エピソード

  • The Creative Burden: How to Lead Elite Talent Without Crushing Their Soul with Rusty Rueff Live on Shally's Alley

    The Creative Burden: How to Lead Elite Talent Without Crushing Their Soul with Rusty Rueff Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/07/18
    Rusty Rueff, former CHRO at Electronic Arts and CEO of music startup Snowcap, reveals the hidden psychology behind managing elite creative talent and why most companies completely misunderstand what drives creators. From leading HR at one of the world's most innovative gaming companies to his dramatic career pivot into the CEO seat, Rusty shares hard-won insights about balancing commercial deadlines with creative freedom. Guest Name: Rusty Rueff Website: Author of "The Faith Code" LinkedIn: Former CHRO at Electronic Arts, Former CEO of Snowcap Expertise: Creative leadership, career reinvention, boardroom governance, and the intersection of faith and work SUMMARY In this episode we explore the intersection of creativity and commerce, the loneliness of executive leadership, and why treating recruiting as a strategic craft can literally change lives. Rusty breaks down the myth of the perfect candidate and shares his philosophy on building platforms of faith that can withstand career turbulence. Key Takeaways Creative people carry a "burden" to express themselves - it's not passion or choice, but a fundamental need that must be channeled within commercial constraints 5-6 years is the sweet spot for mastering talent acquisition - most people leave the field too early before developing true expertise Bad hires create generational distrust of corporations - when you uproot a family for a role that fails, children carry anti-corporate sentiment into their careers Board members' primary job is hiring the right CEO - everything else flows through that single critical decision There are no perfect candidates - companies fail by seeking flawless matches instead of understanding skill spectrums and coaching potential Career reinvention requires strategic timing - jumping too early means missing growth, waiting too long means never taking the leap The best candidate might already be down the hall - we chase "new shiny pennies" while overlooking internal talent who just need development Talent acquisition is one of the most impactful business roles - good recruiting changes dreams, bad recruiting destroys families Having a strong platform prevents life collapse - when career "apps" crash, people without solid foundations have nothing to fall back on Chapters 00:26 – Welcome & Reflecting on 20 Years of Change 08:13 – Managing Elite Creative Talent at Electronic Arts 18:05 – The Chef vs. Short-Order Cook Philosophy in Recruiting 21:15 – The Creative Burden: Writing, Art, and Releasing Inner Demons 26:05 – The Board's Ultimate Job: Hiring the Right CEO 29:57 – Career Reinvention as Strategy, Not Risk 31:38 – The Left Turn: From CHRO to CEO at Snowcap 40:08 – Why People Leave Talent Acquisition Too Early 42:29 – The Profound Impact of Good vs. Bad Hires 52:33 – The Myth of the Perfect Candidate 57:07 – The Faith Code: Building Life Platforms vs. Apps Sound Bites "Creative people have a burden to express their creativity - it's not passion, it's not choice, it's a burden." - Rusty Rueff "You can be two kinds of talent folks - a short order cook who fills orders, or a chef who creates experiences." - Rusty Rueff About Shally: srcn.co/me
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 2 分
  • Why Your ATS is Killing Your Recruiting Success (And What to Build Instead) with Steve Bartel, CEO GEM, Live on Shally's Alley

