Recruiting is No Joke

Growing from 30 employees to over 130 in under two years is remarkable — doing it without any investors is even more uncommon. In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel sits down with Tristan Mackrory, VP of People & Talent at Almeida, to explore one of the most impactful scaling stories in tech. Tristan shares how a warning from veteran teachers pushed him into recruiting, how he rose quickl...

Think about how wild this is. Starting out as a wedding planner and ending up as an HR executive responsible for 450 people. Most people work their way into HR through recruiting. Almost nobody begins in sales or customer success and rises to lead talent. A career pivot like that isn’t just unusual. It is rare, bold, and seriously inspiring. In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel sits down...

Have you ever wondered what separates recruiters who stay sharp in chaos from those who fold under pressure? Or why, even in a world full of AI tools and automation, the human touch still wins? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel sits down with recruiting veteran Nicole Hirsch, who brings nearly two decades of agency and in-house experience across shifting markets—from the 2008 financia...

In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel Lalgee sits down with Jeremy Lyons, co-founder of Rec Ops Collective and one of the most influential voices in the Rec Ops world. Together they unpack the nuances of recruiting operations (rec ops), the impact of AI and automation, and the importance of demonstrating business value in talent acquisition. Jeremy shares how his unconventional path into...

Did you know that recruiting has drastically evolved since the mid-1990s? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel sits down with talent acquisition leader Julia Levy to explore how recruiting has evolved and what still matters most. With more than two decades inside Fortune 500 companies, leading global TA operations and navigating major ATS implementations, Julia has seen every phase of th...

In this live episode of Recruiting is No Joke, recorded at RecFest 2025 inside the Purple Acorn Tent, Joel Lalgee sits down with two powerhouse recruiting leaders, Caroline Kiesler, Director of HR at Workwear Outfitters, and Kearstin McGinnis, Recruitment Leader at TekSynap, to explore what it really takes to stay relevant in today’s rapidly evolving talent landscape. Caroline shares her inspiring...

In this special live episode of Recruiting is No Joke, recorded at RecFest 2025 in Nashville, Joel Lalgee brings you raw, unfiltered conversations from the front lines. We go beyond the hype to tackle the real challenges and opportunities facing recruiters and HR leaders today. Joel chats with Nate Taylor from Basic Capital and Casey Timorason from Service Professionals, who reveal how a reimagine...

The world of work is spinning fast. The gold rush of 2021 is over, money’s tighter than ever, and everyone’s trying to figure out what’s next. Are we adapting or just hanging on? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel Lalgee sits down with Cassandra Rose, a powerhouse HR leader and Fractional Chief People Officer with one of the most unexpected career paths you’ll hear, from inner-city mis...

What does it really take to recruit, hire, and support more than 800 employees across 16+ restaurant locations with just one person running HR? Sounds impossible, right? In the fast-paced world of high-volume hiring, speed, structure, and community aren’t just nice to have; they’re everything. In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee sits down with Preston Sharpston, the one-man...

Did you know that at Sage, just three people power a recruiter enablement team that supports 30 recruiters around the world? So how do they manage to help a global crew hire top talent across countries without dropping the ball? In this episode of "Recruiting is No Joke," host Joel Lalgee sits down with Molly Sly, leader of the Talent Acquisition Enablement team at Sage, to explore the vital but o...

Is it cheating to use ChatGPT for your job application? That’s the question many recruiters are quietly asking themselves as AI-generated résumés flood their inboxes. At first glance, a copy-paste résumé straight out of ChatGPT might feel like a shortcut or even a fake. But what if it’s not as bad as it seems? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee sits down with Steve O’Brien,...

What happens when you’re the only recruiter at a fast-growing startup? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, host Joel  sits down with Alexa Lane, Head of Recruiting at Placements.io, to find out. Alexa’s path to recruiting wasn’t a straight line. She started in marketing and sales (yes, even cold-calling at Yelp) before stepping into a role where she’s now a “team of one” responsible for all...

