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.
95episodes
Episodes
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Startup Debate: Skills-Based Hiring w/ Maya Huber & Phuong Vu
Jun 2300:31:26Tap to summarizeFace it, "The Resumes" is officially dead, and generative AI just blew it to pieces. With 86% of hiring managers admitting that AI makes it too easy to fake skills on paper, corporate hiring is facing a massive identity crisis. The old way is broken—so what comes next? The Face-Off: In this fast-paced episode of HR's most dangerous podcast, host Chad Sowash moderates a high-stakes debate between two tech founders reshaping talent acquisition: Phuong Vu (CEO of Telexa): The advocate for the "skills-first" organization. Phuong argues that true skills-based hiring means moving away from static keyword libraries and focusing on real-world evidence, human adaptability, and transferable capabilities. Dr. Maya Huber (CEO of Tadio): The champion of performance intelligence. Maya warns that "skills hiring" will become an empty buzzword if we keep relying on old, text-based data. Her radical fix? Ditch applications entirely and have candidates try out the job through live simulations before they ever talk to a recruiter. Inside the Episode: Are companies treating employees like "disposable heroes" instead of upskilling them? Has "culture fit" just become a lazy excuse to hire people exactly like ourselves? How do you screen for technical skills when the technology changes faster than the workforce? The Bottom Line: Stop asking candidates what they claim they can do. Learn how to evaluate how they actually think, adapt, and execute. Listen now to find out who wins the duel.
Transcribe →Indeed's AI Bias Machine
Jun 1900:48:18Tap to summarizeIf you’ve been wondering why the modern job market feels like a dystopian simulation, the latest episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast is here to validate your existential dread. Chad, JT, and Lieven are back to dissect the tech industry's latest "innovations" with their usual cocktail of empathy, candor, and plenty of well-deserved swearing. Indeed’s Blind Faith in AI Sourcing The Stanford Study: Proof You're Being Blacklisted Teaching Your Humanoid Replacement Zuckerberg Says "My Bad" (Sort Of) "Generating assumptive qualifications or requirements is a hiring decision... If AI's doing that for you... it's the most stupid fucking non-scalable thing." — Chad Sowash "No job seeker should be required to give their data, not know where it's going, and not know how it's being used. And this is what got exposed." — JT O'Donnell Are we heading toward JT's utopian dream of golfing all day while robots do the laundry, or are we just funding our own automation? Stop screaming into the ATS void. Hit play, get educated, and subscribe to HR’s most dangerous podcast right now.
Transcribe →Shredded: Stepful, Google, Orbio, iCIMS, NewCore, ZRG, Fortium, & More
Jun 1800:05:54Tap 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 →Busting Drug Cartels and Climbing Corporate Ladders: DEA Vet Shares Journey
Jun 1600:39:10Tap to summarizeGet ready for an explosive episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast as hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcome Jack McFarland, a 32-year DEA veteran and former Quantico instructor, to HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast. In this high-stakes interview, McFarland bridges the gap between federal law enforcement and corporate leadership, sharing gripping stories from his rise through the streets of Philadelphia during the crack epidemic to commanding major cartel investigations and leading elite teams in the Caribbean. He breaks down the elite psychology of hand-picking teams, the critical art of vetting human intelligence, and why managing special agents is exactly like coaching high school football. From his old-school 1987 application process to a wild, modern-day run in the casting semi-finals for reality TV's The Traitors, Jack blends sharp humor with serious operational wisdom. Plus, he pulls back the curtain on federal mandatory retirement at age 57, delivering a raw look at institutional ageism and why agencies are forced to rehire retirees to fix massive staffing shortages. Whether you are scaling a company, managing risk, or navigating corporate politics, this wide-ranging conversation delivers actionable leadership principles straight from the front lines. Chapters 00:00 - Introduction to Jack McFarland 02:59 - Jack's Journey to the DEA 05:54 - The Interview Process for Reality TV 08:59 - The Evolution of the DEA's Brand 11:49 - Managing Diverse Teams in Law Enforcement 19:39 - Career Progression and Leadership Roles 21:02 - Ageism and Mandatory Retirement in Law Enforcement 23:12 - Financial Motivations Behind Hiring Practices 24:31 - Rehired Annuitants: A New Approach to Staffing 26:46 - Transitioning to Civilian Life After Law Enforcement 29:32 - The Importance of Networking in Career Advancement 30:01 - Managing Human Intelligence and Informants 34:47 - Actionable Intelligence and Avoiding Bias in Law Enforcement
Transcribe →Indeed Goes For The Kill
Jun 1200:58:24Tap to summarizeThe band is finally back together! This week on HR’s most dangerous podcast, Chad, Mo, and Lieven team up for a wild ride across dystopian corporate tracking, AI bias, and the shifting sands of global recruitment. If you thought the job market couldn’t get any weirder, you’re going to want to hear this. Here is a look at what the crew is tackling on this week's show: Indeed Goes In For The Kill: Indeed’s new "changing landscape" FAQ drops a massive hint about their latest agenda. Chad explains why the platform is trying to squeeze out recruitment agencies entirely. IBM Tells Boomers to Pack Their Bags: A juicy new lawsuit alleges that IBM used automated hiring tech to block older, laid-off workers from returning. ChatGPT’s "AI Job Slop": OpenAI launched conversational job searching partnered with Indeed, Upwork, and Appcast. Lieven tests it via VPN with hilarious, glitchy results , while Chad exposes how the platform is already infected with the exact same scam jobs and candidate-harvesting schemes plaguing Google. Meta's Dystopian Trap: Mark Zuckerberg wants you to think Meta is saving the world with a $115M workforce training academy. In reality, the team connects the dots. Plus: Stick around to hear about Mo's questionable obsession with a fictional hockey captain , Lieven's take on European pay transparency , and a binary dad joke. Are we descending into a corporate tech dystopia, or can we build guardrails before the robots completely take over?
