Everything people and workforce—recruiting, marketing, technology, talent management, and workforce economics—delivered with biting sarcasm and unapologetic snark. Industry misfits Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman bring their no-holds-barred opinions to dissect news, trends, and the occasional dumpster fire. If you’re a hiring company, staffing firm, or vendor looking for insights (and a thick skin), these two won’t just tell you what’s happening—they’ll tell you why you’re probably doing it wrong. Buckle up, buttercup.
Can we interest you in voice-driven AI algorithms to offer personality insights for the candidates you're looking to hire? Your current crop of employees? A start-up called Koios is betting that you will. OK, so skills-based insights are all the rage right now, thanks to organizations like Plum, HiringBranch and others, but personality insights? The boys are skeptical, but welcome Tom Sherwood, co-founder and CEO at Koios on Firing Squad to find out what all this witchcraft is about. Does he leave unscathed? Abracadabra, Holmes! You gotta listen to find out.
It's earnings season, which means our show's usual suspects are opening up the books and showing off their numbers. Unfortunately, unless your name is Upwork, Uber and DoorDash - darlings of the gig economy - the numbers aren't all that exciting. Spoiler alert: Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter and Dice disappointed pretty much every shareholder. While job sites are losing, however, labor continue to win in light of the recent UAW smackdown of Detroit's Big Three. In addition to carmakers, airlines are getting in on the act, and don't be surprised if more segments start blowing up, thanks to so much China hating going on at the moment in the West. What's more? Google for Jobs keeps evolving, RTO policies keep sucking, especially for mental health disabilities and challenges and Russia continues to ruin everything. This is why we can't have nice things, but at least we still have podcasts like this one to spread joy around the world.
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Ya' down with LLM? How artificial intelligence is leveraging Large Language Models to power solutions like ChatGPT is redefining how recruiting and hiring is done. Problems is, it's early innings, which means the masses don't quite understand the ramifications and how to harness the new tech in order to take their staffing strategies to a new level. That's why we invited Textkernel CEO Gerard Mulder on the podcast to make sense of it all. Textkernel’s LLM Parser, powered by GPT-3.5, represents a groundbreaking fusion of Textkernel’s proprietary industry knowledge with ChatGPT, making this dynamic combination the next generation in parsing technology, offering recruiters and HR professionals unparalleled levels of accuracy, efficiency, and insights into candidate data. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal, and the boys grill Mulder on the benefits, competitive landscape and potential threats. We also cover Textkernel's recent acquisition of Joboti, and dive into what potential moves the company might be eyeing in the future. Recorded live from the Textkernel booth in Paris at Unleash, you won't want to miss this conversation with long time Chad & Cheese sponsor.
Things tend to get a little kooky around Halloween, which the world celebrated this week, and the news around work was a bit discombobulated too. Our eighty-something president laid down an executive order regarding AI regulation, labor unions struck a big blow to The Big Three, and LinkedIn cuddled up to frenemies like Beamery, Eightfold, and Radancy. Plus, OnlyFans-inspired dismissals strike the same school twice, and an epic duel of Who'd Ya' Rather pitting Yourco's David against Traba's Goliath. The boys even throw in some KFC rejection letter entertainment, brought to you by social media, and the demise of WeWork. Thanks, internet!
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Employee retention. Ever heard of it? It’s kind of a big deal. See, employers would rather hold on to the existing crop of workers than have to go back to the well year after year. Ever heard of the gaming industry? Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal too, and hold onto those employees are particularly tricky. Good thing we ran into Madeline Laurano, the founder and chief analyst of Aptitude Research, while we were in Paris at Unleash, because she actually gave a presentation on the topic and decided to hangout with your boys in the Textkernel booth for some knowledge droppin’.
Did you happen to catch ERIN at the SHRM show this summer? If you did, you’re probably wearing a Chad & Cheese T-shirt right now. You also probably learned about a start-up in the employee referral space who just raised millions for their business. In case you missed it, employers say referrals are their No. 1 source of hire. For these reasons alone, we had to invite Mike Stafiej, CEO at ERIN, on the show to break it all down for us. We also make fun of Cardboard Chad. Confused, gotta listen.
It's Halloween time again, and as usual, this episode is full of tricks and treats from the world of work. We're talkin' layoffs at Bullhorn and Nomad Health, Radancy acquiring Brazen, Employment Hero claiming unicorn status and more. What's more, you ask? How about Amazon introducing human-like robots into its warehouses and Cruise driverless cars getting pinched by the government regulators. The biggest trick of all probably goes to all the Return-to-Office mandates dropping on the heads of unsuspecting workers, like moms and the disabled. Of course, we end on a treat, talkin' about adult film star Riley Reid's new AI girlfriend app, that promises to be as naughty as you want her to be ... virtually, of course. Carve a pumpkin, grab a glass of witch's brew and enjoy this week's episode of HR's most dangerous podcast.
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
The low standards around child labor laws in America are enough to make anyone think they're taking crazy pills. Shockingly, many states and local governments are going backward when it comes to protecting our most vulnerable, particularly in agriculture. That's why we invited Reid Maki, Child Labor Advocacy Director at the National Consumers League and Child Labor Coalition on the podcast. It's a sobering discussion on the state of working kids and immigration failures throughout the country and its heartland. It's also a discussion, however, about how change can happen for the betterment of everyone. We are failing our kids and it's high time we make a change. Knowing is the first step.
