Turns out, recording this podcast was the only thing standing between Chad & Cheese and a bottomless bottle of Blanton's to ring in the New Year ... so hold the small talk and get to the point. This show is tight, discussing everything from Paradox' latest unicorn-birthing round of investment, fundraising by Monster - wait, who? - and, well, we had to end the year on some TikTok chatter, didn't we? Happy 2022, ya' filthy animals! As always, a special "cheers" to sponsors Sovren, JobAdx and Jobvite.
TRANSCRIPTION SPONSORED BY: Disability Solutions partners with our clients to build best-in-class inclusion programs and reach qualified, talented individuals with disabilities of every skill, education, and experience level.
INTRO (1s):
Hide your kids lock the doors. You're listening to HR is most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are here to punch the recruiting industry, right where it hurts complete with breaking news, brash opinion and loads of snark buckle up boys and girls.
Joel (20s):
Oh yeah. It's our final show of 2021. And you're the only thing standing between us and a bottomless bottle of Blantons. So we'll make this quick. Hi kids this is your favorite average white dudes, and you are listening to the Chad and Cheese podcast. This is your co-host Joel "crypto punk" Cheeseman.
Chad (39s):
This is Chad "empire state of mind" Sowash.
Joel (43s):
And on this week's show Paradox hits unicorn status, Monster raises some cash. Wait, what? And TikTok as if we'd end the year talking about anything else is on this week show, let's do this. New York state of mind, Chad you're in the big Apple or at least around it apparently.
Chad (1m 2s):
Yeah, I can't get can't get that song out of my head, man. No, it there's nothing. Okay. There might be some things better, but there's very little better than being in New York City at Christmas time. I mean, it is lit up. It is gorgeous and it's not to thank Omicron or anything, but there's hardly anybody in the city now. Usually there, I mean, it's just packed, right? You just can't fucking get around not this time. So, I mean, you could go places, you could see things, some of the shows were shut down, but we did get a chance to go see Wicked, which is awesome. So yeah, we had had a great time in the empire state of mind in New York City.
Joel (1m 43s):
So you're like Will Smith in I Am Legend. You're just roaming New York with nobody, nobody in the streets, shooting lions and dodging deers and shit. That's awesome.
Chad (1m 52s):
Yeah. That's the way to live, man.
Joel (1m 54s):
Well, obviously you got better shit to do than this show. So let's get to some shout outs. Shall we?
Chad (1m 60s):
Of course, first shout out, goes to a couple of podcasts that included us. You are, you and me in their end of year wrap up. And the first one is Symphony Talent. They did a wrap up and they included our show, which was recorded live in Detroit. Yeah, there you go. And then Christopher, over at the Oven Ready HR podcast, which I think is your favorite name for a podcast.
Joel (2m 29s):
Sure. What's in the oven is what I want to know. Cause I'm not the father. I'm not the father.
Chad (2m 35s):
Wrap up that bun baby. Yeah. He included our interview on that one. So we, we did our wrap-ups, which we got some good responses from, but the wrap-ups are good this year.
Joel (2m 47s):
Nice. So are you, are you on Substack Chad?
Chad (2m 51s):
No.
Joel (2m 51s):
So you know what Medium is? It's like a blogging platform. So Substack is the new, the new Medium and everyone's on it. So a couple of our friends and some mystery guests have just joined Substack recently. James Ellis, you know him as the employment branding, dude, he has a new Substack called employer brand headlines. That sounds exciting. And Toby Dayton, the guy I call Sasquatch, cause he's rarely seen, has a Substack he's it used to be the CEO of Jobdig. You remember that? That's an old time one and now LinkUp is where he's doing his business. See over there an heir to the target throne is the rumor.
Joel (3m 30s):
And he's got a Substack called Diggings on the Job Market. So if you're on Substack or you just like reading some content about the employment industry, checkout, Toby Dayton and James Ellis's new Substacks. There's nothing on Toby's yet. So we, we may not see anything ever. It may just be Sasquatch, Sasquatchesque and never have any content, but I don't know.
