Why Bally's VP of Talent Says "Rigid Flexibility" Is the Best Way to Scale

The Warehouse Automation Giant That Treats Every Hire as a Business Decision

Every product you order online passes through a warehouse. Someone decided how that warehouse runs. Dematic builds the systems that make it happen, and when you're operating at that scale, the difference between the right hire and the wrong one isn't just an HR problem — it's a business problem. Jenny Ferrell knows this better than most. She started her career recruiting engineers for a small, privately held firm in Phoenix, competing for talent against companies with bigger brands, bigger budgets, and bigger offices. She figured out how to find the right person for a business that couldn't afford to get it wrong, and that ability followed her all the way to Senior VP of HR at one of the world's leading supply chain automation companies. Today, she shares the framework she uses to turn talent acquisition from a transactional function into a strategic driver of business results and the hard lesson she learned when she skipped the process and went straight to the solution. You'll also hear:  * Why recruiting stops being strategic the moment you "throw it over the wall"  * How Dematic interviews candidates who've already rehearsed every answer * The two things Dematic's CEO actually wants to measure in HR right now  * Why hiring for an A-player résumé can be the most expensive mistake you make  Connect with Jenny: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-ferrell-53b832a5 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-ferrell-53b832a5] Learn more about Dematic: www.dematic.com [http://www.dematic.com] Connect with us: 💻 All Episodes: TalentAllStars.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/] 💼 Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter [https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter] 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter   [https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter] Enjoyed this episode? We’d be grateful for a rating or review on your favorite podcast app.

Why Bally's VP of Talent Says "Rigid Flexibility" Is the Best Way to Scale

Hiring thousands of employees for a new casino resort launch is a high-stakes race against time. You are operating in an unfamiliar city without established market dominance, all while under the constant scrutiny of industry regulators. Jenn Reagan has done it multiple times. As VP of Talent Learning and Development at Bally's Corporation, she's figured out how to walk into a brand new community, earn their trust, and build a workforce from scratch without blowing the whole thing up in the process. Her secret? Rigid flexibility. Know exactly what you're doing and expect none of it to go your way. You'll also hear: * Why the moment you start copying and pasting from your last property is the moment you lose the community * How Bally's earns trust in a new city before a single brick gets laid * The two numbers she'd give a CEO in a 60-second elevator ride to prove her team is working * Why she thinks "learning and development" is almost a four-letter word in hospitality Connect with Jenn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-reagan-7b910241 [http://linkedin.com/in/jennifer-reagan-7b910241] Learn more about Bally's: www.ballys.com [http://www.ballys.com] Connect with us: 💻 All Episodes: TalentAllStars.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/] 💼 Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter [https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter] 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter   [https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter] Enjoyed this episode? We’d be grateful for a rating or review on your favorite podcast app.

How Bimbo Bakeries USA Sells a Great Culture Before Candidates Are Even in the Door

Most large companies don't build their recruiting function intentionally. It grows organically, gets patched when something breaks, and ends up inconsistent across teams and regions. Lori Vickery inherited exactly that situation when she joined Bimbo Bakeries USA in 2016, and spent the next decade fixing it. Today, as Director of Talent Attraction, she leads a full end-to-end recruiting function covering frontline bakers, delivery drivers, and merchandisers all the way up to the C-suite, across one of the largest baked goods companies in the country. In this episode of Talent All Stars, Lori walks through how she diagnosed what was broken, where she started, and how she built something that works at scale without losing the human element. You'll also hear: * How eight and a half years managing a Starbucks store shaped everything about how she thinks about talent * Why she stopped assuming hiring managers knew how to interview and what she built instead * How she uses data to bring senior leaders along before pitching any new process * Why she measures quality of hire in years, not days Connect with Lori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-thompson-vickery-cdr-2ab13051/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-thompson-vickery-cdr-2ab13051/] Learn more about Bimbo Bakeries USA: www.bimbobakeriesusa.com [http://www.bimbobakeriesusa.com] Connect with us: 💻 All Episodes: TalentAllStars.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/] 💼 Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter [https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter] 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter   [https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter] Enjoyed this episode? We’d be grateful for a rating or review on your favorite podcast app.

Why Anaplan's Chief People Officer Banned the Word "Backfill"

Most companies hire reactively. Someone leaves, a role opens, and the team scrambles to find a replacement. Carey Pellock, Chief People Officer at Anaplan, thinks that approach is already outdated. Carey has spent years pushing her organization to think differently about workforce planning. Instead of asking "who can fill this seat," she's asking "what skills do we need two years from now, and how do we start hiring for them today?" In this episode of Talent All Stars, Carey walks through how she approaches workforce planning in a fast-changing field, what she's learned about leading HR through AI adoption, and how she thinks about the THREE types of employees she sees reacting to new technology. You'll also hear: * How dreams of being on Broadway turned into a career in HR * Why she draws a direct line between performing on stage and leading people at scale * The measurement framework she gives CEOs when they ask how to evaluate the people function * Why she believes AI is coming for tasks, not jobs, and what that means for recruiters Connect with Carey: http://linkedin.com/in/carey-pellock-1808aa8 [http://linkedin.com/in/carey-pellock-1808aa8] Learn more about Anaplan: www.anaplan.com [http://www.anaplan.com] Connect with us: 💻 All Episodes: TalentAllStars.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/] 💼 Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter [https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter] 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter   [https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter] Enjoyed this episode? We’d be grateful for a rating or review on your favorite podcas

How Autism Learning Partners Fills Hard-to-Staff Roles Without Sacrificing Quality

Hiring therapists for in-home child care is challenging because it's not a suitable role for everyone. Many candidates are surprised by the difficulty and realize they are wrong for the job only after being hired. Steffanie Chaviano, VP of Talent Acquisition at Autism Learning Partners, has spent eight years solving that exact problem at scale across 60 regions and 16 states. In this episode of Talent All Stars, Steffanie walks through the two-step interview process ALP rebuilt from scratch, why they introduced a realistic job preview before candidates ever speak to a recruiter, and how AI automation freed up her team to focus on the work that actually requires a human. You'll also hear: * How she went from staffing winery workers in Napa to leading TA at a national healthcare organization * Why she took a pay cut to break into in-house recruiting, and how she rose to VP * How AI fatigue is changing candidate behavior, and what ALP is doing about it Connect with Steffanie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schaviano/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/schaviano/] Learn more about Autism Learning Partners: www.autismlearningpartners.com [http://www.autismlearningpartners.com] Connect with us: 💻 All Episodes: TalentAllStars.com 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/ziprecruiter/] 💼 Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davetravers/] 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter [https://www.instagram.com/ziprecruiter] 🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter   [https://www.tiktok.com/@ziprecruiter] Enjoyed this episode? We’d be grateful for a rating or review on your favorite podcast app.