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Week Two of Chad & Cheese's back-to-back travels is a tour de force that finds the boys in Paris for Unleash - taking residency at the Textkernel booth - after a stint in Vegas for HR Tech. The recruiting news never sleeps, of course, so the boys are covering alerts out of LinkedIn, Stack Overflow, The Martec, Yardstik and Citibank this week. Additionally, there's an extensive list of shoutouts from their European adventures and a few special birthday announcements. Grab a baguette and a chunk o' fromage, Pierre! There's a podcast révolution goin' on up in here!
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton simply replied, “Because that's where the money is.” The same might be said for JobIndex's lawsuit against Google for copyright infringement, claiming the world's most popular search engine is taking their content and publishing it to Google for Jobs without permission. Anyway, the boys dig into this claim and voices, tempers and hilarious soundbites commence. But wait, that's not all. They also dig into cover letters and why AI either does or doesn't make a bit of difference. (Spoiler alert: There's a story about a perfume-drenched CV.) Then ending on a high note, it's Who'd Ya' Rather with CareerFairy and Mintago.
Mind Games was a song penned by John Lennon. This interview has nothing to do with the famous Beatle, but up-skilling your workforce through the power of gamification is all the rage right now. That’s why we invited Geri Morgan, chief people officer at Intellum, an Atlanta-based learning technology company, on the show. Turns out, Geri is doing some amazing things with gamification that every employer could learn from. You probably won’t get Pac-Man Fever, but you’re likely to practical tips on how to improve retention and empower your workforce like never before.
The boys are snapping necks and cashing checks this week from the HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas from the Fuel50 booth. After giving some much-deserved love appreciation to Friends of Chad & Cheese that we’re in attendance, the boys dig into the latest news from show sponsor Harri, covering the latest round of funding with the company’s CFO, who jumped in during the show. If that’s not enough for a shortened roadshow, the guys discuss takeaways from the conference and wonder why startups in certain parts of the country have a tough time with naming their companies. Oh yeah, and a breakdown of U2 at the Sphere goes down. It was a beautiful day, indeed.
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
When Google launched their job search engine, dubbed Google for Jobs, a lot of people scoffed, remembering past failures from the world’s largest search engine dipping its toes into employment. Hello, Google Base and Google for Hire? Well, no one’s scoffing now. Google seems to be all-in, with a pay-per-click (PPC) offering coming soon. Optimizing for search results can be challenging. That’s why we invited Alexander Chukovski, founder at Crypto Careers, to take a look at the ins and outs of optimizing for Google when job postings are in play. Crypto Careers connects professionals and businesses building digital assets and blockchain technology, so Alexander knows how to tackle the tough segments. If your jobs are on Google - and they probably are - then this is an episode you don’t want to miss.
Recruiting startups hoping to replace human beings in the hiring process - or at least minimize them - litter the landscape. Chatbots, for example, are all the rage. At least one startup, however, thinks you can have the best of both worlds: scale and high touch. Amber Wanner, founder and CEO of Vette, brings her message to the Firing Squad to see if Chad & Cheese can be convinced that there’s still a place for humans in Human Resources. Does she survive? Gotta listen to find out.
This episode could've been a double album it's so full of amazing content ... Chad & Cheese: The White Album, if you will. We're talkin' layoffs at Snagajob and Meta, Indeed telling customers, "There's nothing to see here," LinkedIn embracing its inner Guns 'n' Roses, OpenAI taking aim at Apple's iPhone, Tesla getting nervous about the UAW strike, Who'd Ya' Rather with Hiring Branch and Transfr and Chipotle's "cobotics," collaborative robots that work with, rather than replace, humans. It's a nice compliment to Chipotle’s Chippy and Autocado automation. Drink it all in, because the boys are travelin' for the next 2 weeks, so we made sure this one was the Big Mac of podcast episodes.
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
The European show is typically filled with one or the other: An American company in Europe, or a European company in America. This week, lucky listener, includes BOTH. America’s Uber, on the heels of dealing with similar legislation in California, now finds itself juggling an EU who wants to treat giggers as full-time employees. (Cue the higher-rates, longer waits fear mongering!) On the other end of the continental expansion is Deutschland-HQ’d Personio growing its footprint in America with an office in New York City. What’s more? How about a lively conversation spurred by the latest round of Buy or Sell, featuring Heyu Works, Recrubo, Freework and Kenjo.
The word audit scares most people. Hello, IRS? But sometimes audits can be your best friend for getting a good night’s sleep, especially when A.I. recruiting is involved. With laws being passed all the time that could put your company in jeopardy, you need some solid advice. That’s why we invited Guru Sethupathy, founder & CEO of FairNow AI to help us make sense this A.I. audit stuff. FairNow is a platform for simplifying and automating fairness compliance. They help businesses by auditing and monitoring AI algorithms in hiring. FairNow is on a mission to help companies build trust in their A.I. and if you’re looking at giving your vendors a deep dive to make sure they keep you out of the crosshairs of law enforcement, then this episode if a must.
The news this week is hot. In fact, in the time it took to write that sentence, the news got a little hotter. We're talkin' picket lines, Josh Bersin trash-talkin', LinkedIn is your new crazy uncle HOT. We're talkin' Amazon is droppin' billions to invest in generative AI companies, job boards are bailin' on ChapGPT job searchin', Getty Images sealin' its content from AI hot. And we're talkin' NFL stars goin' into porn after football HOT! Someone get us a cold beer and a fire extinguisher!!!
The Shred is a weekly roundup of who’s raised funds, who’s been acquired and who’s on the move in the world of recruitment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
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