The Chad & Cheese Podcast

How do just 20 recruiters handle over 150,000 hires and 7 million annual applications? On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman chat with Shay Johnson, VP of Strategic HR Partnerships at Compass Group, to explore the future of high-volume hiring. Shay breaks down how the global food service leader modernized its talent pipeline to eliminate candidate drop-off, targeted candidate re-engagement, and a full conversational ATS experience. Catch this episode to hear how AI interviewing agents, smart bot detection, and candidate coaching are turning tedious administrative tasks into high-value human connections.

What do a big couch, a can of Stella, and four of the biggest personalities in recruitment have in common? They're all live from RecFest this week, covering the hottest topics in the world of hiring. Chad, Joel, Mo', and J.T. are on hand to talk about everything from an HR tech founder facing up to 20 years behind bars to the great iced-latte-in-job-interviews debate sweeping the land. First up, the crew covers all things RecFest USA live from the Shaker Recruitment Marketing booth, each offering a unique take on the world's hottest recruitment conference. You may have heard about the recent controversy over an iced latte that made its way into an interview—and then drew criticism from a practitioner. Yeah, that gets covered. Then it's news time. The team discusses the recent guilty plea by the former CEO and founder of Joonko, who is looking at as much as 20 years in prison after allegedly ripping off investors to the tune of $27 million. Next, the gang turns to Harver's acquisition of Symphony Talent, a move destined to rattle recruitment ad agencies for years to come. Does the future favor the agency? The group weighs in. Then comes a Chad & Cheese first: a representative from Findem makes a sponsored announcement about the company's latest product drop, Findem Studio. To wrap things up, the crew looks at ZoomInfo's newly launched Talent Autopilot, a sourcing tool the company hopes will shake up the industry by tapping a dataset it calls second to none.It's a fun wrap-up from Nashville at the end of RecFest's first big day. Now pass the hot chicken.

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

Is the resume dying — or is it just lying and on life support while AI agents pump out 11,000 fake-looking apps a minute. On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel and Chad sit down with Etan Bernstein of the Velocity Network Foundation, an HR lifer who wants to stop the whack-a-mole and put a chip in the talent system the way banks killed mag-stripe fraud. Self-reported CVs, ghost jobs, North Korean bots, and vendors who get paid for the chaos all get roasted. Etan's pitch: one open protocol, worker-owned credentials, and trust at the source instead of another detector. If you're still screening slop with more slop, this one's going to sting. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to the industry's trust issues 02:23 - The shift from traditional resumes to AI-generated profiles 04:11 - The impact of AI on fraud and exaggeration in resumes 06:10 - The problem with fragmented HR data systems 08:33 - Building trust through verifiable data 10:48 - The economic impact of chaos in HR tech 15:36 - The flood of resumes and legal compliance challenges 19:38 - The vision of an open, shared protocol for HR data 21:27 - The role of LinkedIn and other platforms in verification 24:24 - The digital footprint and future of verification

