The Chad & Cheese Podcast

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.

On the Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcomed Alexis Meschi, the pasta-making, client-charming co-founder of Ora Marketing — not Aura, because apparently, we’re not glowing with ethereal vibes, but slinging strategic social media for recruiters and staffing agencies. Hailing from California’s Bay Area, Alexis, a former school teacher with three young adult daughters (who occasionally crave Taco Bell over gourmet Italian), dished on her “done-for-you” marketing agency that crafts LinkedIn-centric content like videos, posts, and articles to help recruiters snag clients without breaking a sweat. She’s all about keeping it real on LinkedIn, the recruiter’s digital watercooler, while side-eyeing TikTok as a brain-corrupting time vortex—sorry, no dance videos here! Alexis tackled the AI hype, warning against tools that promise the moon but deliver digital lint, offering a five-point checklist to dodge the fluff: ensure the tool solves a real problem (not just shiny candy), fits your workflow without turning it into a circus, provides actual human support (not just a dusty FAQ), shows clear 30-day results (numbers, not warm fuzzies), and boosts human connection, because nobody wants to recruit via chatbot therapy. With a nod to society’s WALL-E-esque obsession with instant gratification, she insisted humans still crave real connection—unless you’re in the U.S., where Uber Eats and Instacart are apparently our love language. Catch Alexis on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-albright-meschi-8b10a2243/), where she’s serving up marketing wisdom with a side of wit, and skip the TikTok scroll to keep your brain uncorrupted.

This week, the gang kicks things off with LinkedIn’s shiny new 100-million-strong verification army, because nothing says “I’m a real human” like flashing a blue badge that apparently gets you 60% more profile views and 50% more love on posts (fake LinkedIn influencers are sweating bullets right now). Then the trio dissects Findem’s mysterious acquisition, wondering if it's a path to riches for job boards or a one-way ticket to obselescence for the agent phenomenon. Walmart sneaks in as the dark-horse employment hero, proving even the retail behemoth can out-innovate and outsmart the market while competitors are still trying to get their own employee engagement strategies from hallucinating. Additional fireworks come when Chad, J.T. and Joel tackle AI-generated content—specifically OpenAI’s Sora. Joel wonders if we’re about to drown in perfectly polished, soulless videos, JT argues creators can finally clone themselves (hello, 48-hour workdays!), and Chad just wants to know who’s actually going to pay for all this sci-fi wizardry instead of, you know, real revenue. And, naturally, it wouldn’t be Chad and Cheese without Chad recounting his house-selling saga like it’s a Greek tragedy and Joel dropping holiday nostalgia bombs that somehow make like worth living again. Too much? Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Podcast Overview 02:01 - The Impact of AI on Creativity and Content Creation 05:00 - Personal Updates and Life Changes 07:56 - Nostalgia and Tribute to John Candy 10:59 - Women in Corporate America: Challenges and Changes 14:01 - Engagement and Feedback in the Corporate World 16:06 - The Concept of 'Enshitification' in Platforms 21:07 - Recent Layoffs and Corporate Decisions 22:39 - The Impact of Layoffs and Economic Trends 24:26 - LinkedIn's Verification Program and Its Implications 29:01 - Findem's Acquisition of Getro and Job Market Dynamics 34:11 - Walmart's Transformation and Employee Investment 40:24 - NFL Talent Management and Corporate Parallels

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.

Charlene Li joins Chad and Cheese to tackle the messy reality of AI in the workplace, stressing that while the technology is hyped, successful adoption is always about people, not tech. She exposes the painful truth: 95% of AI pilots never scale because leaders treat it like a technology implementation, not a strategic transformation. To win, organizations must form a Minimally Viable Team (MVT) that includes HR and key strategic thinkers, focused on supporting top business objectives. Before any training, leaders must address employee fear and anxiety about job loss, creating a safe space to discuss concerns. According to Li, speed is the new moat, meaning companies must move beyond pilots to adopt a rolling 18-month AI Roadmap, prioritizing clarity and continuously adapting their plans every quarter. The goal is to cultivate integrated intelligence, using AI not just for productivity, but to enhance uniquely human traits like empathy and judgment, ultimately turning employees into "super humans." Chapters00:00 - Intro & Bio02:00 - Book Origin04:00 - 95% Pilot Fail06:00 - MVT & Strategy08:00 - Fluency Mandate11:00 - Fear & Culture14:00 - Speed Moat16:00 - Superhumans22:00 - Roadmap & Messy Middle31:00 - Shadow AI Amnesty34:00 - Teen Advice39:00 - Wrap

