The Staffing Playbook Podcast, Powered by YES

Steve Farrell
  • 5.0 (2)
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Join us as we explore the latest trends, share industry insights, and provide valuable tips to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of employment strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, there’s something for everyone.

  1. 2d ago ·  Video

    The End of Fake Differentiation

    Everyone keeps saying the same thing in staffing right now: “Add value.” “Be a trusted advisor.” “Stop competing on price.” I agree with the message. But I’m tired of the buzzwords. The real question is: what does value actually look like when every staffing firm has access to the same tools, the same AI, the same ATS, and the same automation? That’s what I’m digging into with Kim Henderson, MBA, PMP on Episode 76 of The Staffing Playbook Podcast, Powered by YES Ep. 76 | The End of Fake Differentiation Kim has been on the show more than any other guest, and for good reason. She brings the kind of practical, no-fluff perspective our industry needs right now. In this episode, we talk about: ✅ Why being a “generalist vendor” keeps you stuck as a commodity ✅ What real differentiation looks like in 2026 ✅ How staffing firms can create value without adding expensive tools ✅ Why client education, visibility, and specialization matter more than ever ✅ How to move from transactional vendor to true business partner The firms that win the rest of 2026 will not be the ones simply saying they add value. They’ll be the ones proving it.

    58 min

  2. Jun 5 ·  Video

    The Hardest Jobs Might Just Be the Safest Jobs

    The hardest jobs might just be the safest jobs. In Episode 75 of The Staffing Playbook Podcast, Powered by YES, I’m breaking down what the latest staffing trends are telling us right now. Industrial staffing is showing signs of life, but let’s be honest — “up” doesn’t automatically mean “booming.” After one of the toughest stretches our industry has seen in years, the firms that are winning are not the ones waiting for the market to save them. They are the ones leaning into the work that still requires judgment, trust, speed, and human execution. Warehouses. Production floors. Distribution centers. CDL drivers. Forklift operators. Line leads. The harder the job is to automate, the more durable the opportunity becomes. In this solo episode, I talk about: ✅ Why industrial staffing is leading the recovery ✅ Why office and clerical staffing is telling a different story ✅ How AI is changing the top of the funnel ✅ Why human judgment is becoming more valuable, not less ✅ What staffing firms should be paying attention to right now No fluff. No panic. Just the real trends and what they mean for operators, sales leaders, and staffing executives.

    19 min

  3. May 28 ·  Video

    The AI-Native Recruiter

    Most firms rolled out AI to 50 recruiters on a Monday. By Friday, they're using it to clean up emails. That's not adoption. That's an expensive mailing list. New episode of The Staffing Playbook — Part 2 with Jason Alexander of ChiefAI. He scaled staffing companies to $100M before he ever built an AI roadmap, so he knows the difference between buying a tool and actually using it. The frame: giving a recruiter an AI agent is like handing them an intern. Most recruiters were never taught to delegate.  So we asked the harder question — what happens when the intern outgrows the manager? What we got into: → Only 28% of employees know how to actually use their company's AI tools. → The shift from "doer" to "quarterback." → The veteran problem: your top biller thinks AI is a fad. How do you bring them along without losing them? → Why leaders who talk AI but don't use it get found out. Jason's advice for anyone who's never opened these tools — your first prompt is: "I'm a recruiter. How do I use you?" For me, the proof it's working wasn't a dashboard. It was a recruiter saying, "I filled all my roles, my interviews are done — I think I'll go visit some clients." That's the whole game.

    54 min

  4. May 15 ·  Video

    The Audit That Could SAVE Your Career

    Travel agents in 2001 still had full calendars. Their managers were happy. Their numbers looked fine. The hollowing-out had already started — they just couldn't see it from the inside. When the next downturn hit, the role got restacked overnight. That's the shape of what's happening in staffing right now. Stable on the surface. Foundation already changing underneath. In Ep. 73 of The Staffing Playbook Podcast, Powered by YES, I walk through a 60-minute career audit — TCLD — that every recruiter, ops lead, and executive should run on themselves while they still have agency. T = Theater C = Commodity L = On the Line D = Durable Most people find T + C is a much bigger slice of their week than they're comfortable admitting. And that's the slice sitting on the thinnest ice. This isn't about AI taking your job in a clean replacement event. It's about the parts of the work that were quietly propping up the rest of the story you tell yourself about your value.

    36 min

  5. May 1 ·  Video

    AI Is Already Reshaping Staffing: What the Data Actually Shows.

