HR Interviews Playlist

Have you ever wondered how an elite baseball player can track a 95-mile-per-hour fastball and actually connect? Or how a Premier League footballer can deliver a perfect pass over half the pitch to a moving teammate? The way elite athletes develop their attributes and build skills has big lessons for how we need to think about talent and hiring in the workplace.We've been discussing skills-based hiring and skills-based organizations for a while now. As the need for skills agility grows, we must deepen our understanding of the attributes, skills, and potential to make better hiring decisions.One area that uses cutting-edge science to do this is elite sport. My guest this week is Dr. Daniel Laby, a Sports Vision Ophthalmologist who works with elite athletes and top baseball teams, including the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox.This is a really fascinating discussion with some important lessons for HR and Talent Acquisition, for example, why we should emphasize future potential over past performance, the importance of recognizing that sometimes there is a specific order in which skills need to be developed, and why average can sometimes be mistaken for best in skills assessment.In the interview, we discuss:How do you improve elite performance?Working with Red Bull and Trent Alexander-ArnoldA common misconception about visionThe importance of specific attributes in specific sportsNature, nurture and brain plasticityThe skills pyramidHow small changes make a big differenceThe role of technologyFollow this podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow this podcast on Spotify.A full transcript will appear here shortly

The move towards skills-based strategies in organizations is still a big topic. This is unsurprising, as the advantages are significant. Skills-based thinking solves critical business challenges by better aligning talent strategies to business goals and offering the skills agility many employers badly need. Skills-based hiring also widens talent pools and challenges the entrenched mental models that sometimes form barriers to companies hiring the talent they actually need.However, the road to being a skills-based organization is long and complex, and only a small minority of employers are making real progress. So, what needs to change? How can AI be harnessed? How can we anticipate future skills needs? And how should TA teams be reimagined to make skills-based hiring a reality?My guest this week is Jen Cunningham, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at Pearson. Pearson is leading the way with skills-based people strategies, and Jen has a wealth of experience and insight to share.In the interview, we discuss:How TA is evolvingElevating the candidate experienceAgility, resilience, and authenticityBetter alignment between people strategy and business strategyHow do you identify and validate skills?Internal and external agilityHow the traditional structure of HR is changing.Data, strategy, and influenceWhat skills should TA teams have in the age of AI?What does the future look like?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow this podcast on Spotify.

From the Shaker Green Room at RecFest USA, Darnell Hill, Vice President of Talent Acquisition at AAA Mountain West Group, joins The Chad & Cheese to discuss the company's transformation and his insights into the HR landscape.He shares how AAA is redefining its brand beyond its traditional association with roadside assistance, venturing into areas like AAA Smart Home and auto repair partnerships, while also reflecting on past initiatives. The conversation explores unexpected trends in 2024.Looking ahead to 2025, Hill underscores AI’s potential to enhance hiring quality, going beyond just improving the candidate experience. He also discusses employee retention and development strategies, advocating for micro-learning and prioritizing candidates with growth potential over those with strictly relevant experience.

Career Sites still play a central role in talent acquisition, but are they evolving quickly enough? With many employers still working in career site redevelopment cycles that take years rather than months, are they keeping pace with candidate expectations and rapid advances in technology?My guest this week is Bas van de Haterd, who is returning to the show to give us his annual update on the career site research he has been running for the past 18 years. The latest edition looks at 100 data points across the careers sites of 550 large employers to determine the key trends and just how quickly career sites are evolving.In the interview, we discuss:What does the career site landscape of 2025 look like?What's new, what's getting worse, what's getting betterRethinking Job advert designGhostingThe role of corporate podcastsHow Conversational AI is killing legacy chatbotsThe one thing employers can do to radically improve their resultsWhat does the future look likeFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Following this podcast on SpotifyA full transcript will appear here shortly.

Frontline hiring is more competitive than ever, with speed and efficiency now critical for success. However, the challenge doesn't stop at making the hiring process faster; employers also need to stand out from their competition by offering a high-quality candidate experience and having a recruiting process that allows them to showcase what makes their organization unique.It's clear that AI-powered recruiting is already driving speed and efficiency in frontline hiring for many large organizations, but what's the right balance between technology and humans to deliver an exceptional candidate experience and highlight an organization's unique culture?My guests this week are Sonja Breuer, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Aaron Einhorn, Senior HR Business Partner at Hamra Enterprises. In our conversation, they share how Hamra has successfully leveraged AI-powered recruiting technology to reduce their time-to-hire from 13 days to just 4. They also discuss how this has enabled them to better highlight the values, benefits, and culture that make Hamra Enterprises a uniquely attractive employer.In the interview, we discuss:Hamra's unique culture and employee programsUsing AI to radically reduce time to hire Maintaining a consistent and engaging candidate experienceCombining conversational AI with purposeful human connectionsWhy speed, experimentation, and agility are critical in AI-powered recruiting.What happens if the AI makes a mistake?Building a true partnership with their technology vendor to drive innovation.What does the future look likeFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Onstage at Outsolve's HR Gumbo Conference in New Orleans, Keith Sonderling, the former Commissioner of the EEOC, joins Chad & Cheese to discuss major trends in employment discrimination and the evolving role of AI in HR. He notes a significant spike in discrimination charges post-recession, particularly age discrimination, followed by increases in sexual harassment, equal pay, and racial discrimination claims due to various societal movements and events. Sonderling highlights the broad applicability of the Executive Order on Cybersecurity across all sectors and the challenges of managing discrimination claims, especially with the rise in religious exemptions post-COVID vaccine mandates. He also addresses the complexities of returning to office post-pandemic, disability discrimination, particularly mental health claims, and generational workplace dynamics. The conversation delves into the legal implications of AI in hiring, emphasizing the need for bias audits and the potential for AI to reduce traditional hiring biases if properly implemented. Lastly, the guys touch on the legislative landscape for AI in HR and the risks of fraud in emerging tech like the metaverse, concluding with the importance of clear policies and verification processes to ensure fairness and compliance.

