but still gatekeep Where the Passive app fits into the hiring landscape How job seekers can win in a messy market Key Takeaways Every company complains about finding good people Candidates are tired of looking for companies worth their time Applications feel random and discouraging Passive talent needs better targeting AI can help rewrite resumes for fit Culture needs to be real, diverse, and inclusive Passive aims to simplify the entire search process Job hunting struggles hit every industry HR needs to rethink how they attract talent The hiring system is outdated and ready for a rebuild Timestamps 00:00 The Job Market Dilemma 06:32 Innovative Solutions in Recruitment 12:50 The Launch of Passive App 18:57 Rethinking Hiring Practices 22:01 Closing Thoughts and Future Aspirations Guest: Michael Wenning, Co-founder, Passive  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wenning/ Website: https://www.thepassive.app/ Host Hosts: Katie Van Horn and Jackye Clayton, Co-hosts Inclusive AF Podcast Robin Schooling, Co-host DriveThru HR

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. AI bias isn’t hypothetical anymore. Companies are walking into real lawsuits, and the jump from theoretical risk to courtroom reality is happening fast. Cases against Workday and SiriusXM show what happens when hiring tech crosses into discrimination territory. The legal, reputational, and operational risks are no longer abstract. This conversation breaks down why AI bias claims are surfacing now and what it means for any company relying on automation in hiring. What We Cover Why AI bias is shifting from theory to litigation How the Workday case signals a new legal era Why SiriusXM is facing its own AI bias lawsuit What these cases reveal about hiring discrimination Why reputation risk outranks technical risk What companies must understand about AI liability Key Takeaways AI bias lawsuits are beginning to hit real companies The Workday case is moving faster than expected SiriusXM is facing an AI discrimination claim Theoretical risks are turning into legal exposure AI-driven discrimination suits are inevitable Reputation damage can cost more than fines Companies must understand the real substance of AI risk Guests Jeffrey Pole, CEO and Co-founder of Warden AI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-pole-91887a44/ Website: https://www.warden-ai.com/ Host Bob Pulver, Host, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Audience feedback is never just feedback. The words people choose, the humor they drop in, even the curse words they fire off tell you exactly how they felt in the moment. Real reactions aren’t polished. They’re messy, misspelled, emotional, and usually pretty funny. This conversation breaks down how language, humor, and quick pattern searches reveal the true pulse of an audience and why sentiment analysis doesn’t have to be clinical to be accurate. Hosted by the team behind the HR Huddle Podcast on the WRKdefined Podcast Network. What We Cover Why curse words are a signal of authentic reactions How humor shapes honest feedback Why misspellings can reveal the truest sentiment How quick searches surface patterns fast Why language helps measure emotional engagement How sentiment ties directly to content quality Key Takeaways Curse words often reflect genuine sentiment Negative feedback can be unintentionally funny Fast searches reveal reaction patterns Misspellings show authenticity Humor helps decode real audience mood Language exposes emotional engagement Sentiment analysis improves content decisions Hosts Susan Richards, Founder Sapient Insights LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susansapientinsights/ Cliff Stevenson, Director of Research & Principal Analyst, Sapient Insights LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffordstevenson/ Teri Zipper, CEO, Sapient Insights LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terizipper/

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. AI is moving faster than most hiring systems can handle. Governance used to mean a once-a-year audit, but models shift daily, and risks don’t wait for paperwork. Candidate fraud is spiking, verification is getting harder, and HR teams are trying to maintain trust without wrecking the candidate experience. This conversation digs into the tension between responsible AI, real-time monitoring, and the next wave of hiring technology built to solve challenges the old tools never touched. What We Cover Why AI governance needs to be continuous, not quarterly How real-time oversight changes hiring accountability Why candidate fraud is accelerating across industries How to balance fraud detection with candidate experience What IBM Watson X Governance brings