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Evergreen Podcasts

Everything people and workforce—recruiting, marketing, technology, talent management, and workforce economics—delivered with biting sarcasm and unapologetic snark. Industry misfits Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman bring their no-holds-barred opinions to dissect news, trends, and the occasional dumpster fire. If you’re a hiring company, staffing firm, or vendor looking for insights (and a thick skin), these two won’t just tell you what’s happening—they’ll tell you why you’re probably doing it wrong. Buckle up, buttercup.

The Chad & Cheese Podcast

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcome Desiree Throckmorton, senior consultant at OutSolve and former Kaiser Permanente TA manager, for a deep dive into the escalating world of I-9 compliance amid unprecedented ICE enforcement. 

Desiree breaks down I-9 fundamentals: a decades-old (1980s) federal mandate requiring employers to verify every new hire’s identity and work authorization via Form I-9, regardless of company size. Section 1 is completed by the employee on day one; Section 2 by the employer within three business days using original documents (List A, B, or C). Remote verification via video has been allowed since 2023, but errors—missing fields, wrong dates, or accepting invalid docs—can trigger fines from $281 to $2,789 per form, with knowingly hiring unauthorized workers costing up to $27,894 per violation.

The real alarm bell? A $170 billion ICE budget boost, including $30 million to hire 10,000 new agents focused on workplace audits and raids. Desiree notes 15,000 targeted I-9 inspections planned for 2026—more than double pre-COVID levels—shifting from Trump’s first-term focus on arrests to systematic compliance checks. Recent raids (e.g., Hyundai’s Georgia plant detaining ~500 South Korean contractors on wrong visas) highlight risks, while a Colorado case saw $8 million in fines for systemic errors and unauthorized hires. She warns employers to organize I-9s, centralize processes, and audit internally—many don’t even know where forms are stored.

The H-1B “genius visa” program takes a hit too: fees jumping from $2,000–$5,000 to $100,000 per sponsorship, pricing out mid-sized firms and favoring tech giants. Desiree and the hosts lament lost innovation, economic contributions ($100 billion in taxes from immigrants last year), and community diversity, especially in industries like healthcare (40%+ immigrant home health aides) and agriculture.

With OFCCP effectively defanged, C-suites must redirect compliance resources to ICE readiness. Desiree’s advice: map vulnerabilities, understand your workforce footprint, and treat I-9s like payroll—accurate, auditable, and non-negotiable. “ICE ICE baby could be coming for you" ... Employers ignoring this do so at their peril.

ICE, ICE Baby with Desiree Throckmorton

In this turkey-fueled episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, the boys stuff themselves like it’s Thanksgiving every day (because, let’s be honest, their content diet is already 90% gravy) with a little help from their friends - J.T. O'Donnell, Allyn Baily, Mo' Clough, Julie Sowash and Michelle Meehan.

 They kick things off by swapping heartwarming family traditions—like which uncle still thinks “pass the stuffing” is code for “pass the political hot takes”—before pivoting to the real national religion: soccer finally mattering in America now that Lionel Messi has descended from Mount Olympus to sprinkle GOAT dust on MLS fields.

From there, it’s straight into the AI Thunderdome, where the gang swing the banter hammer at every shiny new model like they’re judging a middle-school science fair on bath salts. They roast ZipRecruiter’s podcast so hard you’ll smell burnt Phil from here, expose the shameless corporate-welfare grift masquerading as “HR innovation,” and deliver a fantasy-football update that’s equal parts trash talk and emotional damage.

They also review Indeed’s latest product (spoiler: it’s a feature, not a miracle), reenact actual spy-vs-spy drama happening right now in HR tech like it’s a Jason Bourne movie but with worse expense reports, and wrap the whole glorious mess with a Thanksgiving dad joke so corny it should come with its own butter sculpture.

Grab a plate, loosen the belt, and hit play—you’ll laugh, you’ll cry (from laughter), and you’ll never look at cranberry sauce the same way again.