It feels like Recruiting has come a long way since the days of help-wanted ads in newspapers, but are we genuinely innovating or just consistently repackaging outdated ways of doing things? For well over a century, versions of the resume and job ad have been the foundation of hiring, but as technology and work itself move on at an ever-increasing pace, it's clear these tools weren't designed for the world we are now in. So, can we finally move beyond them to build a solid foundation for an AI-powered approach? My guest on Episode 670 is one of the original pioneers of online recruiting, Jeff Taylor, the founder of Monster.com, or the MonsterBoard as it was known back in 1994. Jeff built Monster during the infancy of the internet when the rest of the industry was still faxing resumes and placing ever more expensive ads in the newspapers. He introduced the world to online job postings and the resume database, which, very much to his surprise and increasing alarm, are still core tenets of recruiting 30 years later.Jeff is now back in the industry and is launching a new business later in the year. In our conversation, we discuss the need for innovation and reinvention in recruiting to harness AI and address complex challenges employers now face. In the interview, we discuss:Jeff and Monster's back story and what recruiting was like in 1994 The early days of the internet and what helped Monster to scale to 100 million registered resumesResumes and job postings have barely changed in over 100 years, and why this is now a big problem.How AI is reshaping recruitment without addressing its foundational inadequacies How employers are losing control of their own job postingsLooking at the whole person and the growing importance of the personal brandWhat the future of hiring looks like when we put people, not processes, at the centreWhat's next for JeffFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow this podcast on Spotify.

In this hilarious installment of The Chad & Cheese Podcast Does Europe, Lieven joins the boys as they embark on a wild ride through Europe, sharing tales of cultural faux pas and giving shout-outs that'll make you spit out your coffee. Buckle up as they dive into Belgium's bold new laws for sex workers - because who knew bureaucracy could be so sexy?But wait, there's more! They tackle the elephant in the room, or should we say, the AI in the workplace? ChatGPT's on the scene, and it's not just for writing your grandma's birthday cards anymore. It's revolutionizing recruitment, turning headhunters into tech-hunters. Then, it's a somber stroll through Germany's economic woes - because nothing says "comedy gold" like discussing inflation in the land of beer and pretzels. Nicht gut!Prediction time! Lieven dons his prophetic hat to predict the staffing industry's future in 2025 from a European POV, where AI is the new HR MVP. Then they navigate the GDPR minefield on LinkedIn, where American tech giants are learning that in Europe, privacy is not just a suggestion ... especially in Ireland.The episode rounds off with a look at the new kids on the recruitment block - startups that might either be the next big thing or just another flash in the pan, including CoachHub, Popp AI and Talentium. All this, served with a side of their signature snark and belly laughsChapters00:00 - Introduction and Setting the Scene03:01 - Cultural Observations and Travel Experiences05:59 - Shout Outs and Humor in European Contexts09:01 - Legislation and Rights for Sex Workers in Belgium12:03 - Technological Innovations: ChatGPT and Scheduled Tasks15:00 - Economic Challenges in Europe: Layoffs and Market Trends22:00 - Predictions for 2025: The Future of Recruitment and AI25:34 - Optimizing Job Applications with AI30:00 - LinkedIn's GDPR Challenges and Implications40:02 - Buy or Sell: Evaluating New Recruitment Startups57:01 Closing Thoughts and Humor (So Much Humor)

With 1.5 million applications each year, L'Oréal Group's talent acquisition team faces challenges on a scale most organizations would never experience. Managing this volume while ensuring a high-quality candidate experience demands innovation, agility, and the right balance between humans and technologyAI plays a key role in L'Oréal Group's TA evolution, helping with screening and driving quality and efficiency via automation and standardization.So, how do you use AI to transform talent acquisition without losing the vital human touch?My guest this week is Michael Kienle, Global VP of Talent Acquisition at L'Oréal Group. In our conversation, Michael shares how his team is leveraging AI to improve the candidate experience and why he believes AI will help the TA teams of the future to radically increase the value they create for the business. In the interview, we discuss:The growing complexity of talent acquisitionL'Oreal Group's recruiting challengesThe critical importance of candidate experienceAI impacts the how but not the why or whatThe balance between humans and machinesStandardizing skillsBrandstorm, L'Oreal's unique business game and its impact on recruitingIncreasing the value creation of TAHow much change will we see in the next 12 months?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow this podcast on Spotify.

Budgeting has long been challenging for talent acquisition teams, but the stakes have never been higher in today's volatile economic environment. Many TA leaders find themselves stuck in a cycle of defending past decisions, managing cuts, and struggling to align budgets with business strategy. Meanwhile, CFOs expect data-driven proposals, ROI insights, and long-term planning that TA teams often aren't equipped to deliver.So, how can talent acquisition leaders transform their approach to budgeting, build trust with the C-suite, and position themselves as strategic business partnersMy guests this week are Madeline Laurano, founder of Aptitude Research, and Joshua Secrest, VP of Client Advocacy at Paradox. We discuss Aptitude's new report, The Talent Acquisition Budget Playbook, which contains actionable strategies to move beyond reactive spending, harness automation for efficiency, and demonstrate clear ROI to unlock longer-term investment.In the interview, we discuss:The background behind the reportSome shocking stats about impending budget cuts, budget confidence, and wasted spendGetting maximum return and building credibilityThinking 3-5 years outHow to demonstrate ROIOperations benefits versus financial benefitsSpeaking the language of the CFOThe importance of automation and the results it deliversWhat does the future of TA look like?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.Follow this podcast on Spotify