to HR tech Why hiring technology is overdue for reinvention How leaders should think about responsible AI going forward Key Takeaways AI governance must be monitored continuously Annual audits fail in real-time environments Candidate fraud is becoming a major hiring threat HR tech must evolve with new fraud tactics Candidate experience and fraud detection must coexist Responsible AI is a leadership mandate Future hiring systems will require adaptive, learning-based tech Timestamps 00:00 Navigating AI Governance and Candidate Fraud 02:40 The Evolution of Hiring Technology 05:39 The Impact of AI on HR Practices 08:47 Balancing Candidate Experience and Fraud Detection 11:51 Generational Shifts in Job Applications 14:42 Future of Hiring Technology 17:40 Reflections on Parenting and Professional Growth Guest: Dara Brenner, CEO at Employ Inc. LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/darabrenner/ Website:https://www.employinc.com/ Hosts: William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup Ryan Leary, Co-founder, WRKdefined LinkedIn:htps://linkedin.com/in/ryanleary

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Most companies talk a big game about employee experience, but the moment someone takes leave, everything breaks. Leave is where compliance gets messy, expectations get fuzzy, and culture shows its real face. Employees remember how you show up when life hits. Ignore that moment and you lose trust. Handle it well and you keep people for the long haul. The conversation digs into why leave is overlooked, why compliance matters, and how technology and AI are reshaping the entire experience. What We Cover Why leave experience sits at the center of employee experience How compliance sets the floor for every leave interaction What generational differences reveal about leave behavior How AI and HR tech streamline leave management Why relationships during leave shape long-term culture What rebranding leave does for employer branding and retention Key Takeaways Leave experience is one of the biggest gaps in HR Compliance needs to be automatic, not aspirational AI will clean up delay, confusion, and manual follow-up Employees expect different things based on generation Managers need visibility into who’s out and why Leave is a retention lever and a culture signal Rebranding leave shifts how the business values time away Timestamps 00:00 The Overlooked Leave Experience02:33 The Importance of Compliance in Leave Management05:41 Generational Perspectives on Leave08:42 The Role of AI in Leave Management11:32 Connecting with Brokers and Tech Vendors14:41 The Future of Leave Management17:41 Rebranding Leave for Employee Experience Guests: Brandon Salisbury, VP of Marketing TiltLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brandon-p-salisburyWebsite: https://hellotilt.com/ Host: William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefinedLinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Most companies still obsess over sourcing, funnels, and time-to-fill, then go quiet the moment someone starts Day 1. That’s the blind spot. Quality of hire is the metric that actually tells you if the business is getting stronger or weaker, and most companies don’t measure it with any real discipline. They talk about it. They don’t track it. The top companies that hire well generated more than $800 billion in additional revenue compared to the ones who don’t. That’s not an HR metric. That’s a financial engine. When companies get serious about post-hire performance, retention, and growth, everything moves. When they don’t, they burn money and churn talent. Quality of hire works when someone owns it. TA influences it, but leadership is accountable for it. If better hiring drives revenue, leaders need to treat every hire like a strategic decision, not an administrative transaction. Companies that tighten this up win. Companies that don’t keep wondering why growth feels stuck. What We Cover Why quality of hire is the single most important hiring metric How most orgs track the wrong data and ignore the right signals What revenue impact looks like when hiring quality improves How leadership—not TA—should own the outcome What 4M data points across the Fortune 500 reveal Why post-hire data solves the retention problem before it starts Key Takeaways Quality of hire is the real performance predictor, not pipeline metrics Companies that track retention, growth, and achievement outperform A move from average to above average hiring quality can create a 2 percent revenue bump Senior leadership must be accountable for hiring outcomes Post-hire insights should drive how companies hire going forward Timestamps 0:00 Quality of hire as the real lever 3:40 Why most orgs talk about it but don’t measure it 7:10 The financial lift behind better hiring decisions 10:55 What the data says about retention and advancement 14:22 Who actually owns hiring quality 18:05 Why post-hire data changes everything 21:30 How to build a culture that measures and improves quality Guests Michael Fitzsimmons, CEO, Crosschq LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-fitzsimmons-a3698/ Dr. Steven Hunt, Workforce & Talent Expert LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steventhunt/ Host: Bob Pulver, Host Elevate Your AIQ

