The Breakthrough Hiring Show: Modern Recruiting, AI, and Talent Strategy
Welcome to The Breakthrough Hiring Show: Recruiting, AI, and Talent Strategy, a podcast for leaders building better hiring systems and stronger teams.
Hosted by James Mackey, the show features conversations with founders, CEOs, talent leaders, and recruiting experts on how great companies hire, scale, and adapt as technology changes the talent landscape.
Episodes cover talent acquisition strategy, recruiting operations, AI, automation, candidate experience, hiring analytics, and executive decision-making.
You will learn how to build scalable hiring systems, use AI and recruiting technology effectively, improve the hiring process, and make talent acquisition a competitive advantage.
Built for founders, executives, talent acquisition leaders, recruiters, and hiring teams.
Thank you to our sponsors, SecureVision and June, for making this show possible.
Episodes
216 episodes
EP 215: Building Human-Centered Talent Acquisition in the AI Era
Kelsey Hersh grew up between two completely different worlds: one grounded in structure, the other filled with artists, Burning Man gatherings, and weekly fire dancing circles. No...
EP 214: Building TA Systems and Hiring Recruiters
Liam Naughton grew up in a hyper-competitive environment, from nonstop sports to a 35-day wilderness trip that pushed his limits early on. Now Head of Recruiting at Merge, he’s ...
EP 213: A Non-Traditional Path to a Ruthless Hiring Bar
Lauren Valencia grew up in a small town outside Seattle, where adventure, sports, and early problem-solving shaped a non-traditional path into recruiting. Now Head of Talent at...
EP 212: Managing Expectations in a Job You Can’t Control
Mallory Planck started her career in the middle of the 2009 recession, figuring things out in real time without a clear path. That grind took her from door-to-door sales into talent...
EP 211: Where Intuition Meets Pattern Recognition in Hiring
Nyala Khan grew up on an orchard farm in Northern California before navigating diverse environments across the U.S., shaping both her independence and her ability to read people. No...
EP 210: Curiosity, Excellence, and What It Takes to Build Strong Teams
From a multicultural upbringing to leading talent acquisition at Juniper Square, Felicia Menon has built her career around curiosity, storytelling, and a strong focus on people....
EP 209: Balancing AI, Automation and Human Connection
With a background in philosophy and logic, Polina Arkhipova approaches talent acquisition through clarity, structure, and continuous learning. At Monta, she’s exploring AI an...
EP 208: Turning AI Into a Strategic Engine for Talent
Daryl Escoto started with a mindset shaped by constant motion and perspective, and carried that into a career spanning Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, and now leading Talent Acquisition a...
EP 207: From Legal Training to Talent Strategy
Raised in a close Italian immigrant family, she grew up fascinated by people and what drives them. After a brief detour into law, she found her true calling in recruiting where she discovered that behavior often matters more than credentials. N...
EP 206: Where Parisian Roots Meet Intuitive Hiring
Victoire Marty grew up in Paris, surrounded by art, history, and a culture that values intuition, which later shaped her approach to hiring for potential rather than pedigree. A...
EP 205: Neat CVs Don’t Equal Potential, Look Beyond the Resume
Growing up as the oldest of five, Tristan Mackrory was a teacher long before the classroom, a dynamic that still shapes how he leads today. That path took him from teaching into talent ac...
EP 204: Scaling Yourself, Then Scaling the Business
Rona Shoaienia, grew up in Toronto after moving from Munich, and being surrounded by diverse cultures shaped how she sees people and potential. She studied psychology, traveled...
EP 203: How Competitive Sailing and Global Perspective Shape Creative Hiring
Growing up in a small NYC apartment taught him resilience early, but traveling through Brazil and South Africa reshaped how he sees people and the world. From competing in sailing across countries to living nomadically, those experiences shaped...
EP 202: The Difference Between Filling Roles and Building Teams
A bad environment can make someone shut down fast. The right one can change everything. Kenzie Hoelscher, Leading Recruiting at AssemblyAI, saw that shift early and it still shapes how sh...
EP 201: How Culture Quietly Shapes Every Career Decision
What if the way people think about jobs, risk, and “security” has less to do with personality and more to do with the country that raised them? In this episode, Alison Eastaway, VP of Pe...
EP 200: What Most TA Leaders Get Wrong About Influence
Gabrielle Mellon grew up in a big, competitive family that shaped her instinct to act, adapt, and figure things out fast. She carried that mindset into bold career moves and hi...
EP 199: Leading with Speed, Structure, and Self‑Awareness
Rebecca Palmer lived in multiple places growing up, an experience that taught her to adapt fast and focus on finishing what she starts. Those instincts now shape her work a...
EP 198: Why Context Matters More Than Hiring Templates
Esra Huseyinzadegan grew up in Istanbul, a city that quickly teaches you to adapt, question assumptions, and see the world from multiple perspectives. Those instincts carried her fro...
EP 197: This TA Power Couple Shares How They Raise the Bar to Excellence
Darien May, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Eventbrite, and Jasmin May, Head of Talent at Verse, share how growin...
EP 196: From Equestrian Arenas to Scaling Teams
Emily Zahuta, Senior Director, Talent Acquisition at Horizon3.ai, highlights how a chaotic yet loving Bay Area upbringing and elite equestrian training shaped a builder’s mindset ...
EP 195: How to Succeed as the First Recruiter at a Startup
Shannan Farmer, Lead Talent Partner at Freshpaint, details a sharp first thirty days blueprint, from fast ATS upgrades to structured debriefs and centralized feedback, proving that disciplined...
EP 194: Leading with Respect and Direct Communication
Ashlye Hernandez, Executive Director of Global Talent Acquisition and Operations at nCino, examines how her path from rural North Carolina to executive leadership shaped a people-first ap...
EP 193: Building Credibility and Driving Impact in Talent Acquisition
Morgan Whyte, Senior Director, Global Head of TA and Employer Brand at Commvault, shows how early stability and unexpected family challenges forged her resilience and ownership mindset. She ou...