Episodes

  • Does HR Need More Outsiders?

    Does HR Need More Outsiders?
    Aug 6 2026
    Unmuted Podcast | Episode #84Topic: Does HR Need More Outsiders?Guest: Kara Wilson Oliver - VP, People Operations at DealMakerGuest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karawilsonoliver/Host: Jeff Waldman – Founder & HR Tech Evangelist at ScaleHR & SocialHRCamp The Unmuted Podcast, hosted by Jeff Waldman, explores the topic of whether HR needs more outsiders. Kara Wilson Oliver, the guest, shares her background and transition to HR, emphasizing the application of a product mindset to the people function. The conversation also delves into the benefits of bringing outsiders into HR, the potential for HR leaders to transition to broader roles, and the transformative power of AI in HR. Takeaways Application of a product mindset to HR Benefits of bringing outsiders into HR Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Unmuted Podcast 01:13 Episode 84: Does HR Need More Outsiders? 03:23 Kara's Background and Transition to HR 14:28 Applying Product Mindset to People Function 23:11 Bringing Outsiders into HR 27:27 HR Leaders Transitioning to Broader Roles 32:40 The Power of AI in HR About Kara Wilson Oliver Kara is a People executive with 25 years in Toronto’s startup ecosystem and an unusual career path: 15 years building products before realizing that organizations are really just the most complicated product of all. She brings a product mindset to culture, leadership, organizational design and AI adoption - building practical People systems that help ambitious companies scale. Connec with Kara on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karawilsonoliver/ About ScaleHRThe Unmuted Podcast is powered by ScaleHR (https://goscalehr.com/), helping emerging HR, Recruitment, and Work Tech companies accelerate brand awareness and lead generation through Catalyst, our community-driven content and omnichannel marketing solution.📩 Learn more: https://www.goscalehr.com/#Podcast #Recruiting #Hiring #TalentAcquisition #HR #FutureOfWork #Leadership #HRTech #Business #Careers #AI
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    30 mins
  • Stop Filling Jobs. Start Solving Business Problems.

    Stop Filling Jobs. Start Solving Business Problems.
    Jul 30 2026
    Unmuted Podcast | Episode #83Topic: Stop Filling Jobs. Start Solving Business Problems.Guest: Mike Bettley – VP, Talent Acquisition, StackAdaptGuest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbettley/Host: Jeff Waldman – Founder & HR Tech Evangelist at ScaleHR & SocialHRCamp The Unmuted Podcast episode features a discussion on the changing role of talent acquisition and the impact of AI on workforce planning. The conversation emphasizes the need for talent leaders to understand business problems and build stronger partnerships with other functions. It also explores the future of talent acquisition in the context of AI and automation. Takeaways Talent acquisition is evolving to focus on solving business problems, not just filling jobs. The successful TA leader of the future will leverage AI and automation to create space for high-value, human-centric work. Chapters 00:00 Introducing the Unmuted Podcast 03:11 The Role of Talent Acquisition is Changing 04:11 The Best Solution Isn't Always Just Another Hire 09:26 Building Stronger Partnerships with Other Functions 26:56 The Future of Talent Acquisition and AI About Mike Bettley Mike has spent almost 15 years in Talent Acquisition, guiding companies growth across all stages and maturity levels. From the early days in an agency in the UK, a few years in Dublin at Google, before jumping across to Canada and building a few series A-C companies, pioneering sourcing at Thomson Reuters. Now, as VP of Talent Acquisition at StackAdapt one of Canada’s fastest growing companies, Mike leads a 25 person TA team driving over 600 hires per year for this highly competitive AI powered marketing and advertising technology company. 🔗 Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbettley/ About ScaleHR The Unmuted Podcast is powered by ScaleHR (https://goscalehr.com/), helping emerging HR, Recruitment, and Work Tech companies accelerate brand awareness and lead generation through Catalyst, our community-driven content and omnichannel marketing solution.📩 Learn more: https://www.goscalehr.com/#Podcast #Recruiting #Hiring #TalentAcquisition #HR #FutureOfWork #Leadership #HRTech #RemoteWork #AI
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    27 mins
  • HR Tech 2023 is Around the Corner