Strap in, kids — this week on The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the gang returns from skiing, globetrotting, and loudly judging their Spotify Wrapped to break down a blockbuster week in TA. First up: VONQ drops its biggest launch in years, rolling out its shiny new “Echo” platform like they're gunning for an Apple keynote. Did they finally build something the industry actually needs? Did they actually stick the landing? And is this the opening move in a coming acquisition play? We’ve got thoughts… lots of them. Then: Indeed pulls the ladder up — again. Anonymous job alerts? Gone. New walls? Higher. Data grabs? You bet your ass. We’re diving into why job seekers are about to get screwed and why employers should be panicking yesterday. We’re also hitting Instagram’s five-day RTO mandate (spoiler: it’s not about “saving employees from depression”), Australia’s crackdown on under-16s on social media, and one of the most creative protest videos to hit Home Depot’s parking lot. Plus: whiskey, fantasy football standings, union-staffing détente, and enough holiday chaos to make Santa call HR. It’s spicy. It’s snarky. It’s peak Chad, JT, and Lieven. You’ve been warned.

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.

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcome Desiree Throckmorton, senior consultant at OutSolve and former Kaiser Permanente TA manager, for a deep dive into the escalating world of I-9 compliance amid unprecedented ICE enforcement. Desiree breaks down I-9 fundamentals: a decades-old (1980s) federal mandate requiring employers to verify every new hire’s identity and work authorization via Form I-9, regardless of company size. Section 1 is completed by the employee on day one; Section 2 by the employer within three business days using original documents (List A, B, or C). Remote verification via video has been allowed since 2023, but errors—missing fields, wrong dates, or accepting invalid docs—can trigger fines from $281 to $2,789 per form, with knowingly hiring unauthorized workers costing up to $27,894 per violation. The real alarm bell? A $170 billion ICE budget boost, including $30 million to hire 10,000 new agents focused on workplace audits and raids. Desiree notes 15,000 targeted I-9 inspections planned for 2026—more than double pre-COVID levels—shifting from Trump’s first-term focus on arrests to systematic compliance checks. Recent raids (e.g., Hyundai’s Georgia plant detaining ~500 South Korean contractors on wrong visas) highlight risks, while a Colorado case saw $8 million in fines for systemic errors and unauthorized hires. She warns employers to organize I-9s, centralize processes, and audit internally—many don’t even know where forms are stored. The H-1B “genius visa” program takes a hit too: fees jumping from $2,000–$5,000 to $100,000 per sponsorship, pricing out mid-sized firms and favoring tech giants. Desiree and the hosts lament lost innovation, economic contributions ($100 billion in taxes from immigrants last year), and community diversity, especially in industries like healthcare (40%+ immigrant home health aides) and agriculture. With OFCCP effectively defanged, C-suites must redirect compliance resources to ICE readiness. Desiree’s advice: map vulnerabilities, understand your workforce footprint, and treat I-9s like payroll—accurate, auditable, and non-negotiable. “ICE ICE baby could be coming for you" ... Employers ignoring this do so at their peril.

In this turkey-fueled episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the boys stuff themselves like it’s Thanksgiving every day (because, let’s be honest, their content diet is already 90% gravy) with a little help from their friends - J.T. O'Donnell, Allyn Baily, Mo' Clough, Julie Sowash and Michelle Meehan. They kick things off by swapping heartwarming family traditions—like which uncle still thinks “pass the stuffing” is code for “pass the political hot takes”—before pivoting to the real national religion: soccer finally mattering in America now that Lionel Messi has descended from Mount Olympus to sprinkle GOAT dust on MLS fields. From there, it’s straight into the AI Thunderdome, where the gang swing the banter hammer at every shiny new model like they’re judging a middle-school science fair on bath salts. They roast ZipRecruiter’s podcast so hard you’ll smell burnt Phil from here, expose the shameless corporate-welfare grift masquerading as “HR innovation,” and deliver a fantasy-football update that’s equal parts trash talk and emotional damage. They also review Indeed’s latest product (spoiler: it’s a feature, not a miracle), reenact actual spy-vs-spy drama happening right now in HR tech like it’s a Jason Bourne movie but with worse expense reports, and wrap the whole glorious mess with a Thanksgiving dad joke so corny it should come with its own butter sculpture. Grab a plate, loosen the belt, and hit play—you’ll laugh, you’ll cry (from laughter), and you’ll never look at cranberry sauce the same way again. Chapters 00:00 - Thanksgiving Traditions and Family Gatherings 03:57 - The Rise of Football and Sports Culture 05:13 - AI Innovations and Competitive Landscape 08:40 - Fantasy Football Highlights and Insights 10:11 - Critique of ZipRecruiter's Podcast 13:02 - Jive Turkey Awards and Industry Commentary 14:25 - Introduction and Call to Action 14:50 - Dystopian CEO Behavior and AI Layoffs 15:47 - Corporate Welfare and Job Losses 17:58 - Indeed Connect: A New Product Review 21:57 - The Broken Indeed Model 22:57 - AI's Impact on Job Security 25:12 - Marketing in the Recruitment Space 27:53 - The Jive Turkey Award: A Spy Story 31:48 - C'mon, you know, Dad Joke time!