This week on Chad and Cheese, Joel and JT unpack four stories that actually matter if you hire, manage, or look for work. Buckle-up buttercup! Meta just reversed two of its most controversial internal bets: pushing individual contributors back into middle-management seats after the layoffs, and pausing a monitoring program employees believed was training their AI replacements. The hosts dig into what the internal data showed, why “no managers, full surveillance” keeps failing at scale, and what it does to a brand that used to be a résumé flex. Then they hit a Business Insider piece on “LinkedIn lunatics”—the people who post like their career depends on it. JT is in the article. They talk about why the platform now rewards proof of knowledge over old job titles, why companies that police employee posting may have a bigger problem than they think, and where LinkedIn's real money might be heading next. Who'd You Rather pits two freshly funded plays against each other: Jack and Jill, a conversational-AI recruiter that just raised $40 million, versus Boomerang HR, an alumni-network platform that raised $12.7 million. One host goes big and conversational. The other bets the niche player survives the giants. They close on Bernie Sanders and Mark Takano's bill to phase the work week from 40 hours to 32 with no pay cut. JT has already run a shorter week. Joel likes the theory and questions whether Slack and after-hours email would let anyone actually unplug. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and episode overview 04:03 - AI's real threats and opportunities 07:58 - The political landscape of AI regulation 10:08 - The future of AI agents and their impact 12:05 - The evolution of social media and LinkedIn 13:56 - The concept of LinkedIn as a platform for validation 16:10 - The changing nature of employee branding and social media 18:00 - Controversial advertising and brand strategy 20:01 - Upcoming events and travel plans 21:54 - Fantasy football league update 24:03 - Meta's internal policy reversals and lessons 25:57 - The future of work and AI in HR 28:10 - The importance of human oversight in AI systems 29:56 - The potential of AI to monetize individual expertise 31:58 - Who'd you rather? Company comparisons 33:59 - Historical lessons on technology and automation 36:09 - The importance of employee activity on social media 37:58 - The role of AI in recruitment and job seeking 39:55 - The shift from corporate control to individual branding 42:00 - The untapped potential of employee advocacy 43:55 - Legal and ethical considerations in AI and surveillance 46:03 - The coming digital renaissance and new monetization models 48:01 - Predictions for the future of AI and work 50:05 - The impact of new legislation on work hours 52:12 - The benefits of a shorter workweek and flexible work policies 54:03 - The cultural shift towards work-life balance 56:06 - The importance of boundaries and boundaries management 58:03 - Humor and light-hearted moments in the discussion 59:56 - Close

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.

SmarterX founder and CEO Paul Roetzer joins the boys for a chat about how AI is reshaping the workforce in ways most don't suspect. Paul sold his marketing agency in 2021 as AI was already writing at near-human level—then ChatGPT showed up and things went into hyperdrive. Bentley and Gallup's 2026 numbers say most Americans, especially young ones, don't trust companies that use AI, while Microsoft, Google, and every CRM already do. Paul talks human-centered adoption, Jobs GPT, Copilot/Gemini/Claude stall-outs, why IT shouldn't own this, and what IBM, Deloitte, and McKinsey actually sell. He walks through his Co-CEO GPT, a nine-month Anthropic/Claude build, HubSpot Breeze, Monday data agents, “human in the loop” versus a phrase he coins live, the 100-person split that becomes an HR problem, recruiting through a flood of AI applications, liberal-arts hires, and what he tells parents when asked about AI and entry level jobs.

Joel, Chad , and Emi break down the intersection of AI recruitment technology, global labor markets, and industry regulation, alongside pop culture banter and sports highlights. Key Topics Covered:Pop Culture & Fantasy Football: Reactions to Steve Ballmer's retro Microsoft commercials and NBA ban, US Open tennis highlights, and fantasy football draft grades. HR Tech & Startups: Spotlights on Sonic Jobs' LLM integrations, Hackajob's Archer agent rebranding following a 3x ARR increase, and previews of global HR events. The H-1B & Union Debate: A look at how H-1B visa restrictions drive different hiring behaviors. Jobs Report Reality Check: An analysis of August's 162,000 job additions, against structural economic shifts, immigration, and tariff impacts. AI Compliance & Job Board Evolution: The European crackdown on fully automated management illustrated by Uber's €825 million Dutch fine, and what the closure of Guardian Jobs signals for traditional recruitment advertising.

