Your Favorite HR Podcasts Live Here.

For years, we’ve built career sites for two audiences: human candidates and basic search engines. But right now, candidates aren’t just scrolling through job boards anymore—they’re asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI assistants to find their next role, evaluate company culture, and summarize opportunities. That shift means your career site is no longer just being read by people; it’s being parsed, filtered, and judged by AI. Joining us today to break down this shift is Brianna Huynh, VP of Brand and Creative at Appcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 min9/21/2026

4 AI Job Storms Are On The Horizon

A storm sits offshore, and the map shows four tracks. That's the AI labor market, according to a new Conference Board report offering four futures and no odds. So how do you write a workforce plan under a map like that? Jim borrows the answer from coastal families, who read their own gauges and write their rules before the storm season starts. In this episode, you'll get five gauges hiding in your recruiting data, the trigger each should set off, and a way for job seekers to read the same signals. ... Brought to you by: Career Intelligence Weekly - Tracking the invisible job market for smarter career decisions. Subscribe now at https://newsletter.jimstroud.com Inspiration: The Conference Board data Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 min9/21/2026

IS HR BEING FIRED: AI Is Splitting Your Workforce in Two

AI isn't leveling the workforce. It's splitting it into two completely different tracks — and most organizations haven't realized it yet. In this episode of Is HR Being Fired?, I break down new workforce data showing how AI is changing the value of work, why some roles are becoming more valuable while others are being democratized, and what HR leaders need to do before this divide starts showing up in attrition, productivity, and the P&L. I'll also show you how I use my Value of Work Matrix and the five FutHRist mindsets — Architect, Engineer, Scientist, COO, and Coach — to diagnose what's happening inside an organization and build a workforce strategy around it. 👉 Links mentioned in the video: IS HR BEING FIRED playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdyUKttA2krw CEO Fires HR video: https://youtu.be/8zPu9YLUerc Information about the FutHRist: www.trentcotton.com Subscribe to the channel and check out The FutHRist playlist to learn more about the five mindsets that I believe will become the new operating system for HR. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — AI Is Splitting Your Workforce in Two 01:12 — Is HR Being Fired? 02:15 — The Data Behind the Workforce Split 02:30 — Professionalized vs. Democratized Work 03:21 — What's Happening to Entry-Level Jobs 04:00 — The FutHRist: 5 Mindsets for What's Next 04:40 — The Value of Work Matrix 05:15 — When Jobs Get Smaller but More Valuable 05:22 — How AI Democratizes Expertise 05:59 — The Number Your CFO Will Care About 06:25 — Applying the 5 FutHRist Mindsets 06:39 — The Scientist Mindset 07:07 — The Architect Mindset 07:29 — The Engineer Mindset 08:00 — The COO Mindset 08:06 — The Coach Mindset 08:40 — 3 Things HR Leaders Should Do This Week 09:57 — The Real Question: Is HR Being Fired? 📕 THE FUTHRIST I've taken 20 years of HR experience and condensed it into roughly 145 pages designed to help HR professionals not just survive what's coming next, but lead it. The FutHRist is available on Amazon September 14. Learn more at www.trentcotton.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 min9/21/2026

Jack & Jill Land $40 Million!

Is This Still A Good Time?