    Everyone in staffing is talking about AI. Almost nobody is looking at the actual data. I spent the last two weeks pulling numbers from SIA, ASA, Bullhorn's GRID report, and Stanford's Digital Economy Lab. What I found was a story that neither the optimists nor the doomsayers are telling. The staffing industry did $184 billion in US revenue in 2024. Then 2025 hit — temp employment dropped 8.5%. Revenue contracted. And quietly, behind the headlines, something structural shifted. Entry-level employment in AI-exposed roles fell 13%. Senior-level employment in those same roles grew 6–12%. Staffing firms using AI are now 4x more likely to be top performers. And 22% of the highest-growth firms are filling orders in 3 days or less. The middle is disappearing. Not the middle class — the middle tier of staffing firms. The ones that are "competent enough" but haven't changed how they operate. I recorded a solo episode breaking all of this down — the data, what it means, and exactly what I think staffing leaders need to do about it.

    24 min

  6. Apr 17

    The AI-Driven Sales Playbook for Staffing Spray and pray is dead.

    The staffing firms winning right now aren't making more calls — they're making better ones. And the ones falling behind? They don't have a sales problem. They have a control problem. In Episode 71, I sat down with two industry heavyweights to break down exactly where deals die — and what to fix first: Jamie Lupo — 20+ years in staffing, 18 at LHH where she rose to VP of Strategy. She rebuilt flatlined offices into record-breakers and recently launched Lupo Advisory to help small and midsize staffing firms sharpen their sales execution and go-to-market strategy. Jamie doesn't sugarcoat it: if your reps are "waiting to hear back," you're already losing. Valentine Kapture — 15+ years in staffing strategy and analytics, also an LHH and Robert Half alum. He launched KAPTURE to bring Fortune 500-level AI and workflow automation to the small and midsize staffing firms that need it most. Here's what we got into: → Why sales-recruiting alignment is where staffing firms go to die → The discovery question gap that's killing your close rate → How one team hit their highest temps-out in 4 weeks by fixing their data → Where AI removes the drag vs. where it needs to stay out of the way → Why every irrelevant touch trains the buyer to ignore you → A 7-day challenge you can start tomorrow This one is tactical. No fluff. Just the plays. 📅 Thursday, April 16th | 1:00 PM MDT

    1 hr

  7. Apr 3 ·  Video

    Stop Buying AI, Start Using What You Have

    Most staffing firms don't have an AI problem. They have a utilization problem. They're buying tools they never fully implement. Stacking subscriptions nobody uses. Chasing the next shiny platform before they've squeezed value out of what's already on the shelf. My next guest lived this firsthand. Jason Alexander was the #1 sales rep globally at Robert Half. He co-founded and scaled BANKW Staffing to $100M in revenue. His own business partner used to call him the easiest sale in the world when it came to buying new software. Now he runs ChiefAI and helps staffing firms stop the bleeding — starting with what they already have. On Episode 70 of The Staffing Playbook Podcast, Powered by YES, Jason breaks down: → Why 95% of the firms he assesses don't even have a business plan, let alone an AI roadmap → The AI agent he built that creates a 3-year rollout plan in 15 minutes → Why you should "bleed ChatGPT dry" before you buy anything else → What custom GPTs are and why almost nobody paying for ChatGPT is using them → The difference between handing a recruiter an AI tool and actually training them to use it This one is packed with tactics you can act on today — not next quarter.

    52 min

  8. Mar 20 ·  Video

    The Stalled Labor Market: Why 2026 Rewards Execution, Not Hustle

    We’re back with a new episode of The Staffing Playbook Podcast: Ep. 69 | The Stalled Labor Market: Why 2026 Rewards Execution, Not Hustle On March 20 at 1:00 PM MDT, I’ll be joined by David Wilson from "The Ring of Hire Show" for a timely conversation on what’s really happening in the labor market right now. A lot of leaders are still waiting for the market to “turn.”  I don’t think waiting is the move. This kind of market exposes the difference between activity and execution. When things stall out, the firms that win are not the ones doing more random hustle. They’re the ones operating better. They’re tighter. More disciplined. Closer to the customer. Better at follow-up. Better at decision-making. Better at execution. In this episode, we’ll dig into what a stalled labor market means for staffing leaders, where companies get stuck, and what practical moves actually matter in 2026. If you lead in staffing, recruiting, sales, operations, or workforce strategy, this one is for you.

    52 min
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Join us as we explore the latest trends, share industry insights, and provide valuable tips to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of employment strategies. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, there’s something for everyone.

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