Chad (3m 52s):
I can't believe James Ellis hasn't like, you know, hit us with a 27 different emails on his new Substack that just,
Joel (3m 58s):
Yeah, he's never going to charge for it. That's what he says. I'm never going to take money for this.
Chad (4m 3s):
Who is taking money though, is this way global where they are crowdfunding. And that crowdfund over at we funder is up to close to a million dollars right now. So it's interesting that in a time when money is flowing, so fucking freely that Angela and the team over there, I guarantee you, they have VC, you know, PE coming at them that they choose to do this. So it's really interesting, you know, they're doing business their way. Apparently they don't want to any of those VC firms involved.
Joel (4m 37s):
Yeah, not to, you know, spoil the prediction shows. But I think, I think you'll see a lot more of this into next year. And we saw a little pieces of this with this way, global as well as our friends at candidate ID who raised money through crowdfunding as well. So that's, it's an interesting trend. And I think, I think we'll see more of that, but yeah, definitely shout out to them. Nearly as famous as this way global Paris Hilton is getting a shout out for me. She's in the Metaverse Chad, she's in the Metaverse she's lunching.
Chad (5m 7s):
Another sign of it going to hell.
Joel (5m 10s):
She's launching Paris World. No place would I rather be? No word or not if the sex tape is part of Paris World, but she's getting in the Metaverse and today I think I read about Trump's wife, Melania getting some sort of Metaverse thing with her eyes and it's, I don't know it's going crazy. And again, with our prediction shows, I'm sure in FTS, crypto, whatever's going to make it into that episode, but a shout out to Paris Hilton for getting into the Metaverse and launching Paris World. Yeah.
Chad (5m 38s):
So going from talking about a couple of whack females to Susan Arnold, who has been elected as Walt Disney's first female Chairman of the Board. For the last eight years, Ms. Arnold was executive at Carlyle Group, Procter and Gamble and McDonald's so yeah, talking about those whack shout outs, this is a legit shout out, Susan Arnold, Walt Disney. That's a big fucking name. First female chairman. Awesome. Shout out to her!
Joel (6m 9s):
That's a big one. Well, I've got a cat Canada, shout out This is news from Canada. Didn't quite make it into the main show, but it's a shout-out Canada based human resource technology company alongside, alongside.com has taken over Moncton, New Brunswick based Career Beacon. New Brunswick is where my wife hails from. So I had to throw that in there also a fellow Canadian Canada based job board, the acquisition, some was not made public, but most of the employees get to stay on with the company. So shout out to Alongside and Career Beacon and Career Beacon has been around for a really long time. I mean, a really long time, like almost as long as we've been in the industry.
Joel (6m 52s):
So congrats to them and shout out to them.
Chad (6m 57s):
How Canadian can you get? No, you can all stay.
Joel (7m 3s):
What do layoffs in Canada sound like? Sorry.
Chad (7m 4s):
Sorry, sorry.
Joel (7m 4s):
Sorry. You had a real good job. Sorry. Got to let you go. Sorry. Here's some Molsen on the way out.
Chad (7m 12s):
Shout out to Door Dash who is asking its employees, all the way up to the it CEO to again, make a delivery at least once a month, but not everyone is a happy Dasher. Apparently a disgruntled Door Dash engineer recently posted a lengthy message on a social media platform. Blind anonymously, go figure. About the monthly deliveries, not being a part of their job description. They signed up to join Door Dash. Dude, put down world of fucking Warcraft,, air up your bike tires and make a goddamn delivery one a month. Come on.
Joel (7m 50s):
I think that'd be fun. It'd be fun to do that once a month.
Chad (7m 55s):
I would love that. Yeah.
Joel (7m 56s):
Good. All right, let's talk about some free shit. You remember last week we talked about a beer winner, Michael Mullady beer from sponsored by Pillar.
Chad (8m 8s):
Indianapolis Representing.