Chapters
00:00 - Thanksgiving Traditions and Family Gatherings
03:57 - The Rise of Football and Sports Culture
05:13 - AI Innovations and Competitive Landscape
08:40 - Fantasy Football Highlights and Insights
10:11 - Critique of ZipRecruiter's Podcast
13:02 - Jive Turkey Awards and Industry Commentary
14:25 - Introduction and Call to Action
14:50 - Dystopian CEO Behavior and AI Layoffs
15:47 - Corporate Welfare and Job Losses
17:58 - Indeed Connect: A New Product Review
21:57 - The Broken Indeed Model
22:57 - AI's Impact on Job Security
25:12 - Marketing in the Recruitment Space
27:53 - The Jive Turkey Award: A Spy Story
31:48 - C'mon, you know, Dad Joke time!

TURKEYS: Indeed, Randstad, SHRM and....

On the Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash welcomed Julia Levy, a seasoned talent acquisition (TA) leader, job search strategist, HR tech advisor, and author of From Hi to Hired: Your Insider Guide to Internships. 

Julia, recently departed from AutoZone, shared her 25+ years of TA experience across diverse industries, including tech consulting, staffing (Robert Half), financial services (MetLife, Fiserv), and manufacturing (Comscope). She discussed navigating the complex HR tech landscape, emphasizing the importance of identifying specific organizational problems before selecting technology, rather than chasing trendy solutions at conferences like RECFEST. 

Julia highlighted the challenge of distinguishing genuine AI innovations from rebranded legacy systems and shared her approach to vendor due diligence, leveraging networks and customer references. Transitioning to consulting, she noted a shift from corporate constraints to a more fulfilling role, though still receiving sales pitches as if she were at AutoZone. 

Her book targets college students facing a tough job market, offering strategies like being a "connector" on LinkedIn, targeting company problems, and turning rejections into growth opportunities. Julia stressed the value of internships and alternative career paths in trades or growth-oriented companies like AutoZone, noting a 10-20% reduction in internship programs due to economic uncertainty. 

Find out more at https://www.hi2hired.com/from-hi-to-hired.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to 

02:20 Navigating the Talent Acquisition Landscape

05:21 Preparing for Conferences and Vendor Interactions

08:13 Insights from RecFest and Vendor Evaluation

11:12 Transitioning from Corporate to Consulting

14:09 The Importance of Internships for Students

17:05 Adapting to a Changing Job Market

20:05 Strategies for Students in Job Hunting

23:16 Understanding Rejection and Learning from It

From Hi to Hired w/ Julia Levy

Zoom just bought AI interview intelligence darling BrightHire. Chad and Joel discuss why this is a savvy chess move to stop Microsoft Teams, and if the brand will really survive the deal. Moving on, Meta says your 2026 performance review is an AI report card. We explain why every job is now a tech job and why Big Brother AI is watching.

Verizon is yeeting 15,000 people. We go deep on the real, uncomfortable reasons behind their biggest layoff ever. Workday is playing Hungry Hungry Hippos on a massive M&A spree. And finally, 22% of candidates are finding work by sliding into DMs on Tinder and Bumble!

Acquisitions, AI overlords, mass layoffs, and dating apps posing as job boards. Zero apologies, maximum truth bombs. Hit play!

Zoom & Workday Get Busy

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

Shredded: Zoom, BrightHire, Equifax, Vault Verify, Employ Inc., Jobot, Workday, & More

Forget everything you know about leadership. In the latest episode with Chad and Joel, behavioral scientist Jon Levy tears down the myth of the lone genius and reveals why your "super chickens" might be sabotaging your entire operation. 

Levy, author of the new book Team Intelligence, unpacks wild stories from his own life—from shredding for a RevAbs infomercial to using a massive 421-million-match Hinge study to prove that introverts never pair up. 

You'll hear about the "Super Chicken Problem," learning what homicidal hens in the 1970s can teach you about corporate success and why rewarding individual superstars can destroy your team. 

You'll also learn about the "Too Much Talent Problem," the surprising reason teams overloaded with stars often underperform, and how a "no-stats All-Star" helped his basketball team win. 