Boomband, a new talent intelligence platform founded by Monster.com creator Jeff Taylor, officially rolled out across all six New England states on Wednesday. Headquartered in Wakefield, Rhode Island, the startup is directly targeting the region’s dense concentration of tech, healthcare, finance, and higher-education employers, bringing nearly 500,000 local, hybrid, and remote roles to the platform at launch. According to Boomband, the traditional online job board model has collapsed under a flood of low-signal, AI-generated applications. The average job posting drew 244 applications in 2025, more than double the volume from 2022, while the regional search cycle for candidates now stretches to an average of 6.6 months. “In a roundabout way, I helped build the system that is now breaking hiring,” said Taylor, Boomband’s founder and CEO. “With Monster.com, we took the Help Wanted section from the newspaper to the internet… Now overlay AI on top of that broken foundation, and you have a full collapse. Everyone is drowning in volume and starving for signal.” By debuting regionally, Boomband aims to give New England employers a localized network that bypasses the flood of irrelevant, nationwide resume-spamming while surfacing local candidates based on actual skill alignment and commute preferences. https://hrtechfeed.com/boomband-expands-to-new-england-for-debut-of-new-ai-talent-platform/ SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON — AI-native hiring marketplace Jack & Jill has raised a $40 million Series A round to upend traditional recruitment and make warm professional introductions at scale. Founded by Matthew Wilson (CEO) and Saaras Mehan (CTO), the platform operates on a dual-agent model designed to eliminate cold outreach, resume spam, and traditional job boards: Jackis a voice agent dedicated to job seekers, holding conversations with professionals to deeply understand their career ambitions, preferences, and ideal roles. Jillis an embedded recruiting agent for companies, learning team dynamics, technical bars, and culture to surface vetted talent. Rather than candidates submitting resumes into applicant tracking systems (ATS), the two autonomous agents negotiate on behalf of their respective sides. When both agents agree on mutual alignment, they directly facilitate a warm introduction between the candidate and hiring team—skipping the application phase altogether. The company says they have already registered 389k candidates and count 5k employers as clients. https://hrtechfeed.com/jack-jill-secures-40m-series-a-to-replace-job-applications-with-ai-agents/ NEW YORK — BoomerangHR has closed a $12.7 million seed round to expand its AI-powered offboarding and corporate alumni platform, targeting a talent market where trusted candidate signals are becoming increasingly scarce. Founded by CEO Jeff Wald, BoomerangHR is designed to democratize the structured alumni networks historically reserved for elite consulting firms and investment banks. The platform plugs into existing HRIS and ATS stacks in under an hour, focusing on three core operational pillars: Automated Offboarding: Alumni Network Management: Talent Migration & Reporting: “A company’s relationship with great talent shouldn’t end when they leave,” said Wald. “We built BoomerangHR to automate offboarding and transform former team members into an active growth network. Through Boomerang, companies can easily access warm rehires, referrals, and sales leads—because your best next hire is someone who already knows your culture, your customers, and your mission.” https://hrtechfeed.com/boomeranghr-secures-12-7m-seed-round-to-turn-offboarding-into-an-ongoing-talent-engine/ The Las Vegas Raiders have selected human resources and workforce technology provider UKG to manage and streamline operations across the franchise’s business, football, and gameday staff. Under the new agreement, the NFL franchise will deploy the UKG Pro suite to consolidate human resources, payroll, and workforce intelligence onto a single operating platform. The move is designed to connect a wide-ranging employee base—from coaches, trainers, and front-office executives to hourly and frontline stadium workers. https://hrtechfeed.com/ukg-lands-an-nfl-team/ Workday, Inc. has named Sarah Kennedy Ellis chief marketing officer, effective October 5, 2026, reporting to Aneel Bhusri, Workday co-founder, CEO, and chair. Kennedy Ellis will lead Workday’s global marketing and communications organization and will be responsible for championing the company’s brand narrative and growth strategy for the AI era. Kennedy Ellis brings more than 20 years of marketing expertise to the role. She joins Workday from Google, where she led global marketing for Google Cloud and Google Workspace and helped build the engine behind one of the fastest growing businesses in enterprise technology. Prior to joining Google, she was chief marketing officer of Adobe Experience Cloud, and chief marketing officer of Marketo, playing a critical role in Marketo’s successful acquisition by Adobe in 2018. https://hrtechfeed.com/workday-has-a-new-cmo/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 min9/17/2026

#20 - Adam Posner: Navigating Recruitment Dynamics

In this engaging episode of ITSAGT, we delve into the intricacies of recruitment with the insightful Adam Posner, host of the popular 'Poscast'. Known for his expertise in building communities and navigating the recruitment landscape, Adam shares his unique perspectives and experiences. Listeners will learn about the importance of timing and communication in recruitment, as Adam and the host discuss the often-overlooked question, 'Is it still a good time?' They explore the nuances of candidate interactions, highlighting the balance between structured interviews and allowing candidates the freedom to express themselves beyond conventional expectations. The episode also touches on the power dynamics in recruitment, the art of setting interview agendas, and the significance of understanding a candidate's background without confining them to a predefined role. Whether you're a seasoned recruiter or new to the field, this episode offers valuable insights into making the recruitment process more human-centric and effective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

52 min9/16/2026

#102 - AI, Flatter Organizations & the New Rules of Work

The Purple Acorn HR Morning Show

What happens when AI can make average work look exceptional and companies start cutting layers of management at the same time? In Episode 102 of the HR Morning Show, Jocelyn King, SHRM-SCP, Serge Boudreau, and Tony Buffum dig into some of the biggest shifts reshaping work, talent, and HR. We kick things off with a look at the booming sports-and-entertainment talent ecosystem in Los Angeles and ask: if recruiting is scouting, onboarding is training camp, and engagement is team chemistry… what HR function is the coach? Then, Uber’s decision to cut more than 3,000 jobs while reducing management layers sparks a bigger conversation: Are organizations too management-heavy, and could AI fundamentally change the role of the middle manager? Plus, Helen Jonsen explores the “kaleidoscope career”: The nonlinear career paths, gaps, pivots, and seemingly disconnected experiences that can actually reveal valuable transferable skills. As discussed in her new book: This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success. We also get practical about AI with Lance Haun, who explains why managers may struggle to distinguish genuine AI expertise from an AI shortcut. And Tony Buffum joins us in a guest segment to explore the flexible workforce and what it means to build a modern talent ecosystem around freelancers, independent workers, and marketplaces. AI, management, unconventional careers, and the flexible workforce... It’s all part of the new HR playbook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

64 min9/15/2026

Meta Tried to Replace Its Workforce With AI. It Lasted Ten Weeks.

