Avsnitt
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This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
AI hype is loud, messy, and often misguided. Jess Von Bank and Jason Averbook cut through the noise and get right to the uncomfortable truth. Most companies aren’t ready for AI because they haven’t fixed the basics: broken systems, outdated processes, and low organizational literacy. This conversation gets into the heart of what actually needs to change before AI can deliver real value.
In this episode we speak with Jess Von Bank and Jason Averbook about responsible AI, organizational readiness, governance, incentives, failed expectations, and why rethinking work itself matters more than any new tool.
Key Takeaways
AI won’t fix anything until organizations fix their fundamentals
Governance, literacy, and incentives decide whether AI succeeds
Automating old processes is not innovation
Most AI failures come from bad expectations, not tech
Leaders need to rethink how problems are defined
The industry must stop “AI sprinkling” on outdated systems
Real transformation requires behavior change and reimagining work
Chapters
01:56 Why the TA and HR tech ROI hasn’t matched investment
02:45 The opportunity and danger inside the AI buzz
03:26 Human centricity, fairness, and literacy
04:11 The hype cycle and the rush to adopt
05:10 Asking “AI for what?” before chasing ROI
06:14 Why this is a reset, not another tech wave
07:33 Digital lipstick on an analog pig
08:11 Transformation vs ongoing evolution
09:52 What will happen to most vendors
10:39 Why AI projects fail
11:41 Redefining how companies solve problems
12:21 Defining success the right way
13:03 HR’s responsibility in making AI work
14:00 Leaders need AI literacy too
14:47 Productivity vs collective intelligence
15:55 Redeploying work, not displacing workers
16:24 The limits of current AI use cases
17:00 Why displacing jobs is the wrong metric
18:15 Vendors must solve real problems
18:59 Consolidation, infrastructure, and the ecosystem
20:04 Responsible innovation needs offense and defense
20:32 Why infrastructure consolidation matters
21:21 Why responsible AI starts with asking “why?”
22:01 Rethinking whether core HR practices still make sense
22:44 The crisis moment HR is facing
23:08 Closing thoughts and gratitude
Guest Info
Jess Von Bank, Global Leader, Digital HR Transformation
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessvonbank/
Jason Averbook, Sr. Partner Mercer
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/
Host
Bob Pulver, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
In this episode we talk about HR tech, PEOs, SMBs, AI in hiring, and why owning your own product roadmap matters. We walk through how CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve small businesses that often have no HR leader, how they think about employee experience and mobile access, what they are seeing on the Pitchfest stage, and why HR should be using AI as an additive tool instead of a replacement for real people strategy.
Key Takeaways
HR tech for SMBs is shifting from “forgotten buyer” to primary target, with more vendors openly building for small and midsize businesses.
The PEO model plus a modern HCM platform lets SMBs pool benefits, workers’ comp, payroll, and 401(k) under one roof instead of stitching together point solutions.
CoAdvantage’s CoAdQuantum platform and mobile app give employees browser-level access on their phones, including pay history and total compensation views.
AI in hiring is getting congested and same-y, but the most interesting tools are removing identifiers and focusing on skills, language, and behavior to reduce bias.
Performance management AI that “advocates” for employees by surfacing year-long contributions can fix the nine-month memory gap of annual reviews.
Pitchfest revealed a divide between “sizzle” AI pitches and deeper semantic and behavioral models that are harder to explain in three minutes but more differentiated.
HR is finally being talked about as a business impact driver, with clearer correlations between bad hires, brand damage, culture, and hard financial cost.
There is a growing risk that free AI tools tempt leaders to skip a real people strategy, which turns HR tech into a liability instead of a safeguard.
CoAdvantage built and owns its own technology so it would not be a small fish on someone else’s roadmap, and migrated clients to CoAdQuantum to control its destiny.
The product “personality” the team aims for is flexible, honest, self-aware, reliable, and deeply listening to SMB clients, not pretending to be all-knowing.
Chapters
00:00 AI, bias, and sanitizing candidate data
01:44 Katee and Robin intro Inclusive AF live at HR Tech with CoAdvantage | PrimePay
02:29 Who CoAdvantage and PrimePay serve and how the PEO model works for SMBs
04:55 Employee experience, mobile app, and total compensation visibility
07:27 Why CoAdvantage sponsored Pitchfest and what they are seeing in the HR tech startup field
10:33 AI tools that strip identifiers, de-bias hiring, and support performance management
12:12 The forgotten SMB HR tech buyer and why distribution strategy matters
16:03 Making HR credible to business leaders and tying HR decisions to ROI and risk
17:11 AI hype, liability risk, and why HR has to stay the protector of the business
18:28 If your product had a personality – how CoAdvantage describes its tech and service
20:54 Owning the tech stack, CoAdQuantum migrations, and controlling product destiny
22:01 Real-time client feedback, roadmap iteration, and bridging data and humans
23:05 Wrap up with Katee and Robin from the HR Executive studio
Guest Information
Caitlin Carragee – Head of Strategy, CoAdvantage | PrimePay
Website: https://coadvantage.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlincarragee
Mark Zimmerman – Chief Information Officer, CoAdvantage
Website: https://coadvantage.com/leadership/mark-zimmerman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markzimmerman
Hosts
Katee Van Horn – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – https://www.linkedin.com/in/katee-van-horn/
Robin Schooling – Co-host, Inclusive AF Podcast – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinschooling -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Hiring has never been louder, faster, or more chaotic. Daniel Chait breaks down why great hiring still comes down to disciplined systems, data, and the courage to say no to feature-chasing. This is a real look at how Greenhouse thinks about customers, product, and what “great at hiring” actually means in 2025.