Recruiters love to talk about “seat at the table,” but very few are operating like a true business function. In this conversation, Brandon Jeffs sits down with Findem’s David Malloy to unpack how AI, 3D data, and sharper metrics are reshaping the recruiter’s job into a sales and strategy role. They dig into time to slate, mis-hire costs, employer markets, and why most recruiters still hide behind inbound and brand while a small group leans into sourcing, storytelling, and advisory conversations that move revenue. In this episode we talk about recruiting as a sales motion, AI, 3D data, time to slate, and why speed is the make or break variable in today’s market. David walks through how recruiters can use enriched data to create unfair advantages in tight talent markets, cut mis-hires in half, and finally speak the language of the business. If you care about becoming a true talent advisor instead of an order taker, this one is a playbook for how to operate in an AI driven, employer heavy market. Key Takeaways Recruiting is fundamentally a sales and storytelling job, not an admin function or a ticket queue. Speed is the defining variable for recruiters right now – time to slate and time to first submit matter more than ever. AI should automate high effort, low value work so recruiters can focus on EQ, prep, and candidate experience. 3D data and labeled datasets give recruiters context on growth, volatility, and what candidates have actually endured. Good, better, best “buckets” beat hard stack ranking in an environment with ethical AI legislation. Most recruiters still lean on inbound, brand, and volume instead of sharp targeting and real closing skills. Employer driven markets expose lazy recruiters who never had to build pipeline or source. The best TA leaders use data to predict demand, not just report the past in QBRs. Mis-hires are incredibly expensive; cutting mis-hire rates in half is a real, board level story. Procurement of AI tools has to start with the recruiter day, recruiter experience, and company goals – not hype. TA earns a seat at the table when it can tie activities and tools directly to revenue, cost savings, and strategic goals. If you’re not operationalizing AI in your workflow in the next 2–3 years, your skill set will be outdated. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters 00:00 – Why “what happens when a candidate says no?” is the real recruiter test 01:13 – Meet Brandon Jeffs and Findem’s David Malloy live from HR Tech 02:00 – Relationships, community, and how a sales background shapes recruiting 04:26 – AI, EQ, and using automation to free recruiters from admin work 06:20 – Translating veteran skills and what makes Findem different (3D data) 09:53 – Time to slate, mishire costs, and cutting bad hires in half 11:20 – Good, better, best buckets, DEI, and ethical AI constraints 14:22 – Using data to forecast demand, hit headcount, and save $500K in tools 18:26 – From order taker to advisor: metrics, KPIs, and speaking business language 24:23 – Procurement mindset, recruiter experience, and building a “retention” tech stack 31:18 – The evolution of sourcing, AI table stakes, and the future recruiter profile 39:47 – Earning the seat at the table, Monday advice, and why TA must own impact Connect with the Guest Guest: David Malloy, Vice President & GM, Talent Consulting & Transformation at Findem LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmalloy/ Connect with the Host Host: Brandon Jeffs, Host RevolTA Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonjeffs/