Joel (8m 9s):
Indianapolis representative. Yes. Yes. We got free whiskey powered by Sovren and Textkernel Rob Bursey won that last month and we're going to pick a new winner here that we're at the end of December. So if you haven't gone out to Chadcheese.com/free, give us your info and win a chance to win some booze and we'll help kill your liver. And our favorite liver out in Scotland. Adam Gordon has agreed to give some high price scotch away here for the holiday season, each bottle retails for over a thousand dollars. We'll be drawing a, I think the week after January 1st, it's free to join. You just got to go to www.scotch.WIN that's www.scotch.win and put in your address, information so we know where to send the good stuff.
Joel (8m 56s):
It's free to join. And we're almost up to as many registrants as we did last year with Pappy. So there's as much an appetite this year for the scotch as there was last year for the Pappy. So people lovin' some Scotch.
Chad (9m 9s):
Somebody's going to be able to start the first of the year with a thousand dollar bottle of scotch. Not to mention, I would assume that registering for this years has exploded on the other side of the pond in Europe, because Adam said that two of those bottles are going to Europeans.
Joel (9m 27s):
Yup. Yup. That was part of the deal. So it, I haven't looked at the list in a while, but it probably is very skewed a little bit towards the Eurozone, but it does not negate Americans, right? Win a piece of that scotch, there will be one winner of a bottle here in the states.
Chad (9m 45s):
www.scotch.win
Joel (9m 45s):
Scotch.w We haven't heard from the 3m people yet. So we're still good on the trademarks. We'll be fine. Let's talk a little fantasy football. Shall we? This is the final week and the final week, the championship round faces off Chris Nipsey Russell with Jason Putnam. So one of those two guys will be the winner. I got thoroughly thrashed by Jason this past week. And Chris beat out a wonderful Miss Q, which I will be playing for third place this week.
Chad (10m 18s):
That's a big shocker right there. Chris Russell ending up in the finals in the Superbowl, the Chad and cheese fantasy football league. Yes. He went from worst to first. I went from first to worst. So yeah, so
Joel (10m 30s):
That's how fantasy works. That's how fast you works. Yeah. Good, good call that Aaron Rodgers, a MVP. MVP thing worked out pretty well for you. All right. Well, let's get to some, some birthdays real quick. Actually only one is last week we did all the Decembers, but I think I thought this one was pretty relevant leading into our next story. So Aaron Matos,the CEO of Paradox celebrates the birthday on the day that we're recording, which is the 30th. So major Happy Birthday to him. And there's a good reason why he's celebrating this year.
Chad (11m 8s):
Topics!
Joel (11m 9s):
Paradox.
Chad (11m 10s):
Well, damn.
Joel (11m 12s):
It might be time to change Paradox his name badge from apex predator and that's right the company this week announced a $200 million series C investment bringing the total raise to a little over $253 million and giving it a $1.5 billion valuation. The round included participation from Workday Ventures, Twilio Ventures, and you ready for this Indeed. New funding will help the company double its team of a reported 400 and accelerate innovation. Launched in 2016, Paradox is headquartered in Scottsdale Arizona with offices in Chicago, Baltimore Televiv Singapore and Vietnam.
Joel (11m 57s):
Clients include the likes of Unilever, Nestle, McDonald's, CVS Health and General Motors. Apex Predator, unicorn just don't call them a chat bot. Chad, your thoughts?
Chad (12m 5s):
So we've got to have a Mr. ATS on the show more often because Peter Gold snuggled up to Facebook jobs, and then they announced the shutdown. And then he smacked Olivia around calling the chat bot a splat bot, and now they get 200 million in funding. So that's two for two, Peter and not on the good side. So if you take a look at Paradox, it's $253 million total and funding. First in January of 2019, they got 13.3 from one investor, in May of 2020, they got 40 million from one investor now, 2021, 200 million, 12 different investors.
Chad (12m 49s):
So with 12 different investors, the big question is how interesting is this going to get with Aaron? Right? Because I mean, Aaron, he's gonna be the guy who obviously steers this ship, which should be, but with 12 different voices, maybe. I think the other two are included in this too, but 12 different voices included in this, you know, how that gets. Do you think that there's going to be any impact on what happens with their focus, mission, anything like that?