In this episode we speak with Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse about founder lessons, product vision, hiring discipline, fraud in the talent market, and why recruiting teams need better data to earn real credibility with the business.
Key Takeaway
Great strategy dies fast if you cannot hire the talent to execute it
Listening to customers without a clear product vision creates a bloated, incoherent platform
New Greenhouse Analytics puts real hiring metrics in the hands of recruiters and leaders
Most TA teams still cannot answer basic questions on attrition, time to fill, or funnel health
Fraud, AI generated resumes, and deepfakes are reshaping how employers vet candidates
Real Talent focuses on signal, identity, and reducing noise in overwhelming pipelines
High volume and professional hiring are converging on similar experiences and expectations
Being right is not enough in legal or business fights if the time and cost kill the company
Chapters
00:00 Why great hiring beats any strategy on paper
02:00 Daniel’s path from programmer to founder
03:40 Discovering hiring as an engineering problem
05:27 Ambitious, collaborative customers as the ideal partners
06:55 Balancing customer asks with a clear product vision
09:40 How Greenhouse stays out of the “feature soup” trap
11:42 New Greenhouse Analytics and what it unlocks
13:31 Why most companies still lack basic recruiting data
15:19 Data as the language that earns TA a real seat at the table
17:39 Launching “Real Talent” to combat fraud and misrepresentation
19:16 AI resumes, spam pipelines, and candidate frustration
21:01 Helping real candidates stand out in noisy markets
21:46 My Greenhouse, job alerts, and the “dream job” signal
23:18 Convergence of frontline and salaried hiring experiences
24:34 One system to support all types of hiring
26:33 Where automation stops and human touch still matters
28:41 A painful early lawsuit and the cost of being “right”
31:24 How that lesson now shapes partnership and customer decisions
33:35 Final thoughts and where to learn more about Greenhouse
Guest Info
Daniel Chait, Co-founder & CEO, Greenhouse
Website: https://www.greenhouse.com
Host
Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
AI gets loud, fast, and overpromised. This conversation cuts through the noise. When the entire talent lifecycle sits on fragmented systems, AI becomes guesswork. When the data is unified, you unlock precision, prediction, and real outcomes. Rebecca and Dan lay out why SmartRecruiters and SAP SuccessFactors fit together, what Winston can actually do in the flow of work, and how the TA ecosystem changes when recruiting, HR, learning, contingent labor, and analytics all live on one plane.
In this episode we speak with Rebecca Carr and Dan Beck about AI trust, cross-lifecycle data, workforce planning, agentic systems, shared incentives, and the future of TA inside the world’s largest enterprise HR suite.
Key Takeaways
AI is only as good as the data foundation it sits on
Recruiting data alone can’t deliver lifecycle intelligence
Unifying HR, learning, finance, and contingent labor unlocks new predictions
Winston works because it stays in the flow of work and builds trust slowly
Shared incentives between TA and TM matter more than ownership
Agentic AI needs clean inputs, not shortcuts
Workforce planning becomes work planning when analytics are unified
Chapters
00:15 Why SAP chose SmartRecruiters
00:32 Autonomy, agents, and better data
01:04 Live from HR Tech 2025
01:22 Rebecca’s background
01:54 Dan’s background
02:36 Innovation and why the partnership made sense
03:03 What brought the companies together
03:57 Why SmartRecruiters was the pick
04:21 AI’s power with end-to-end data
04:49 What the acquisition unlocks
05:11 Product and cultural alignment
05:55 Customer-obsessed DNA
06:05 Why lifecycle visibility changes everything
06:46 Shared incentives across TA and TM
07:16 Early integration conversations
07:31 Workforce planning meets recruiting
08:13 Data loops inside SAP’s platform
08:26 Building an AI-first data plane
08:58 How better data drives autonomous agents
09:15 Finance, HR, and contingent labor convergence
10:30 The extended workforce lens
11:07 Non-employee analytics and certification
12:07 Winston’s role inside SuccessFactors
12:46 Why Winston boosts engagement and data quality
13:59 How SAP plans to anchor TA around this roadmap
14:35 AI literacy and readiness across teams
15:01 Why “just automate it” doesn’t build trust
16:06 Winston’s one-job-at-a-time model
17:02 How trust becomes experimentation
17:27 Designing rollout journeys with customers
18:17 Real-world enterprise AI adoption
18:53 Why Winston accelerates AI maturity
Guest Info
Rebecca Carr, CEO SmartRecruiters
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccajcarr/
Dan Beck, General Manager and Chief Produc Officer, SmartRecruiters
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-beck/
Host
Bob Holver, Elevate Your AiQ Podcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bobpulver
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
We sit down with VONQ CEO Ritu Mohanka at HR Tech to unpack what really changed at the top of the funnel. Recruiters are drowning in volume and starving for relevance, so VONQ is leaning into programmatic job distribution, embedded marketplaces, and AI screening agents that send 20 signal-rich candidates instead of 200 random applies.