Meta reportedly had a plan to dramatically reshape parts of its workforce around AI agents. Then, hours before another round of cuts, Mark Zuckerberg stopped it. The obvious conclusion is that AI wasn't ready. I think there's a much bigger lesson here, especially for HR leaders. In this video, I break down what Meta's experience can teach us about building an AI-native organization through the five FutHRist mindsets: The Architect, Engineer, Scientist, CEO, and Coach. Because becoming AI-native isn't simply a headcount exercise. You have to rethink how work is designed, where human judgment still creates value, how AI and humans hand work back and forth, which metrics actually predict business outcomes, and what happens to your best people while the organization transforms. We'll look at reported changes in code output, product delivery, security incidents, and employee sentiment—and why looking at any one of those metrics in isolation can lead leaders to the wrong conclusion. I also explain how my Value of Work Matrix changes the question from: “How many people can we remove?” to: “Which work should stop existing?” Those are two very different questions, and they create two very different organizations. 📘 Get my new book, The FutHRist: The 5 Mindsets of the Future HR Pro, available now on Amazon. Search Amazon for “The FutHRist Trent Cotton.” 🧭 Discover your FutHRist mindset with my free self-assessment: https://www.trentcotton.com/futhrist-self-assessment/ Chapters 00:00 Meta's reported plan to replace work with AI 00:34 Why I'm looking at this differently 00:46 What Meta reportedly planned 01:28 Why “AI wasn't ready” misses the bigger story 02:06 The 5 FutHRist mindsets 02:29 Architect: Don't confuse headcount cuts with transformation 03:58 Engineer: Where AI handoffs break 05:05 Scientist: Are you measuring the wrong thing? 06:21 CEO: Is your workforce actually driving enterprise value? 06:57 The Value of Work Matrix 07:47 Coach: The human cost of AI transformation 09:06 Who wasn't in the room? 09:20 The uncomfortable lesson for HR leaders 09:49 Discover your FutHRist mindset Articles Cited The reporting and data discussed in this video draw from the following articles: Reuters — Mark Zuckerberg Had a Bold Plan to Replace Meta Staff With AI. Here’s How It Imploded https://www.reuters.com/investigations/mark-zuckerberg-had-bold-plan-replace-meta-staff-with-ai-heres-how-it-imploded-2026-08-26/ Business Insider — Meta Asks Some AI Employees to Become Managers Again https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-asks-some-ai-employees-to-become-managers-again-2026-9 The future of HR isn't about protecting every job from AI. It's about understanding how people, technology, and business come together to create enterprise value. People. Technology. Business. A Better Tomorrow. #HR #AIinHR #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #FutHRist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 min9/14/2026

How to Spot People Who Actually Know AI

Workfluencer: Personal Branding & Content Creation

AI can help almost anyone produce average work. So how do recruiters identify the people who can actually think, judge, and create beyond the machine? In this episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim talks with Bryan McAnulty about what AI fluency really looks like, how hiring assessments need to change, and why judgment, communication, workflow design, and specialized knowledge are becoming more valuable as AI handles more of the execution. ABOUT OUR GUEST Bryan McAnulty is the founder of Velora, a digital product design studio, developing products and websites used by millions worldwide. Today, he uses AI to help bring his ideas into reality faster, and helps others do the same through his AI agent platform LatchLoop, built to help teams collaborate with AI agents. Learn more: https://www.latchloop.com - The AI agent platform for knowledge work and coding where you and your team build the future https://www.agifluent.com - Go from prompting AI one task at a time to confidently delegating real work to AI agents through repeatable workflows that you and your team own. https://velora.com/ - Learn more about the software products Bryan and his team have built. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 min9/14/2026

#101: Building a Personal Brand While Working Full-Time ft. Roxy Couse

Being great at your job doesn’t guarantee a promotion. Roxy Couse learned that after nearly 15 years in corporate, several lateral moves, and a leader who admitted there was nothing left for her to prove. While working as a senior director, Roxy started creating content before work, after work, and on weekends. What began as a TikTok hobby grew into an audience of more than 650,000 followers, 100 million views, and brand partnerships with companies including LinkedIn and IBM. In this episode, Roxy shares what it really takes to build a personal brand while working full-time. She explains how she balanced two demanding careers, followed her employer’s social media policies, and turned years of corporate experience into paid opportunities. She also shares why brand deals weren’t enough and how that realization led her to build Sloefy, a platform helping corporate professionals become more visible. This conversation is about building enough visibility, income, and career leverage to choose what comes next on your own terms. What You’ll Learn Why strong performance alone may not lead to a promotion How Roxy found her content niche by talking honestly about work What it takes to create consistently while working full-time How to build a personal brand without creating problems at work How she went from a $100 brand deal to six-figure creator income How a personal brand can create confidence and career leverage Why Roxy built Sloefy for corporate professionals Resources Mentioned: Learn about Sloefy: https://sloefy.com/ Rhona's Newsletter: ⁠https://link.rhonapierce.com/newsletter2 Connect with Us: Connect with Roxy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanna-couse/ Connect with Rhona: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce Want to turn your team into creators? Visit ⁠⁠⁠workfluencermedia.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn how we help companies turn employee expertise into content that gets noticed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

