On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel and Chad welcome Lauren B. Jones—founder and CEO of Leap Advisory Partners and author of Real Girls Roadmap to Mastering AI—fresh off the farm in Northern California where the roosters clock in at 4:30 a.m.

With nearly 30 years in staffing and recruiting under her belt, Lauren cuts through the AI hype with a no-BS reality check: most companies claim they’re using AI, but only a fraction are seeing real ROI because they’re chasing shiny tools instead of solving actual problems.

She breaks down why leaders still need to get the basics right, how to stop the “slop,” and why policy, education, and enablement—in that order—matter more than ever.

Plus, they dig into why women approach AI differently, what parents should be teaching their kids, and why treating AI like Google is a fast track to garbage output. It’s practical, a little snarky, and exactly the kind of conversation HR’s Most Dangerous Podcast was made for.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to Lauren B. Jones and episode overview

02:01 - The current state of AI adoption in staffing and recruiting

04:09 - How leaders can start educating themselves about AI capabilities

06:10 - Framework for organizations: eliminate, automate, AI

07:53 - Using surveys to identify automation opportunities

10:13 - The importance of policy, education, and enablement in AI adoption

11:59 - Global policy landscape and the need for regulation

14:08 - The evolution of AI tools like Jasper and ChatGPT

16:04 - Research findings on women and AI in the workplace

17:54 - The motivation behind writing 'Real Girls Roadmap to Mastering AI'

20:10 - Overcoming overthinking and confusion in AI adoption

22:10 - Advice for parents and children on AI safety and skills

24:02 - The impact of social media and AI on society

26:00 - The role of quality input and human oversight in AI outputs

27:57 - Connecting with Lauren B. Jones and final thoughts

The latest episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast delivers a hard-hitting breakdown of massive developments across technology, enterprise software, and corporate compliance.

The boys tackle Salesforce leading a massive $166 million investment round into HR tech provider HiBob, exploring how this ties into broader ecosystems involving competitors like Deel, Rippling, SAP, SmartRecruiters, Workday, Paradox, Greenhouse, and iCIMS.

They also break down a controversial promotional stunt by startup Lemon Lime at an unofficial Y Combinator afterparty, where attendees were offered fast-track job interviews in exchange for getting company tattoos.

The conversation then shifts to the future of labor, dissecting Bill Gates’ latest decade-long predictions regarding AI automation and workforce displacement.

Finally, the co-hosts investigate a major regulatory shakeup from the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

They explore the rollbacks of critical affirmative action hiring mandates for federal contractors, alongside a projected budget proposal that could defund the watchdog agency and transfer its remaining functions to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to the episode and main themes

01:58 - Discussion on AI's disruptive potential in the workforce

03:59 - Recent funding and valuation of HR platforms like Hi Bob

08:04 - Policy changes impacting diversity and veteran hiring

11:57 - Humorous stories about personal experiences and industry events

19:55 - The resurgence of SaaS companies and their strategic moves

28:00 - Bill Gates' warnings on AI and workforce disruption

34:02 - The societal impact of AI and economic considerations

45:02 - The trend of using jobs for marketing and employer branding

55:02 - Humorous anecdotes about tattoos and job interviews

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

Slop, Supply & the Search Process

On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Joel and Chad sit down with Ben Zweig, CEO of Revelio Labs, economist, NYU Stern professor, and recovering quant who’s somehow raising three little girls while tracking the entire labor market.

Ben walks them through Revelio’s new AI Labor Market Tracker—the data-driven, non-speculative look at how AI is actually reshaping work right now.

They dig into the 28% drop in computer science majors, why companies that successfully adopt AI are growing headcount instead of cutting it, the massive friction AI is creating in the hiring process, and why 93% of the real change is happening inside jobs rather than between them.

It’s economist brain meets HR reality, with just enough New York attitude and sleep-deprived honesty to keep it dangerous.

This week on The Chad and Cheese Podcast (dubbed HR’s most dangerous podcast), hosts Chad Sowash, JT O’Donnell, and Maureen "Mo" Wiley Clough break down the latest corporate absurdities, dystopian AI trends, and labor market nonsense.
Episode Highlights:

• No Trust for AI: Humanoid Robots, digital AI twins and Amazon's last-mile automation.
  
• Corporate AI Disasters: Amazon's tokenmaxxing problems.
  
• Japan’s Big Staffing Cartel Raid: Recruits, Adecco, Manpower, and others are under investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission for alleged price-fixing.
  
• The Death of Tip Culture: A look at US restaurants ditching traditional tipping.

• Dolly Parton vs. Dark Trends: The gang pays respect to the late, great Dolly Parton. In stark contrast to her generosity, the hosts call out "bro-brand" Good Good Golf and Callaway over an appalling, tone-deaf advertisement featuring a founder pushing a woman to the ground.

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

On this installment of "HR's Most Dangerous Podcast," Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman grill Raj Ronanki, CEO of Signal Labs, on one of the weirdest M&A moves the HR tech space has seen in years. Guided by a childhood obsession with Star Trek, Raj has raised millions to build "systems of attention"—and then immediately used it to buy Brass Ring, an applicant tracking system older than half the engineers currently building LLMs.

In a chaotic blend of 1980s comedy references, sci-fi philosophy, and corporate jargon, the boys attempt to figure out if Raj is an AI visionary or if he just bought a ghost ship because 65% of the Fortune 500 forgot to cancel their subscription.