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

On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel and Chad welcome Lauren B. Jones—founder and CEO of Leap Advisory Partners and author of Real Girls Roadmap to Mastering AI—fresh off the farm in Northern California where the roosters clock in at 4:30 a.m. With nearly 30 years in staffing and recruiting under her belt, Lauren cuts through the AI hype with a no-BS reality check: most companies claim they're using AI, but only a fraction are seeing real ROI because they're chasing shiny tools instead of solving actual problems. She breaks down why leaders still need to get the basics right, how to stop the “slop,” and why policy, education, and enablement—in that order—matter more than ever. Plus, they dig into why women approach AI differently, what parents should be teaching their kids, and why treating AI like Google is a fast track to garbage output. It's practical, a little snarky, and exactly the kind of conversation HR's Most Dangerous Podcast was made for. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Lauren B. Jones and episode overview 02:01 - The current state of AI adoption in staffing and recruiting 04:09 - How leaders can start educating themselves about AI capabilities 06:10 - Framework for organizations: eliminate, automate, AI 07:53 - Using surveys to identify automation opportunities 10:13 - The importance of policy, education, and enablement in AI adoption 11:59 - Global policy landscape and the need for regulation 14:08 - The evolution of AI tools like Jasper and ChatGPT 16:04 - Research findings on women and AI in the workplace 17:54 - The motivation behind writing 'Real Girls Roadmap to Mastering AI' 20:10 - Overcoming overthinking and confusion in AI adoption 22:10 - Advice for parents and children on AI safety and skills 24:02 - The impact of social media and AI on society 26:00 - The role of quality input and human oversight in AI outputs 27:57 - Connecting with Lauren B. Jones and final thoughts

The latest episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast delivers a hard-hitting breakdown of massive developments across technology, enterprise software, and corporate compliance. The boys tackle Salesforce leading a massive $166 million investment round into HR tech provider HiBob, exploring how this ties into broader ecosystems involving competitors like Deel, Rippling, SAP, SmartRecruiters, Workday, Paradox, Greenhouse, and iCIMS. They also break down a controversial promotional stunt by startup Lemon Lime at an unofficial Y Combinator afterparty, where attendees were offered fast-track job interviews in exchange for getting company tattoos. The conversation then shifts to the future of labor, dissecting Bill Gates' latest decade-long predictions regarding AI automation and workforce displacement. Finally, the co-hosts investigate a major regulatory shakeup from the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). They explore the rollbacks of critical affirmative action hiring mandates for federal contractors, alongside a projected budget proposal that could defund the watchdog agency and transfer its remaining functions to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to the episode and main themes 01:58 - Discussion on AI's disruptive potential in the workforce 03:59 - Recent funding and valuation of HR platforms like Hi Bob 08:04 - Policy changes impacting diversity and veteran hiring 11:57 - Humorous stories about personal experiences and industry events 19:55 - The resurgence of SaaS companies and their strategic moves 28:00 - Bill Gates' warnings on AI and workforce disruption 34:02 - The societal impact of AI and economic considerations 45:02 - The trend of using jobs for marketing and employer branding 55:02 - Humorous anecdotes about tattoos and job interviews

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

Slop, Supply & the Search Process On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel and Chad sit down with Ben Zweig, CEO of Revelio Labs, economist, NYU Stern professor, and recovering quant who's somehow raising three little girls while tracking the entire labor market. Ben walks them through Revelio's new AI Labor Market Tracker—the data-driven, non-speculative look at how AI is actually reshaping work right now. They dig into the 28% drop in computer science majors, why companies that successfully adopt AI are growing headcount instead of cutting it, the massive friction AI is creating in the hiring process, and why 93% of the real change is happening inside jobs rather than between them. It's economist brain meets HR reality, with just enough New York attitude and sleep-deprived honesty to keep it dangerous.

This week on The Chad and Cheese Podcast (dubbed HR's most dangerous podcast), hosts Chad Sowash, JT O'Donnell, and Maureen "Mo" Wiley Clough break down the latest corporate absurdities, dystopian AI trends, and labor market nonsense. Episode Highlights: No Trust for AI: Humanoid Robots, digital AI twins and Amazon's last-mile automation. Corporate AI Disasters: Amazon's tokenmaxxing problems. Japan's Big Staffing Cartel Raid: Recruits, Adecco, Manpower, and others are under investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission for alleged price-fixing. The Death of Tip Culture: A look at US restaurants ditching traditional tipping. Dolly Parton vs. Dark Trends: The gang pays respect to the late, great Dolly Parton. In stark contrast to her generosity, the hosts call out "bro-brand" Good Good Golf and Callaway over an appalling, tone-deaf advertisement featuring a founder pushing a woman to the ground.

