2026 kicks off with an awesome new episode of Hiring University with guest Dustin Talley, founder of Direct Collective. 

Big takeaway: the market isn’t shrinking, it’s shifting. And the mid-market is where the action is: less noise, more opportunity, and a real need for leaders and partners who can help programs level up.

We also hit on the following topics during this episode:

• Self-managed vs. MSP (and why more programs are moving in-house)
• AI reality vs. hype. Enterprises move slowly, and partners are expected to bring innovation
• The hard truth about “partnership”: it isn’t a tagline, it’s behavior, trust, and showing up when things get hard

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

What a way to close out the year! Our final episode of Hiring University for 2025 just dropped, and we’re finishing strong with none other than Ryan McNair, VP of Workday VNDLY Services at Helios Consulting.

Ryan has forgotten more about VMS platforms than most of us know, or however that phrase goes.😄 Point is, the guy’s been in the game for nearly two decades, and it shows.

From VMS innovation to AI hype vs. reality, self-managed programs, integrations, data transparency, and even the Broncos’ Super Bowl dreams… this conversation delivered. 💥

Ryan and I break down:

•  Why the VMS world has exploded with vendors
•   Where companies underestimate complexity
•   Why SaaS and integrations are the real game-changers
•   The truth about “AI” in VMS right now
•   What the next 5 years should look like
•  … and of course, some career wisdom we can all use heading into 2026.

If you touch contingent labor, technology, or talent strategy, or want a smart, real, no-BS perspective, this one is a must-listen.

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

🎙️ New Hiring U! Episode Just Dropped!

I’m excited to welcome back Carlos Martinez, Founder & CEO of Lumibuild and Nexxtspace, and officially Hiring U’s first repeat guest! When Carlos and I get together, the conversations are always real, unfiltered, and rooted in what it truly means to build and lead service businesses in today’s market.

In this episode, we dig into:
 🔥 Why 2026 is already buzzing with momentum
 🏗️ The breakneck pace of AI-era office builds
 🤝 How service businesses actually differentiate in a “commoditized” world
 🧠 Leadership, humility, culture, and protecting your team
 ⚠️ The realities (and risks) of AI adoption for small companies
 …plus a few laughs and some founder-to-founder truth bombs.

If you’re a leader, founder, builder, or anyone navigating the wild ride of scaling a services business — this one’s for you.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://ursusinc.com/media/
Let me know what resonates!

#HiringU #Podcast #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #Staffing #Culture #AI #Founders #LUMIBuild 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

🎙️ Fighting Candidate Fraud in the Age of AI

In the latest episode of Hiring University, I sat down with Brian Vesce, Co-founder & CEO, and Vinda Souza, Chief Marketing Officer at RefAssured, for a fascinating (and slightly terrifying) discussion on one of the biggest challenges in today’s hiring landscape….candidate fraud.

We unpacked:

• How AI-generated resumes and automated screening have created an “AI stalemate” in recruiting, and how RefAssured can help!
• Why human judgment still matters more than ever, and how to re-center it in hiring
• The staggering impact of fabricated candidate profiles (yes, including North Korean operatives inside Fortune 500s)
• Why resumes might soon be obsolete, and what could replace them
• How RefAssured is building the “back of the baseball card for talent” with real, validated data

Brian and Vinda also share an honest look into the future of ethical AI in hiring, redeployment at scale, and how to bring authenticity back into the talent experience.

💡 One big takeaway: candidate integrity isn’t just a compliance issue for staffing firms; it’s a growth strategy!

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts or at hiringu.com to catch this episode.

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

🎧 New on Hiring University!

Episode #51 features Katy Eddington-Lesperance, PMP, Manager of Global Contingent Talent Operations at Netflix. Katy shares how her team supports Netflix’s creative “big bets” through innovative, people-first workforce strategies.

Some of the many topics we explore include

·      The benefits of Netflix’s in-house contingent talent model

·      How the company approaches AI adoption responsibly

·      Joint accountability in preventing candidate fraud

·      Ongoing efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion across the talent ecosystem

Katy also offers leadership insights on balance, adaptability, and staying connected to purpose.