46 min9/14/2026

Hackajob Gets a New Name, UKG Adds Voice

The Purple Acorn HR Morning Show

Linkup published their august 2026 jobs report; Key Takeaways Job openings stayed flat: Active job listings rose 0.1% in August 2026, to 4.96 million from 4.95 million in July. This suggests that underlying labor demand in the U.S. remained steady, alongside seasonal recruitment adjustments. Broad-based industry gains: Industries that saw an increase in job postings include Wholesale Trade (2.7k), Construction (1.6k), and Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (1.2k). However, Retail Trade saw the largest decrease (-4.8k). Major occupation drops: Office and Administrative Support occupations experienced the largest drop (-9.4k) followed by Installation, Maintenance, and Repair (-7.0k), and Production (-6.1k). https://hrtechfeed.com/august-2026-jobs-recap/ UKG has introduced several new AI-driven capabilities aimed at supporting frontline workforces, accelerating bulk recruitment, and preventing costly payroll discrepancies. Key among these updates is UKG Bryte Voice, a voice-enabled assistant integrated with UKG Pro that allows deskless staff—such as retail and healthcare workers—to execute routine tasks (like checking schedules, reviewing timecards, or updating direct deposit information) hands-free via Siri or Google Assistant. For talent acquisition, the platform now provides AI-assisted high-volume hiring tools, including candidate job recommendations, profile summaries, and a "Bulk Apply" workflow capable of processing up to 100 applicants simultaneously. Finally, UKG rolled out Agentic Pay, which allows administrators to examine historical pay data and resolve discrepancies before processing payroll through natural language queries to eliminate costly errors. https://hrtechfeed.com/ukg-launches-voice-enabled-ai-and-agentic-pay-tools-to-support-frontline-workers/ TORONTO — 7shifts, the restaurant HR platform, today announced the launch of Employee Training, a restaurant-specific training solution built directly into 7shifts. The new offering gives restaurants a simpler way to train their teams without adding another standalone tool. The launch expands 7shifts’ role across the restaurant employee lifecycle, bringing hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, pay, and retention together in one platform. Formerly known for scheduling and payroll, 7shifts has now fully evolved into a comprehensive HR platform. “Operators are done paying for separate software to hire, onboard, train, schedule, and pay their staff, they want one system for the entire HR employee lifecycle, not a patchwork of tools that don’t talk to each other,” said Jordan Boesch, chief executive officer at 7shifts. “When it’s all in one place, teams get strong faster and managers get time back to actually develop their people.” https://hrtechfeed.com/restaurant-hr-platform-adds-employee-training-feature/ In HR tech partnership news Match2, the platform powering the Universal Candidate Profile™, today announced that its Connected Talent Solutions™ is now available on SAP® Store, the online marketplace for SAP and partner offerings. PageUp, a global leader in talent acquisition software, and Sapia.ai, the pioneer in conversational AI for talent evaluation, today announced an enhanced strategic partnership. Building on their established relationship, the deepened integration links Sapia.ai’s autonomous, skills-based interviewing with PageUp’s newly advanced AI functionality. Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, and ADP, a global leader in HR and payroll solutions, today announced an expanded, strategic partnership. The partnership affirms AWS as ADP’s strategic cloud provider, enabling its continued AI transformation and ongoing innovation of generative and agentic AI solutions for its more than 1.1 million clients across 140 countries and territories. https://hrtechfeed.com/hr-tech-partnerships-in-the-news/ And finally the CEO of Hackajob Mark Chaffey share d on Linkedin today that the company will now be known as its core product name, Archer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 min9/10/2026

AI Fluency and HR Transformation with Sarika Lamont

Transformation Realness

Join us in this enlightening episode of Transformation Realness as we delve into the world of AI and HR transformation with Sarika Lamont, the outgoing Chief People Officer at Vidyard. Sarika, soon to be the Chief People and AI Enablement Officer at Technomile, shares her bold insights on what it means to be AI literate and why HR must lead the charge in AI transformation. With her extensive experience and passion for real-time innovation, Sarika offers a candid look at the evolving landscape of AI in the workplace. In this conversation, Sarika discusses the critical difference between AI literacy and fluency, emphasizing the importance of HR professionals not just understanding AI tools but being able to use them effectively as co-pilots in their work. She shares her journey from focusing on basic AI literacy to advocating for fluency, where HR professionals can make informed decisions and judgments using AI. Sarika also highlights the challenges and anxieties faced by various professionals, including engineers, in adapting to AI, and how these can be overcome through effective leadership and education. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the necessity of rebuilding competency frameworks amidst ongoing changes, the role of HR in owning AI transformation, and the myth of waiting for perfection before launching initiatives. With Sarika's transparent and passionate approach, this episode promises to inspire HR leaders and professionals to embrace AI as a tool for real-time innovation and transformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

40 min9/10/2026

Survival to Scale: Managing Catastrophic Shifts in B2B SaaS - ep. #032

Return to People

How do we rebuild after losing everything overnight and pivot toward a thriving, remote-first future? In this episode of the Return to People Podcast, host Kaleem Clarkson sits down with Hoppier and Postbeam founder Cassy Aite to unpack what it takes to navigate sudden corporate crisis and emerge with a scalable, distributed business model. Drawing from his journey from stocking local office pantries to managing enterprise-grade digital rewards across 60 countries, Cassy details how a catastrophic revenue drop transformed his team’s approach to workplace culture and resilience. Together, they explore the operational shifts required to run high-performing, remote-first organizations without compromising team engagement. Cassy breaks down the reality of shifting from an in-office skeptic to a distributed work advocate, illustrating how radical transparency and asynchronous documentation eliminate regional bottlenecks and create genuine trust. By sharing how unconventional hiring decisions paid off, how digital gifting replaced physical office snacks, and why personal branding is reshaping B2B growth, Cassy delivers a compelling look into modern adaptability. Crucially, he reframes geographic freedom as a core operational advantage: "Instead of competing in Ottawa for talent... we can hire people from all over the world with different perspectives, and that has totally changed the game for us." The conversation dives deep into the realities of crisis management and modern team dynamics, mapping out the pivotal friction points and breakthroughs behind their transformation: - The Core Challenges: Cassy opens up about losing $220K in monthly revenue almost overnight during the onset of COVID-19, overcoming personal skepticism around remote productivity, and managing complex communication streams across global time zones. - The Core Successes: You'll learn how leveraging Stripe APIs allowed Hoppier to rapidly pivot into digital gifting, how establishing a documentation-first culture built long-term psychological safety, and why taking hiring risks on non-traditional talent unlocks exceptional employee loyalty. 👉 Tune in now and discover how to navigate crisis, embrace distributed work, and build a truly resilient, human-first company. Learn More About Cassy - Hoppier Website: https://www.hoppier.com - Postbeam Website: https://www.postbeam.com - Cassy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassy-aite/Ç Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