Finally, get the truth about the "Airport Problem," why remote work can feel so lonely, and what managers—who have accidentally become "camp counselors"—can do to fix it. If you've ever wondered how to build a team that crushes the competition without crushing each other, this episode is a must-listen with a startling truth: Harvard MBAs might not be any different from anyone else when it comes to leadership.

Team Intelligence w/ Jon Levy

Buckle up, kids, the boys are comin' in hot this week. Personio just chopped headcount and abandonded its U.S. strategy. Chad sees defeat; Joel sees a standing ovation for the competition. The bloodbath is real. 📉

Indeed's dropping its new Connect offering. Chad calls it a "shakedown with jazz hands." Joel warns there's something darker going on. 💸

What's more, Indeed has a new KPI! ARPJ - don't worry, you'll learn what it is - is up 15%, but maybe the magic trick is in the numbers, and the boys have the inside scoop on how Indeed is throttling the system. Wall Street claps, Main Street bleeds. 📈

Teen Vogue's HR chief gets ambushed on camera, and fast food is dying, along with the rest of everyone not in the 10% of the richest among us. It means more than just Joel mourning his Frosty, but maybe 50-year mortgages can save us. Not! Death, taxes, and Indeed screwing you over, same as it ever was. Enjoy!

Indeed Stranglehold Gets Tighter and Tighter

Shredded: Ridepanda, Planbase, Boostie, Scribe, LinkedIn, hireEZ, GigRadar, & More

LIVE from the Recfest USA stage in Nashville!

David Weinstock is a modern Talent Acquisition leader who actually unlocks value by fixing how companies hire, not just adding more process.

As VP of Talent Acquisition at New Story, he leads talent strategy across 16 very different companies. Before that, he built and scaled TA at Hopebridge, one of the largest ABA providers in the country supporting 7,500 hires a year across 125 locations.

David’s specialty is taking messy, scattered recruiting operations and turning them into high-performing, data-powered machines. He’s led major ATS + CRM implementations, rebuilt TA org structures, refined recruitment marketing spend, and made analytics a core part of how decisions get made.

Outside of his day-to-day work, David advises multiple recruiting tech companies helping shape product and go-to-market direction from the point of view of an operator who’s lived it.

5 Must Have Agents for TA w/ David Weinstock

In this episode, we ask if SAP + SmartRecruiters and/or Workday + Paradox can go FULL Amazon and collapse candidate friction into instant conversion, while LinkedIn and Indeed go to war over who actually owns the hiring assistant era.
And Handshake? They’re pivoting into AI trainer labor like Mercor because the real money is in feeding the machines now.

Watching business models shift where conversational AI becomes the UI… and the revenue engine.

Hold on. This one’s bumpy.

Will SAP and Workday Go Amazon?

Another big week. The boys cover a grassroots campaign by HiQ to fight-off LinkedIn. Are you in? Indeed has gone shopping, acquiring Interviewed and taking the company into ATS territory. Can Indeed build a platform to take on Google, LinkedIn and Facebook? They sure are giving it their best shot.
 HR is progressively becoming a mainstay in every company’s PR efforts. As PR gets more and more competitive, marketing teams are turning to the warm-and-fuzzies of HR to cut through the clutter. We discuss. Then, we look at a 500 Startups company, VCV, who automates the sourcing and much of the recruiting at employers. Is this the future of hiring? Definitely maybe.
 TheLadders is knee-deep in TMZ territory with their current content marketing strategy, publishing 5-12 stories daily to generate traffic. There are opposing viewpoints on this tactic and it gets a tad heated. Lastly, we look at a company called Werk that hopes to bring flexibility to the workplace. However, that’s not what the boys find interesting. You’ll have to listen to find out what got them chatting it up.
 As always, visit our sponsor America’s Job Exchange, Sovren and Wonscore by Wonderlic. They make it all happen, people.

HR is the New PR | Ladders Gets Its TMZ On | Is VCV the Future of Recruiting? | Werk Does it Differently

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