Joel (13m 17s):
They didn't break down the numbers of who gave what? So it's hard to decipher, you know, if I give you 50 million and someone gives you 1 million, my voice should be bigger than the 1 million. And they also, I don't think they announced the board seats, like who was going to be on the board, or if any of those investors would be on the board.
Chad (13m 36s):
Couple of those, then there. Yes they did.
Joel (13m 38s):
Yeah. So, and so I don't know the percentage breakdowns, I don't know what Aaron has now. He's obviously the CEO he serves at the pleasure of the board. And if at any point, you know, they want to get rid of him. They can, I don't see that happening obviously. But yeah, it definitely creates complexity to an organization when you take more, more investors. But I don't know enough about the, the breakdown of percentages and the voting rights and everything else to really say how that's going to be. My guess is a lot of people that gave money will not have like a big voice and be calling every day looking to give insight or feedback, or like what's going on with the company. I'm sure there'll be a quarterly meeting, where the board members and other people can come in and get updates on the company.
Joel (14m 22s):
But I don't, you know, I think it adds complexity, but not so much that it's going to throw the company in the mud, in terms of innovation or being able to move quickly.
Chad (14m 35s):
Do you think that those voices are strong enough to keep Aaron from shopping the 200 million to perspectively put his name on a sports arena.
Joel (14m 49s):
I think Aaron has learned some hard lessons throughout the years and do not anticipate Paradox arena, being something that we see any time soon.
Chad (15m 1s):
So I really think that this type of funding is pretty evident signal. Paradox is not interested in being a point solution. We've looked at Paradox as the conversational AI apex predator. It's beyond that when Eight-fold took their last round, it was a shot over the battle of bigger town acquisition platform. So the same goes here. If Paradox, we're trying to be stealthy before. Well, the cat's out of the bag, this is a shot over the bow of many of the larger TA platforms, period. They are not going to be just a point solution. What do you think about that?
Joel (15m 39s):
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think, you know, where they want this to go is they want to disrupt the ATS business. And I think we've talked about a lot of players that are looking to do that MadeFull being one, probably Seek Out. Some of those that, they want to be the place that people go initially, not be just something that is added on to your, to your ATS. So, yeah, I think that's the vision. And if you look at, you know, where the world is going with mobile, and, you know, whether you, what do you think metaverse is going to happen or not like the days of going to a site and typing in words and searching. And that seems more and more antiquated with each year and having an interface where you're talking to someone, messaging with someone, whatever that is, if you believe that's the future, then the bet is probably better on Paradox than it is with an iCIMS or an ATS.
Chad (16m 34s):
Totally agree. Well, there are definitely, again, teaser here, some predictions that are going to happen around this one. I promise you.
Joel (16m 40s):
I got three points. Some of will be underscoring what you've said. I think this is a really cool redemption story. There are some people out listening that don't know what jobbing is, don't know who Aaron Matos is.
Chad (16m 52s):
Yep. And I think it's just worth noting that Aaron started Jobbing back in '99. I think? Raised a bunch of money, had some really great parties at Sherm and then 2008 Put his name on a sports arena.
Joel (17m 5s):
Sports arenas. Like it was really fun. Like he, he did a lot of like really big stuff. Fortunately, in many ways to the 2008 crash nut punched him in the company in a big way. And they dusted off, pick themselves back up, pivoted into Paradox. I remember thinking like, this is so much smaller than the division at Jobbing, and the fact that this has become, you know, much bigger than Jobbing was, it's just, it's just a really cool redemption story. So for those that don't know the history, I think it's worth noting that's sort of really cool and very appropriate that they are based in Phoenix because much like a Phoenix, they have rising from the ashes to launch Paradox.
Chad (17m 49s):
Very nice. Yeah.
