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PICK YOUR POISON
The hottest podcast in Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, and Talent Management.



Zero Friction, Infinite Resumes, No Hope with Nathan Labenz
Nathan Labenz, from The Cognitive Revolution, reveals how his autonomous AI agent booked him on HR’s most dangerous podcast. The crew tackles AI hacking its own test graders, automated job application chaos, Nathan’s trip to high-tech China, and whether parents should relax now that AI is officially smarter than our kids.
Chad Sowash
2 days ago


20 Recruiters Making 150,000 Hires with Shay Johnson
How do 20 recruiters handle 150,000 hires and 7 million applicants? Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman chat with Shay Johnson, VP of HR Partnerships at Compass Group, about scaling high-volume hiring. Discover how AI interviewing agents, Paradox, and JobSync eliminate repetitive admin work to help recruiters focus on high-value human connections.
Chad Sowash
Sep 29


Candidate Fraud Stops Here with Etan Bernstein
Recruiters are drowning in 11,000 AI applications a minute, while rampant resume fraud and North Korean bots choke the system. On HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast, Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman chat with Etan Bernstein (Velocity Network) about fighting AI fraud with verifiable data, fixing broken vendor models, and surviving this hiring dumpster fire before bots take over.
Chad Sowash
Sep 22


How AI is Reshaping the Workplace with Paul Roetzer
Is your team drowning in AI hype while facing workforce distrust? On *The Chad & Cheese Podcast*, SmarterX CEO Paul Roetzer breaks down the real-world impact of AI on leadership and talent. Discover how to move past total automation to keep "humans in the lead," use custom AI as an executive thought partner, and guide your workforce into the future of work. Tune in to transform the noise into strategy!
Chad Sowash
Sep 15


Real Girls, Real AI & Real Talk with Lauren B. Jones
Lauren B. Jones joins the show to talk Real Girls Roadmap to Mastering AI, corporate tech blunders, and her 4:30 AM rooster. Why are 85% of recruiting firms failing at AI ROI? Simple: leaders are lazy and feeding the machine "hot garbage". From fixing 3-hour resume reformatting to writing Taco Bell agents, Lauren breaks down how to stop the slop and actually use smart tech.
Chad Sowash
Sep 8


AI Slop, Supply & the Search Process: Ben Zweig Breaks Down the Data
Is AI coming for your job, or are we just overreacting while spamming recruiters with bot resumes? On **The Chad & Cheese Podcast**, Ben Zweig (CEO of Revelio Labs) joins Chad & Joel to break down the AI labor market. Discover why CS majors are panicking, why top AI adopters are increasing headcount by 27%, and how jobs aren't dying they're just morphing from within. Listen in!
Chad Sowash
Sep 1


SignalLabs + BrassRing = Signals of Attention
Chad and Joel sit down with Signal Labs CEO Raj Ronanki to figure out why a shiny new AI startup just bought Brass Ring a 25-year-old HR tech dinosaur. Between Star Trek references, "systems of attention" buzzwords, and a vision of hiring AI bots alongside humans, Raj attempts to explain how an ancient software relic is somehow the key to the future of work.
Chad Sowash
Aug 24


When AI Needs Humans with Sonja Breuer
Can AI make hiring more human? In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman sit down with Sonja Breuer (SVP of HR at Hamra Enterprises). Sonja reveals how conversational AI cut their hiring time from 13 days to 4 across 200+ Wendy’s, Panera, and Noodles & Company locations, slashed job ad spending, reduced ghosting, and freed up managers.
Chad Sowash
Aug 18


Ageism, Algo-Bias, and Corp Naughtiness w/ Cassell Kaye
HR’s most dangerous duo, Joel and Chad, welcome 20-year corporate vet Cassell K (Amazon, Disney) to expose workplace ugly truths. They tackle the 2-million "ghost job" gap, systemic ageism pushing 50+ workers out, and why clicking "opt out" on AI hiring algorithms is resume suicide. Tune in before an ATS filters this episode out!
Chad Sowash
Aug 11


90 Days Hired, They Stay a Year w/ Jolene Hostal
HR Director Jolene Hostal joins Chad & Cheese to reveal how Stanley Steemer recruits 2,500+ workers yearly. Using Paradox’s chatbot "Maria," applicants apply in under 90 seconds. With Dayforce integration and in-van tablets for field tech support, she highlights the 90-day retention milestone and why 73% of managers started on the trucks. Plus, a surprise delivery of custom swag!
Chad Sowash
Aug 4


Startup Nightmares w/ Kristy McCann
HR tech meets corporate thriller on The Chad & Cheese Podcast! Joel & Chad sit down with Kristy McCann, former CEO of Skill Cycle, who got ambushed by her VC, forced to eat airport Burger King after an 8-hour interrogation, and had her $30M startup smashed to $8M. Her response? A 50-page RICO lawsuit. Don't mess with HR!
Chad Sowash
Jul 28


AI Takes The Boring Part w/ Adam Godson
The Chad & Cheese Podcast hits the hot seat with Adam Godson, Workday’s TA General Manager. They strip down the Paradox acquisition, the impending "SAS Apocalypse," and how autonomous AI agents are turning clunky ATS platforms into basic digital filing cabinets. The takeaway? Legacy tech is dying, recruitment pricing is shifting to results, and real human connection is king.
Chad Sowash
Jul 20