🎙 Listen now: Hiring University.  https://ursusinc.com/media/

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Episode 50: Ashley Andersen — Building Mental Strength and Sustainable Culture in the Workplace
In this milestone episode, Ashley Andersen, MSW, Founder and CEO of Ezra Sage, joins to discuss how companies can move beyond surface-level onboarding to truly support employees’ mental resilience and emotional well-being. From the dangers of burnout and the illusion of “toughness” to redefining leadership through empathy, vulnerability, and sustainable productivity, Ashley shares practical insights on cultivating healthy cultures that last.

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

James Fitzgerald joins the program to discuss the transition from one side of the proverbial desk supporting Thermo Fisher as an MSP Vice President and now as Director of Human Resources Operations.  

James Fitzgerald is currently the Director, Talent Acquisition Vendor Managment at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Before this, they were the Vice President of Program Management at Workspend Inc. from May 2019 to August 2021. James also worked at DCR Workforce from November 2017 to May 2019 as the Program Lead - Managed Service Provider.

James Fitzgerald completed a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Management, General at St. Thomas Aquinas College.

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Will Ulmer joins Hiring University to discuss the latest and hottest contingent worker topics, including why some contingent programs work better than others and why!

Will Ulmer has over 15 years of experience in contingent workforce programs. He is recognized for his strategic, compliance-focused, and results-driven approach. Will has successfully built and managed first-generation programs at FanDuel and Epic Games, where he was named a Contingent Workforce Program Game Changer in 2023 by Staffing Industry Analysts. He has led implementations of VNDLY and Monument Consulting on schedule and under budget at Epic Games. At Waste Management, he also managed over $200M in spend and a contractor headcount exceeding 4,000 weekly.

"I truly believe that your talent brand attraction strategy can start or should start  with the utilization of contingent workers."

- Will Ulmer

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Allen Chilson, a recognized leader in the talent industry and frequent keynote and panelist speaker, joins Hiring University to talk about the importance of defining and defending company culture, AI pros and cons, and his win/loss prediction for his beloved Dallas Cowboys!  This is an episode you don't want to miss!

"The last thing I want to do is totally rely on the data that I'm getting without having a conversation. Because if it's a fiercely competitive market to find the best people and you're throwing out those that are the outliers, you're missing a huge segment of the population. I think that is the risk and you're talking about some of the legal issues that the profiling and where the origin of the AI data is coming from that is going to get some people into trouble."

- Allen Chilson

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

We took notice that staffing, talent, and recruiting events are typically represented by suppliers, clients, technology, and managed service providers. Noticeably absent from these industry forums is YOU, the employee doing the work and making it all possible!  

The Ursus Contractor Care and creative recruiting leadership facilitate our quarterly Contractor Council Meeting where recent employment trends, market outlook, and general questions about finding and keeping jobs are addressed. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Angela Westhead joins the program to discuss, among other topics, remote work, BEI, (yes, B not D), AI, and her favorite podcasts!  This is an episode you don't want to miss!  

You can have great talent that sits anywhere. They just have to be bought in on being present in a different way than someone who sits in an office. So what we've seen in the last four years since everybody went remote is that, yes, you can find great talent outside of large cities, and in many cases, it can cost you less!

     - Angela Westhead 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Kobie Wagener joins this episode of Hiring U! to share his perspectives as a former leader of numerous talent teams and now as a job seeker himself!

"Concerning back to office, I feel like post covid, many people can be a little intimidated by the face-to-face interaction. Like it's it's a tolerance that we need to build up for face-to-face interaction since it is a bigger lift. But we get more out of face-to-face interaction which is why back to the office is such an important topic. "

- Kobie Wagener

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Tami LaSance, in-house legal counsel at HireArt joins Hiring University to share her insights on the importance of worker classification, advancements, and potential risks in AI among other topics. 

"I think more companies aren't as concerned with the risk of incorrect worker classification because there has not been a huge verdict or decision on this since Microsoft and it may take somebody being another example. I think there's also so many things going on that it just isn't a priority to pursue these types of claims."