Joel (17m 50s):
You like that? Second thing is again, I mentioned Aaron learning a few things in the first rodeo, you know, they raised money the right way. And we spent a lot of time in the past couple of years, talking about Maya and AllyO and some others that took a lot of money and really, I think strangled themselves into not having a lot of runway because of taking so much money. And these guys, you know, bootstrapped for a few years, their first round, like you mentioned, was tiny. They've gotten competitors and growing the business and growing organically, the team that he's built, Jay Z and godson. I mean, we talk a lot about these folks, but they've built a really cool executive team. And I think that's worth noting as well. You know, thirdly, I think too your point, like they want to be the end point or the starting point to the recruiting process.
Joel (18m 32s):
And you know, right now you go to, you go to a career site that they power with their chat bot on one screen, you see, okay. Type in or drop down menu with where you're located, you know, search a job and then click on the job. But then you see this chat bot, that's like, oh, what are you looking for? What are you interested in? Where do you live? What kind of job? And right now, you know, that conversation just kind of takes you to a bunch of links that you would found any way if you searched. So at some point there's going to be an inflection where companies either go straight up with the search box, or they go with the interaction with a chat bot or a human, Android or whatever. And I'd be really interested to know.
Joel (19m 13s):
And I don't think anyone does know outside of any of these companies, the percentage of users, that type in a search like traditionally and what percentage opt for the chat bot. That would be really interesting to know. I don't think, you know, do you have ever heard that?
Chad (19m 26s):
No. No, I, well now what do you mean opt for the chat bot when you're talking about you talking about actually landing on a page, doing a job search versus clicking on the chat bot in the corner?
Joel (19m 36s):
CVS health is their client. If you go to CVS health jobs, there's the main window is like, Hey, search for a job, right? Like Google. And then there's a little Olivia bubble on the left or on the right-hand corner that says, Hey, I'm Olivia chat bot to help you through your job search. So, and I think it says, what kind of job you're looking for? What are you interested in? So I know some people are using both of them in conjunction, but I'd be really curious to know who's exiting out of the chat and just doing the traditional job search and who is like bypassing the traditional job search and going right to Olivia and the chat bot. That would be really interesting to know. And I don't think that any of that data has been released, but if internally, they know that, you know, 30% went to the chat window last year and 48% now go to the chat window this year, and we're looking at 54% going to the chat bot next year, then the growth is going towards the chat being the prominent way.
Joel (20m 33s):
But if Chat is like stuck in 5%, 7%, 8%, the advantage is definitely still in the traditional search process.
Chad (20m 37s):
I don't think it's that black or white, I think it has to do with experience and the types of jobs. So if it's more of the mobile experience and it's somebody who is an hourly type of position, it's automatically into a chat type of scenario to ask for, you know, the information that they need. So, I think it really is predicated on a type of position and also the experience that they're in and you can meld those, right. Not to mention also, you know, I see more of an evolution of, instead of clicking on apply and having to fill out a bunch of shit, you go through the same process just with the bot.
Chad (21m 18s):
I mean, it's the same thing just about, except when you're going through a form it's really hard to get to FAQ's and then back to the form, you can ask the bot something, right? So, I mean, there's more of an interaction. Yes, you are filling out the same thing. This is, there's more evolution here and that's, and it's also not just predicated on desktop versus mobile. It could be predicated on the type of position. So I see this being huge and I always have, but it's starting to finally get there. That's the exciting part.
Joel (21m 47s):
Yeah. I think it would be interesting to see if they go to our site on mobile, the default is chat. If they go to our site on a desktop, the default is the search traditional search box.
Chad (21m 60s):
I think it's more a position than it is anything else. I don't think it because I, I think again, the position almost dictates where they're going to be looking for their job, whether it's mobile versus desktop,
Joel (22m 10s):
The news is at some point we will engage with some Paradox folks and maybe get to the bottom of some of these answers so forth and interesting is so Indeed is Vesta is investing. They do not invest often. I don't know if I could even name a company that Indeed has invested in, in the last 14 or 18, 24 months. So their investment to me is really interesting. Do you read anything into that?