We walk through their global channel model, new fraud and AI-usage detection, and why building in public on LinkedIn is part of their transparency and trust story.
In this episode we talk about AI agents, recruitment advertising, fraud detection, candidate volume, and LinkedIn as the new front door for talent tech. Ritu traces the journey from Kenexa and Glint to leading VONQ, then breaks down how a platform that touches 5,000 channels can quietly sit inside your ATS and still change the shape of your funnel.
Key Takeaways
Recruiters don’t want 200 applicants anymore. They want 20 high intent candidates who already passed knockout questions and early screening. VONQ evolved from an ad agency into a global recruitment platform that distributes jobs across thousands of channels with programmatic controls focused on outcomes like cost per hire, speed, and quality.
In North America VONQ acts as infrastructure. Everything runs through ATS and HCM marketplaces so recruiters never leave the system where they create jobs. Embedded multiposting, LinkedIn CPA Plus, and AI screening agents deliver shortlists instead of noise, and all the agents are already built and deployed before launch.
VONQ now surfaces “signals” of AI or fraud inside the candidate dossier so recruiters know when automation helped versus when it crossed a line. Building in public on LinkedIn is part of the trust play in a noisy AI market.
The real bet is recruiter enablement. Less admin, cleaner workflows, faster paths to shortlists. The industry is shifting from volume to relevance, and VONQ’s platform and agent strategy is aligned to that pivot.
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Chapters
0:00 Cold open – “The newest pain point is volume. We don’t want that much volume.”
1:00 Welcome back to WorkTech at HR Tech and live-audience setup
1:40 Ritu’s background – Connexa, Glint, LinkedIn, and finding “home” again in HR tech
3:04 What’s different on the floor – AI agents everywhere, screening at the top of the funnel, and the rise of fraud detection
4:04 Old-school assessments vs AI-driven screening and ranking
5:42 VONQ’s evolution – from recruitment ad agency to global recruitment advertising platform
6:39 Platform over point solutions – 5,000 channels and programmatic distribution
7:52 Global go-to-market – direct in Europe, channel and marketplace model in North America
8:51 Embedded in ATS and HCM – why recruiters should never have to leave where they create jobs
10:15 CPA Plus with LinkedIn – cost-per-application-plus, not just eyeballs and clicks
10:54 From 200 applies to 20 shortlists – high intent, knockout questions, and six-minute voice interviews
12:20 Detecting AI usage and fraud – “signals not flags” for cover letters, chats, and voice screenings
13:58 The ecosystem view – platforms selling AI while also protecting against AI abuse
14:47 Finding VONQ on LinkedIn and why building in public matters
Guest Info
Ritu Mohanka, CEO at VONQ
Website: https://www.vonq.com
Host
George LaRocque, WorkTech Podcast -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Hiring teams are burnt out, candidates are overwhelmed, and tech is changing faster than anyone can keep up. Desiree Goldey and Ashley King break down what recruiters are actually dealing with right now, why the work feels heavier, and where the talent function needs to evolve next. No polish. No filters. Just two recruiters telling the truth.
In this episode we speak with Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless, and Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless, about recruiter burnout, broken expectations, messy hiring pipelines, candidate fatigue, and the gap between HR tech promises and real recruiter workflows.
Key Takeaways
Recruiters are carrying emotional labor no one talks about
Hiring velocity hides broken processes
Candidates are overwhelmed by noisy pipelines
Most teams are under-skilled in real candidate communication
Tech doesn’t fix chaos if leaders don’t change behavior
Burnout is coming from expectations, not workload
Honest feedback loops are missing across TA
Chapters
00:00 Why recruiting feels heavier
01:10 The emotional load of TA
02:04 Candidate chaos in 2025
03:22 Broken communication loops
04:40 When tech makes it worse
06:15 Burnout signals recruiters ignore
07:30 What leaders still don’t get
08:55 Where the function needs to go
Host
Desiree Goldey, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireegoldey/
Ashley King, Co-Host, Talentless Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleykingdei/
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Large enterprises are dragging legacy systems, legal risk, and AI anxiety into every talent conversation, while the next wave of tools is already capable of automating massive chunks of recruiting. In this HR Tech Live conversation, WorkTech host George LaRocque sits down with Jeremy Roberts from Tenzo AI to unpack what happens when AI interviewing is done right, why most teams are still evaluating yesterday’s tech, and how this changes the shape of recruiting departments going forward.
