The Jim Stroud Podcast

The Jim Stroud Podcast is part therapy, part exposé—and grounded in reality. Some weeks, I talk with insiders. Most weeks, I say the quiet parts out loud—no filter, no fluff, and no patience for corporate nonsense. This isn’t career advice theater. It’s the raw, unvarnished side of work: AI misfires, hiring hypocrisy, culture scams, and why the future of work increasingly feels like a Black Mirror episode in business casual. This podcast is for leaders, recruiters, advisors, and job seekers who want unfiltered clarity about what’s actually happening at work—and what it means for the decisions ahead. It’s not for anyone looking for motivational fluff, corporate talking points, or sanitized “best practices.” Because what’s coming for your job, your company, and your peace of mind won’t show up in an all-hands meeting. But you’ll hear it here. This podcast is brought to you in part by The Recruiting Life newsletter—clarity on what’s happening now and next in the world of work. Subscribe at 👉 https://jimstroud.beehiiv.com

Episodes

AI Literacy Isn’t a Skill Gap — It’s a Loyalty Test

February 2, 2026 • 10 mins

By 2027, not knowing how to work with AI won’t get you fired — it’ll get you quietly excluded. In this episode, we unpack why AI literacy is no longer a skill, but a signal. A test of trust, judgment, and who gets a voice inside AI-mediated workplaces. This isn’t about prompts or tools. It’s about power, credibility, and what happens when human judgment starts getting audited. If work feels different lately, this episode explains w...

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AI is everywhere in hiring—but is it actually making talent acquisition better?

January 26, 2026 • 24 mins

This episode brought to you by ProvenBase: https://provenbase.com ... On this episode of the Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim sits down with Michelle Cass, global talent acquisition leader and author of Hired by Humanity, to cut through the AI hype in recruiting. Michelle shares why AI doesn’t fix broken processes or culture—it exposes them. Together, they unpack how automation should amplify recruiters (not replace them), what’s driving...

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What If Your Top Performer Doesn't Breathe?

January 19, 2026 • 16 mins

This episode brought to you by: Job Search 3.0 and The Recruiting Life newsletter. Links below. ... You walk into your review prepared to discuss your metrics. But there’s a new name on the dashboard. It’s not a peer. It’s not a hire. It’s an AI recruiting agent—with a title, a scorecard, and a seat on the org chart next to yours. The moment your KPIs are placed side-by-side, everything changes. This isn’t about working smarte...

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Is the Pharmacy Benefit System a Scam? Follow the Money

January 12, 2026 • 31 mins

This episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast is brought to you by ProvenBase - an AI-powered talent acquisition and Deep Search sourcing platform that helps organizations find, engage, and hire hard-to-find candidates from thousands of real-time online sources. See it in action for yourself by visiting - https://provenbase.com ... In this episode: Are pharmacy benefits actually helping employers and employees—or has the system become ...

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Is Career Coaching Actually Booming—or Are We Just Calling It That?

January 5, 2026 • 9 mins

This episode brought to you by "The Career Intelligence System" at https://ci.jimstroud.com ... Everyone keeps saying career coaching is booming. You hear it on podcasts. You see it on LinkedIn. You see screenshots, sold-out programs, and bold income claims. But if that’s true… why does the market feel crowded? Why does demand feel real—but uneven? In this episode, we strip away the hype and look at what’s actually growing, wha...

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Low hire. Low fire.

December 29, 2025 • 9 mins

Everyone keeps asking if the job market is broken. It’s not that simple. Hiring didn’t disappear—it changed. Quieter. More selective. Less forgiving of guesswork. In this episode, Jim Stroud unpacks why the market feels confusing, why familiar strategies stopped working, and what’s really driving hiring decisions right now. If your experience suddenly feels harder to translate—or the rules feel different without warning—this conver...

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93% on Technology. 7% on People. That’s the Real AI Problem.

December 26, 2025 • 5 mins

Companies aren’t failing at AI because the tech isn’t ready—they’re failing because they’ve underinvested in the humans expected to make it work. | Subscribe to "The Recruiting Life" newsletter at JimStroud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

December 25, 2025 • 4 mins

Jim Stroud shares a special message of thanks to everyone who supported him online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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When AI Stops Assisting and Starts Hiring

December 24, 2025 • 5 mins

Recruiting is crossing a line from AI support to AI execution, and the winners won’t be the fastest adopters—but the ones who pair automation with accountability and governance. | Subscribe to "The Recruiting Life" newsletter at JimStroud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Why Job Hunting Feels Like a Full-Time Job

December 23, 2025 • 5 mins

Long searches, low response rates, and widespread burnout reveal a hiring system optimized for volume over clarity—leaving job seekers exhausted and trust eroding fast. | Subscribe to "The Recruiting Life" newsletter at JimStroud.com Read the report that inspired my rant - "Job Seeker Survey: 76% Burned Out by Job Hunt" https://www.howdy.com/blog/job-hunter-survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