- Tami LaSance

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

On this episode of Hiring University, get to know Casey Jacox, Keynote Speaker, Sales & Executive Leadership Coach, Podcaster & Author of "Win The Relationship, Not The Deal".   A twenty-year staffing executive, Casey shares his thoughts on what has changed, what has remained the same, and more importantly the constants that drive success not only in staffing but in life! 

"The things that I focus on are humility, vulnerability, and curiosity.

Those will never be replaced by AI.  I'm just saying what's what's worked for me when I check my ego every day and I realized that there's a, there's a way for me to get better at something. No matter if I was the number one guy at my job, I still could get better, and vulnerable enough that there's going to be something that someone's going to say that I don't know the answer to focus on  asking great questions and listening to the answers."

- Casey Jacox

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

On this episode of Hiring University, get to know Michael Beckwith, Category Manager at Xcel Energy who oversees all contingent and project-based labor across Xcel's U.S. footprint. 

"I'm super passionate about data. And I think all conversations around worker classification need to start with data.  If we don't have visibility into where these workers are, what they're doing, how much we're paying them, what contracts they're tied to, you know, we can't formulate a go-forward strategy, nor can we appropriately advise our leaders about how to make decisions."

- Michael Beckwith

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Self-proclaimed "Creative for Hire!"  Andrew Hochradel joins Hiring U! to share what life as a creative contractor/freelancer is all about.   Andrew shares his best practices on finding and creating opportunities, (yes it's possible to create your own gigs- Andrew explains his new product launch with Southwest Airlines!),  as well as his insights about current market conditions including where AI fits in the creative process.  

" I think in this market it's a really good opportunity to push through and get the cuts, get the bruises, to hack through the weeds and along the way sharpen your machete.

When you land on the other side you can say, 'Oh cool,  I'm on the other side of this with new skills and even more marketable to land a job.'  Tough times are good opportunities for growth."

     - Andrew Hochradel

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Software industry veteran Shawn McCormick, SVP of Development at Signiant joins Hiring U! to share best practices in building software development teams and specifically the work he and other technology leaders are doing to attract talent to Ottawa, aka, Silicon Valley North.   Prior to joining Signiant, Shawn led R&D, teams at Nakina, Nortel, and Bell Northern Research.

"We are promoting and advertising Ottawa as a technical hub destination not just for North America but globally and have successfully attracted world-class technical talent from all over the world."
 
     - Shawn McCormick

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

We are thrilled to welcome Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP of Market Strategies at Beeline to Hiring University!   "Passionate about the extended workforce", Brian shares with us his thoughts on market trends related to technology innovation, contingent workforce management best practices, and the opportunity for improvement via process, legislation, compliance policy, and technology evolution.  This is an episode you don't want to miss!

"Our advice, and what we love guiding our clients through this, is no matter what you do, you have to have a well-set-up program to manage contingent labor.
You have an HR department to manage your full-time workers and you have to do the same for your contingent workforce! "
     - Brian Hoffmeyer

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Steven Kekich, a recognized leader in the Global Contingent Workforce market joins Hiring University to discuss recent trends in the market including the importance of procurement and talent management partnership and interdependence among other topics.  Steven has led global contingent workforce programs including Uber, eBay, PayPal, and most recently Goldman Sachs.

"The balance between procurement who manage cost and talent who are trying to find talent, sometimes at any cost in competitive markets, is really important for those companies looking to build great contingent labor teams."
     -Steven Kekich

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Eric Hudson, Director of Talent Acquisition at DocuSign, joins Hiring University to discuss the state of an everchanging and at times confusing talent market.  As an executive coach, Eric also provides best practices for your job search regardless of whether you are looking for a VP position or if it's your first job out of college!

"When you are looking for your next opportunity, get out there if you're not already out there, and network as much as you can because your network and your personal brand will be the most valuable to you in your search."
     -Eric Hudson

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Jam Portus, Director of Alternative Workforce at NetApp joins Hiring University to discuss how this 30-year-old technology stalwart is navigating a job market that has seen plenty of layoffs, yet is ripe with opportunities to acquire newly available talent.

"I think it's easier to find top talent because of the recent layoffs. In fact, we are working on a talent strategy to take advantage of these layoffs."
     -Jam Portus 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Steven Rothberg, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at College Recruiter, joins the show to share his observations on the current job market for college grads as well as best practices and guidance for employers looking to attract and hire the next generation of talent.