In this episode we speak with Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead at Tenzo AI, about evaluating AI interview platforms, rebuilding workflows around skills and signals instead of résumés, how to get past the “cool demo” to real compliance and transparency, and why he chose Tenzo after vetting the entire AI interview landscape.
Key Takeaways
Most large companies are stalled by legal risk and legacy systems while AI is already capable of automating much of early-stage recruiting
AI interviewing shifts evaluation from incomplete résumés to structured skills evidence and every spoken word in context
The real disruption isn’t the tech, it’s the requirement to tear down and rebuild talent workflows from scratch
Vendors that win will be the ones who can explain every decision to legal, compliance, and AI governance councils
High-volume use cases are just the starting point; AI interviewing is already good enough for knowledge workers and senior roles
Tenzo’s focus on debiasing, transparency, and explainability was the differentiator in Jeremy’s market-wide evaluation
Founding customer success roles sit at the center of product, sales, and customers, shaping the roadmap in real time
Chapters
00:00 AI, legacy systems, and what could be automated
01:02 Live at HR Tech and intro to Jeremy
02:05 Jeremy’s path from recruiter to AI startup
05:14 Vetting the AI interview market
07:26 How AI interviewing changes workflows
10:45 Why Tenzo stood out
13:37 Compliance, explainability, and safer evaluation
16:12 Where Tenzo sits in the TA stack
18:21 Data, CRM potential, and personalization
21:02 Jeremy’s role as founding customer success lead
23:24 Culture, humility, and building the right way
24:23 Wrap up and HR Tech Pitchfest shout
Guest Info
Jeremy Roberts, Founding Customer Success Lead, Tenzo AI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyroberts/
Host
George LaRocque, Founder and Principal Analyst, WorkTech and host of The Work Tech Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgelarocque/
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
People analytics hit its peak in 2022. Then the bottom dropped out. Roles disappeared. Teams shrank. And everyone started asking the same question: did people analytics miss its moment? Cole Napper doesn’t think so. He argues the opposite. The field isn’t dying. It’s shifting. The future is AI transformation, workforce modeling, and organizational change at scale. And the people who’ve lived inside the analytics trenches are the only ones with the skill stack to actually pull it off. Data. Tech. AI. Change. It’s all converging, and the HR teams who ignore it are about to get left behind.
In this episode we talk about people analytics, AI, workforce transformation, storytelling with data, fraud in talent acquisition, geopolitics, and why the industry is about to rename itself. Cole breaks down what’s happening, what’s coming next, and why the “weather report” days of HR data are officially over.
What We Cover
The rise and dip of people analytics roles
Why AI, agents, and automation are shifting the playing field
Storytelling vs AI-generated insights
Fraud across TA, payroll, and analytics
The future of workforce planning
How data companies like Lightcast power the HR ecosystem
Why “AI” as a label is about to get boring
What HR leaders actually want: predictions, not dashboards
Key Takeaways
People analytics hit a high watermark in 2022, then declined
AI transformation and workforce transformation are the real next wave
People analytics talent already has the four skills the future requires: data, tech, AI, and change management
Storytelling still separates good analysts from bad ones
Fraud has spiked in talent acquisition and bleeds into analytics now
AI terms will fade as the tech becomes baseline
Workforce planning is hotter now than at any point since 2008
Leaders don’t want data weather reports. They want “do I need an umbrella?” answers
Lightcast’s data powers nearly 100 HR tech vendors
Chapters
0:00 The High Watermark and Decline of People Analytics
2:00 Who is Cole? IO Psych, Data, and Directionally Correct
4:50 The Real Skills HR Needs: Data, Tech, AI, Change
6:00 Storytelling vs AI-Generated Insights
7:30 Fraud in TA, Analytics, and Payroll
9:20 Workforce Trends and Seeing Around Corners
10:30 Why “AI” Will Become Boring
11:30 The Weather Report Problem in HR Data
12:20 Lightcast’s Ecosystem and Workforce Planning Surge
13:30 What We’ll Be Talking About Next Year
Guest
Cole Naper. VP Research, Innovation, & Talent Insights at Lightcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colenapper
Host of the Directionally Correct Podcast
Host:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
AI promises magic, but data is still the fuel and most teams are running on fumes. Ike Benion breaks down why TA keeps hitting walls, why fragmented stacks kill insight, and how agentic AI is about to raise both the stakes and the expectations for recruiters. This one is for anyone drowning in tools, noise, and hype.
In this episode we speak with Ike Bennion, VP of Product at Visier about data integrity, people analytics, predictive modeling, agentic AI, TA workflow fragmentation, and how organizations can build smarter, cleaner systems.
