WRKdefined

•

Channel • 63 Shows

Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Management

Management

Updated Weekly

Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Management

Management

Updated Weekly
Business

Business

Updated Weekly
Careers

Careers

Updated Weekly
Careers

Careers

Updated Weekly
Careers

Careers

Updated Weekly
Technology

Technology

Updated Weekly

09/09/2025 · Bonus

Are You the Spare Tire? | Lee Cage Jr. at DisruptHR Nashville | 15 Minutes With [Bonus]

Are you the spare tire? Invisible until the crisis hits, but the lifeline everyone counts on when it does? In this bonus episode, Lee Cage Jr. takes the DisruptHR Nashville stage to ask the uncomfortable questions that make us rethink who we are, how we show up, and how we assess value. This one's for the disruptors, the audacious architects of change who know that "business as usual" is officially over. You know the type. Invisible on a normal day, but when the pressure hits, their grit, hustle, and ability to thrive under pressure become the lifeline the whole organization leans on. Too often, all that hope, innovation, and true leadership stays locked in the trunk, waiting to be unleashed when the road gets rough. So ask yourself: when the rubber meets the road, are you coasting, or are you the one who shows up when it matters most? In this talk: Why "business as usual" is officially over How organizations overlook their most valuable people until crisis hits Rethinking who you are and how you show up at work Reimagining how we actually assess value New episodes of 15 Minutes With drop weekly. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.
4d ago

Do Recruiters & Hiring Managers Need Couples Therapy?

Season 2 is back, and we’re starting with one of the relationships that can make or break the entire hiring process: recruiters and hiring managers. We break down why the two sides so often end up frustrated with each other, where the partnership starts to fall apart, and how that disconnect impacts candidates. You’ll learn how to define success together, set clearer expectations, improve communication, clarify ownership, and turn hiring from a handoff into an actual partnership. Key Takeaways Recruiters and hiring managers often want the same outcome but blame each other when the process breaks down. Many hiring problems start in the initial intake meeting when expectations are vague or assumed. Recruiters and hiring managers need to define what success looks like before candidates enter the process. Changing requirements or scorecards mid-process makes hiring slower and less consistent. Candidate motivation matters just as much as whether someone can technically do the job. Candidates feel internal misalignment through delays, repeated questions, and poor communication. Clear boundaries and proactive communication build stronger hiring partnerships. Recruiters bring market knowledge, candidate pipelines, and candidate communication expertise. Hiring managers own interview quality, decision quality, and meaningful feedback. Hiring works best when recruiters and hiring managers treat success as shared responsibility. Timestamps 00:52 Why recruiters and hiring managers clash 01:44 The biggest recruiter frustrations 04:33 What hiring managers complain about 07:03 How candidates feel the disconnect 08:40 Where hiring partnerships break down 11:00 Why candidate motivators matter 15:26 Coaching hiring managers in real time 17:48 Trust, boundaries, and communication 22:35 What recruiters and managers each own 28:10 How to run a better kickoff meeting Keywords recruiter hiring manager relationship recruiter hiring manager partnership hiring process alignment hiring manager responsibilities recruiter responsibilities recruiting intake meeting candidate experience hiring process communication interview process alignment recruiting collaboration
4d ago