"One thing that's really important to this generation, thankfully, is that they want to leave the world a better place than they found it. If corporations looking to hire can articulate in their job postings the small piece that they play in helping them make the world a better place, that goes a long way!"

Steven Rothberg, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at College Recruiter

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Adnan Hamid, Division Vice President & CIO at  CommonSpirit Health joins the podcast to discuss best practices and challenges of hiring technical and creative talent to drive digital transformation initiatives in healthcare.  With over 20 years in healthcare technical leadership, Adnan shares where the market has been and what it will take to compete going forward.

"The move from paper to digital transformation finds us at an exciting point in the digital evolution of healthcare where we have the opportunity really to transform our industry.  How do we empower our patients to now use this information and understand the value of the information that we're gathering? First, we need to ensure the data is safe and private, and meaningful.  How can we now parse this information out as, as patients and healthcare providers to help our patients live healthier and empower our caregivers to deliver a more preventive model versus a reactive model of healthcare?  These are the questions we are facing as we continue the digital transformation journey."

     - Adnan Hamid

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Ellen Jordan Senior Talent Acquisition Business Partner at Alegeus, a leading market leader in consumer-directed healthcare solutions joins Hiring U to discuss recruiting best practices in a hyper-competitive, candidate-driven market.   

"When we engage with hiring managers we really walkthrough closely to figure out what are the must-haves; what are the skills or experiences that a candidate absolutely has to meet in order to meet their standards and determine what are skills are trainable? Because rarely in a candidate do you find they have everything on the wish list." 

     -Ellen Jordan

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Sam Pessin, Co-Founder, and President of Remote Year joins Hiring University to discuss the state of remote work; how far we've come, where there is work left to do, and will some employers revert back to traditional and mandatory in office work models!

"If your company does not support remote work or hybrid work options you are losing out on a lot of talent. Especially top tech company talent. I have so many friends that work in technology and at this point will not entertain a conversation with a company that isn't remote."

     -Sam Pessin - Remote Year

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

On this 2022 International Women's Day we welcome three members of the Ursus executive management team to the show.  Cheryle, Cristina, and Lori share what they've over their careers that led them to the executive leadership positions.

"What may seem like a failure today can be a stepping stone to something better tomorrow."
     - Cheryle Peikert - Chief Financial Officer

"Listen and learn. I think if you really listen to what everyone wants to teach you, you will be so much better."
     - Lori Kwan - Vice President of Recruiting & Delivery

"Trust your gut and use your voice. I think that is one of the biggest things that has served me well over the years is just always using your voice."
     - Cristina De La Cruz - Vice President of Sales

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Wen Stenger, CEO, and Co-Founder of Omni Inclusive joins the Hiring University podcast to discuss diversity and inclusion in the staffing industry.   Before founding Omni Inclusive, Wen led contingent labor programs at leading enterprises including Best Buy and Thompson Reuters.  
Before founding Omni Inclusive she ran the contingent workforce programs at household enterprise companies like Best Buy and Thompson Reuters, she is a retired U.S Air Force veteran and has been recognized by the staffing industry with the following distinctions:

·      2021 SIA DEI Influencer. 

·      2021 LinkedIn Diversity Champion Talent Award. 

·      2019 & 2020 SIA Contingent Workforce Game Changer leading process and change in external workforce ecosystem. 

"When it comes to the contingent workforce, it takes a village process.  Regardless of who "owns" the data or the technology or the process, everybody has to have a hand in understanding that information and using it to address the challenges at hand."

     - Wen Stenger

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Adam Nicolson, VP of Product at AgileOne joins the Hiring University podcast to discuss new technology trends in the staffing industry, specifically the tools of today and the future that will allow suppliers, buyers, and candidates to access more relevant data and approve the overall supply chain experience.   Adam is a 20+ year staffing veteran who brings a wealth of experience, wisdom, and vision to this episode! 

"We'll handle the strategy. You worry about the business!  If you can get the VMS to a place where it's super user intuitive and it's doing a lot of the manual work that you're doing today you've added huge value."