In this episode we talk about unlearning, AI at work, applied behavioral analysis, psychological safety, and why “we’ve always done it this way” is wrecking progress in HR. Duane, Crystal, and Jenny unpack how people cling to broken processes, why unlearning is different from abandoning, and how AI can actually augment work if people know where they need help and feel safe enough to ask for it. Key Takeaways Unlearning isn’t about tossing everything out and starting over. It’s about noticing where “the way we’ve always done it” is actually blocking better options, especially with AI. Most orgs default to abandonment – dump the person, the tech, the process – instead of asking what needs to be unlearned and rebuilt. ABA gives a useful blueprint for unlearning at work. You identify the behavior, ask whether it’s functional or malfunctioning, break down what isn’t serving you, and then rebuild a better pattern. That same logic applies to HR and TA habits, from how you source to how you run performance conversations. AI only works as augmentation if you can admit where you need help and say it out loud. You have to be specific, contextual, and a little vulnerable in your prompts, which is hard for people who are conditioned to “already know” their jobs. The irony is that the better you are at asking for help from the machine, the more value you unlock from it. There’s a big trust gap between workers and the people behind AI systems. It’s not that job seekers don’t trust the model, they don’t trust what humans will do with the data the model collects. When 81 percent of people are bringing their own (mostly free) AI to work, HR has to care about moats, privacy, and the basic rule that if it’s free, you’re the product. Unlearning in HR and leadership starts with psychological safety and process discipline. You have to make it normal to ask “why do we do it this way?” and be okay when the answer is basically Zig Ziglar’s ham story – “because the pan was too small three generations ago.” Performance improvement, AI adoption, and culture all get better when you stop blindly repeating inherited processes and start intentionally redesigning them. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters 00:00 AI, unlearning, and why “just replace it” is the wrong instinct 01:08 Live from HR Tech – show intro, married co hosts, and setting up Unfuck It 03:18 What’s fucked – design bias, getting stuck in old solutions, and why unlearning matters 04:33 How humans actually learn – NLP, ABA, learning styles, and the controversy around changing behavior 07:29 Where AI fits – prompt engineering as applied behavior, being specific about help, and the weirdness of being vulnerable with a machine 11:01 Job seekers, trust, and free AI – who sees your data, BYO AI at work, and why “if it’s free, you’re the product” hits HR harder 16:42 How to unfuck unlearning – awareness of stuck patterns, using PIPs to break habits instead of just firing, and the Zig Ziglar ham story 21:23 Wrap up – psychological safety as the prerequisite for unlearning, plus where to find Jenny and where to see her next Guest Info: Jenny Cotie Kangas (“JCK”), VP of Innovation, GBS Worldwide Hosts: Dwance Lay, Co-host of Un-F*ck It and Chief Innovation Officer, GBS World Wide Crystal Lay, Co-host of Un-F*ck It and Chief People Officer and Executive, GBS World Wide

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. We break down the interview questions that make candidates run for the exits. Everything from “Do you actually need your salary?” to “What does your husband do?” to the classic “Tell me about yourself.” These moments aren’t rare. They’re everywhere. And they expose the blind spots most hiring managers never see. In this episode we talk about interviewing, candidate experience, bias, confidence, and the real stories hiding in comment sections. KEY TAKEAWAYS Bad interview questions are still everywhere and most hiring managers don’t realize they’re the problem. Ninety five percent of interview memories are negative because those moments stick. If someone asks illegal or personal questions in the interview, imagine what conversations look like once you work there. The “tell me about yourself” opener is usually wasted time and often intimidating. Hiring managers need training and structure or they default to habit and ego. Candidates feel validated when they learn what’s normal, what’s illegal, and what’s a red flag. Sharing bad examples is the fastest way to raise the bar and reset expectations. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open – the questions candidates dread 0:54 The name of the show and why it matters 1:12 Why bad interviews go viral 1:49 The fear behind “tell me about yourself” 2:05 What really happens in the comments 2:30 Seven year case study on interviewing 3:13 How candidates interpret bad questions 3:49 Interview red flags and why they matter 4:05 Mixing education with real stories 4:22 The wild DMs candidates send 4:46 Candidate horror stories and reenactments 5:04 “Does that really happen?” Spoiler yes 5:17 Why good interviewers are still rare 6:00 Teaching hiring managers to see themselves 6:20 Positive experiences and why they’re powerful 6:31 Closing and the official show line Hosts: Lorna Erikson Co-founder Expert Interviewers Victoria Gates Co-founder Expert Interviewers Connect with WRKdefined on your favorite social network Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/ Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/