Kill Your Indeed Habit: What Job Ads Actually Cost You

Jason Pistulka, Founder & Principal Consultant, StratTech Talent Consulting and AdvisoryLinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/jasonpistulka) | Website (strattechconsulting.com) | Newsletter: The Talent Strategy Brief Jason Pistulka spent over 25 years in HR and recruiting including roles at Microsoft, Stora Enso, and CUNA Mutual Group, then a decade at HCA Healthcare (2014–2025), rising from Sr. Director of Talent Acquisition to AVP of Talent Acquisition Strategy, Operations & Candidate Engagement, where he led a national recruiting team of up to 600 people, managing over 40,000 open requisitions and more than 125,000 hires a year. Since 2019 he's run StratTech Talent Consulting and Advisory, and currently advises a long roster of HR tech companies including Joveo, Fountain, s free Google for Jobs audits and has made "kill the dependency on Indeed" something close to a personal mission statement. This one's a full teardown of where recruitment advertising money actually goes. Jason opens with the thing that amazes him most: most companies can't answer the basic question of what their ad spend is doing, because they're still relying on a candidate-filled dropdown menu nobody takes seriously. From there he walks through his own viral audit of Walmart's career site 14 million visitors a month, a resume-matching tool so broken it gave Jason's high-school-diploma son and a senior finance executive the exact same job matches, and no working Google for Jobs at the largest private employer in America. He doesn't spare Indeed either: this is the guy behind the widely-read "How Indeed Is Losing What Little Trust It Had of Both Candidates and Employers" article, and on the show he goes further, on record, calling out Indeed executives directly for dressing up a minimum spend requirement as "candidate experience."The back half turns practical and a little unhinged in the best way: Jason walks through how to actually audit ad spend (source tracking, cost-per-quality-application, conversion by channel), reveals that Bing quietly drove 11% of his traffic with better engagement than anyone expected, and then because apparently a slow weekend calls for it describes building a fully functioning ATS with automation from scratch in about ten hours, just to prove that the technology isn't the hard part legacy vendors want you to think it is. Ashley and Jason geek out hard on tech stacks, and it's a genuinely fun listen even before you get to the part where he says he built a chatbot that beats Phenom and Paradox. In this episode: Why most companies can't answer "what did that ad spend actually do"The Walmart career site teardown: 14M monthly visitors, no working Google for Jobs, a resume-matching tool that gives everyone the same jobsJason's viral takedown of Indeed, and why he says "the soul of Indeed rotted some time ago"The AI Apply bot problem, and why one of Jason's clients turned off Easy Apply entirelyThe 11%-of-traffic channel nobody believed in (hint: it's Bing)The ATS Jason built from scratch in one weekend, and what that means for legacy vendor pricingWhy ERP platforms like Workday, Oracle, and UKG consistently fail at recruiting's transactional volumeAshley's Talent Outside the Box segment on data hygiene vs. data integrity Resources/Links: StratTech Talent Consulting and Advisory: strattechconsulting.comThe Talent Strategy Brief (Jason's newsletter, weekly, 2,496+ subscribers)Article: "How Indeed Is Losing What Little Trust It Had of Both Candidates and Employers"Article: "Walmart is the Largest Private Employer in America. Their Career Site is Broken."Book: Leadership is a Practice, Not a Personality out October 2026Talentless at RecFest USA and HR Tech Conference this fall
5d ago

Coaches Chat: Listener Q&A

In this episode, Holly Benner, Sean Luitjens, and Michael Seiler answer questions from our listeners. In this coaches chat, we discuss strategies for managing nerves, mental preparation, and the lessons endurance sports teach us about life and leadership. We share practical tips for athletes facing challenges and how to apply these insights beyond sports. Enjoy!
Aug 27

End of Season 2

This episode explains why most compensation and HR teams are not getting real results from AI, and what to fix first. You will learn how to tell where your organization actually sits on the AI adoption curve, why inconsistent data fields like location and cost center quietly break AI analysis, how token-based pricing may change what HR software costs over the next few years, and what questions to ask a vendor before signing a multi-year deal. The conversation also covers how to choose a small set of data fields to clean instead of trying to fix everything, why a dashboard is not the same as an answer, and why data governance is becoming a job rather than a side task. Useful for compensation leaders, HR technology owners, and rewards teams of one who are being asked to do more with AI without a bigger budget. Chapters 00:00 – Milestone episode and what keeps a weekly show running 06:00 – Rapid fire questions with the producer and the guest 12:30 – A career path from pre-med to compensation systems 17:00 – Where companies actually sit on the AI adoption curve 21:00 – Why AI hype still outpaces real capability 25:00 – AI mandates and measuring AI use in incentive plans 29:00 – How token pricing works and who absorbs the cost 34:00 – Why messy HR data blocks AI results 39:00 – Choosing which data fields to fix first 44:00 – Dashboards versus metrics that drive action
3d ago

Hiring speed breaks some people systems, yet also scales some leadership habits

Today's guest on the High Volume Hiring Podcast is Antony Baker, CEO and founder of 15 Group, a UK-based technology and recruiting company. Antony is a former professional athlete and big believer in structure, despite learning only a couple of years ago that he has ADHD. Cohosts Jeanette Leeds and Steven Rothberg of College Recruiter job search site talk with Antony about some of his successes, failures, and how those both informed the process his team follows when helping employers who are hiring at scale. Part of that is the requirement that all stakeholders, even the client's leadership, need to pass a four-part test. How does the name 15 relate to the test? Antony shares that fun fact with our audience.
Aug 25