Transcribe →Shredded: Meta, ZipRecruiter, Claude, Indeed, LinkedIn, Talent.com, & More
Jun 1100:06:47Tap 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 →Marriott Hiring: 2 Weeks to 3 Days
Jun 900:38:16Tap to summarizeChad and Joel, drag Meghan Rhatigan (VP of Talent Acquisition Experience at Marriott International) into the interrogation room to find out how a hospitality giant survives a global punch in the face. Marriott used to live in a pre-2020 la-la land where millions of candidates just fell into their laps organically. Then the pandemic hit, the world shut down, and Marriott was caught flat-footed trying to fill 200,000 global roles using the same old clunky tech and slow-as-molasses hiring managers. Enter Meghan and her organizational change management background to fix a "fat funnel" nightmare where the interview process alone took two agonizing weeks. The "Legal AI" Secret Sauce The ROI: The 5-Million Candidate Bench The Loyalty Program Hustle: Listen and enjoy!
Transcribe →Google & OpenAI's Job Slop
Jun 500:57:33Tap to summarizeIt is officially Joel-Free June, which means Joel is off on an extended European holiday while Chad holds down the fort with two brilliant industry heavyweights: Emi Beredugo and JT O'Donnell. From boardroom coups and high-stakes acquisitions to massive corporate grifts, the trio dives deep into a chaotic week of HR technology news. Stepstone's Plot Twist JobGet Snaps Up Ripple Match The Job.com Meltdown The Point Solution Funeral Billionaires, Layoffs, & Job Slop AI Lost in Translation Listener Shoutout: A massive shoutout to TA champion Terry Dewey for slashing their organization's Indeed spend over the past 12 months by putting our podcast strategies to work! Keep the cash, Terry, but feel free to ship that bottle of whiskey to the studio anyway. Don't miss Chad and Emi live at Recfest UK on July 2nd at Knebworth Park! Emi is taking over the Innovate Stage as MC, while Chad and a freshly returned Joel will be bringing the noise to the Disrupt Stage. Get your incredibly soft The Chad & Cheese t-shirts, free beer, and free whiskey by heading over to chadandcheese.com/free.
Transcribe →Shredded: JobGet, RippleMatch, BOLD, Joblist, ZipRecruiter, Factorial, Stepstone Group, & More
Jun 400:05:55Tap 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 →7-Eleven: 24-7 AI Hiring
Jun 200:30:36Tap to summarizeHR’s Most Dangerous Podcast Just Dropped a Big Gulp of Truth. 🥤 Think automated hiring is just a cold, heartless robot out to steal your corporate badge? Think again. Chad and Cheese sit down with Rachel Allen, Senior Director of TA at 7-Eleven. She manages over 110,000 hires a year and automated 95% of their store recruitment. The result? They slashed time-to-hire from 10+ days to under three (and sometimes three hours, because speed kills). Meet "Rita": The AI assistant so good, store managers literally asked to meet her in person. (Awkward...) "Help is Coming": How to drop a massive tech overhaul on your staff without causing a mutiny. The Marketing Hijack: How the TA team hitched a ride on product shipments to score free recruitment marketing. Accidental Quality: How solving for pure speed accidentally fixed their crap candidate quality and retention problems. "Where we mess up sometimes is we lead with the technology—the shiny new thing—versus what are we solving for?" — Rachel Allen, 7-Eleven Whether you’re drowning in high-volume resumes or sweating bullets that a chatbot is coming for your sourcing desk, Rachel drops a masterclass on putting humans where they actually matter.
Transcribe →