39 min9/9/2026

#101 - Stagnant Hiring & The HR Trust Deficit - Presented by CalendarPA.com

In this episode of The HR Morning Show on the Purple Acorn Network, hosts Mike Peditto and Serge Boudreau address the compliance landmines and cultural friction surrounding pay transparency, exploring whether open salary ranges foster true trust or heighten candidate skepticism during hiring. The team also breaks down new data on a cooling labor market, analyzing how sluggish hiring, falling turnover, and low worker mobility leave companies and employees in a prolonged state of limbo. The first feature brings in guest 🏡 Kim Rohrer (she/her), who joins Mike Peditto to dissect the unexpected "theater kid to HR pipeline" and demonstrate how storytelling enhances workplace connection. The discussion expands to incorporate insights co-developed with Rebecca Taylor - Kim's co-creator and podcast co-host - addressing why corporate community cannot be treated as a top-down gift delivered to employees, and why traditional company gatherings consistently miss the mark without collaborative design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

63 min9/8/2026

SIA Report: The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026

Joining me today is John Nurthen, Executive Director of Global Research at Staffing Industry Analysts. John has spent more than three decades in the staffing industry—and he has just authored a global research report titled The Digital Workforce in Recruitment 2026. In it, John maps out how digital worker agents——are moving from the fringes directly into the recruiting lifecycle. We’ll be breaking down why the future isn't about fully replacing human recruiters, the hidden risks of 'AI sprawl' and compliance liabilities, and how leaders must learn to manage a mixed workforce of employees, contractors, and algorithms. https://www.staffingindustry.com/who-we-are/john-nurthen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 min9/8/2026

Your employer is about to cut your pay and call it a benefit

Mercer says employer health costs jump 8.2 percent in 2027, the steepest climb since 2003. That number made the headlines. A second number in the same survey decides what happens to your paycheck, and it got almost no ink. This episode follows the money from a doctor's office to a benefits meeting you will never attend, then lands on the one decision still in your hands. Brought to you by: Career Intelligence Weekly https://newsletter.jimstroud.com ... Sources: Survey: Health benefit costs expected to jump in 2027 (Mercer) www.mercer.com/en-us/insights/us-health-news/survey-health-benefit-costs-expected-to-jump-in-2027/ Health insurance cost expected to exceed $18,500 per employee in 2026 (Mercer newsroom) www.mercer.com/en-us/about/newsroom/employers-and-workers-face-affordability-crunch-as-health-insurnace-cost-is-expected-to-exceed-18500-per-employee-in-2026/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 min9/7/2026

Salesforce Gives Hibob $166M

The Purple Acorn HR Morning Show

In this weeks episode sponsored by Dalia.co * Hibob gets infusion of cash, Recruiter.com acquires Feenyx, Staffmark's report on AI in recruiting, new features from ICIMS and Vervoe. READ ON https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 min9/3/2026

Navigating Entrepreneurship and AI in the Workplace with Ben Brooks

Transformation Realness

Join host Kyle Lagunas on this episode of Transformation Realness as he sits down with Ben Brooks, the dynamic founder and CEO of Pilot, to explore the challenging yet rewarding world of entrepreneurship and the transformative role of AI in modern workplaces. Ben, who describes his career as 'Z-Shaped', shares his unique insights into leadership development, culture, and organizational design, drawing from his rich experience at companies like Oliver Wyman and Lockheed Martin. In this engaging conversation, Ben and Kyle delve into how AI is reshaping the efficiency of knowledge workers and the implications it has for senior management. They discuss the shifting bottlenecks in decision-making processes and the power dynamics that emerge as a result. Ben also opens up about the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship, sharing personal anecdotes about the challenges and learning curves that come with owning a business. Listeners will gain valuable perspectives on what it truly takes to succeed as an entrepreneur and how to navigate the often tumultuous journey. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a business leader, or someone interested in the intersection of technology and management, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Don't miss out on Ben's candid thoughts and practical advice on making work better and helping people become their best selves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