    HR Tech 2023 is Around the Corner
    Jul 24 2026
    This is our first re-launched episode of the Unmuted Podcast with Jeff Waldman, Founder & Principal of ScaleHR (https://goscalehr.com/). The guests on this episode are Adam Phelps of Hibob (https://www.hibob.com/) and Alper Tekin of (https://www.findem.ai/). The topic of this episode is "HR Tech is Around the Corner". The infamous HR Technology Conference (https://www.hrtechnologyconference.com/) is taking place on October 10-12, 2023, in Las Vegas, and both Hibob and Findem will be attending, speaking and exhibiting. HR and Recruitment technology has seen a massive explosion during the past 3+ years that has largely been fueled by the shift in how, when, and where work. This refers to remote work, hybrid work, and everything in between, with our reliance on work technology skyrocketing. In this episode, we get into a conversation about what has changed in HR tech during the past few years and how both Hibob and Findem have adapted and played lead roles in their respective categories. We also get into high-level overviews of each platform, specifically about their newest features and points of differentiation. We then segway into the future of HR tech and close the episode with a discussion about the upcoming HR Technology Conference in October. New Unmuted Podcast Episodes:New episodes will be dropped on a weekly basis and will cover a wide range of topics about HR, Talent and HR Tech. Episode guests will be HR and Talent leaders and practitioners working in the tech industry, and HR Tech vendors, analysts, influencers, and thought leaders. Our main goals in relaunching Unmuted are to provide education, inspiration, and some entertainment value. Be sure to subscribe to our channel, share your thoughts in the comments section of our videos, and of course, hit that big "like" button.
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    47 mins
  • Unmasking Ghosting: Tackling the 'Tinderification' of Hiring

    Unmasking Ghosting: Tackling the 'Tinderification' of Hiring
    Jul 24 2026
    In this episode, Jeff Waldman dives into the rampant problem of "ghosting" -- employers ghosting candidates and candidates ghosting employers. We are dealing with an incredibly complicated and challenging talent landscape. We're experiencing layoffs, restructuring, fierce competition for talent, exploding technology, and a really tough economic climate. How we think about attracting, recruiting, engaging and retaining talent has changed significantly, and how we run our organizations has changed. While the virtual and remote work world has generated huge value for organizations, it has created many difficult problems. In this episode with guest, John Fleischauer, CEO of Pivot + Edge (https://www.pivotandedge.com/), we get into the nitty gritty of what ghosting really means, and what John means by the 'Tinderification of hiring'. Further, how do we solve the problem of ghosting, or, can we actually solve it? There are huge ramifications when employers and candidates engage in ghosting, and some are more important than others. John brings his candid approach and awesome sense of humour to the table as he unwraps the complicated problem of ghosting and game-playing in hiring. His company even published a recent blog post on this very topic that you should all read - https://www.pivotandedge.com/our-blog/why-ghosting-happens-in-hiring/. John's company, Pivot + Edge is a strategic partner of ScaleHR's. They think like us, operate like us, and live a little bit on the edge, just like us. They offer a really unique and fresh approach to recruiting at small to medium-sized companies. Curious? You should be. Want an introduction? It's one of the things we do really well; connect people with people. Ping us.
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    51 mins
  • Ontario’s New Licensing Rules: Deep Dive for Recruiters

    Ontario’s New Licensing Rules: Deep Dive for Recruiters
    Jul 24 2026
    This is a unique episode that dives into Ontario's new legislation requiring recruitment firms to be licensed as of January 1, 2024. These changes will be found in Ontario's Employment Standards Act (ESA), which governs the employer-employee relationship for all provincially regulated organizations - e.g. tech companies. It appears that the main reason for implementing these new regulations is to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable foreign workers by some job recruiters. While tackling this huge problem of exploitation is applauded, the application of these new regulations was not well thought out. These changes will apply to every single recruitment agency and staffing agency that does business in the province of Ontario.For more information about the new legislation please go to https://www.ontario.ca/page/licensing-temporary-help-agencies-and-recruiters. This new law is generating a lot of concern in the recruitment community, notably smaller third-party recruitment agencies. The legislation is meant to tackle the exploitation problem of temporary staffing agencies that take on employee payroll of temp workers. The legislation lists several requirements, some of which are financially based. The financial requirements are causing a significant amount of backlash, and may even result in many smaller recruitment agencies going out of business. Jeff meets with Suky Sodhi and Jessica Smith, both recruitment agency founders and operators. They are playing a lead role in sounding the alarm bell to these new legislative changes and have undertaken many activities to make a positive impact. A petition on change.org was created and can be accessed at https://www.change.org/p/change-ontario-s-new-recruiter-law-license-policy. A new Facebook was created for concerned individuals to come together and share information - https://www.facebook.com/groups/eliteglobalrecruiters. Finally, a LinkedIn group was created called "Recruiters for Fair Licensing" - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14289791/. If you are concerned about this new legislation in Ontario, please take the time to engage and interact with one, or all, of the online platforms. @CTVNews covered this story and you can watch the clip at https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2770762. You can find more information about Suky Sodhi at https://professionalselection.com/, and Jessica Smith at https://savantrecruitment.ca/.
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    43 mins
  • Helping Your Business and Your Employees Recover After a Layoff

