Podcast
The Chad & Cheese Podcast
Hosted by Evergreen Podcasts · EN
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.
65episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Stepstone's Automation Bias Machine
5d ago00:58:25Tap to summarizeGrab your pastel shorts and a cold drink because Chad is broadcasting live from Portugal, celebrating his birthday alongside a local bar owner while Joel prepares for a milestone anniversary trip to Italy. In this high-energy, unfiltered episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the boys take a sledgehammer to the current AI hype cycle, contrasting Workday’s massive earnings and $500 million agentic AI run rate against the harsh reality of Microsoft and Uber scaling back their tech due to exploding compute costs. From Stepstone’s new EU compliance push to Indeed’s automated features, Chad drops a massive hot take on how over-engineered recruiting tools create dangerous compliance risks and automation bias. They tie up the loose ends of the global economy by breaking down everything from the historic Indy 500 finish and a comedic eulogy for Schlitz beer, to the Pope's latest tech warnings and the EU's pivot to renewable energy as a national security weapon. It is the perfect, loose, and brutally honest mix of global geopolitics, HR tech consolidation, and birthday banter that you absolutely cannot miss. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Personal Milestones 02:08 - Joel and Chad's Birthdays and Anniversaries 04:27 - Industry Conference Insights: Old Dogs vs. Disruptors 08:34 - Shoutouts and Personal Highlights 11:28 - Indy 500 Race Highlights and Experience 16:28 - Workday's Earnings and AI Investment 20:04 - AI Market Race: Google, OpenAI, and Industry Disruption 23:06 - Historical Perspective: Netscape and Microsoft's Browser War 27:39 - Top Tall's Acquisition Strategy and Market Position 30:02 - EU and US AI Regulations and Industry Impact 40:05 - AI's Cost Challenges and Economic Realities 44:23 - Public Perception and Future of AI 47:50 - Global Energy Transition and Geopolitical Implications 54:38 - US Dollar, Oil, and Global Power Dynamics 55:23 - Humorous Close and Birthday Wishes
Transcribe →Shredded: Workday, LinkedIn, RemotePass, Randstad, Toptal, Adeva, Poppulo, & More
6d ago00:05:08Tap to summarizeThe Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Transcribe →Our AI Answered 1.8m Questions w/ Patti Tabris
1w ago00:23:19Tap to summarizeJoel and Chad catch up with Patti Tabris, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at ResultsCX, to discuss the massive impact of AI on global, high-volume hiring. The Highlights: The Power of "Olivia": The AI assistant that answered 1.8 million questions and scheduled over 100,000 interviews in just 12 months. From Friction to Flow: Patti boosted assessment completion rates from 30% to 90%. Chat-First Applications: An impressive 80% conversion rate! The Funding Hack: A how-to on funding new tech. More Than a Bot: Beyond hiring, the team is now implementing AI for onboarding to handle first-day FAQs and pre-boarding care. "Recruiting is all about getting to meet as many people to see if they're qualified... if we can implement AI to do the administrative work, recruiters can spend more time with candidates." — Patti Tabris
Transcribe →Deviled Eggs, LinkedIn Layoffs & Indeed's Monopoly
2w ago01:06:46Tap to summarizeWhat happens when HR tech giants crush earnings while the rest of the industry faces massive layoffs? In this special episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel Cheesman is joined by guest co-host J.T. O'Donnell to deliver a dose of optimistic realism on the chaotic state of the 2026 job market. Before diving into the heavy-hitting industry news, the duo kicks things off with plenty of humor, swapping banter over deviled egg recipes, Memorial Day cookout plans, upcoming European travel, and why Southwest Airlines is making headlines with a strict new ban on humanoid robots. They also share a quick streaming recommendation for Apple TV's Your Friends and Neighbors and give a nod to the Crime Junkies podcast before getting down to business.The core of the episode spotlights a deeply divided job market where massive tech layoffs collide with explosive corporate growth. Joel and J.T. break down the staggering down-sizing trends hitting Meta and LinkedIn, contrasting those cuts with the massive, expectation-shattering earnings report just released by Recruit Holdings, the parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor. J.T. lends her expertise to LinkedIn’s aggressive new strategy to launch thousands of gated, paid creator-led virtual events to combat generic platform "slop." Finally, the hosts look at the changing face of automation, analyzing how artificial intelligence is shifting call center dynamics abroad, and exploring Amazon’s eerie new Alexa capability that generates fully synthetic podcasts on demand.
Transcribe →Shredded: LinkedIn, Recruit Holdings, Cosmico, Gyver, Saile, Arsenal, Deel, & More
2w ago00:06:42Tap to summarizeThe Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Transcribe →Ace Hardware: Differentiate or Die
2w ago00:33:25Tap to summarizeHow Ace Hardware Scaled to 100 Years with AI Can a century-old brand out-recruit Amazon? In this episode, Stef Nikitas and Kaleigh Burns from Ace Hardware join Chad and Cheese to discuss "Project Hurricane"—the total overhaul of their hiring process. They share how they transformed a $500k "flyers and softball" budget into a $4 million automated recruiting machine. Key Highlights: Who is this... Grace? The "Toy" Test: Differentiate or Die The 2-Minute App Stop "posting and praying" and start listening to how one of America’s most iconic brands is winning the talent war through high-tech helpfulness. How did the Ace team manage the "culture shock" of introducing AI to a workforce with such long-standing tenure?