    Why Your ATS is Killing Your Recruiting Success (And What to Build Instead) with Steve Bartel, CEO GEM, Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/07/11
    Steve Bartel reveals why traditional recruiting tools are fundamentally broken and how AI-native platforms can revolutionize candidate relationships. From his engineering days at Facebook, Blizzard, and Dropbox to building one of the most innovative recruiting platforms, Steve shares the hard truths about why ATSs track requisitions instead of people and why bolt-on AI solutions miss the mark entirely. Guest: Steve Bartel, co-founder and CEO of GEM Website: GEM Platform LinkedIn: Connect with Steve Expertise: transforming recruiting through AI-native platform design and candidate relationship management SUMMARY In this episode we dive deep into the evolution from transactional hiring to relationship-driven recruiting, the ethics of AI decision-making in talent acquisition, and why every candidate deserves immediate, constructive feedback. Steve breaks down the massive blind spots most founders have about candidate experience and explains why treating recruiting like a product function isn't just smart business - it's the future of competitive hiring. Key Takeaways ➡ 70% of enterprise hires are already in their recruiting database - but companies can't unlock this talent goldmine because their systems suffer from institutional amnesia ➡ Recruiters now manage 55% more requisitions than three years ago while facing 3x higher application volumes, creating an impossible workload without AI assistance ➡ AI should elevate and rank candidates, never reject them - the moment AI makes hiring decisions, you cross an ethical line that undermines fair candidate treatment ➡ Traditional ATSs track requisitions, not people - they were built for compliance, not relationship management, which is why recruiting CRMs require completely different data models ➡ 30-50% of smaller company hires come from previous touchpoints in their database, proving that relationship nurturing beats constant new sourcing ➡ The hard part of AI isn't the algorithm anymore - it's having sufficient data context to make intelligent recommendations, which requires native integration ➡ Every applicant deserves timely feedback about their status - this should be table stakes, not a nice-to-have feature that most companies ignore ➡ Recruiting requires evergreen personal contact information - unlike sales CRMs that focus on work emails, recruiting success depends on tracking people across career moves ➡ AI can provide basic qualification matching at scale - but humans must handle nuanced decisions like citizenship requirements to avoid discrimination ➡ Immediate feedback is crucial for candidate experience - three months later, constructive criticism becomes meaningless noise Chapters 00:31 – Welcome & AI-Generated Theme Music Demo 03:23 – Steve's Background: From MIT Engineer to Recruiting Tech Founder 08:42 – The Dropbox Recruiting Experience That Changed Everything 12:17 – Why Traditional ATSs Are Fundamentally Broken 18:43 – The Birth of Recruiting CRMs and Salesforce Experiments 24:55 – AI Augmentation vs. Automation: Drawing the Line 31:57 – Ethics in AI Recruiting: Where Human Judgment Must Prevail 37:21 – Regulatory Challenges: GDPR vs. Trade Secrets 42:15 – Founder Blind Spots in Candidate Experience 48:13 – AI-Powered Qualification Matching at Scale 52:27 – Success Story: Enterprise AI Feedback Implementation Sound Bites "Any of us who got into recruiting, we're people people. We do it because we care about candidates and bringing in the right people. That's life-changing." - Steve Bartel "If I had a time machine, the first thing I'd do is abort the ATS. It literally exists only to mitigate risk and tracks requisitions, not applicants." - Shally Steckerl About Shally: ⁠srcn.co/me⁠
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 1 分
  • Why 70% of Your Best Hires Are Already in Your Database (But You Can't Find Them) on Shally's Alley with Steve Bartel CEO of Gem

    Why 70% of Your Best Hires Are Already in Your Database (But You Can't Find Them) on Shally's Alley with Steve Bartel CEO of Gem
    2025/07/11
    Guest Steve Bartel, co-founder and CEO of GEM, reveals why traditional recruiting tools are fundamentally broken and how AI-native platforms can revolutionize candidate relationships. From his engineering days at Facebook, Blizzard, and Dropbox to building one of the most innovative recruiting platforms, Steve shares the hard truths about why ATSs track requisitions instead of people and why bolt-on AI solutions miss the mark entirely. Summary In this episode we dive deep into the evolution from transactional hiring to relationship-driven recruiting, the ethics of AI decision-making in talent acquisition, and why every candidate deserves immediate, constructive feedback. Steve breaks down the massive blind spots most founders have about candidate experience and explains why treating recruiting like a product function isn't just smart business - it's the future of competitive hiring. Intro In this episode we talk about AI-native recruiting platforms, candidate experience optimization, recruiting CRM evolution, and decision support automation. Steve Bartel shares his journey from MIT engineer to recruiting tech innovator, explaining why traditional applicant tracking systems fundamentally fail at relationship management and how proper AI integration can transform both recruiter efficiency and candidate experience without replacing human judgment. Key Takeaways ➡ 70% of enterprise hires are already in their recruiting database - but companies can't unlock this talent goldmine because their systems suffer from institutional amnesia ➡ Recruiters now manage 55% more requisitions than three years ago while facing 3x higher application volumes, creating an impossible workload without AI assistance ➡ AI should elevate and rank candidates, never reject them - the moment AI makes hiring decisions, you cross an ethical line that undermines fair candidate treatment ➡ Traditional ATSs track requisitions, not people - they were built for compliance, not relationship management, which is why recruiting CRMs require completely different data models ➡ 30-50% of smaller company hires come from previous touchpoints in their database, proving that relationship nurturing beats constant new sourcing ➡ The hard part of AI isn't the algorithm anymore - it's having sufficient data context to make intelligent recommendations, which requires native integration ➡ Every applicant deserves timely feedback about their status - this should be table stakes, not a nice-to-have feature that most companies ignore ➡ Data science recruiting in 2012-2013 was chaos - the field was so nascent that role definitions didn't exist and sourcing was nearly impossible ➡ Regulatory amnesia is sometimes mandated - GDPR and data retention laws force some recruiting memory loss, but smart systems can retain limited context legally ➡ Recruiting requires evergreen personal contact information - unlike sales CRMs that focus on work emails, recruiting success depends on tracking people across career moves ➡ AI can provide basic qualification matching at scale - but humans must handle nuanced decisions like citizenship requirements to avoid discrimination ➡ Immediate feedback is crucial for candidate experience - three months later, constructive criticism becomes meaningless noise Chapters 00:31 – Welcome & AI-Generated Theme Music Demo 03:23 – Steve's Background: From MIT Engineer to Recruiting Tech Founder 08:42 – The Dropbox Recruiting Experience That Changed Everything 12:17 – Why Traditional ATSs Are Fundamentally Broken 18:43 – The Birth of Recruiting CRMs and Salesforce Experiments 24:55 – AI Augmentation vs. Automation: Drawing the Line 31:57 – Ethics in AI Recruiting: Where Human Judgment Must Prevail 37:21 – Regulatory Challenges: GDPR vs. Trade Secrets 42:15 – Founder Blind Spots in Candidate Experience 48:13 – AI-Powered Qualification Matching at Scale 52:27 – Success Story: Enterprise AI Feedback Implementation 56:05 – Next Guest: Luke Eaton Sound Bites "Any of us who got into recruiting, we're people people. We do it because we care about candidates and bringing in the right people. That's life-changing." - Steve Bartel "If I had a time machine, the first thing I'd do is abort the ATS. It literally exists only to mitigate risk and tracks requisitions, not applicants." - Shally Steckerl "AI should give every candidate an equal shot regardless of when they applied, because the best candidate might be applicant number 2,000." - Steve Bartel Guest Info Name: Steve Bartel Website: GEM Platform LinkedIn: Connect with Steve Expertise: Co-founder & CEO of GEM, transforming recruiting through AI-native platform design and candidate relationship management Connect with Shally: About Shally: srcn.co/me Shally's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shally/ Shally @ Riviera Advisors: https://rivieraadvisors.com/staff-member/shally-steckerl/ TSI University: https://www.tsiuniversity.com/ TSI University On ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    59 分
  • Bill Malcom Live on Shally's Alley