Key Takeaways
Data is the fuel for AI and most TA teams are feeding engines garbage
Fragmented stacks and weak data collection crush predictive analytics
People analytics teams hold the keys to real hiring insight
More data reduces false positives and sharpens talent signals
Agentic AI raises expectations but exposes messy foundations
Most teams regret not collecting critical fields six months earlier
Contextualization matters more than prompts for high impact AI work
LLMs accelerate research but can’t fix broken processes
AI washing is everywhere and buyers need sharper questions
You can’t skip the hard part of making data work together
Chapters
00:00 Why companies still don’t understand the data problem
01:00 What Ike is building at Visier
01:20 Helping managers make better decisions
01:49 How TA and people analytics should partner
02:30 Unlocking predictive hiring with cleaner data
03:03 What company-level data can reveal about candidates
03:38 Why more data scrapes out false positives
04:09 The chaos of 10+ tools in TA stacks
04:46 What data teams wish TA understood
05:14 Why data construction determines future insight
06:06 How AI accelerates recruiters but can’t erase history
06:25 The power of contextualizing AI for better decisions
06:42 Where agentic AI fits in recruiting
07:07 Do you say please and thank you to your AI
07:26 The environmental side of AI usage
07:37 Why fragmented stacks make AI risky
07:47 The rise of AI washing
08:07 Why bad data breaks every AI promise
08:57 The hype cycle and why we’re not in enlightenment
09:21 Why expectations have snapped back
09:43 Agents vs basic LLMs
10:37 Why organizations will feel the bubble pop
11:02 The promise and limits of predictive people analytics
12:12 Why analytic reasoning is now the top skill
12:34 What buyers should ask to avoid AI washing
13:03 The two biggest forms of AI washing
14:08 What future of work questions buyers should ask
14:30 Why we need to rethink work itself
15:02 How AI should transform processes
15:08 How to stay connected with Ike
Guest Info
Ike Benion, VP of Product, Visier
Website: https://www.visier.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikebennion/
Host
Brandon Jeffs, Host of the Rebel TA Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandohires/
Connect with WRKdefined
Site: http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
HR leaders are staring at louder demands, faster change, and more legal landmines than ever. Jocelyn King breaks down how compliance is shifting from reactive to proactive and why most HR teams still feel behind. Real talk on tech, complexity, and what HR needs next.
In this episode we talk about AI roadmaps, HRIS integrations, compliance automation, risk mitigation, and the tech skills HR can’t avoid anymore.
Key Takeaways
HR leaders lack clarity on AI strategy and need real frameworks
Integrations flip compliance from reactive to proactive
Locality coverage is a massive differentiator in labor law
Embedded compliance in HRIS workflows reduces risk instantly
Automation frees HR for people strategy instead of research
Partnership channels will drive most future growth
Credible data models beat open source in compliance every time
Change management is the missing skill in most HR teams
Chapters
00:00 Why HR struggles with AI roadmaps
00:20 The integrations that change compliance
00:37 HR’s invisible emotional labor
01:26 What Virgil HR actually does
02:45 Why compliance needs automation
03:34 The heart and team behind the company
04:34 How Virgil HR is scaling
04:47 Global expansion, AI roadmap, and integrations
05:41 How embedded compliance actually works
06:02 Direct vs indirect sales and partnerships
07:02 The new AI trained bot
08:07 Why locality law is a major differentiator
09:25 Automating critical pay and compliance tasks
10:11 HR’s real value and strategic shift
11:34 Jocelyn’s animal rescue work
13:12 Her deeper mission behind HR for HR
14:31 Why HR must be tech ready now
16:04 Building a real AI roadmap
17:08 How to pick the right tech on the HR Tech floor
18:44 Vetting, alignment, and involving CIO/CTO
20:10 Implementing tech with real change management
21:02 Jocelyn’s favorite thing to do in Vegas
Guest Info
Jocelyn King,CEO & Founder, VirgilHR
Website: https://www.virgilhr.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynking/
Host
Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-henika/
Connect with WRKdefined
Site:http://www.wrkdefined.com
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined
Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Recruiting is moving faster than most teams can keep up with. AI isn’t a side feature anymore. It’s the engine. And companies that refuse to test it are holding themselves back in real time. Don Tomlinson steps into that gap with a point of view that’s hard to ignore. Daxtra isn’t “just a parser” anymore. They’re operating at a scale that makes you rethink the entire funnel. When you’re parsing 120 million resumes a month, you stop guessing about what the market is doing. You start seeing patterns before everyone else, and that kind of visibility forces better decisions, cleaner workflows, and more accountability across the board.
In this episode we talk about AI, HR Tech, recruitment, identity verification, data quality, automation, screening, candidate engagement, and the future of personalized recruiting. Don walks through Daxtra’s evolution, why explainability matters, and what’s about to break next in the hiring process.