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

On this installment of "HR's Most Dangerous Podcast," Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman grill Raj Ronanki, CEO of Signal Labs, on one of the weirdest M&A moves the HR tech space has seen in years. Guided by a childhood obsession with Star Trek, Raj has raised millions to build "systems of attention"—and then immediately used it to buy Brass Ring, an applicant tracking system older than half the engineers currently building LLMs. In a chaotic blend of 1980s comedy references, sci-fi philosophy, and corporate jargon, the boys attempt to figure out if Raj is an AI visionary or if he just bought a ghost ship because 65% of the Fortune 500 forgot to cancel their subscription. Key Highlights & Hot Takes: Spock, Utopia, and Green Aliens The "Nunya Business" Acquisition HR's Forgotten Invoices Interviewing Bots for Jobs Making Compliance Cool Again Tune in for the full episode as Chad and Joel try to decipher whether Signal Labs is building the future of work or just running a very expensive 1999 nostalgia trip!

Live from a Portuguese bar annex, Chad and Joel crack open a cold cider and fire up "HR's Most Dangerous Podcast" to roast the absolute state of modern recruiting. Before tackling the tech industry's worst ideas, the boys review hostage-style movie clips, swap obscure band recommendations, and pitch a Spaceballs 2 sponsorship. The SaaS-pocalypse Comes for Workday: Private equity behemoth Silver Lake is eyeing a $51B buyout of Workday. Google's Resume Garbage Can: Leaked documents show Google DeepMind's AI screening tool is rejecting qualified applicants at random, forcing frustrated hiring managers to set up illegal human-only shortcuts around their own TA department. Gen Z's AI Penalty: Stanford research shows a 19% drop in entry-level hiring for AI-exposed roles. Babysitting the Machine at Walmart: Store associates are now tasked with cleaning up after Walmart's AI. Indeed's Desperate Marketing Pivot: Indeed's CMO claims targeting passive job seekers at soccer matches is a "revolutionary" new strategy. Really? Chapters 00:00 - Intro and Episode Overview 03:45 - Review of the Odyssey and movie expectations 07:43 - Changes in media consumption and radio 09:54 - New music discoveries and bands 11:21 - Music show segment and shout outs 12:26 - TA20 awards and AI professionals recognition 13:25 - Upcoming events and travel plans 20:32 - Private equity buyout talks with Workday 21:50 - Implications of PE acquisition on Workday's culture and support 23:13 - The SAS apocalypse and AI's impact on SaaS companies 24:37 - Market valuation and PE acquisitions of software companies 28:38 - Google resume dumping and AI in HR 29:06 - Challenges of AI in recruitment and hiring processes 31:15 - The puppy analogy and AI's limitations 32:13 - The importance of human skills and adaptability 37:24 - AI's impact on youth employment and highly exposed occupations 40:00 - The need for experienced workers to train AI 41:32 - Future workforce and the importance of human skills 44:34 - Adapting to AI and the importance of continuous learning 46:35 - Walmart's AI implementation and employee trust issues 49:45 - The role of human nuance in AI and workplace tasks 52:57 - The importance of understanding complex tasks in AI deployment 54:29 - Indeed's new marketing strategy and market position 55:33 - Critique of Indeed's marketing and tech evolution 57:29 - Spaceballs 2 and industry humor 58:07 - Google and Indeed traffic decline signals 59:22 - The shift to old school marketing and candidate engagement 01:00:21 - The future of job search and AI-driven applications 01:01:18 - Humor and lighthearted closing remarks

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

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman sit down with Sonja Breuer, Senior Vice President of HR at Hamra Enterprises a powerhouse franchise group operating over 200 locations across Wendy's, Panera Bread, and Noodles & Company.

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 ✂️

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.