Chad (22m 35s):
I think it's one of those diversity type of plays. I mean, when you bet in the stock market, you don't just put everything on one stock, you try to be diverse and you look for some of the startups that are out there that are leading edge, bleeding edge and have a guy like Aaron, who again, I agree a hundred percent, you know, he fell down, but he didn't stay down. Guy got up and he's a fighter. I mean, that's all there is to it. The guy's a fighter like it or not. It doesn't fucking matter. He's a fighter. And he's assembled a crew that I think any company, especially if you're talking about Indeed, if they want to try to put money into this and you see Jay Z and you see godson, you see Alise and you see some of the others that are there.
Chad (23m 19s):
I mean, it's a given, throw some money in the pot. Yeah.
Joel (23m 23s):
And it's so rarely happens that I think it's worth noting that Indeed has put money on this. Well, let's take a quick break, not moving at breakneck speed, but maybe the show be a little, little shorter than others. When we get back, we'll talk about Monster. Monster, raise some money. Chad, what the fuck is that about?
Chad (23m 45s):
No, this is not your grandpa's monster.
Joel (23m 47s):
So here's the summary monster.com India private limited.
Chad (23m 50s):
What?
Joel (23m 50s):
The parent company of Monsterindia.com and a Monster site in Southeast Asia and the middle east has raised 18 million in a funding round that took its valuation to a reported $100 million. The proceeds will go towards investment in product development and marketing in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Confused yet? Headquartered in Hyderabad Hyderabad, Hyderabad?
Chad (24m 18s):
Hyderabad. Monster started its India operations in 2001. Quess with two S's acquired the company from Monster Worldwide owned by Randstad in 2018, where I don't think there was any news release whatsoever.
Joel (24m 28s):
Chad you used to work at Monster and Randstad. Can you make sense of this for us?
Chad (24m 33s):
Well, first off, I can't make sense on why we didn't know that they were sold in 2018. This, chunk of the business was actually sold. That was odd to me when I saw this, I was like, what the fuck? How did any of this happen? And then start digging in. And I obviously found out that, you know, this isn't, this isn't Randstad. So it's not your, it's not your grandfather's Monster, right? It's a piece of that Monster. I think it's incredibly interesting knowing Randstad and knowing the amount of business that they do all over the world, that they would actually give up such a large portion of the world. I mean, it's not just what's happening now. It's the promise of what it could be.
Chad (25m 19s):
Right. And I think that's where Randstad's fallen just flat on their face. They haven't been able to tie together tech and this type of database and brand into what should have been a Colossus. I mean, again, the difference between staffing and RPO and talent acquisition is staffing it's their business. In Talent Acquisition it's your job, right? So they're really focused on doing the business of staffing and tech obviously is incredibly big when it comes to hiring today. So watching Randstad, not just fall flat on their fucking face with monster in the first place, but then sell off a promise of something this large man, it is fucking crazy.
Chad (26m 2s):
I mean, I think that's more of a story than this, this funding to be quite Frank.
Joel (26m 7s):
Yeah. What was an Andrew Dice Clay? Andrew Dice Clay's line. They needed the money. Maybe they needed the money. I don't know. I don't think so. Yeah. I don't think so either. It was just a headache. Maybe I like the growth prospects in India and APAC. We've talked about that on the show quite a bit big. So the only reason we're talking about this is because Monster's name is attached to it. Remember India's Andella raised 200 million back in the fall. According to our friends at Aim Group, the site says it has north of 60 million active users in India, but similar web indicates it has about four to four and a half million visits per month. And then the '21 Aim Group Recruitment marketplaces annual the site failed to rank them on the top three sites in India behind freshers live.
Joel (26m 54s):
And Indeed Glassdoor Simply Hired India. So they, they didn't exactly sell it to a juggernaut, whether they can turn it around and make it something worth a hundred million dollars will be interesting. The bigger question to me maybe is if Randstad has shown a willingness to dump parts of Monster, do we see other parts of Monster go by the wayside in 2022?
Chad (27m 16s):
Yeah. I think if they could have sold it for something that was, you know, worthwhile, they would have, I don't, I don't know why they're hanging on to what they currently have, other than they can't sell the fucking thing.