    Bill Malcom Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/06/27
    🎙️ Meet Bill Malcolm: AI Strategist. TA Transformer. Human Capital Futurist.William doesn't talk about the future of AI in recruiting. He's built it. He cut onboarding time by 58%, saved $12M in labor costs, and built GPT-powered tools that changed how HR works from the inside out at one of the largest cancer centers. From resume screeners and onboarding bots to ethical AI use in healthcare hiring, this conversation hits hard and goes deep. - How he built a “Cleared-to-Hire” system that slashed delays - What AI can’t do and why that matters even more- How to blend recruiter experience with machine learning without losing your value - The red line: where not to let AI make the call
    続きを読む 一部表示
    59 分
  • Rob Beck Live on Shally's Alley

    Rob Beck Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/06/20
    🎙️ Meet Rob Beck, trusted friend of 20+ years and among the sharpest sourcing minds I’ve ever worked with.Rob’s journey has taken him from building client teams at Grep Staff (yes, he founded it!) to solving complex data and measurement hiring challenges at Ibotta, where he now leads as a Staff Technical Sourcer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/grep4robbeck/⁠ If you’re in product, data science, or measurement at the edge of consumer engagement, Rob’s your guy. We’ve got a lot to talk about, and if you’re a TA leader, you’ll want in on this: - Why “data-driven” hiring is broken—and how to fix it - What it really takes to build a sourcing engine that scales without burning out your team - How to blend relationship recruiting with automation (without losing your soul) His roots go deep. From full-cycle recruiting to talent strategy, he knows how to find the needle and fix the haystack.Cheers, Rob. Honored to know you, proud to share the stage with you again bro!#TechRecruiting #SourcingExcellence #Ibotta #DataScienceJobs #ShallysAlley #TalentAcquisition
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 1 分
  • Nicole Robert's Live on Shally's Alley

    Nicole Robert's Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/06/13
    🎙️ Meet Nicole Roberts, the HR whisperer for founders, investors, and execs who actually want their people strategy to work. Nicole isn’t your average HR pro. She’s the first call when a CEO needs more than compliance. When they need culture clarity, systems that scale, and leaders who can lead. From launching People Solutions Group to teaching at HCI and spotlighting job seekers on Amplify Your Signal, Nicole’s built a reputation for turning chaos into cohesion, and doing it with heart. On this Shally’s Alley, we’ll unpack: ✅ How to build HR from scratch in fast-moving, PE-backed orgs ✅ What execs misunderstand about “people-first” culture ✅ How HR can earn a real seat at the strategy table ✅ Leadership development that sticks She builds. She coaches. She challenges assumptions. And she’s bringing 🔥 insight for anyone trying to lead through complexity.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間
  • The LinkedIn Death Clock: Why Your Favorite Platform Is Already Dying with Jim Stroud on Shally's Alley Live