52 min9/3/2026

#100 - The Power of Employee Referrals - Presented by CalendarPA.com

Celebrations are in order as The HR Morning Show reaches its landmark 100th episode! Join our fantastic lineup of hosts—Adam Posner, Danielle Farage, Rhona Barnett-Pierce, Joel L., Mike Peditto, John Baldino, Serge Boudreau, Matt Alder, Mervyn Dinnen, and Kyle Lagunas—as they bring you an action-packed, multi-perspective look at the evolving world of talent acquisition, human resources, and business operations. From industry headlines to our signature weather report and dynamic roundtables, this special edition brings together the top voices driving the workplace conversation today. Our expert host team sits down with an unbelievable roster of featured guests to break down the hottest topics in the industry. We hear from Ryan Affolter, Christian Ray, and Mike Stafiej on key workplace referral strategies, followed by Matthew Owenby (SVP, Chief Administrative Officer & CHRO at Aflac) to discuss executive leadership, combatting employee burnout, and managing talent surplus versus shortages. Then, host Serge Boudreau speaks with former USWNT star and The Amazing Race contestant Joanna Lohman building high-performing teams and translating elite sports performance into business success. To round out our milestone episode, talent acquisition pioneer Gerry Crispin (Founder of CareerXroads) joins host Mervyn Dinnen to lay out the critical Baseline Standard for Applicant Closure and end candidate ghosting, alongside insights from insider Mike Peditto (yes, he's a guest too!) with host Kyle Lagunas. Whether you are looking to elevate your hiring candidate experience, redesign employee benefits, or build resilient team cultures, Episode 100 delivers unmatched expertise from across the global HR landscape. Make sure to visit our sponsors, CalendarPA and Talent Tech PR to show them some love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

80 min9/1/2026

Candidate Pushback & The New Era of Transparency

Workfluencer: Personal Branding & Content Creation

In this episode Chris Russell explores how job seekers are taking transparency into their own hands with new consumer tools like DidTheyGhostYou.com and JobScamScore.com. We break down how public ghosting leaderboards and AI scam-detection tools actually work, why they are becoming an early-warning radar for your employer brand, and the practical steps recruiters can take to protect candidate trust and optimize their ATS workflows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 min9/1/2026

#100: How Creators Can Help Brands Win AI Search

AI search citations are the newest piece of real estate on the internet, and creators may be one of the fastest ways for brands to claim it. Most brand deals are still measured through reach, clicks, and conversions. Meanwhile, answer engines are shaping which companies get mentioned when buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google who to trust. Almost nobody is pricing creator partnerships around that value yet. This conversation was never supposed to become an episode. Rhona Pierce invited Jeffrey Fermin, a 15-year marketing veteran, to privately pressure test an offer she is building around AI search citations. What follows is a behind-the-scenes look at two media and marketing operators working through the opportunity in real time. They break down how attribution actually works inside companies, why UTMs and discount codes miss so much of a creator’s influence, and how podcast transcripts and other written assets can support visibility in AI-generated answers. At its core, this is a conversation about proof. Creators need ways to demonstrate value when tracking fails. Brands need to understand what a mention from a trusted outside voice can do that content published on their own website cannot. You’ll hear why tying creator pay to closed sales is a bad deal, how multi-touch attribution better reflects the B2B buying journey, and why Rhona will never agree to perpetual usage rights when creator content could continue generating value for years. This behind-the-scenes conversation marks the 100th episode of the Workfluencer Podcast. What You'll Learn: Why AI search citations are becoming a line item creators can price and sell Where a creator’s responsibility ends in the sales funnel How multi-touch attribution works in B2B marketing How creator content can support visibility in AI search Why transcripts and structured written content matter What AI citations could mean for creator usage rights Why brands and creators need new ways to measure long-term value Resources Mentioned: Rhona's Newsletter: ⁠https://link.rhonapierce.com/newsletter2 Connect with Us: Connect with Jeffrey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfermin/ Connect with Rhona: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce Want to turn your team into creators? Visit ⁠⁠⁠workfluencermedia.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn how we help companies turn employee expertise into content that gets noticed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

34 min9/1/2026

IS HR BEING FIRED: The Headcount Model Is Broken. Here’s What Replaces It.

AI isn't just changing jobs. It's changing the math behind how companies decide how many people they need. For decades, workforce planning HR has used largely followed the same formula: define the roles, establish the requirements, determine the experience needed, assign headcount, and build the budget. But skills based hiring, flexible talent models, and AI augmentation are breaking some of the assumptions behind that model. In this episode of **IS HR GETTING FIRED?**, I break down why traditional headcount planning needs a major makeover—and the new framework CEOs, CHROs, CFOs, and HR leaders should be thinking about as they plan for 2026, 2027, and beyond. **TIMESTAMPS** 00:00 Why the traditional headcount model is breaking 01:24 How workforce planning has worked for the last 50 years 01:42 The assumptions behind traditional headcount planning 02:02 IBM, Accenture, Google & the shift to skills-based hiring 02:31 Crack #1: Skill reuse across functions 03:02 Crack #2: Contractors vs. FTEs in a skills-based workforce 03:38 Crack #3: AI changes the productivity baseline 04:06 How AI becomes a skill multiplier 04:48 The shift from headcount to effective capacity 05:16 Step 1: Start with the work, not the roles 05:29 Step 2: Map the skills required 05:47 Step 3: Calculate human + AI capacity 06:17 Step 4: Determine the optimal workforce mix 06:41 Three questions every CHRO should be asking 07:12 Why the FTE model needs a major makeover 07:30 The new workforce planning framework 07:39 Take the FutHRist Self-Assessment The big shift is this: Instead of asking, **“How many people do we need?”** leaders increasingly need to ask, **“What effective capacity and skills do we need to deliver the work?”** That changes how organizations think about FTEs, contractors, internal mobility, workforce planning, and AI augmentation. **Go deeper with The FutHRist:** ▶️ Watch the full FutHRist playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt89w_O9KY0J3C66aw1g-R0uEYlm1n5OV 📊 Take the FutHRist Self-Assessment: https://www.trentcotton.com/futhrist-self-assessment 📕 **THE FUTHRIST — AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 14, 2026** My new book, *The FutHRist*, explores the five mindsets leaders need to stay relevant in the age of AI. **The FutHRist will be available to purchase on Amazon beginning September 14, 2026.** If you're a CEO, CHRO, HR leader, or executive trying to understand what AI means for the future of your workforce, subscribe for more conversations on how we build organizations—and careers—that stay relevant in the age of AI. #FutureOfWork #HumanResources #ArtificialIntelligence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 min8/31/2026

