The Chad & Cheese Podcast

The "Lean, Mean, Hiring Machine": 6 Recruiters vs. 2,400 Locations

How do you hire for Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Arby’s, and Planet Fitness without losing your mind? If you’re Mark Gibson at Flynn Group, you don’t—you let a robot named Frankie do it.

In this episode of The Chad and Cheese Podcast, we hang out with the man managing the world’s largest franchise empire with a recruiting team so small they could all fit in one booth at Applebee's. Mark breaks down how they ditched boring forms for text-based AI, turning their six recruiters into "high-level media buyers" instead of resume-shuffling zombies.

What’s inside:


The "Midnight Million": What happens when you flip the switch on a new system and wake up to a literal mountain of applicants.


Frankie Goes to Hollywood (and Pizza Hut): How an AI assistant handles the "boring stuff" so humans can actually be human.


TikTok vs. The Churn: Using Gen Z influencers to drive talent and AI surveys to make sure they don't "ghost" after day three.


Judgment Day: Mark addresses the "Terminator" fears of automation. Spoiler alert: the robots aren't making the pizzas... yet.

From "black card" memberships for fries to surviving the HR tech "Judgment Day," this is a deep dive into how to scale a global empire without the overhead. Grab a snack and listen in—Frankie is watching.

If you could automate the single most annoying part of your job today, what would it be?

Hold onto your hats for another candid episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, where the industry’s most opinionated trio—Chad Sowash, Joel Cheesman, and JT O’Donnell—break down the latest HR tech shakeups.

Between JT’s "29th" birthday celebrations and Chad "hydrating" with a Guinness in Portugal, the group dives deep into the iCIMS leadership change. Is a CFO-turned-CEO a sign of a bold new chapter or a flashing "For Sale" sign?

The hosts don’t hold back on what this means for employees and customers alike.The acquisition trail is just as heated, as the team debates Phenom snapping up Plum.io and questions whether more "psychobabble" assessments actually solve hiring problems.

On the flip side, there’s plenty of buzz around Greenhouse’s bet on Ezra AI Labs and the massive revenue potential behind LinkedIn’s new Agentic AI hiring tools.

JT shares her exclusive early-access results, while the guys debate whether it’s a recruiter’s dream or just a glorified search bar.

From a look at LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads to a fiery discussion on living wages and a shout-out to King Charles, this episode is packed with industry realism and sharp wit.

It all culminates in a high-stakes round of "Who’d You Rather?" where the team chooses between the AI talent agents at Dex and the personalized coaching of Blooma. 

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Celebrations

02:56 - World Cup Ticket Prices and Attendance Concerns

05:57 - The Cost of Experiences and Living Wages

08:55 - Innovative Advertising on LinkedIn

12:00 - Political Commentary and Economic Insights

14:57 - Upcoming Events and Travel Plans

17:10 - Chicago Delicacies and Nostalgia

18:25 - Leadership Changes at iCims

19:15 - The Impact of New Leadership

22:19 - The Future of iCims

26:26 - Acquisitions in the Talent Assessment Space

30:08 - Behavioral Testing: A Critical Perspective

34:15 - Greenhouse's Strategic Acquisition of Ezra AI Labs

39:14 - The Value of Timing in Business Decisions

42:13 - LinkedIn's New AI Hiring Tools

50:10 - The Evolution of Recruitment Skills

54:11 - Innovative Job Seeking Strategies

01:00:24 - Comparing New Startups: Dex vs. Blooma

The Shred is a weekly roundup of what’s making headlines in the world of employment. The Shred is brought to you today by Jobcase.

In this session, Jeff Taylor, the legendary founder of MonsterBoard and Monster.com, joins Chad to discuss his re-entry into the talent space after a 20-year hiatus. Taylor reflects on the industry’s "Jurassic period" and outlines his plan to disrupt the market once more with his new venture, Boomband.

Episode Highlights


The LinkedIn "What If": Jeff details the 2003 deal to buy LinkedIn for $304 million that was killed by his board because the company was "too profitable".


Super Bowl Secrets: A look back at how a "failed" ironic ad led to a 700% traffic spike for Monster.


The AI Wave: Why Jeff believes the current AI explosion rhymes with the 1997 dot-com bubble and his predictions for the next two years.


Mapping the Market: An introduction to Boomband’s mission to map 175 million U.S. workers and eliminate the "hostage data model" of stagnant resumes.


Disruption Philosophy: Why Jeff believes you have to "break your own shit" in the middle of the night before someone else does it for you.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Personio: Going Big or Staying Home?

After a grueling multi-year restructuring and retreating from the US market, Personio has finally reported its first profitable quarter in Q1 2026. However, the hosts argue the company chose to "stay home" rather than "go big" by releasing a "slop". announcement that lacked actual revenue figures and buried the lead under a "thirsty" acquisition of Aurio, an AI agent startup.

The AI Layoff : Big tech giants like Meta and Amazon are slashing thousands of jobs to fund a massive $130 billion race into AI, essentially forcing employees to train the algorithms that may eventually replace them.




UK vs. US Quality of Life: The team debates data suggesting the UK outperforms the US in healthcare, paid maternity leave, and life expectancy, though it still trails behind Belgium in several social metrics.


Ethical Warfare at Palantir: Discussion centers on Alex Karp’s "techno-fascism" and the plight of engineers stuck between their moral beliefs and an "evil empire" involved in controversial government contracts.


Nomad Health’s Strategic Pivot: Nomad Health is transitioning from a staffing agency to a software platform, aiming to become the "operating system" for the healthcare hiring industry to capture higher margins with lower headcount.


LinkedIn’s Leadership Shakeup: Dan Shapiro replaces Ryan Roslansky as CEO, inheriting a mandate to reinvent the platform as AI shifts the fundamental landscape of professional networking.