What We Cover
The rapid adoption of AI in HR
Daxtra’s evolution from parsing to platform
Data-driven decision making
Explainability in AI matching
Candidate engagement and screening
Identity verification challenges
Future-proofing recruitment with personalization
Key Takeaways
Organizations are adopting AI fast
Not testing AI is a disadvantage
Daxtra shifted from parsing to full platform
Data drives smarter decisions
AI improves matching explainability
Candidate engagement is mission critical
Identity verification is now a core risk
Bad hires cost real money
AI can generate tailored resumes
Future tech is agile and personalized
Chapters
0:00 The Rapid Adoption of AI in HR
3:00 Daxtra’s Evolution and Innovations
6:13 Data-Driven Recruitment and AI’s Role
9:12 Enhancing Candidate Engagement and Screening
11:59 Identity Verification and AI Challenges
14:46 Future of Recruitment Technology and Personalization
Guest
Don Tomlinson, CTO of Daxtra
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dontomlinson/
Host:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
HR teams are still dragging around the habits they built on old systems. Too much comfort. Too much duct tape. Too much “this is how we’ve always done it.” Moving to something like Oracle HCM forces a reset. You can’t customize your way out of every problem anymore. You have to learn the system, adapt, and build processes that actually scale. That’s the part most organizations avoid, and it’s why so many implementations fall flat. The moment you stop treating HR tech like bespoke software and start treating it like a strategic operating model, the entire company runs cleaner.
In this episode we talk about HR systems, AI in recruitment, candidate experience, vendor partnerships, tribal employment, performance management, generative AI, and what it really takes to drive adoption inside an organization. The conversation hits on where HR leaders get stuck, how to pick the right partner, and why excitement about tech is still the best fuel for engagement.
What We Cover
Navigating change in HR systems
AI’s role in modern recruitment
Vendor partnerships that actually work
Improving candidate experience
Tribal employment preferences
Performance management and process clarity
Tech adoption and the excitement factor
Key Takeaways
We got way too accustomed to old systems
Adaptation matters more than perfection
Modern HR tech is configuration, not custom builds
Ask vendors for real live demos
Your implementation partner matters as much as the product
Fix the candidate experience first
Tribal preference is key in Native American orgs
AI upgrades matching and recruiting speed
Clear HR processes prevent chaos
Energy and excitement drive adoption
Chapters
0:00 Navigating Change in HR Systems
2:54 The Role of AI in Recruitment
6:04 Building Effective Partnerships with Vendors
8:56 Enhancing Candidate Experience
12:11 Understanding Tribal Employment Preferences
15:05 Future Innovations in HR Technology -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Most companies swear they care about people, but the tools they use to understand those people are stuck in the past. Psychometric assessments were built for the few, not the many. They’re expensive, rigid, and treated like some secret language reserved for executives. Russ Mikowski walks straight into that gap. He’s pushing for a world where every employee gets access to the same level of insight, coaching, and clarity that top leaders take for granted. Not as a perk. As the baseline. And the moment you democratize that kind of self-understanding, everything inside a company shifts. Communication tightens. Leadership improves. Engagement climbs. The culture evolves because the people inside it are finally getting better in real time.
In this episode we talk about psychometric assessments, AI coaching, leadership development, organizational growth, and what it really means to democratize learning inside a company. Russ explains why traditional assessments fall short, how SureCoach.ai gives everyone a personalized coach, and why speed, purpose, and strong partnerships matter more than ever in HR tech.
What We Cover
Democratizing psychometric assessments
AI’s role in personal development
Target industries and real-world impact
Leadership development and relationship building
Partnerships, purpose, and market strategy
Learning from failure and iterating fast
Key Takeaways
Traditional psychometrics have real gaps
Learning tools should be accessible to everyone
SureCoach.ai gives personalized coaching at scale
AI feedback can target strengths and blind spots
Healthcare and retail are prime markets
Leadership development drives better relationships
Partnerships only work if values match
Speed is a legit competitive advantage
Failures teach strategy fast
Communication is evolving, and engagement needs to follow
Chapters
0:00 Democratizing Psychometric Assessments
2:58 The Role of AI in Personal Development
5:57 Target Industries and Impact
9:08 Leadership Development and Personal Growth
11:47 Navigating Partnerships and Market Strategy
14:59 Learning from Failures and Future Directions
Guest:
Russ Mikowski, SurePeople
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-mikowski-a349903
Website: https://www.surepeople.com
Host:
Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyhoneycutt/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
In this episode we talk about the real pressure behind executive hiring. Tech can speed things up, sure, but it can’t save you from picking the wrong leader. At this level every decision has weight. Timing matters. Fit matters. Board alignment matters. One mismatch can throw the whole company sideways. The conversation cuts through the noise and shows where tech helps, where expertise still calls the shots, and why assessment is the part no one can afford to skip.
We get into how tech finally trims the busywork so research doesn’t take weeks. But we also call out the truth everyone ignores. Expertise still decides the outcome. Assessment is where the real risk lives. And the higher you climb, the louder the consequences get. A board out of sync. A leader who’s great on paper but not ready in reality. A hire that looks right for the moment but isn’t right for the future.
