Can you answer this question right now: who are you, really? Not your title, not your role, just you.

Hiring has never been more optimized, yet 53% of job seekers have been ghosted by an employer, and the most sophisticated tech stacks still can't explain why the right hires aren't sticking. LaShawn Davis, Founder and Chief Culture Strategist at The HR Plug, believes the problem isn't the technology. It's that we've stopped treating the people on both sides of the hiring table as people — starting with ourselves.

In this episode, LaShawn and Nicole unpack the identity crisis quietly spreading through the workforce, why candidates who know themselves win interviews, and how organizations that invest in human-centered culture will always have an edge, no matter how sophisticated the technology gets. Because AI can streamline the process, but it cannot manufacture the emotion, connection, and self-awareness that make people want to stay. This is the mindset shift the industry didn't know it was waiting for.

Takeaways:

• Ask yourself and your team not what they do, but who they are. The answers will change how you lead, how you hire, and how you build a culture that actually sticks.
• The patterns in what people consistently come to you for aren't coincidental, they're your identity showing up before you even noticed it. HR leaders who understand this about themselves bring a clarity to their work that no framework can manufacture.
• The organizations winning right now are the ones using technology to protect space for human connection, not replace it. Emotion is the competitive advantage AI will never close the gap on.
• A future-ready hiring culture starts long before a role opens. When both candidates and companies show up knowing who they are and what they uniquely offer, the right matches happen faster, and they last longer.
• Identity isn't just a professional development exercise, it shapes how people lead, how teams perform, and how culture gets built from the inside out. The companies that understand this are the ones building something that scales.

Quote of the Show:

• “There is one thing that AI cannot replace: emotion. Clients connect to people. Employees connect to people. AI is just a guide to help leverage the emotion that's going to be missing in the equation. ” - LaShawn Davis

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lashawndavis
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehrplug/
• LaShawn’s Website: https://www.lashawndavis.me/
• Experience UNPLUG: https://www.experienceunplug.com/
• The HR Plug: https://www.thehrplug.com/
• LaShawn’s Book: https://a.co/d/084opVhK

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769

Rebecca Carr didn’t plan to end up at SmartRecruiters. What started as an accidental application through a demo recruiting account became the beginning of a decade-long journey helping shape one of the most influential companies in hiring technology.

In part one of this special two-part series, Rebecca, CEO of SmartRecruiters, an SAP company, joins Hiring Happy Hour to reflect on the early career moments, bold bets, and customer partnerships that helped define both her leadership journey and the evolution of SmartRecruiters itself. From a 94-day global deployment for Bosch to rethinking recruiting around trust, candidate experience, and long-term partnership, this conversation traces the career arc that brought Rebecca to become the leader she is today, helping shape enterprise hiring through one of its most transformative moments yet.

Along the way, Rebecca shares lessons on grit, belief, and what enterprise change actually requires – including why keeping the feedback loop between product and customer tight has always been central to her thinking, and why it matters even more as AI begins to reshape how companies hire. For HR and TA leaders navigating that same shift, this is a conversation about what it looks like to build the future of hiring, not just talk about it.

Takeaways:

• Great implementations don't just go live — they create methodology. When you build around global standardization, candidate-first design, and real change management, you're not just deploying software. You're creating a repeatable playbook that the whole organization can use long after the project team moves on.
• Candidate experience has to be a non-negotiable line item in every design decision, baked into how your hiring technology should be built and deployed. The companies that get hiring right don’t just treat it as something to optimize for when it's convenient. Every process choice should be tested against one question: what does this mean for the candidate?
• The best vendor-customer partnerships are bidirectional. Real progress happens when both sides are willing to do things differently than they planned. That means customers trusting the vendor's product vision enough to standardize, and vendors trusting the customer's operational reality enough to build with them, not just for them.
• The tightest feedback loops produce the best products. Depth of collaboration during implementation is hard to sustain post-go-live, but closing that gap through technology is one of the most important problems companies (including SmartRecruiters) should be focused on solving now.
• Be unromantic about your processes. Great talent with grit and belief still needs well-defined processes to execute against — but the moment you fall in love with how something is done, you lose the agility that makes you competitive.
• The relationships built doing hard work together outlast the work itself. When both sides are fully invested in making something succeed, the personal connections that form become a lasting foundation that enables further success.