Key Highlights & Hot Takes:

• Spock, Utopia, and Green Aliens
• The "Nunya Business" Acquisition
• HR's Forgotten Invoices
• Interviewing Bots for Jobs
• Making Compliance Cool Again
  

Tune in for the full episode as Chad and Joel try to decipher whether Signal Labs is building the future of work or just running a very expensive 1999 nostalgia trip!

Live from a Portuguese bar annex, Chad and Joel crack open a cold cider and fire up "HR's Most Dangerous Podcast" to roast the absolute state of modern recruiting. Before tackling the tech industry's worst ideas, the boys review hostage-style movie clips, swap obscure band recommendations, and pitch a Spaceballs 2 sponsorship.

• The SaaS-pocalypse Comes for Workday: Private equity behemoth Silver Lake is eyeing a $51B buyout of Workday.

• Google's Resume Garbage Can: Leaked documents show Google DeepMind's AI screening tool is rejecting qualified applicants at random, forcing frustrated hiring managers to set up illegal human-only shortcuts around their own TA department.
  
• Gen Z's AI Penalty: Stanford research shows a 19% drop in entry-level hiring for AI-exposed roles.
  
• Babysitting the Machine at Walmart: Store associates are now tasked with cleaning up after Walmart's AI.
  
• Indeed's Desperate Marketing Pivot: Indeed's CMO claims targeting passive job seekers at soccer matches is a "revolutionary" new strategy. Really?

Chapters

00:00 - Intro and Episode Overview

03:45 - Review of the Odyssey and movie expectations

07:43 - Changes in media consumption and radio

09:54 - New music discoveries and bands

11:21 - Music show segment and shout outs

12:26 - TA20 awards and AI professionals recognition

13:25 - Upcoming events and travel plans

20:32 - Private equity buyout talks with Workday

21:50 - Implications of PE acquisition on Workday's culture and support

23:13 - The SAS apocalypse and AI's impact on SaaS companies

24:37 - Market valuation and PE acquisitions of software companies

28:38 - Google resume dumping and AI in HR

29:06 - Challenges of AI in recruitment and hiring processes

31:15 - The puppy analogy and AI's limitations

32:13 - The importance of human skills and adaptability

37:24 - AI's impact on youth employment and highly exposed occupations

40:00 - The need for experienced workers to train AI

41:32 - Future workforce and the importance of human skills

44:34 - Adapting to AI and the importance of continuous learning

46:35 - Walmart's AI implementation and employee trust issues

49:45 - The role of human nuance in AI and workplace tasks

52:57 - The importance of understanding complex tasks in AI deployment

54:29 - Indeed's new marketing strategy and market position

55:33 - Critique of Indeed's marketing and tech evolution

57:29 - Spaceballs 2 and industry humor

58:07 - Google and Indeed traffic decline signals

59:22 - The shift to old school marketing and candidate engagement

01:00:21 - The future of job search and AI-driven applications

01:01:18 - Humor and lighthearted closing remarks

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment.

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman sit down with Sonja Breuer, Senior Vice President of HR at Hamra Enterprises a powerhouse franchise group operating over 200 locations across Wendy’s, Panera Bread, and Noodles & Company.
💡 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The “Easy Button” for Hiring: How custom AI bots (including a talking Frosty named Sam) drastically reduced candidate ghosting and eliminated scheduling headaches for restaurant managers.
  
• Slashing the Ad Budget: The secret behind leveraging evergreen ads and conversational tech to keep job board spending at a fraction of the budget.
  
• Daily Pay as a Game Changer: Why instant access to wages has become Hamra’s secret weapon for recruitment (and how it saved one employee's prom night!).
  
• Tech Meets Culture: Why Sonja—a self-proclaimed Gen X “human connection” person—believes automation doesn't replace empathy, but actually gives leaders the time to be more human.
  
• What’s Next for AI in HR: A sneak peek at how Hamra is using AI for company-wide internal communication and video-driven recruitment.
  

Get ready for a jam-packed episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast as hosts Joel Cheesman, Chad Sowash, and Emi B serve up their trademark mix of industry news, corporate earnings, and unfiltered banter.

The episode kicks off with personal updates and shout-outs, covering everything from Chad’s slippery "Charlie Brown" beach wipeout in Portugal to a Harvard report on workplace outcomes, the rise of late-night interviews for night owls.

As the episode shifts into corporate strategy, the hosts put the latest financial filings and major market moves under the microscope. You will hear them break down the Q2 earnings, cost-cutting strategies, and future outlooks for ZipRecruiter, Recruit Holdings, and Indeed.

The team then brings back their signature "Buy or Sell" segment to grade recent consolidation in the space, evaluating MetaView’s acquisition of Reval (and its autonomous coworker "fillmore"), CareerMinds picking up Jobrapido, and the big transition of a long-time leader at LinkUp.

Finally, the episode tackles the serious side of hiring tech with a look at global regulatory compliance and vendor transparency involving Maki People, Mochi AI Assessments and Recruitics, before winding down with a nostalgic debate over the unexpected relaunch of MySpace.

To find out who gets a "Buy," who gets a "Sell," and exactly why the hosts are skeptical of the latest AI trends, you will have to tune in to the full episode.