Joel (27m 35s):
No buyers.
Chad (27m 36s):
Yeah. Again, in this market, this demonstrates, I believe how antiquated the tech is. And I mean, how the brand has actually atrophied.
Joel (27m 43s):
Right?
Chad (27m 43s):
I mean, it was the biggest brand in the market. At one time, it had the biggest database at one time, it had the coolest tech at one time. None of that exists today in Monster.
Joel (27m 55s):
Best brand by a long shot. At one point was a $10 billion valuation. I believe on monster. And Randstad bought it for what $600 million ish
Chad (28m 2s):
Was. It was bargain basement. And now that I think of that, I'm going to make a note. We need to get Jeff Taylor on just to have this discussion. I don't want to talk about the history or all that other reminiscent bullshit. I want to talk about, you know, today and thoughts on what the landscape should look like for something like a Monster.
Joel (28m 23s):
Yeah. I mean, I don't know, percentage wise size of each market that Monster does business end. But if, if the India APAC portion is a hundred million, I mean, let's say the other two being Europe and north America are another a hundred, 150 than what Randstad bought they have not increased the value of whatsoever. In fact, they're losing value on this, on this company based on my limited math abilities.
Chad (28m 48s):
Asleep at the fucking wheel.
Joel (28m 50s):
Jeff Taylor would be a trip to get on the show, for sure.
Chad (28m 53s):
I'll, I'll work on that.
Joel (28m 54s):
That. Yeah. By the way, I'm here. I'm finally seeing and hearing some CareerBuilder ads. So, you know, for whatever that's worth, I don't think they've dropped money for a super bowl ad, but at least Career Builder is trying to revive some of its former glory.
Chad (29m 11s):
I want Sue Arthur on the pod as soon as possible. So we can talk about the first big step in rebranding and new commercials. And as soon as she can, as soon as she can
Joel (29m 19s):
And I wouldn't hold your breath, wouldn't know algebra, maybe, maybe next year. Who knows?
Chad (29m 24s):
She'll come on the same day that Art Zeal does.
Joel (29m 27s):
Yeah. Let's take a quick break in the year on TikTok. I can't think of a better way to do that and then get to our New Year's Eve festivities. Amen. All right, Chad, we got TikTok to talk about. Ooh, we've got three, three new stories from some more relatable to employment than others, but th there, so three things from TikTok got our attention recently. Number one, the site is really, really popular. I know that's not news to anybody, but according to cloud flare TikTok is now the web domain with the most traffic in the world, rising from seventh place last year to now eclipse Google in 2021, that's a big story.
Joel (30m 9s):
Number two, TikTok is preparing to launch a new service that will turn its viral food videos into meals You can actually order. TikTok is partnering with GrubHub and others to launch TikTok Kitchen. Only restaurants across the United States will have access to this technology. Next year, the menu at the restaurants will draw upon the most popular viral food videos that show up on TikTok, which people can then have delivered to their door via GrubHub. TikTok plans to launch and around 300 locations that will start delivering dishes in March with plans to open more than a thousand restaurants by the end of next year. Number three, a little closer to the employment industry.
Joel (30m 54s):
QuitTalking is now a thing. What the hell is it? Millennials and Zoomers, I guess that's gen Z they're zoomers now are taking the TikTok to post short videos, shaming toxic workplaces, glorifying their resignation letters, counting down their last days, dunking on employers and glorifying their new unemployment status. The hashtag #QuitTok currently has over 573,000 posts on TikTok and those creating them say, they're not worried about alienating future employers. TikTok is guaranteed to keep us talking in 2022, but what caught your attention most from these three news stories from the last week?
Chad (31m 37s):
Well, first off TikTok has something that Google and Facebook does not, and that is traffic from China, right? So they have an opportunity to have worldwide traffic, where Google, Facebook doesn't. They're locked out of China, but still incredibly surprising. I mean, to watch TikTok explode the way that it has after being on it for half an hour, and then looking at my watch and going, holy shit, that felt like five minutes. You get it right. The algorithm is amazing. The tech itself is just so fluid, but again, the opportunity to have worldwide versus not being shut out of, you know, a big, a big chunk of traffic like China. Sure. The ghost kitchens, which I think is the best marketing ever.