      - Adam Nicholson

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Jan Jedlinski, CEO and Co-Founder of Gustav, Candidate.ly, and the World Staffing Organization joins the Hiring University podcast to discuss new technology trends in the staffing industry today and what we should expect in the near future.

 “There is a huge opportunity in the staffing market right now to adopt technology that doesn’t necessarily mean the death of recruiters.  AI and automation, the Uberization of staffing, and other technology adoption should improve the user experience for the employer and candidate even though it will look different.”

            -Jan Jedlinski

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Cynthia Moore, co-founder of VMS Professionals and formerly sourcing manager at AllState, joins Hiring University to share past, current, and future trends and best practices related to MSP and VMS programs including diversity and inclusion programs, on-premise MSP versus self-managed programs, and how suppliers can best get the attention of program managers!  

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Almost a year to the day we reunite!!   Two Cal Bears, Damon Wiley, and Mikey Williams, and a Davis Aggie, Alyssa Wheeler, join Hiring University to update us on where they are now, what they learned about work-life, career paths, the value of mentorship, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.   What's more or less important to these three a year later?  What insights and observations have they gleaned a year into their careers?   Find out on the 25th episode of Hiring University!   

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Anne Burns, Founder of Right the Resume joins Hiring University to share best practices on resume writing and presentation.   Anne has worked with job-seeking candidates ranging from entry-level to C-Level executives.  Her work is as much about personal development and awareness as it is about grammar and editing.   This is a must-listen episode for anyone preparing to look for their next job opportunity.

"When it comes to writing resumes, most of us are self-conscious. When you are talking about yourself organically there's a natural flow, just like any other conversation. You can be at a dinner party and somebody says, "What do you do?" and so you give your regular response. If they've got more questions, then it's very easy to have that back and forth and answer those direct questions. But when you have to put it on a piece of paper, it makes it very real - which can be scary to think about, let alone write."

       - Anne Burns 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Cybersecurity thought leader Jonathan Nguyen, VP of Fortinet’s Global Field CISO team speaks with Hiring University!  With 25+ years of experience in all aspects of risk management, Jonathan is a global security advisor and executive lead for strategy and analytics at Fortinet. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric platform can address the most critical security challenges and protect data across the entire digital infrastructure, whether in networked, application, multi-cloud, or edge environments. Jonathan shares best practices for aspiring cybersecurity technologists and how and where to start your career and the steps he, and many others took to reach the C- Suite. 

“The next generation of workforce grew up on keyboards rather than chalkboards, and they're learning that their online presence is the equivalent of what you and I experienced on the playground.  The Fortinet NSE Academy offers eight levels of cybersecurity training with all eight levels free of charge to the public right now and a great resource for new and experienced candidates to improve and obtain new skills relative to their careers.”

     - Jonathan Nguyen

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Kyle Moschetto, Director of Solutions Architecture at SADA,  joins Hiring University! to share his experience hiring and training future cloud computing experts from a variety of backgrounds and in particular military veterans.  Kyle served 11 years in the Marines as a Cyber Network Operations Officer then joined the private sector leading technical teams, designing agile network and service architectures, growing cloud-based capabilities, and security-focused IT operations in high-stress situations at industry-leading companies including F5, Bitly and Google before joining SADA, the preeminent Google Cloud systems integrator. 

“I have conversations with Marine veterans all the time as they are entering the workforce after serving in the military and wondering how their technical skills will translate to the private sector and what cloud provider they should focus on.  And what I say to them is, do you need to pick one of the big three. You don't need to, but should you, yeah, you probably should. And there are no wrong answers here, right?  Pick Microsoft Azure, pick Amazon's AWS, pick Google cloud platform.  It doesn't matter. Just pick one, because if you learn one, it's really easy to  learn another.”

         - Kyle Moschetto 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Mike Piacente Managing Partner & Co-founder at Hitch Partners joins Hiring University! to share his expertise on Chief Security Officer search as well as the state of the internet security market.  Prior to starting Hitch Partners, Mike held leadership positions at several technical executive search firms. Prior to going to the dark side of recruiting he was founder and VP of Sales at OpSource, a leading cloud and managed service provider. 