Compliance still sounds like punishment, but it doesn’t have to feel that way in 2025. In this conversation, we sit down with Jeff Carr, president of Atana, to talk about why “required training” has to grow up. He walks through his journey from PeopleSoft, Taleo, and Saba to Atana’s model of compliance, learning, and behavioral data that lets companies see risk early, act surgically, and actually improve culture instead of running the same tired courses on repeat. In this episode we talk about compliance, behavioral science, learning data, risk, and culture. Jeff breaks down how Atana blends IO psychology, micro-assessments, and AI to surface “yellow flag” behavior before it turns into red-card lawsuits. We get into why the word compliance needs a rebrand, how to arm HR and L&D leaders with a real story for the C-suite, and why targeted, data-backed training beats blanket rollouts every time. Key Takeaways Compliance has a branding problem - the word alone triggers defensiveness and makes people expect legal risk, not growth. Atana starts with required topics like harassment, respectful workplace, bias, and violence prevention, then layers in behavioral insights instead of stopping at content delivery. Embedded micro-assessments inside training give IO psych and data science teams the signals they need on attitudes, risk tolerance, and behavior patterns. The goal is to catch yellow flags early, not wait for red-card moments where the only options left are investigation, payout, and damage control. Precise data lets leaders pinpoint risk at a store, hospital, team, or even individual level so they can avoid unnecessary re-training and focus effort where it’s needed. Actionable insights matter more than dashboards - leaders need a narrative, recommendations, and “here’s what to do next” when they walk into the C-suite. Generative AI is becoming a learning assistant that can suggest storylines, actions, and nudges, not just summarize survey results. The current political climate hasn’t killed the legal requirements - respectful workplace and code-of-conduct expectations are still in force even where DEI is under attack. Reframing performance and compliance around business value, not forms and cycles, follows the same playbook that made early SuccessFactors so disruptive. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters 0:00 Why “compliance” instantly puts people on defense 3:08 From payroll programmer to PeopleSoft, Taleo, and Saba 7:40 Learning through a downturn and the early cloud HR era 11:34 What Atana does at the intersection of compliance, learning, and behavioral insight 15:10 Micro-assessments, IO psych, and spotting yellow flags before they become lawsuits 18:21 Turning training data into stories and actions leaders can take to the C-suite 20:34 Building an AI learning assistant inspired by Olivia and Winston 21:58 Renaming compliance, rethinking performance, and why language matters 23:54 Targeted training by location, team, and individual instead of punishing everyone 26:32 Jeff’s marathon habit, discipline, and what’s next on his race calendar Guest: Jeff Carr, President, Atana Connect with us William Tincup LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tincup/ Ryan Leary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanleary/ Connect with WRKdefined on your favorite social network Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined/ Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ #WRKdefined #Compliance #LearningAndDevelopment #BehavioralScience #HRTech2025 #WorkplaceCulture #AIInHR #Atana

HR Tech 2025 is crawling with EWA vendors, AI logos, and “pioneer” claims, but payroll people are still the ones carrying the real weight. In this live session, the Payroll Baddies crew talk about the explosion of earned wage access, what’s missing on the financial wellness side, how fast any vendor can bolt AI into a product, and why ethics, longevity, and governance matter way more than booth design. It’s part love letter to payroll, part warning label for buyers, and part warmup for SAP Connect. In this episode we talk about HR Tech 2025, payroll, earned wage access, AI ethics, and SAP Connect as the Super Bowl for HR, payroll, and time tech. Let's recognize payroll pros and tease a PayrollBADIe Award for SAP Connect. Key Takeaways HR Tech 2025 is packed with payroll and EWA vendors, which proves how central pay has become to the broader HR tech story. Earned wage access is useful, but without financial wellness and education it can become a cash-flow crutch instead of a bridge. There’s a real consolidation wave