    The LinkedIn Death Clock: Why Your Favorite Platform Is Already Dying with Jim Stroud on Shally's Alley Live
    2025/06/06
    Shally Steckerl sits down with fellow sourcing pioneer Jim Stroud for a no-BS conversation about the real impact of AI on recruiting, the economic forces reshaping talent acquisition, and why personal branding trumps any technology. This isn't your typical AI-will-save-us-all discussion. Instead, two industry veterans who've weathered every tech revolution share hard truths about what's actually happening in the market right now. In this episode we talk about the inevitable collapse of generative AI models, why LinkedIn response rates have plummeted from 85% to 15%, the surprising unemployment surge among computer engineers, and the real reason companies are forcing return-to-office mandates. Jim and Shally dissect everything from wind turbine technician demand to the psychology of personal branding, delivering actionable insights for both recruiters struggling with over-automation and job seekers trapped in the application black hole. Guest Name: Jim Stroud Website: ⁠jimstroud.com⁠LinkedIn: ⁠JimStroud⁠ Expertise: Digital anthropologist, sourcing futurist, and recruiting innovation strategist who predicted major industry trends and disruptions. KEY TAKEAWAYS ➡ Computer engineering unemployment hit 7.5% - a field once considered bulletproof is now struggling due to AI disruption and economic overcorrection ➡ LinkedIn response rates crashed from 85% target to 15% satisfaction rate, signaling the platform's declining effectiveness ➡ Wind turbine service technicians top job growth at 60%, followed by solar installers - green energy roles are exploding while tech contracts ➡ AI interview outsourcing misses critical human elements like detecting genuine enthusiasm versus desperation in candidate responses ➡ The "collapse of generative AI" is inevitable due to recursive content cycles - specialized AI tools will emerge but won't replace human judgment ➡ Personal branding beats Boolean strings - what people remember about you five years later defines your career trajectory more than any sourcing technique ➡ Job seekers should shift from hunting to attracting by creating content, speaking at events, and building thought leadership rather than mass applying ➡ Remote work compensation needs adjustment - if companies mandate office return after hiring remotely, they must increase pay to offset commuting costs ➡ Companies engaged in "hedge hiring" during COVID boom - hiring talent to block competitors rather than for actual business needs, leading to current layoffs ➡ LinkedIn will eventually die like Monster and CareerBuilder - the future belongs to distributed search across multiple personal websites and platforms CHAPTERS 00:37 - Intro & Jim Stroud Introduction 2:15 - The Creativity Behind Sourcing 3:11 - AI Taking Over Job Descriptions 6:01 - The Problem with Template-Based Hiring 8:45 - When AI Should Handle Interviews (And When It Shouldn't) 12:30 - The Inevitable Collapse of Generative AI 17:08 - Why Technology Never Actually Replaces Jobs 21:57 - Tech Layoffs and Economic Reality Check 28:06 - Job Market Growth Areas: Wind Turbines to Data Science 29:10 - From Job Hunting to Job Attracting 34:51 - Remote Work Economics and Return-to-Office Reality 39:40 - Boolean Survival: Old School vs New School 43:49 - The Death of LinkedIn and What Comes Next 51:60 - Personal Branding as Career Currency Jim Stroud: "The more you integrate technology, you sort of lose a little bit of yourself. If you don't put your own special sauce on it, what's really the carrot to attract somebody to your job?" Shally Steckerl: "LinkedIn response rates crashed from 85% to 15%. LinkedIn is gonna die - there's no tool that has been there forever, and LinkedIn is not going to be that one either." Jim Stroud: "Change your mindset from looking for a job to attracting a job. Write content about something you're passionate about, speak at meetups, showcase your expertise - make people reach out to you."
    続きを読む 一部表示
    58 分
  • CoSandra Dent Live on Shally's Alley

    CoSandra Dent Live on Shally's Alley
    2025/05/30
    🎙️ Meet CoSandra Dent a respected corporate Talent Acquisition leader who transitioned from shaping TA at major corporations to building something of her own with CoCreate Solutions. She was my boss at Fiserv for five years, so I’ve seen firsthand how she balances sharp leadership with genuine connection (and a great sense of humor). CoSandra has spent years leading large-scale TA functions, navigating corporate complexities, and now she’s helping companies rethink their talent strategies on her own terms. 🔥 In this episode, we’re covering: - The reality of leading TA at major corporations (the good, the bad, and the absurd) - Why she made the leap to solopreneurship and what she’s learned along the way - What corporate TA leaders misunderstand about working independently Join us for a conversation packed with real talk, sharp insights, and maybe a few “I probably shouldn’t say this out loud” moments.
    続きを読む 一部表示
    58 分