Test Them With AI. Test Them Without It.

Your candidate nailed questions one and two. Question three broke him. That's hiring now: the chatbot did the prep, and you have to find the person underneath. This episode is the fix. How to hire thinkers, keep the ones you have, and spot the moment your team stops thinking. ... This episode brought to you by Career Intelligence Weekly - Tracking the hidden job market for smarter career decisions. https://newsletter.jimstroud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 min8/31/2026

LinkedIn Changes Job Ad Pricing

First up: If you’ve logged into your recruitment dashboard recently and noticed your LinkedIn ad campaigns look a little different, you aren't imagining it. LinkedIn officially retired its daily and 30-day "slot" campaigns and migrated everyone over to a Pay-for-Performance—or P4P—model. Here’s what that actually means for your hiring budget: Instead of buying calendar airtime where you pay regardless of engagement, you now pick a fixed budget tier—either $299, $399, or $549. You only pay when a candidate clicks "Apply." Sounds great, right? But here’s the catch you need to know about: Your campaign ends as soon as the budget is spent, or after 30 days—whichever comes first. That means a high-demand role could burn through a $399 budget in twelve days, leaving your listing inactive for the rest of the month if you don't keep an eye on it. Plus, unused budget operates on a "use-it-or-lose-it" rule and won't roll over. Check your account settings this week to make sure your tier matches your hiring volume—and don't forget to verify your LinkedIn Company Page to keep your free organic listings flowing. Moving on to funding news: Background screening and workforce safety platform Yardstik has raised $30 million in a Series B round led by Harbert Growth Partners, bringing their total capital raised to $65 million. Why is this important? Because traditional background checks have historically been built around a single "moment in time"—the day someone gets hired. But as Yardstik points out, workforce risk changes every single day. Yardstik is using this cash to double down on fraud prevention and continuous workforce monitoring. Instead of waiting for an annual review, their system alerts employers in real-time if a worker’s driver’s license lapses, insurance expires, or a regulatory exclusion occurs. With 98% account retention and clients like Gopuff and TaskRabbit, Yardstik is proving that ongoing fraud protection isn't just a premium add-on anymore—it's becoming the standard foundation for contingent and traditional workforces alike. In product news today, we have two major updates aimed at making talent acquisition smarter and faster. First, iHire released its new Hiring Market Insights dashboard. It lets recruiters compare candidate availability directly against job demand across specific metros and skills. If you’re struggling to hire a specific role, it tells you whether it's a candidate shortage or an overcrowded job market—helping you tweak job titles and expectations before launching a campaign. Meanwhile, assessment provider eSkill introduced Linea, an AI-powered intelligence layer built right into their platform using Anthropic's Claude models. Here’s why recruiters will love it: You can drop a job description into Linea, and in seconds, it drafts a custom skill assessment pulled from eSkill's library of 70,000 validated questions. Crucially, eSkill designed Linea with a "human-in-the-loop" approach—showing the AI's reasoning for every question so recruiters stay in full control of the final test. Finally, a brand new study from financial tech firms Branch and Stripe reveals a massive shift in how people work: Gig work is officially no longer just a "side hustle." According to their Gig Workforce Index—which surveyed over 1,000 flexible workers—56% of gig workers now rely on platform work for the majority of their household income. A few eye-opening stats from the report: The Competition is Wild: 60% of workers say they have to accept a posted gig in under two minutes before someone else snatches it up. The Multi-App Hustle: Nearly half balance three or more different apps simultaneously to keep income steady. Cash Flow is King: 78% experience weekly income fluctuations, and 72% spend their earnings within 24 hours just to cover gas, groceries, and bills. The takeaway for HR and platform leaders? Fast payouts and financial management tools are no longer perk add-ons—they are the primary driver of worker retention. https://hrtechfeed.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 min8/27/2026

You Don’t Have an AI Problem - You Have a People Problem with Michelle Rife and Amberly Marston