What We Cover
Why executive search is evolving
How tech accelerates the research layer
Where human judgment still matters
Why timing is everything at the leadership level
The reality of board alignment and mismatch
Assessment as the true hard work
Why a single exec can derail an entire org
How to scale expertise without losing quality
Key Takeaways
We’re not trying to replace expertise
The goal is applying expertise at scale
Executive search should take minutes, not weeks
Right person, wrong time happens often
Board level misalignment kills deals
One bad exec can ruin a company
The stakes are higher for leadership hires
Assessment is the real hard work
Research and assessment drive better decisions
Recruiting challenges get amplified at the board level
Guest:
Matthew Mooeny, Co-founder Marovi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewamooney/
Jin Ro, Co-founder Marovi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinro/
Vicky Wilkens, Co-founder Marovi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickywilkens/
Host:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
In this episode we talk about job market friction, hiring bias, AI-driven matching, candidate experience, talent scarcity, and the launch of Passive. Everyone keeps saying it’s hard to find great people. At the same time, every job seeker is exhausted, confused, or straight up burned out by how the system works. The conversation breaks down what’s actually broken, why HR leaders need to rethink the entire hiring flow, and how new tools are stepping in to fix the pointless chaos that slows everyone down.
What We Cover
The broken job application loop
Why passive talent avoids the noise
How AI can fix resume fatigue
What HR gets wrong about culture and bias
Why companies complain about talent but still gatekeep
Where the Passive app fits into the hiring landscape
How job seekers can win in a messy market
Key Takeaways
Every company complains about finding good people
Candidates are tired of looking for companies worth their time
Applications feel random and discouraging
Passive talent needs better targeting
AI can help rewrite resumes for fit
Culture needs to be real, diverse, and inclusive
Passive aims to simplify the entire search process
Job hunting struggles hit every industry
HR needs to rethink how they attract talent
The hiring system is outdated and ready for a rebuild
Timestamps
00:00 The Job Market Dilemma
06:32 Innovative Solutions in Recruitment
12:50 The Launch of Passive App
18:57 Rethinking Hiring Practices
22:01 Closing Thoughts and Future Aspirations
Guest:
Michael Wenning, Co-founder, Passive
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wenning/
Website: https://www.thepassive.app/
Host
Hosts: Katie Van Horn and Jackye Clayton, Co-hosts Inclusive AF Podcast
Robin Schooling, Co-host DriveThru HR -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
AI bias isn’t hypothetical anymore. Companies are walking into real lawsuits, and the jump from theoretical risk to courtroom reality is happening fast. Cases against Workday and SiriusXM show what happens when hiring tech crosses into discrimination territory. The legal, reputational, and operational risks are no longer abstract. This conversation breaks down why AI bias claims are surfacing now and what it means for any company relying on automation in hiring.
What We Cover
Why AI bias is shifting from theory to litigation
How the Workday case signals a new legal era
Why SiriusXM is facing its own AI bias lawsuit
What these cases reveal about hiring discrimination
Why reputation risk outranks technical risk
What companies must understand about AI liability
Key Takeaways
AI bias lawsuits are beginning to hit real companies
The Workday case is moving faster than expected
SiriusXM is facing an AI discrimination claim
Theoretical risks are turning into legal exposure
AI-driven discrimination suits are inevitable
Reputation damage can cost more than fines
Companies must understand the real substance of AI risk
Guests
Jeffrey Pole, CEO and Co-founder of Warden AI
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-pole-91887a44/
Website: https://www.warden-ai.com/
Host
Bob Pulver, Host, Elevate Your AIQ Podcast
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobpulver/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Audience feedback is never just feedback. The words people choose, the humor they drop in, even the curse words they fire off tell you exactly how they felt in the moment. Real reactions aren’t polished. They’re messy, misspelled, emotional, and usually pretty funny. This conversation breaks down how language, humor, and quick pattern searches reveal the true pulse of an audience and why sentiment analysis doesn’t have to be clinical to be accurate.
Hosted by the team behind the HR Huddle Podcast on the WRKdefined Podcast Network.
What We Cover
Why curse words are a signal of authentic reactions
How humor shapes honest feedback
Why misspellings can reveal the truest sentiment
How quick searches surface patterns fast
Why language helps measure emotional engagement
How sentiment ties directly to content quality
Key Takeaways
Curse words often reflect genuine sentiment
Negative feedback can be unintentionally funny
Fast searches reveal reaction patterns
Misspellings show authenticity
Humor helps decode real audience mood
Language exposes emotional engagement
Sentiment analysis improves content decisions
Hosts
Susan Richards, Founder Sapient Insights
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susansapientinsights/
Cliff Stevenson, Director of Research & Principal Analyst, Sapient Insights
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffordstevenson/
Teri Zipper, CEO, Sapient Insights
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terizipper/ -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
AI is moving faster than most hiring systems can handle. Governance used to mean a once-a-year audit, but models shift daily, and risks don’t wait for paperwork. Candidate fraud is spiking, verification is getting harder, and HR teams are trying to maintain trust without wrecking the candidate experience. This conversation digs into the tension between responsible AI, real-time monitoring, and the next wave of hiring technology built to solve challenges the old tools never touched.