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The Global Job Market Is Tapping the Brakes

December 22, 2025 • 5 mins

The global labor market isn’t breaking, but the data shows employers quietly shifting from hiring at scale to hiring with intent—while U.S. metrics remain temporarily distorted by missing government data. | Subscribe to "The Recruiting Life" newsletter at JimStroud.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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AI Is Automating the Wrong Work

December 19, 2025 • 5 mins

A new Stanford study reveals that nearly half of today’s AI tools are automating tasks workers don’t want automated—so why is Silicon Valley racing to replace judgment and creativity while employees are still drowning in expense reports? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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AI Shame Is a Leadership Failure

December 18, 2025 • 4 mins

Nearly half of employees—and even more executives—are secretly using AI at work, so what happens to trust, risk, and leadership when the future of work is something no one is willing to admit out loud? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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OMG! I hope this isn’t true

December 17, 2025 • 5 mins

A former U.S. consular officer claims up to 90% of H-1B visa applications she reviewed were fraudulent—so what does that mean for American workers, global talent, and a system that may be breaking in plain sight? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What If Colleges Warned You Before You Took the Loan?

December 16, 2025 • 5 mins

For the first time ever, the government is putting a warning label on college—so what happens when students start seeing which degrees (and classes) may actually cost them more than they’re worth? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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ICHRA Explained: How Individual Health Coverage Is Changing Employee Benefits

December 15, 2025 • 33 mins

In this episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim sits down with Eric Wissig of SureCo to unpack one of the most talked-about shifts in employee benefits today: the Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA). Eric explains why the traditional group health insurance model is breaking down under rising costs—and how ICHRA offers a new path forward by giving employees ownership, choice, and flexibility in their healthcare, while still allowing em...

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The Weaponization of Student Loans

December 11, 2025 • 5 mins

Student loans aren’t just financing college—they’re steering the entire idea of what counts as a “real” future. This episode exposes how a government-backed loan system quietly shapes which majors thrive, which wither, and which dreams get priced out. When credit becomes a political weapon, your kid’s passion isn’t the only thing choosing their path. | To keep up with what's happening now and next in the world of work - Subscribe ...

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The New Draft

December 10, 2025 • 5 mins

Ford’s CEO warns that the real national security risk isn’t coders—it’s the disappearance of people who can build and fix the machines we depend on. This episode dives into how America sidelined the trades, glorified the credentialed class, and left itself vulnerable in a world where physical mastery still decides power. Maybe what we need now isn’t more algorithms—but a draft back into reality. | To keep up with what's happening ...

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The $120K Mirage

December 9, 2025 • 4 mins

Ford’s “$120K mechanic shortage” isn’t a labor crisis—it’s a mirage. This episode blows past the headline to expose how America devalued the trades, oversold college, and turned work into a gamble. The real shortage isn’t workers—it’s honesty about the system we built. | To keep up with what's happening now and next in the world of work - Subscribe to "The Recruiting Life" newsletter at https://jimstroud.com Learn more about your a...

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Beyond Resume Screening: Building Human-Centered Hiring in an AI World

December 8, 2025 • 28 mins

In this eye-opening episode, Jim Stroud sits down with Abhinav “Abhi” Chugh, co-founder and CEO of Peoplebox.ai, to unravel the real challenges talent teams face as companies scale from hundreds to thousands of employees — and how AI is transforming every step of the hiring journey. Abhi pulls back the curtain on what really breaks first when organizations grow: overwhelmed inbound pipelines, resume floods, artificially polished ap...

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The Jim Stroud Podcast

Episodes

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}AI is everywhere in hiring—but is it actually making talent acquisition better?

What If Your Top Performer Doesn't Breathe?

Is the Pharmacy Benefit System a Scam? Follow the Money

Is Career Coaching Actually Booming—or Are We Just Calling It That?

Low hire. Low fire.

93% on Technology. 7% on People. That’s the Real AI Problem.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

When AI Stops Assisting and Starts Hiring

Why Job Hunting Feels Like a Full-Time Job

The Global Job Market Is Tapping the Brakes

AI Is Automating the Wrong Work

AI Shame Is a Leadership Failure

OMG! I hope this isn’t true

What If Colleges Warned You Before You Took the Loan?

ICHRA Explained: How Individual Health Coverage Is Changing Employee Benefits

The Weaponization of Student Loans

The New Draft

The $120K Mirage

Beyond Resume Screening: Building Human-Centered Hiring in an AI World

Popular Podcasts

AI Literacy Isn’t a Skill Gap — It’s a Loyalty Test

AI is everywhere in hiring—but is it actually making talent acquisition better?