Transformation Realness

What happens when the roadmap disappears, the C-suite keeps changing, and AI shows up promising to transform everything? On this episode of Transformation Realness, Kyle Lagunas sits down with Michelle Rife, longtime VP of Global Talent, and Amberly Marston, Senior Director of People Operations, to talk about what it actually takes to lead when change isn't an initiative anymore. It's the operating environment. Michelle and Amberly have been through it together: pre-IPO expectations that evaporated, multiple CEOs, rounds of layoffs, rebuilding, and the kind of constant uncertainty that forces you to rethink what good leadership actually looks like. They dig into why HR needs to stop defending the perfect plan, why throwing AI on top of broken processes just creates a faster mess, and why employee experience should be treated like a product rather than a collection of programs and platforms. They also unpack the shift from hiring for perfectly matched experience toward hiring for agility, curiosity, grit, and the ability to keep moving when the ground shifts. Because AI can change the tools, accelerate the work, and rewrite the roadmap. But the fundamentals haven't moved nearly as much as the hype would have you believe. Trust, communication, judgment, resilience, and helping people find their footing still matter. Turns out the future of HR might be a lot less about having all the answers and a lot more about knowing how to lead when nobody does. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

48 min8/27/2026

The Science of Digital Presence: Resolving Intentionality and Connection Gaps - ep. #031

Return to People

How do we replace the illusion of connection at work with relationships that actually last? In this episode of the Return to People Podcast, host Kaleem Clarkson sits down with SkyeTeam CEO, USA Today bestselling author, and executive coach Morag Barrett to unpack what it actually takes to build authentic human connection across modern, distributed teams. Drawing from two decades of coaching over 20,000 leaders across 20 countries, Morag shares how a former UK banker realized that organizational performance has little to do with spreadsheet numbers and everything to do with workplace relationships. Together, they unpack the practical realities of managing remote and hybrid teams without falling into surface-level performance traps. Morag breaks down the friction points of digital isolation and fake positivity, while explaining why pushing return-to-office mandates without intentional design often leaves employees feeling more disconnected than before. By dismantling multitasking habits in virtual meetings, implementing simple micro-rituals like three minutes of banter, and measuring leadership success by genuine interpersonal trust, Morag delivers a masterclass in modern, human-first leadership. Crucially, she reframes digital presence as an active leadership discipline. As she notes, "Being present means sharing your point of view, whether that's in the chat, coming off mute, having your camera on so that people can see you, and yet, and still connect with you as a human being." The conversation dives deep into the realities of modern workplace culture, mapping out the core friction points and breakthroughs every leadership team faces: - The Core Challenges: Morag opens up about the danger of "faking perky" on video calls, the stark reality that one in four leaders has no meaningful workplace relationships, and the isolation faced by remote-onboarded employees who are left alone with a webcam and expected to absorb culture by osmosis. -The Core Successes: You'll learn how small practices like SkyeTeam's weekly "Ripples and Joys" check-in build muscle memory for psychological safety, how three minutes of agenda banter transformed a rigid defense contractor's culture, and why deliberate virtual design outlasts forced physical proximity. 👉 Tune in now and discover how to replace the illusion of connection with intentional, people-first leadership. Learn More About Morag: Morag´s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moragbarrett/ SkyeTeam´s Website: https://skyeteam.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

35 min8/26/2026

The Rot You Can't See on a Resume

Workfluencer: Personal Branding & Content Creation

What happens when AI makes you more productive—but less capable? Jim Stroud explores the hidden “cognitive debt” of outsourcing your thinking, the growing divide between AI-fluent workers and passive dependents, and why recruiters can no longer trust polished resumes as proof of real ability. The new hiring challenge: finding candidates whose brains still work when the machine steps away. Sponsored by: Career Intelligence Weekly - Tracking the invisible job market for smarter career decisions. https://careerintelligence.beehiiv.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 min8/24/2026

#99: How to Create LinkedIn Content That Sells

Most people post about getting laid off and ask for sympathy. Deidre “Dee” Henry posted about getting laid off and asked for clients. Dee had been a top-performing salesperson at Zillow when she suddenly lost her job. Instead of publishing the expected gratitude post, she shared what she was actually feeling and made it clear what she could do for potential clients. That story became the foundation for The Sales Loft, Microsoft partnerships, a CNBC feature, and an appearance on the same stage as Kerry Washington. In this episode, Dee joins Rhona Pierce to break down how personal stories become content that sells. They discuss why feelings drive decisions, how to be vulnerable without becoming a hot mess online, and what separates a post that earns sympathy from one that creates opportunities. Dee also shares her PTO framework: Profile, Trust, and Opportunities. You’ll learn how to turn your LinkedIn profile into a sales page, create content that gives people a reason to hire you, and stay consistent when your posts are not producing immediate revenue. What You'll Learn: Why feelings make content more persuasive How to turn a personal story into a business opportunity The difference between authentic content and oversharing What separates posts that sell from posts that earn sympathy How to make your LinkedIn profile function like a sales page Why every post should communicate what is in it for the reader Why you do not need a large audience or website to attract clients What to do when your content is not converting yet Resources Mentioned: Visit The Sales Loft: https://thesalesloft.com/ Rhona's Newsletter: https://link.rhonapierce.com/newsletter2 Connect with Us: ⁠Connect with Deidre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deidremhenry/ Connect with Rhona: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhonabarnettpierce Want to turn your team into creators? Visit ⁠⁠workfluencermedia.com⁠⁠ to learn how we help companies turn employee expertise into content that gets noticed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

51 min8/24/2026

AI Isn’t the Biggest Threat to HR. This Is.