What We Cover
Why AI governance needs to be continuous, not quarterly
How real-time oversight changes hiring accountability
Why candidate fraud is accelerating across industries
How to balance fraud detection with candidate experience
What IBM Watson X Governance brings to HR tech
Why hiring technology is overdue for reinvention
How leaders should think about responsible AI going forward
Key Takeaways
AI governance must be monitored continuously
Annual audits fail in real-time environments
Candidate fraud is becoming a major hiring threat
HR tech must evolve with new fraud tactics
Candidate experience and fraud detection must coexist
Responsible AI is a leadership mandate
Future hiring systems will require adaptive, learning-based tech
Timestamps
00:00 Navigating AI Governance and Candidate Fraud
02:40 The Evolution of Hiring Technology
05:39 The Impact of AI on HR Practices
08:47 Balancing Candidate Experience and Fraud Detection
11:51 Generational Shifts in Job Applications
14:42 Future of Hiring Technology
17:40 Reflections on Parenting and Professional Growth
Guest:
Dara Brenner, CEO at Employ Inc.
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/darabrenner/
Website:https://www.employinc.com/
Hosts:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup
Ryan Leary, Co-founder, WRKdefined
LinkedIn:htps://linkedin.com/in/ryanleary -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Most companies talk a big game about employee experience, but the moment someone takes leave, everything breaks. Leave is where compliance gets messy, expectations get fuzzy, and culture shows its real face. Employees remember how you show up when life hits. Ignore that moment and you lose trust. Handle it well and you keep people for the long haul. The conversation digs into why leave is overlooked, why compliance matters, and how technology and AI are reshaping the entire experience.
What We Cover
Why leave experience sits at the center of employee experience
How compliance sets the floor for every leave interaction
What generational differences reveal about leave behavior
How AI and HR tech streamline leave management
Why relationships during leave shape long-term culture
What rebranding leave does for employer branding and retention
Key Takeaways
Leave experience is one of the biggest gaps in HR
Compliance needs to be automatic, not aspirational
AI will clean up delay, confusion, and manual follow-up
Employees expect different things based on generation
Managers need visibility into who’s out and why
Leave is a retention lever and a culture signal
Rebranding leave shifts how the business values time away
Timestamps
00:00 The Overlooked Leave Experience02:33 The Importance of Compliance in Leave Management05:41 Generational Perspectives on Leave08:42 The Role of AI in Leave Management11:32 Connecting with Brokers and Tech Vendors14:41 The Future of Leave Management17:41 Rebranding Leave for Employee Experience
Guests:
Brandon Salisbury, VP of Marketing TiltLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brandon-p-salisburyWebsite: https://hellotilt.com/
Host:
William Tincup, Co-founder, WRKdefinedLinkedIn: https:// linkedin.com/in/tincup -
This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work.
Most companies still obsess over sourcing, funnels, and time-to-fill, then go quiet the moment someone starts Day 1. That’s the blind spot. Quality of hire is the metric that actually tells you if the business is getting stronger or weaker, and most companies don’t measure it with any real discipline. They talk about it. They don’t track it.
The top companies that hire well generated more than $800 billion in additional revenue compared to the ones who don’t. That’s not an HR metric. That’s a financial engine. When companies get serious about post-hire performance, retention, and growth, everything moves. When they don’t, they burn money and churn talent.
Quality of hire works when someone owns it. TA influences it, but leadership is accountable for it. If better hiring drives revenue, leaders need to treat every hire like a strategic decision, not an administrative transaction. Companies that tighten this up win. Companies that don’t keep wondering why growth feels stuck.
What We Cover
Why quality of hire is the single most important hiring metric
How most orgs track the wrong data and ignore the right signals
What revenue impact looks like when hiring quality improves
How leadership—not TA—should own the outcome
What 4M data points across the Fortune 500 reveal
Why post-hire data solves the retention problem before it starts
Key Takeaways
Quality of hire is the real performance predictor, not pipeline metrics
Companies that track retention, growth, and achievement outperform
A move from average to above average hiring quality can create a 2 percent revenue bump
Senior leadership must be accountable for hiring outcomes
Post-hire insights should drive how companies hire going forward
Timestamps
0:00 Quality of hire as the real lever
3:40 Why most orgs talk about it but don’t measure it
7:10 The financial lift behind better hiring decisions
10:55 What the data says about retention and advancement
14:22 Who actually owns hiring quality
18:05 Why post-hire data changes everything
21:30 How to build a culture that measures and improves quality
Guests
Michael Fitzsimmons, CEO, Crosschq
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-fitzsimmons-a3698/
Dr. Steven Hunt, Workforce & Talent Expert
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steventhunt/
Host:
Bob Pulver, Host Elevate Your AIQ - Visa fler