Chad (32m 20s):
You just take a look at what does everybody have to do, right. Food, right? You have to eat. Not to mention you take a look at all these fucking shows on Netflix and all over the place. These reality shows that are about what? About food. I mean, it could be about pastries. It is the best pastry chef, the best chocolate chef. I mean, they have found niches for this, right? So TikTok very smartly says, Hey, let's jump into this from a marketing standpoint. Let's not to mention, also engage more foodies. Right? I think they could do this in different niches where people, I mean, they have to gravitate or they have been gravitating.
Chad (33m 8s):
And then last but not least, if you have not gone to TikTok and actually look for the quit talking piece I did. And again, found myself for half an hour, watching millennials and Zs, mainly Zs, I think go on to store-wide sound systems with like the, in talking into the mic saying, I just want to say, you know, Target shoppers, you know, this place fucking sucks. Jenny can kiss my ass. You know? So it's like, holy shit. And it was one after the next, I thought this happened a couple of times, got a little fanfare. No, this is happening all over the fucking place, in a hell of a lot more, than I ever thought could or would happen.
Chad (33m 47s):
And it's being driven in, tell me if I'm wrong. It's being driven by TikTok.
Joel (33m 52s):
Well, the algorithm, for sure.
Chad (33m 54s):
Well, no I mean the other, the other kids that are out there, the other young adults that are out there are seeing this happening. Fuck that I'm going to do it too.
Joel (34m 4s):
Sure. Kids do what other kids do, especially if it's popular and it's getting likes and re-shares and comments and everything else. So.
Chad (34m 12s):
Oxytocin.
Joel (34m 13s):
So number one, like TikTok and its trajectory and how quickly it has become, what it has become is amazing. And the company will figure out a way to go public. It'll be one of the most valuable companies in the world in the next few years. It's a juggernaut and it's just incredibly impressive. The delivery thing means I am fucked. Like if I can just, if I going to see the video of the nachos and click, please deliver this immediately. I am totally fucked. And TikTok is just going to take all my money. So, so I hope that does not come to Indy anytime soon. Cause I'm screwed. The most interesting part to me is the employment side.
Joel (34m 54s):
So like so young, so stupid. I hope the social media dopa hit feels good kids because you're going to feel like shit when you're passed over for that dream job, because of your little tock video companies like Fama, check out our interview with the founder from, I think last year or the year before, they're going to find your ass and companies are going to be able to find out what you did and how you quit. Maybe more interesting than that as well is the future of sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, and others. You mentioned Blind who published employee reviews. Yeah. If the future is video and no one gives a shit about anonymity, then why go to some web web 1.0 site to vent your frustration?
Joel (35m 36s):
The Glassdoor needs to take some of that Recruit Holdings cash, and launch some anonymous video feature or some shit, or at least get some fuzzy audio app to see if they can like penetrate this new audience because it's looking really antiquated to go out to Glassdoor and, you know, type something for 30 minutes when I can just get TikTok famous and tell my boss to kiss my ass.
Chad (36m 6s):
Yeah, it's too late for them.
Joel (36m 7s):
It's too late for them. This show's over. Get the hell off my lawn. Happy New Year, everybody.
Chad (36m 14s):
Happy new year.
Joel and Chad (36m 16s):
We out.
OUTRO (36m 50s):
Thank you for listening to, what's it called? The podcast with Chad, the Cheese. Brilliant. They talk about recruiting. They talk about technology, but most of all, they talk about nothing. Just a lot of Shout Outs of people, you don't even know and yet you're listening. It's incredible. And not one word about cheese, not one cheddar, blue, nacho, pepper jack, Swiss. So many cheeses and not one word. So weird. Any hoo be sure to subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify, Google play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, that way you won't miss an episode. And while you're at it, visit www.chadcheese.com just don't expect to find any recipes for grilled cheese. Is so weird. We out.