coming in EWA and HR tech – not all of today’s vendors will be here in two years. Any decent developer can plug a Gemini or OpenAI key into an app in minutes, which is why ethics, data handling, and governance matter more than “we use AI” claims. Payroll and HR data are exactly where you do not want a random vendor casually piping data into a public model. SAP’s approach to AI is slower by design – committees, governance, and “don’t get customers in the news” is the whole point. Payroll sits at the intersection of HR and finance, which is why a finance track at SAP Connect changes who shows up and how buying decisions get made. The SmartRecruiters acquisition fits the “right product, right time” story – modern recruiting plus SuccessFactors, with strong AI already in the mix. There’s a bigger consolidation story ahead across recruiting, AI scheduling, EWA, and time – a lot of logos on this floor will be combined or gone by the next HR Tech. Time is becoming a bigger part of the Payroll Baddies world, with “there is no payroll without time” and a new time-focused angle baked into the brand. Payroll people are still the unsung heroes – leaders lose sleep over “are people paid on time” but rarely walk over and say thank you when it all works. The crew wants to turn that into action with gold chains, shoutouts, and a Payroll Baddy Award to actually recognize top payroll pros at SAP Connect. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters 0:00 HR Tech floor energy – EWA, payroll, and the live Payroll Baddies kickoff 2:40 Why it should be HR and Payroll Tech – payroll vendors, EWA boom, and payroll still in the shadows 5:24 EWA reality – hype, vendor sameness, white-collar cash flow, and the missing financial wellness piece 9:33 AI everywhere – booth buzzwords, quick-and-dirty “just plug in a key” AI vs doing it right with payroll/HR data 11:23 SAP’s AI lane – governance, ethics, lawsuits avoided, and which vendors actually survive the next 2 years 13:45 SmartRecruiters + SAP – booth vibes, acquisition fit, and the broader consolidation wave across EWA, recruiting, and time 17:33 “It’s about time” – why there’s no payroll without time, and Payroll Baddies leaning harder into time and scheduling 19:01 SAP Connect preview – why it’s the Super Bowl for HR, payroll, and finance, plus roadmap, explain-my-pay, and talent AI 24:45 Show your payroll people love – send them to events, say thank you when nothing is broken, and the Payroll Baddy Award + gold chain recognition 28:05 Closing – shoutout to the Payroll Baddies community, like/subscribe, and see you at SAP Connect Hosts: The PayrollBADIes Podcast Crew. Check them out here.

SMB HR teams juggle compliance, payroll, benefits, recruiting, and culture with a fraction of the resources enterprise teams have. Burnout is real, bias creeps in quietly, and employees are begging to feel valued and seen. isolved calls these folks “people heroes” for a reason. This conversation breaks down what practical HR tech actually does for them. In this episode we talk about SMB HR tech, kindness as a product philosophy, skills based hiring, bias interruptions, burnout, recognition, and where the employee experience is really heading. Key Takeaways isolved builds for SMBs that rely on a “village of advisors” including banks, CPAs, and local partners. The platform focuses on “people heroes” – HR, payroll, and benefits pros who do multiple jobs at once. AI features like candidate matching and payroll anomaly detection are framed as practical tools, not hype. Skills based hiring tools push managers away from pedigree, schools, and shortcuts that reinforce bias. Matching tech intentionally ignores résumés, school names, and addresses to prevent bias drift. HR tech is overhyped when vendors sell it as the answer instead of a tool that supports human decisions. Self service and accountability result in cleaner data, fewer errors, and stronger HR credibility. Benefits decision support and on demand pay directly impact employees’ financial stability and stress. Recognition and employee visibility are rising themes, especially with burnout affecting up to 80 percent of workers. SMB selling and support must differ from enterprise; owners are hands-on and advisor-driven. Customer feedback consistently highlights “kindness” as an isolved trademark, which the team sees as a real differentiator. Well-being talk only matters when it turns into better daily experiences, not buzzwords. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters / Timestamps 0:00 Burnout and the state of employees 1:06 Welcome to Inclusive AF at HR Tech 1:30 Meet Yutaka and the “people heroes” idea 2:58 What isolved provides for SMB employers 3:47 Practical AI tools: matching and payroll protections 4:48 Growth, acquisitions, and SMB advisor networks 5:56 Working with banks and CPAs to reach SMBs 6:18 Skills based hiring and the Indeed Talent Scout integration 7:26 How bias creeps in and how tools interrupt it 8:03 How the matching tool ignores pedigree 8:51 The real overhyped HR tech narrative 10:35 Building HR credibility with better tools 12:20 Why self-service drives cleaner data 13:17 Benefits decision support and financial empowerment 14:50 The future of HR tech and isolved’s role in it 16:15 How SMB needs differ from enterprise 17:25 Understanding owner mindset and long-term goals 17:40 Why kindness defines the isolved brand 18:54 Buzzwords to retire 20:21 Expo trends: recognition and reward 22:45 Burnout, wellness, and what real change looks like Guest Information Yutaka Takagi, Principal Product Evangelist at isolved tech, people experience, bias reduction, skills based hiring, payroll and benefits innovation. Host: Hosts: Katie Van Horn, Robin Schooling, and in our hearts Jackye Clayton, Incluive AF Podcast #InclusiveAF #HRTech #isolved #SkillsBasedHiring #EmployeeExperience #Burnout #HRTech2025

Frontline workers are applying to eight or ten jobs at a time from their phones, often without a resume and rarely during business hours. If you force old-school office hiring rules on hourly roles, you don’t just slow hiring down. You lose every good candidate you never even met. In this conversation we talk about frontline workers, hourly hiring, AI interviewing, text-first recruiting, and how Fountain is helping HR teams move faster, hire better, and actually keep the experience human. Key Takeaways Frontline workers are not office workers and treating them like they are is why so many companies “hire no one” for critical jobs. Most hourly candidates don’t have a resume or LinkedIn profile, so requiring one quietly kills your applicant flow. The smartphone is a double-edged sword: it makes it easy to apply, which means your candidate is applying to 8–15 jobs at once. Fountain’s “hugs and nudges” idea is simple: use automation to nudge people forward, then use humans to make them feel seen and wanted. There are 2.7 billion frontline workers globally, and they are the ones actually keeping casinos, restaurants, warehouses, and delivery networks alive. Around 40% of Fountain’s interviews happen outside normal business hours, because frontline workers are on shift when recruiters are typically online. Roughly 20% of interviews happen between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which means the platform is literally recruiting while hiring teams sleep. Fountain uses AI in a way that lets companies “turn the dial up” over time instead of forcing a scary all-or-nothing jump. HR leaders are not behind on AI; no one is truly caught up, and you can become the AI expert in your company in months, not years. Sean wants HR to become the function that runs toward AI and sets the bar for every other department in the company. Fountain looks for customers who see frontline hiring as mission critical and are ready for transformational change, not just a tool swap. Inside Fountain, failure is expected, and the real advantage is how fast you realize something isn’t working and move on. This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. Chapters: 0:00 Why resumes don’t work for frontline workers 0:31 Meet Christy and Inside the C-Suite 1:02 What Fountain actually does 1:31 The frontline operating system explained 2:32 The smartphone problem and quick-apply chaos 3:25 “Hugs and nudges” for keeping tech human 4:32 Why office-style hiring fails hourly roles 6:09 Frontline workers without resumes 8:08 Killing the old-school “we need a resume” mindset 9:16 Market consolidation: Workday, Paradox, and pressure on vendors 10:05 COVID, essential workers, and why frontline matters 12:00 How HR should evaluate AI tools without getting duped 13:31 Why HR should lead the company’s AI strategy 15:05 What makes a great-fit Fountain customer 17:12 Applying Fountain to salary and HQ roles 19:21 Consumer apps shaping HR tech expectations 21:21 Why texting is the only channel that works for frontline 24:02 When frontline candidates actually want to interview 25:36 Recruiting while you sleep 27:02 Sean’s path from investor to CEO 28:25 Why helping someone get a job hits different 34:10 What failure taught Sean as a founder 35:31 “It’s not the big that eat the small. It’s the fast that eat the slow.” 32:40 Turning HR teams into 10x operators Guest Info: Guest: Sean Behr, Chief Executive Officer at Fountain Host info: Christy Honeycutt, host of the Inside the C-Suite Podcast #FrontlineWorkers #HRTech #Recruiting #AIHiring #HourlyHiring #Fountain #InsideTheCSuite