Quote of the Show:

• “A lot of what I've been thinking about with my own product organization today is how do you keep that level of really high touch alive in an agentic era? I'd love to keep that customer experience consistent through the life of a contract, not just the first critical months.” - Rebecca Carr

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebeccajcarr
• Website: https://www.smartrecruiters.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769

Only 37% of hiring leaders say they feel prepared for AI, so what's the other 63% missing? Matt Alder, host of the globally renowned Recruiting Future podcast and one of the most forward-thinking voices in TA, joins Nicole to cut through the noise. From drawing sharp parallels between AI and the early internet to defining what actually separates real, working innovation from a flashy demo, this conversation is grounded, strategic, and refreshingly honest about why execution matters more than ambition, how the industry needs to think, not just act, differently.

Takeaways:

• The AI era mirrors the internet era, but this time, hesitation has a much higher price. The mindset skills that helped teams survive early internet disruption are the same ones needed now; the difference is you have weeks, not years, to adapt. Agility isn't a nice-to-have; it's the only strategy that survives this cycle.
• Vision anchors you when everything else is shifting. When the path forward is unclear, a strong strategic vision keeps your team aligned even as the tactics change underneath you. Without it, every product update feels like a crisis. With it, change becomes fuel, not friction.
• Only 37% of hiring leaders feel prepared for AI, and that number is optimistic. The ones who think they're fully ready may not fully grasp the scope of what's coming. True preparedness isn't a state you reach; it starts with asking better questions and building toward the answers, fast.
• Build the foundation before chasing the features. The organizations making the biggest strides with AI have invested in infrastructure, trust, and culture first. Innovation without a foundation is just expensive experimentation.
• AI should handle what it does better than humans, and step aside for the rest. AI can process and interpret resumes at a scale no human can match; humans bring the judgment, relationships, and emotional intelligence that no AI has mastered. Knowing where to deploy each one is the real competitive edge.
• Candidate trust is the missing piece of the AI adoption conversation. Much of the skepticism around AI in hiring is perception-driven, not fact-driven, and that means companies have an opportunity to lead with transparency and explainability to rebuild it.
• Freeing up recruiter time only creates ROI if your team knows what to do with it. AI-driven efficiency is only as valuable as what replaces the time it frees. If your team can't clearly articulate the strategic work they'll do with that bandwidth, that's not an AI problem — it's a strategy problem. And it's the most important one to solve before you invest.

Quote of the Show:

• “If AI is going to free up this time for us, what is it that you are going to be doing that adds value to the business?” - Matt Alder

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mattalder
• Website: https://recruitingfuture.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769

What does real TA transformation actually look like, beyond a system migration? In this episode of Hiring Happy Hour, Nicole sits down with Alan Walker, Co-Founder and CEO of Udder, to unpack what it takes to build hiring operations that actually work from the ground up, under pressure, and at scale. Alan shares how Udder grew from a two-person startup, launched mid-pandemic with a few hundred pounds, into a global consultancy that has delivered more than 600 HR tech implementations, including hundreds of SmartRecruiters projects. From leading with design before configuration to putting people and process ahead of technology, this conversation offers a grounded look at why a migration changes systems, but transformation changes outcomes, improving how hiring works for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates through better design, stronger adoption, and more disciplined execution.

Takeaways:

• Migration and transformation are not the same thing, and the difference matters. If you are simply moving from one system to another without rethinking process and behavior, you are migrating, not transforming. The language you use sets the mindset for the entire project.
• Front-load design time before you ever touch the system. Organizations that rush into configuration end up revisiting decisions mid-implementation. Investing in discovery and process design upfront is what allows large organizations to go live in three months, not twelve.
• A good consultant pushes back and earns the right to do it. The best implementations are not built on order-taking. Building trust early gives your team the standing to challenge assumptions and redirect when something will not serve the client long-term.
• Momentum during uncertainty is a competitive advantage. When COVID hit, Udder's ability to make decisions quickly and start delivering immediately won clients that would have otherwise gone to much larger firms. Speed and accountability compound over time.
• Hire for curiosity and character, and train for hard skills. The traits that define Udder's people, including curiosity, an engineer's mindset, and a genuine drive to go the extra mile, cannot be taught the same way system knowledge can. Culture is the foundation; capability gets built on top of it.
• True transformation touches the trifecta: hiring managers, recruiters, and candidates. If all three stakeholders experience meaningful improvement, you have transformed something. If only one does, you have optimized a corner of a broken process.
• Executing against a vision beats chasing trends every time. Whether it is an ATS implementation or building a company, the organizations that define a clear end state and stay committed to it, even when the path changes, are the ones that actually get there.

