The Jim Stroud Podcast

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

July 6, 2026 13 mins
The retirement map you were handed at 25 is wrong. It told you to work hard, hit 65, and disappear. Clean ending. Simple math. It was always a lie. The labor force is aging, and companies are not ready. Artificial intelligence (AI) is eating the entry-level jobs that used to grow the next generation of leaders. And the people with the deepest knowledge, the ones who know where the bodies are buried, are being passed over by hirin...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
What if college is no longer the only path to a meaningful, high-paying career? In this episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim sits down with Reuben Ogbonna, co-founder and executive director of the Marcy Lab School, a tuition-free, one-year alternative to college helping young adults launch careers in tech. Reuben shares why the traditional higher education model is failing too many talented students, especially those facing cru...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 22, 2026 34 mins
AI is reshaping work, hiring, dating, leadership, and how we connect. But as technology gets smarter, are we becoming less human? Jim Stroud talks with Victor Cho, CEO and founder of Emovid and former CEO of Evite, about empathy, leadership, automation, and building AI that amplifies people instead of replacing them. Learn more at www.Emovid.com. ... Victor ChoCEO and Co-Founder Emovid Corpvictor@emovid.com Starting your job sear...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
June 15, 2026 9 mins
After months of rejections, a 58-year-old man decides to test the system. He submits two nearly identical job applications to the same company—one with his real work history and graduation year, the other carefully scrubbed of any age clues. One gets an immediate rejection. The other gets a callback. What starts as a quiet experiment to beat the algorithm quickly turns into something much darker once he lands a job inside th...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Are there really jobs out there, or just openings nobody plans to fill? In this episode, Jim Stroud breaks down the strange, tangled reality of today’s labor market, where job postings are up, hiring feels frozen, recruiters are stuck in limbo, and job seekers are losing trust in the system. The market is not booming. It is not collapsing. It is entangled. This episode brought to you by: The Recruiting Life & Career In...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Brought to you by: The Recruiting Life Newsletter - Clarity on what's happening now and next in the world of work. https://newsletter.jimstroud.com ... AI may not take your job overnight, but the spreadsheet might decide your team needs fewer people. In this episode, we move past the sci-fi panic and look at the real workplace question: how employers will use AI to change headcount, hiring, productivity expectations, and caree...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Gartner studied 350 executives at billion-dollar companies. Eighty percent had cut staff for AI. None of it correlated with higher returns. Goldman Sachs found the stock bounce is gone. Forrester predicted half of all AI-attributed layoffs would be reversed by 2027. The data is in, and it says the same thing from every angle: the cuts were theater. This episode breaks down who knew, who stayed quiet, and what the companies actuall...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Jim Stroud reports from the Recruiting Innovation Summit with Ben Mones, founder and CEO of Fama, to discuss how social media background checks are changing hiring. They unpack what employers actually look for online, what job seekers should and should not worry about, and why compliance, context, and public behavior matter in today’s screening process. Our guest: Ben Mones, CEO at Fama web: https://fama.io linkedin: http...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
May 4, 2026 8 mins
What Your Face Is Worth at Work What if your career isn’t just shaped by your skills—but by your appearance? This episode dives into the rise of “looksmaxxing” and the uncomfortable truth about lookism in hiring and workplace success. As Gen Z responds to what gets rewarded, we’re forced to ask: Is this extreme behavior… or a logical reaction to a biased system? Because if merit isn’t ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
It's 11:47 PM. You hit submit on another application and watch it dissolve into the void. You did everything right — the degree, the internship, the certifications squeezed between finals — and still, silence. That low ache behind your sternum? It's not anxiety. It's intelligence responding to a system nobody explained to you. Here's the truth the career center will never say out loud: the job market is not a meritocr...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
April 20, 2026 15 mins
You're panicking about the wrong thing. While you doomscroll about AI stealing your job, the real threat is gutting the workforce behind your back. No headlines. Just math. Picture a burst pipe. Wednesday morning. Water in your drywall. You call a plumber — and wait three weeks. Because he's 61, his apprentice retired, and the new kid doesn't exist. The skilled trades shortage is already costing the U.S. over a billion a y...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
In this compelling episode, HR futurist Jim Stroud sits down with Dr. Deepak Bhootra of Sandler to explore the powerful intersection of talent acquisition, sales strategy, and leadership development. Tailored for recruiters and HR leaders, this conversation reveals how organizations can align hiring, training, and performance to drive measurable business results. Discover how consultative selling principles can transform recruiti...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
What if your biggest talent advantage isn’t AI—but where you hire? In this episode, Jim Stroud and Brian Samson challenge outdated hiring models and make the case for nearshoring to Latin America as the smarter alternative to both offshoring and overpaying domestically. Discover why companies are tapping into high-skill, same-time-zone talent—and why AI may actually increase the value of adaptable human teams. If...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
But behind the disruption is a bigger story most employers are missing. In this episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim Stroud talks with Eileen Linnabery about why government workers are often overlooked and what companies get wrong when evaluating their talent. As TSA workers rethink their future, this conversation reveals where hiring breaks down, how bias shapes decisions, and why highly capable candidates are being ignored. ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Your best employees aren't quitting for more money — they're quitting for relief. Tens of millions of workers are quietly carrying an invisible second job: caregiving. And it's burning out your most valuable people from the inside out. In this episode, we explore why elder care benefits have become one of the most overlooked retention tools in the workplace, what the research says about ROI, and why the companies that remove ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
AI is transforming hiring—but it’s also enabling a new wave of candidate fraud. In this episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim speaks with Maryam Mahdaviani, founder of Attesto, about how AI tools, deepfakes, and identity impersonation are reshaping the hiring process. Some candidates now use AI to generate resumes, get real-time interview answers, or even appear on camera using face and voice filters. In extreme cases...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
This podcast brought to you by: "Career Intelligence Weekly" - the newsletter that tracks the invisible job market for smarter career decisions. https://newsletter.jimstroud.com In this episode: At a recent conference, I sat down with recruitment marketing expert Jim Durbin, also known as the “Indeed Whisperer.” With 25+ years in staffing, headhunting, RPO, and internal TA, Durbin shares blunt insights...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
It started with a single research memo. In February 2026, a scenario paper from a macro firm called Citrini Research sent the Dow plummeting 800 points and triggered phrases like "AI Doomsday" across financial media. But the crash wasn't really about artificial intelligence. It was about something far more personal — the kind of work you do every day. In this episode, Jim Stroud breaks down the concept of the Intelligence D...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
February 23, 2026 17 mins
What if everything you believed about how hiring works… was only half the story? The job market has always had rules. Apply. Interview. Get picked. Simple, right? But something is quietly changing beneath the surface — and it's making a lot of people uncomfortable. Job seekers are now paying recruiters. Not to polish their résumé. Not to prep for interviews. They're paying someone to pitch them — to walk into ...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
The factory runs perfectly. The robots work tirelessly. Production costs plummet. And then someone asks the question that breaks the entire model: Who's buying the cars? This episode examines the economic paradox no one wants to name. Companies don't survive on efficiency alone—they survive on customers with money. If automation displaces massive amounts of human labor, the math breaks. Not morally. Mechanically. We explore...
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.

    Betrayal Weekly

    Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.

  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • AdChoicesAd Choices