On the Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcomed Julia Levy, a seasoned talent acquisition (TA) leader, job search strategist, HR tech advisor, and author of From Hi to Hired: Your Insider Guide to Internships. Julia, recently departed from AutoZone, shared her 25+ years of TA experience across diverse industries, including tech consulting, staffing (Robert Half), financial services (MetLife, Fiserv), and manufacturing (Comscope). She discussed navigating the complex HR tech landscape, emphasizing the importance of identifying specific organizational problems before selecting technology, rather than chasing trendy solutions at conferences like RECFEST. Julia highlighted the challenge of distinguishing genuine AI innovations from rebranded legacy systems and shared her approach to vendor due diligence, leveraging networks and customer references. Transitioning to consulting, she noted a shift from corporate constraints to a more fulfilling role, though still receiving sales pitches as if she were at AutoZone. Her book targets college students facing a tough job market, offering strategies like being a "connector" on LinkedIn, targeting company problems, and turning rejections into growth opportunities. Julia stressed the value of internships and alternative career paths in trades or growth-oriented companies like AutoZone, noting a 10-20% reduction in internship programs due to economic uncertainty. Find out more at https://www.hi2hired.com/from-hi-to-hired. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to 02:20 Navigating the Talent Acquisition Landscape 05:21 Preparing for Conferences and Vendor Interactions 08:13 Insights from RecFest and Vendor Evaluation 11:12 Transitioning from Corporate to Consulting 14:09 The Importance of Internships for Students 17:05 Adapting to a Changing Job Market 20:05 Strategies for Students in Job Hunting 23:16 Understanding Rejection and Learning from It

Zoom just bought AI interview intelligence darling BrightHire. Chad and Joel discuss why this is a savvy chess move to stop Microsoft Teams, and if the brand will really survive the deal. Moving on, Meta says your 2026 performance review is an AI report card. We explain why every job is now a tech job and why Big Brother AI is watching. Verizon is yeeting 15,000 people. We go deep on the real, uncomfortable reasons behind their biggest layoff ever. Workday is playing Hungry Hungry Hippos on a massive M&A spree. And finally, 22% of candidates are finding work by sliding into DMs on Tinder and Bumble! Acquisitions, AI overlords, mass layoffs, and dating apps posing as job boards. Zero apologies, maximum truth bombs. Hit play!

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.

Forget everything you know about leadership. In the latest episode with Chad and Joel, behavioral scientist Jon Levy tears down the myth of the lone genius and reveals why your "super chickens" might be sabotaging your entire operation. Levy, author of the new book Team Intelligence, unpacks wild stories from his own life—from shredding for a RevAbs infomercial to using a massive 421-million-match Hinge study to prove that introverts never pair up. You'll hear about the "Super Chicken Problem," learning what homicidal hens in the 1970s can teach you about corporate success and why rewarding individual superstars can destroy your team. You'll also learn about the "Too Much Talent Problem," the surprising reason teams overloaded with stars often underperform, and how a "no-stats All-Star" helped his basketball team win. Finally, get the truth about the "Airport Problem," why remote work can feel so lonely, and what managers—who have accidentally become "camp counselors"—can do to fix it. If you've ever wondered how to build a team that crushes the competition without crushing each other, this episode is a must-listen with a startling truth: Harvard MBAs might not be any different from anyone else when it comes to leadership.

Buckle up, kids, the boys are comin' in hot this week. Personio just chopped headcount and abandonded its U.S. strategy. Chad sees defeat; Joel sees a standing ovation for the competition. The bloodbath is real. 📉 Indeed's dropping its new Connect offering. Chad calls it a "shakedown with jazz hands." Joel warns there's something darker going on. 💸 What's more, Indeed has a new KPI! ARPJ - don't worry, you'll learn what it is - is up 15%, but maybe the magic trick is in the numbers, and the boys have the inside scoop on how Indeed is throttling the system. Wall Street claps, Main Street bleeds. 📈 Teen Vogue's HR chief gets ambushed on camera, and fast food is dying, along with the rest of everyone not in the 10% of the richest among us. It means more than just Joel mourning his Frosty, but maybe 50-year mortgages can save us. Not! Death, taxes, and Indeed screwing you over, same as it ever was. Enjoy!

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.