Transcribe →Hiring, We Have a Problem: AI
3w ago01:08:45Tap to summarizeGrab your favorite beverage for a special, highly opinionated "just us girls" episode of the podcast, featuring Joel Cheesman and Maureen “Moe” Clough taking the mic without the rest of the usual crew. This week, the duo delivers a light-hearted yet deeply substantive look into the massive worker backlash against artificial intelligence and the brutal realities of today's hiring market. The hosts kick things off with quick hits covering a disastrous, heavily booed commencement speech at the University of Central Florida and a surprising take on the narrative depth of The Devil Wears Prada 2. From there, the conversation tackles major industry shifts as massive job platforms like Upwork and ZipRecruiter face severe financial softening, sparking a debate on whether automation is permanently consuming traditional contractor roles. The gloves come off as they dissect a bold claim from Andreessen Horowitz labeling legacy HR software giants like Workday a "cartel," while analyzing how defensive tech acquisitions—such as Ashby buying Talent Llama—signal a broader software-as-a-service apocalypse. Moe offers her expertise on age discrimination, discussing a lawsuit against Bloomberg Industry Group. The discussion moves to the backlash against automated hiring tools and LinkedIn’s new paid consultation feature. Finally, there is a disagreement over Google's new Gemini-powered smart glasses. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts 01:35 - Current Events and AI's Impact 05:30 - AI and the Youth Perspective 10:01 - Data Centers and Community Impact16:31Industry News: Upwork, ZipRecruiter, and Workday 19:59 - The Future of Work and AI's Role 22:00 - The SaaS Cartel and Its Challenges 25:02 - Age Discrimination in the Workplace 34:56 - AI's Role in Hiring and Recruitment 42:21 - The Rapid Evolution of AI in Hiring 45:04 - LinkedIn's New Monetization Features 52:51 - The Controversy of Smart Glasses 01:03:01 - The Inevitable Rise of Smart Technology
Transcribe →Shredded: ZipRecruiter, Hirevoice, General Motors, LinkedIn, Deel, Sastrify, Upwork, & More
3w ago00:06:54Tap to summarizeThe Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.
Transcribe →2,400 Locations, Only 1 AI
3w ago00:33:11Tap to summarizeThe "Lean, Mean, Hiring Machine": 6 Recruiters vs. 2,400 Locations How do you hire for Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Planet Fitness without losing your mind? If you’re Mark Gibson at Flynn Group, you don’t—you let a robot named Frankie do it. In this episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast, we hang out with the man managing the world’s largest franchise empire with a recruiting team so small they could all fit in one booth at Applebee's. Mark breaks down how they ditched boring forms for text-based AI, turning their six recruiters into "high-level media buyers" instead of resume-shuffling zombies. What’s inside: The "Midnight Million": What happens when you flip the switch on a new system and wake up to a literal mountain of applicants. Frankie Goes to Hollywood (and Pizza Hut): How an AI assistant handles the "boring stuff" so humans can actually be human. TikTok vs. The Churn: Using Gen Z influencers to drive talent and AI surveys to make sure they don't "ghost" after day three. Judgment Day: Mark addresses the "Terminator" fears of automation. Spoiler alert: the robots aren't making the pizzas... yet. From "black card" memberships for fries to surviving the HR tech "Judgment Day," this is a deep dive into how to scale a global empire without the overhead. Grab a snack and listen in—Frankie is watching. If you could automate the single most annoying part of your job today, what would it be?
Transcribe →iCIMS Shuffles, Phenom Splurges, & Greenhouse Gets Fashionable
4w ago01:03:04Tap to summarizeHold onto your hats for another candid episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, where the industry’s most opinionated trio—Chad Sowash, Joel Cheesman, and JT O’Donnell—break down the latest HR tech shakeups. Between JT’s "29th" birthday celebrations and Chad "hydrating" with a Guinness in Portugal, the group dives deep into the iCIMS leadership change. Is a CFO-turned-CEO a sign of a bold new chapter or a flashing "For Sale" sign? The hosts don’t hold back on what this means for employees and customers alike.The acquisition trail is just as heated, as the team debates Phenom snapping up Plum.io and questions whether more "psychobabble" assessments actually solve hiring problems. On the flip side, there’s plenty of buzz around Greenhouse’s bet on Ezra AI Labs and the massive revenue potential behind LinkedIn’s new Agentic AI hiring tools. JT shares her exclusive early-access results, while the guys debate whether it’s a recruiter’s dream or just a glorified search bar. From a look at LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads to a fiery discussion on living wages and a shout-out to King Charles, this episode is packed with industry realism and sharp wit. It all culminates in a high-stakes round of "Who’d You Rather?" where the team chooses between the AI talent agents at Dex and the personalized coaching of Blooma. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction and Celebrations 02:56 - World Cup Ticket Prices and Attendance Concerns 05:57 - The Cost of Experiences and Living Wages 08:55 - Innovative Advertising on LinkedIn 12:00 - Political Commentary and Economic Insights 14:57 - Upcoming Events and Travel Plans 17:10 - Chicago Delicacies and Nostalgia 18:25 - Leadership Changes at iCims 19:15 - The Impact of New Leadership 22:19 - The Future of iCims 26:26 - Acquisitions in the Talent Assessment Space 30:08 - Behavioral Testing: A Critical Perspective 34:15 - Greenhouse's Strategic Acquisition of Ezra AI Labs 39:14 - The Value of Timing in Business Decisions 42:13 - LinkedIn's New AI Hiring Tools 50:10 - The Evolution of Recruitment Skills 54:11 - Innovative Job Seeking Strategies 01:00:24 - Comparing New Startups: Dex vs. Blooma
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