Tech recruiting may grab the headlines, but some of the most exciting opportunities for recruiters are found on the factory floor. Michele Sutton, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at Chobani, has built her career connecting talent with purpose driven brands like Unilever, Ferrero, and now Chobani. Her journey proves that manufacturing roles can offer stability, growth, and meaningful communit...

What if the perfect candidate applied for your job, but you never even saw their resume? What if the key to fixing this broken system wasn't a human, but an artificial intelligence designed to actually be more fair? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee tackles these very questions with Adam Stokar, co-founder of Talent Llama. They expose the modern recruiting crisis: a perfec...

Did you know some companies are hiring architects not for buildings, but for people? That’s exactly what Robert Buckley does as Chief People Architect at Envada. His job isn’t about HR buzzwords, it’s about designing workplaces where culture drives growth and people come first. In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee sits down with Robert to unpack why the future of work depends...

Hiring has been called “broken” for decades, but is it actually? And if so, what does “fixed” even look like? In this episode of Recruiting Is No Joke, Joel sits down with Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, author, and HR tech analyst, to explore what’s working, what’s failing, and how talent leaders can prepare for a future shaped by AI, automation, and shiftin...

How is AI shaping recruitment today? In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, Joel Lalgee explores the intersection of technology and talent acquisition with Tom Lott, head of Talent Acquisition at Barry, Appleman & Leiden (BAL), a global immigration law firm. With 25+ years in the industry, Tom has witnessed recruitment evolve from fax machines to AI-driven processes. He discusses how AI at BAL...

Do you know if the jobs your company is hiring for today will even exist in three years? Or if your recruiters are spending too much time filling seats instead of creating strategic talent pipelines? In this eye-opening conversation, Jess VonBank, part of the HR Digital Transformation practice at Mercer, shares unfiltered truths about the inefficiencies plaguing recruiting and the bold steps neede...

What does it really take to recruit and keep great talent in the fast-moving world of retail? In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee sits down with Giorgio Benassi, Global TA Director at Sephora, to dig into the unique challenges of high-volume hiring. We’re talking more than 30,000 hires a year at Sephora, plus Giorgio’s past experience at H&M, so he knows a thing or two about...

Have you ever read a resume that’s just too perfect? The kind that nails every keyword, hits all the right phrases, and somehow mirrors your job description like it was custom-built for it? Odds are, it probably was by AI. In fact, some candidates are even letting AI sit in on interviews and answer questions for them. Is this the future of hiring or a shortcut that undermines authenticity? In this...

Is LinkedIn still worth the price? Are fake resumes making remote hiring a nightmare? And could AI actually take over your recruiting job? In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, Joel sits down with Tony Le, Global Head of Talent at Mission Cloud, to talk tech recruiting in 2025. Mission Cloud is a leading cloud services and AI solutions provider. From early days in retail to leading global tale...

What does Drag Queen Bingo have to do with employee engagement? In this episode, Joel catches up with Tannum Sullivan, Senior Manager of People, Experience & Culture at RentSpree — a prop-tech startup that’s redefining how people rent (and how employees stay engaged). They dive deep into the real reasons engagement is hitting all-time lows and why the old HR playbook isn’t enough anymore. Tannum s...

Want to know how a global restaurant chain hires 1,500+ employees while battling an industry notorious for turnover?  In this episode, Joel chats with Chrystal Gualtieri, the Global Talent Acquisition Leader at CKE Restaurants—the powerhouse behind Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. They dive into the ins and outs of recruiting in the fast-paced hospitality world and explore how recruiters can keep things h...

In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee welcomes Stephanie Murray, Senior Director of Talent at Brightside Health, for her first-ever podcast appearance. With nearly two decades in healthcare recruiting, Stephanie gets real about the state of the industry, the mental health hiring crisis, and what it takes to build a high-functioning, data-driven talent function. They dig into B...

Is construction the next big thing in recruiting? In the 100th episode of Recruiting is No Joke, host Joel Lalgee sits down with Kala Kapahalou, Director of Talent Acquisition at W.E. O’Neil, to talk about a rarely spotlighted industry with massive opportunity: construction. From ditching culinary school dreams to leading TA at a top national contractor, Kala shares his deeply personal and profess...