LIVE from the Recfest USA stage in Nashville! David Weinstock is a modern Talent Acquisition leader who actually unlocks value by fixing how companies hire, not just adding more process. As VP of Talent Acquisition at New Story, he leads talent strategy across 16 very different companies. Before that, he built and scaled TA at Hopebridge, one of the largest ABA providers in the country supporting 7,500 hires a year across 125 locations. David’s specialty is taking messy, scattered recruiting operations and turning them into high-performing, data-powered machines. He’s led major ATS + CRM implementations, rebuilt TA org structures, refined recruitment marketing spend, and made analytics a core part of how decisions get made. Outside of his day-to-day work, David advises multiple recruiting tech companies helping shape product and go-to-market direction from the point of view of an operator who’s lived it.

In this episode, we ask if SAP + SmartRecruiters and/or Workday + Paradox can go FULL Amazon and collapse candidate friction into instant conversion, while LinkedIn and Indeed go to war over who actually owns the hiring assistant era. And Handshake? They’re pivoting into AI trainer labor like Mercor because the real money is in feeding the machines now. Watching business models shift where conversational AI becomes the UI… and the revenue engine. Hold on. This one’s bumpy.

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.

High-volume recruiting is officially in its “everything is on fire” era. Applicant fraud is exploding. Screening is eating recruiter calendars alive. And scaling sourcing without torching your team? Good luck doing that manually in 2025 and beyond. So we’re bringing in the people who actually lived it… not analyst fantasy land. In this session — leaders from Rippling, Phantom, Foley and more break down the pain they actually felt, the bad solutions they tried first, and how they finally got ahead of the chaos. You’ll hear exactly how the speakers have taken a native approach in catching fraud before it infects pipelines, shrink screening overhead, and put recruiter time back into outbound sourcing where it actually moves the needle — not “spreadsheet archaeology.” Speakers include: Vijay Mani — Co-Founder & CEO, Covey Jay Patel — Sr Director Talent, Rippling (ex DoorDash) Laura Stapleton — VP People, Foley (ex Engine) Derrick Gellidon — Head of Talent, Phantom (ex Lyft, Instacart) And yes… Chad & Cheese stirring the bourbon into the chaos.

Another full serving of red meat on The Chad & Cheese Podcast. Joel unleashes the layoff bloodbath: Amazon axes 14K corporate jobs for automation, Target cuts 1.8K amid sales slumps, GM drops 3K+, Rivian 600, UPS a brutal 48K. Military.com? DOA via Valnet. Chad blames UPS pain on automation, ditching Amazon volume, and shrinking wallets; ties GM to the EV tax-credit cliff—“Trump economy killer!” Joel says companies hate chaos, froze post-election, now tariffs (⅓ each: importer, company, consumer) drip inflation, crushing spending and jobs. Amazon’s BlueJay bots are coming for warehouses. Emi (Europe) confirms global instability fuels automation through ’27; Target may need holiday humans, but HQ already slashed layers. Mercor—those zygote founders roasted for bias-free matching—pivots to AI-model eval, grabs $350M Series C at $10B. 30K experts at $85/hr tell OpenAI why outputs rock or rot. Chad salutes the “picks-and-shovels” genius; Joel dubs it the mother of pivots. AuditBoard scoops FairNow for AI-governance; Chad smells PE acqui-hire for HG’s $180B empire, Joel’s skeptical—flat headcount, no terms, RecFest whispers “smoke.” Emi loves Mercor’s 500M ARR path, reserves FairNow judgment. iCIMS wakes up: AI Sourcing Agent, turnkey I-9/E-Verify (backgrounds/assessments next), Apply Network adds LinkedIn/Veritone. Chad groans—5 yrs post-Opening.io, 3 post-Candidate.ID, rebranding old tech as “agents” in me-too panic. Joel sees ATS arms race: bundle sourcing/SEO or lose to SmartRecruiter clones. Emi hopes CTO Deepak Pandya saves the day; Chad/Joel want retention—“We’ve got agents too!” H-1B mess: White House defends $100K fee vs. Chamber lawsuits over fraud/wage suppression. DeSantis bans H-1Bs at FL universities (13.6% biz faculty gone), citing Chinese nationals teaching U.S. policy. Chad recalls 2020 Chamber suit—immigrants power innovation/supply chains. BC runs Reagan ads during NHL, fast-tracks Trump-weary U.S. nurses: 1.4K+ apps, 113 registered, 100+ hired. Joel predicts Canada-wide poach; Emi: fee won’t spawn American nurses. Bold (Monster/CB owners) drops 2007 cringe-video: wrinkled CEO, Trumpasaurus, resume subs, predatory paid services. Chad gags at “ick,” slams Jeff Taylor for cheering a flaming brand. Joel: ChatGPT could do better; Emi: euthanize the dead horse—trust gone. Trio signs off with Joel the Chicken & Agent Chad pitching iCIMS mascot gigs. Death, taxes, layoffs—baby.  Chapters00:00 - Intro13:32- Layoffs21:44 - AI News30:29 - iCIMS38:23 - H-1B47:04 - Bold