    Helping Your Business and Your Employees Recover After a Layoff
    Jul 24 2026
    In this episode, we dive into how businesses can manage through and recover from a layoff. We have seen more companies go through multiple rounds of layoffs, restructuring, right-sizing, and many other disruptive activities. The volatility in our global business climate has been extremely taxing on companies, notably small businesses. It's interesting that while the tech industry in Canada continues to grow, many tech organizations have reduced the size of their organizations. An interesting fact is that we have more vacant job openings today than we did pre-pandemic, yet layoffs continue to plague companies. Regardless of the statistics, layoffs are extremely disruptive to organizations on many fronts, and this is what this podcast episode is all about. Unmuted podcast host, Jeff Waldman, speaks with Amy Davies, CEO of First30 (https://first30ready.com/), a growing Toronto-based company that focuses on outplacement, onboarding and various other critical areas that impact organizational success. New Unmuted Podcast Episodes:New episodes will be dropped on a weekly basis and will cover a wide range of topics about HR, Talent and HR Tech. Episode guests will be HR and Talent leaders and practitioners working in the tech industry, and HR Tech vendors, analysts, influencers, and thought leaders. Our main goals in relaunching Unmuted are to provide education, inspiration, and some entertainment value. Be sure to subscribe to our channel, share your thoughts in the comments section of our videos, and of course, hit that big "like" button. First30 - Strategies for Running Compassionate & Effective Layoffs Guide. To download this invaluable guide, go to https://bit.ly/3RxdWmF.
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    51 mins
  • AI-Powered Recruitment: Leveraging ChatGPT for Talent Acquisition

    AI-Powered Recruitment: Leveraging ChatGPT for Talent Acquisition
    Jul 24 2026
    In this episode, ScaleHR Founder and Unmuted Podcast host, Jeff Waldman, dives into the world of ChatGPT and how to leverage it for Talent Acquisition and Recruiting. Guest, Shweta Jacob, Founder of SJ Growth Advisors is a tech recruiting veteran and expert in all things AI and recruiting. We are seeing massive adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in recruiting and this trend will only continue as we head into 2024. ChatGPT already has over 1 billion users, and this platform has been hugely influential in the increasing rate of adoption of AI tools in recruiting and HR. The use cases within HR are infinite and we are just touching the surface of what AI can do to help HR and Recruitment realize huge and unprecedented value. In this episode, we talk about the following:What is ChatGPT and why should recruiters care about it? How is AI, specifically ChatGPT, being utilized in recruiting today?What success stories can we find in the industry regarding how ChatGPT has significantly improved recruiting? What are common misconceptions or concerns that businesses might have when considering the adoption of AI in recruiting, and how have they been addressed? What does the future look like regarding AI in recruiting? Will ChatGPT continue its leadership role as the industry evolves?What can HR practitioners and recruiters do to start using AI (i.e. ChatGPT) in recruiting? About Shweta JacobShweta is a Toronto-based recruiting expert and is the Founder of SJ Growth Advisors (https://sjgrowthadvisors.com/). Shweta Jacob has spent the majority of her career in the People space. From 8 years of agency recruiting to in-house HRBP and most recently 10 years scaling StartUPs in both Canada & the US. This has included recruitment, training and leadership coaching at companies such as Chango, Flipp and Lever. Shweta has moderated and participated in numerous panels on the topics of DEIB in the workplace, Starting an ERG and candidate experience to name a few.
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    39 mins
  • Turning Words into Action: Advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

    Turning Words into Action: Advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    Jul 24 2026
    In this episode, Unmuted Podcast host, Jeff Waldman, invites Dr. Kristen Liesch to talk about how organizations can move past "talking about DE&I" to moving to action. Real action with a lasting positive impact that makes a difference. According to Deloitte, nearly 70% of employees reported that their organization prioritizes DEI but only 35% reported that their company has substantially followed through on their commitments. This episode is a must-watch to learn how to easily make this shift from words to action.The following areas are discussed:How can leaders and organizations start to make this shift from “words to actions”. Where can they start? Is there a way to ensure new efforts last and are sustainable? Another way of putting this is, “Is it about programs and activities, or is it about mindset and how you operate”?Are there any case studies or personal experiences you can share that illustrate the journey from talk to action in the realm of DEI?Tidal Equality created the “Equity Sequence”. What is it and how does it help organizations move from words to actions? What is unconscious bias and can you eliminate it? About Dr. Kristen LieschDr. Kristen Liesch is co-CEO and co-founder of Tidal Equality (https://www.tidalequality.com/). Named a Forbes Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer, Kristen is a strategist and educator with 15 + years of experience designing transformative curricula, implementing equitable process changes, and capacity-building programs to support the design of more equitable organizations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and New Zealand.
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    44 mins