Hire Fast or Lose w/ Josh Secrest
Abercrombie meets Big Macs as Chad & Cheese roast Paradox’s Josh Secrest over frontline hiring.
Speed Wins: Average hiring takes 16 days; tech does it in 3.5. Candidates apply to 25 jobs at once fastest text back wins.
Stop Burning Money: If a hire quits before the 31-day break-even point, you paid for them to leave.
Free the Managers: Stop wasting 12 hours a week on interview trivia.
Chad Sowash
Jul 14


Hiring Became Our Edge w/ Kristen Reilly
How do you hire 3,000 seasonal coaches in just 6 weeks? Kristen Reilly, SVP of Talent at Elevo Learning, joins Chad & Cheese to share her team's incredible tech turnaround. By replacing manual grunt work with conversational AI, Elevo flipped their Day 1 staffing from 34% to 96% and sent recruiter happiness from a 16 to a 68 EMPS. Stream "Hiring Became Our Edge" now!
Chad Sowash
Jul 7


Your Best Hire Already Left w/ Gustavo Serbia
Chad and Joel sit down with Gustavo Serbia, CHRO at Hair Cuttery Family of Brands. Managing 6,000 stylists is a high-drama, hyper-competitive game. Discover how they used Paradox to smash hiring times from 17 days down to 3 , gamified commissions with a custom app , and harnessed AI to build instant funnel analyses.
Tune in to the AI series now! We out!
Chad Sowash
Jun 30


Startup Debate: Skills-Based Hiring w/ Maya Huber & Phuong Vu
Resumes are dead, and AI makes it too easy to fake skills on paper. In this episode, Chad Sowash hosts a debate on the future of hiring:
Phuong Vu (Telexa) argues for "skills-first" models focused on human adaptability and real evidence.
Dr. Maya Huber (TaTiO) says ditch applications entirely have candidates try out the job via live simulations first. Listen now.
Chad Sowash
Jun 23


Busting Drug Cartels w/ Jack McFarland Former DEA
High-stakes HR meets the DEA! 32-year veteran Jack McFarland talks about recruiting "Muppets" and mercenary informants, surviving 30-page typed applications, and his wild audition for The Traitors. Plus, a look at mandatory retirement at 57 and corporate ageism. It’s HR sprinkled with coke, crack, and grass. Listen now!
Chad Sowash
Jun 16


Marriott Hiring: 2 Weeks to 3 Days w/ Meghan Rhatigan
Chad & Joel grill Marriott’s Meghan Rhatigan on hiring 200k global workers. Trapped with a "fat funnel" and hiring managers taking 2 weeks to schedule interviews, Meghan snuck Paradox past legal by calling it "automation" instead of AI. Process dropped to 3 days! Plus, she’s weaponized a 5M candidate CRM and shaded peers stuck crying, "But we have Workday..." We out.
Chad Sowash
Jun 9


AI Answered 1.8m Questions w/ Patti Tabris
Patti Tabris of ResultsCX joins Chad and Cheese to reveal how AI transformed their global hiring. By deploying "Olivia," an AI assistant that answered 1.8M questions, she boosted assessment completion from 30% to 90%. Learn how she cut application times to under 6 minutes and automated 100,000 interviews to let recruiters focus on the human side of the job.
Chad Sowash
May 26


Ace Hardware: Differentiate or Die
Ace Hardware’s Stef Nikitas and Kaleigh Burns join Chad & Cheese to reveal "Project Hurricane," the overhaul that scaled their TA budget from $500k to $4M. Learn how "Grace," their AI bot, automates scheduling so recruiters can focus on being human. From 2-minute apps to surviving a 10-day tech blackout , see how a 100-year-old brand wins the talent war.
Chad Sowash
May 19


2,400 Locations, Only 1 AI w/ Mark Gibson
How do you hire for Applebee’s, Taco Bell, and Planet Fitness with only six recruiters? Mark Gibson from Flynn Group joins Chad & Cheese to reveal "Frankie"—the AI assistant doing the heavy lifting for 2,400+ locations. From waking up to a million applicants to turning recruiters into media buyers and using TikTok for Gen Z talent, it’s a masterclass in scaling without the soul-crushing admin.
Chad Sowash
May 12


Talent Disruption Through the Ages w/ Jeff Taylor
Founder Jeff Taylor joins The Chad to discuss returning to the "shit show" of recruitment with Boomband. He reveals why Monster passed on buying LinkedIn for $304M in 2003 and how his iconic Super Bowl ad drove 700% more traffic. Taylor compares today’s AI wave to the 1997 dot-com bubble and plans to disrupt the industry again by mapping 175M workers.
Chad Sowash
May 5


The Spy Who Recruited Me w/ Jim Lawler
Jim Lawler joins Chad and Cheese to explain how the CIA recruits. Forget LinkedIn; Jim uses MICE: Money, Ideology, Coercion, and Ego. He targets the miserable because "happy people" don't commit treason. From stopping nuclear networks to sitting on $1B in gold, Jim proves HR is easy compared to convincing a diplomat to kick his boss in the face.
Chad Sowash
Apr 28


Data Wars with Rebecca Car
In this episode of Mallorca Talks, Chad Sowash and SmartRecruiters CEO Rebecca Carr discuss AI's future. Carr argues that corporate ego, not tech, hinders innovation by creating "walled gardens". With 120 SAP engineers, they are building an ecosystem where Slack, WhatsApp, and AI agents collaborate to free humans from admin bloat and unlock creativity.
Chad Sowash
Apr 21
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