Quote of the Show:

• "Transform the people, because they'll then transform the process." — Alan Walker

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walkeralan/
• Website: https://udder.rocks/

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769

Some of the best ideas in business history weren’t born in boardrooms, and Steve Hardy has the Sip Club to prove it. In this episode of Hiring Happy Hour, Nicole sits down with Steve Hardy, five-time CMO, Forrester Marketing Executive of the Year, and current SmartRecruiters CMO for a conversation about what modern hiring innovation should actually enable and all that it takes to get there. From building a Friday ritual that outlasted his own tenure at a company to keeping culture, momentum, and execution intact through big change, Steve and Nicole discuss how the future of hiring will be shaped by teams that can ship, learn, adapt, and deliver with trust.

And yes, they get into the numbers too. Because when nearly 60% of hires on your platform are already touching AI, and you’ve shipped 160% more product in a single year, the story goes beyond marketing and into the day-to-day reality of getting great work done. At a time when hiring leaders are looking for proof over hype, visible product progress, and consistent execution, Steve offers a grounded view of what it takes to keep momentum going inside a fast-changing environment.

Takeaways:

• If your team does not feel connected and inspired, do not expect execution to show up on its own. Ask yourself honestly whether the people executing actually believe in what you're building.
• Watch the market and keep your eye on customers, but make room for new ideas to surface. Some of the best thinking happens when people have the space to reflect, connect dots, and solve problems informally.
• Build WITH your customers, not just FOR them. Every feature SmartRecruiters ships has spent real hours in front of real users, and your design partner program isn't a nice-to-have, it's your quality filter. A quicker pace of innovation only matters when what you are delivering is clear, useful, and easy for customers to put into practice.
• Don't be afraid to kill what isn't working. Sunsetting a workflow, product, or idea is not failure; it is often how teams protect momentum and redirect energy toward what actually moves the needle.
• When navigating change, lead with curiosity instead of certainty. Ask more questions, bring in different perspectives, and let those differences sharpen the path forward rather than slow it down. Use frameworks like "five whys" to get to the real heart of how things work on both sides.
• Stop bracing for what AI might take away and start building toward what it could create. A decade ago, nobody had a job title with "cloud" or "social" in it, and the same shift is happening right now.

Quote of the Show:

• “We don’t call it innovation when it happens on a playground. Kids are just being creative. They’re given the space to be individuals and explore ideas freely, and I think we need to create more of those opportunities in the workplace to get the best out of people.” - Steve Hardy

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/steve-hardy-cmo
• Website: smartrecruiters.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769

What does it actually take to build a hiring system from scratch, launch it during COVID, and hit 1.3 million hires in a single year? In this episode of Hiring Happy Hour, Nicole sits down with her friend and former implementation partner Preeti Woods, Senior Product Manager at Amazon Web Services, to unpack the real story behind deploying SmartRecruiters to 3,000+ Amazon DSPs across 14+ countries, including the moment a UAT crisis forced a full pivot that changed the product forever. This conversation is equal parts technical, human, and deeply honest about what it means to build something that actually works when the stakes couldn't be higher.

Takeaways:

• Passion and belief in the "why" aren't soft skills, they're load-bearing. Knowing why your work matters and who it ultimately serves is what keeps teams moving when timelines tighten and decisions get hard.
• Speed is an asset until it isn't. When UAT revealed a fundamental flaw in their deployment model, slowing down to pivot correctly was the only move… and it paid off.
• Your customer's customer matters. Preeti kept candidates and DSP owners at the center of every product decision, not just internal stakeholders, and that lens shaped a better outcome at every turn.
• Build relationships with your vendors the way you'd build them with your team. Transparency and trust between Amazon and SmartRecruiters made an impossible pivot possible in under a month.
• Outcome-oriented leadership beats micromanagement every time. Whether it's four days or six, remote or in-office, Preeti's standard is simple: are you delivering?
• Don't underestimate what one person with clarity can drive. Preeti started as a team of one and within months was coordinating a product launch that set new Amazon records.
• The hardest moments make the best case studies. The willingness to write a pivot doc, convince leadership, and take a risk is often where real transformation begins.

Quote of the Show:

"Ultimately we worked hard. We accomplished something big and now our customers are truly delighted by it." - Preeti Woods

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/preetiwoods
• Website: https://aws.amazon.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Substack: HiringHappyHour.com
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Pnhu7Njmi09N6Yzye59Nf
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/hiring-happy-hour/id1868802369
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d60912b0-8925-4bba-aff1-f5230a0cc793
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/317223012/
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/hiring-happy-hour-6340769