Mental Skills Training with Performance Consultant Carrie Jackson

How do athletes stop self-sabotage, manage performance anxiety, and build confidence that holds up under pressure? In this episode, Michael and Holly welcome certified mental performance consultant Carrie Jackson to explore the psychology behind sustainable performance. Together, they break mental performance training into practical, repeatable skills that athletes and coaches can apply in sport, work, and life. The conversation explores why the brain naturally focuses on threat, how self-talk shapes confidence and performance, why dwelling on uncontrollable factors drains valuable energy, and how to prepare mentally for difficult moments before they happen. You’ll also learn practical strategies for strengthening confidence, improving focus, navigating pressure, and making your mindset an asset rather than a barrier. Learn more about Carrie here: https://carriejackson.com/
Aug 25

Inside the Modern HCM Buying Journey with Special Guest Meredith Reilly

In this episode, Pete and Julie welcome Meredith Reilly, Chief Sales Officer at isolved, for a candid conversation on what is really happening in the HCM and payroll buying market. The conversation explores why HR tech is often “sold” more than it is bought, why decision cycles are getting longer, and how buyers are navigating fatigue from overpromised technology, inconsistent service, and increasingly complex internal stakeholders. From board involvement and IT scrutiny to broker influence, AI expectations, managed services, and the growing importance of customer experience, this discussion unpacks the new realities shaping HR and payroll technology decisions. Meredith also shares why service, trust, proof points, and clear buying processes matter more than ever, especially as organizations look to AI not simply for efficiency, but for better data, stronger decisions, and a more strategic HR function. Meredith offers a practical look at the future of HCM buying and what it will take for vendors, advisors, and buyers to move beyond noise, make better decisions, and build more resilient people operations. Connect with Meredith: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredith-reilly-33750246/ www.isolvedhcm.com isolved’s ‘Advisory Services Research’ report: https://www.isolvedhcm.com/resources/whitepapers/advisory-services-research Connect with the show: LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0 X: @HRPayroll2_0 X: @PeteTiliakos X: @JulieFer_HR BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90 Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/
07/03/2024

15 Minutes With.... Nakisha Hicks, HR Practitioner, Executive Coach, Thought Leader

What if HR wasn't just a department, but a calling? Nakisha Hicks walked away from a six-figure role to find out. It's easy to see a founder and nationally recognized voice and assume the path was always clear. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the real journey, how burnout broke her, and why that breakdown became the breakthrough that launched her purpose-led career. Nakisha talks candidly about navigating hard corporate truths and leaving security behind to pursue alignment. Who she is: Nakisha is the founder of The ElevateHer and a nationally recognized voice in HR transformation, strategy, and leadership development. She didn't arrive here on a straight line, she got here through burnout, hard truths, and the courage to walk away from a six-figure role. What she does: She helps women of color not just survive HR but thrive and lead it, building inclusive workplaces and developing next-generation leaders. What she believes: That HR can be a calling, not just a department, and that breakdown can become breakthrough. Alignment is worth more than a title or a paycheck. How she works: With the warmth of a mentor and the sharpness of a strategist. Nakisha leads through self-definition, boundary-setting, and professional courage, elevating voices that have long gone unheard. In this episode: How burnout broke her, and became the breakthrough Why she walked away from a six-figure role to pursue alignment Helping women of color thrive and lead in HR, not just survive it A masterclass in self-definition and boundary-setting New episodes of 15 Minutes With drop weekly. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation.
Mar 11

Build Roots, Build Leaders, Build Better Workplaces | Angela Shaw | 15 Minutes With #35

She doesn't just want to make leaders better. She wants to help us be better humans. It's easy to see a lifelong HR leader and assume the path was always clear. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the real journey of a native Austinite who built her career from the inside out. We explore her path to leadership, her love for her community, and why she believes HR must be the example setters. Who she is: Angela L. Shaw, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, is an SVP of Talent, a native Austinite, and a lifelong HR leader. She didn't arrive here by chance, she built it over a full career rooted in her community. What she does: She leads talent at the senior level, building leaders and better workplaces while helping people navigate their own paths in HR. What she believes: That HR must set the example, and that leadership can be both brave and kind. The goal isn't just better leaders, it's better humans. How she works: From the inside out. Angela leads with roots and community at the center, modeling the kind of brave, kind leadership she wants others to carry forward. In this episode: What it really looks like to lead from the inside out Why HR has to be the example setters How leadership can be both brave and kind Building roots, building leaders, and building better workplaces

What does WRKdefined mean? If you haven't already figured it out, WRKdefined = Work Defined. We believe the definition of work has changed. Beneath the surface definition of "work," we believe there is a greater story to be told, and that's what we've set out to do.