With Security Operations or Cloud Security Operations searches, there's one really qualified leader for every 10 positions out there.  The value we strive to provide to our candidates and our clients is to educate them from the very beginning.  We present the data, and the statistics about what they are up against in their search. 

       - Mike Piacente

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Diya Obeid, CEO, and President of JobDiva joins this episode of Hiring University to discuss the importance and role that Application Tracking Systems play in the staffing industry. 

As the Chief Executive Officer of JobDiva, Mr. Diya Obeid is responsible for setting the business and technology strategy of the company. With over 30 years of experience in IT consulting services, he has been a force in the recruitment industry. His longstanding commitment to technology and process improvement is evident by many patents and several pending patent applications for technologies related to search and the recruitment process.

 "Contrary to the general perception that Hi-Touch competes with Digital, they are incredibly complementary. Empathy and Hi-touch have become far more important."
- Diya Obeid

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Carlos Martinez, Co-Founder of leading AV integrator Lumibuild joins Hiring University to share his outlook for what the remote and in-office workplace will look like as we recover from the pandemic.   

Before starting Lumibuild in 2016, Carlos led AV teams at tech stalwarts including Uber, Zynga, and Tesla as these companies were in the midst of hockey stick growth. 

"There are no more large gatherings of folks,  so the biggest change, the biggest challenge is how do we connect everyone? How do we have these global meetings or even department meetings without piling into a room?  So streaming becomes really critical and the stability of these streaming platforms knowing that now the content may actually be produced at home!"

- Carlos Martinez - Co-Founder, Lumibuild 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Pankaj Jindal,  Co-Founder of the first retention and engagement platform provider, Sense, joins Hiring U!  As a former C-Level executive at several leading staffing companies, Pankaj shares his uniquely qualified insights and experience related to contractor/employee care and communication throughout the entire lifecycle of the employee.   

Sense was not built to replace a recruiter or replace the personal touch of a recruiter but rather was built essentially to help you improve management of the contractor/recruiter relationship.

- Pankaj Jindal, Co-Founder, Sense, Inc. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Andrew Silluron joins Hiring University to talk about all things FinTech!  Andrew shares what he looks for when he is building software development teams including specific backgrounds and skillsets. He also helps demystify and define the world of Blockchain. 

If you find a software engineering candidate who thinks security first, and they're constantly mindful about where can a malicious actor breach on my system, then they've already got a leg up.
              - Andrew Silluron

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Aaron Ballew, VP of Demand Generation at Ping Identity joins Hiring University to share thoughts on hiring for marketing and creative positions as well his progressive management philosophies on employee career development and retention.

When you said, "I support your career growth," did you really mean it? Encourage your employees to keep their resume updated and accept recruiter calls. It's an important practice. They should stay with you because you're the best offer, fair and square, not because you've hidden them from other opportunities. 

- Aaron Ballew

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Robert Paylor joins Hiring U! to share his personal journey and the tools and strategies he honed and developed to overcome what some called impossible.  Controlling your mindset, your mental diet, and recognizing your state of being "compared to what?' are all explored in this episode.

"A person with a strong 'why' can bear almost any 'how'. 
     - Robert Paylor

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Amanda Townsend, VP Global People Operations at Fivetran Inc.  joins Hiring University.  Amanda built, championed, launched, and now manages FiveTran’s Representation Policy, which is similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule.  Amanda shares the success of this program as well as other insights for job seekers and hiring managers.  

 We implemented a policy called the Representation Policy. For any director-level position, or above at Fivetran, it is required that at least 30% of candidates in the final stages of the interview process are from an underrepresented background, meaning, female or an underrepresented ethnic minority.  We've actually seen a pretty big increase in our female leadership in the last two quarters and our goal eventually is to implement this for all of our positions at the company.
     - Amanda Townsend

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Alexis Gladstone, President of Intelead and a career trainer, consultant, executive coach, and specialist on leadership, culture, and diversity change joins Hiring University!   Alexis shares best practices and insights from her work with clients in the areas of leadership, sales, and organizational change. 

 “The pandemic is allowing all of us to humanize who we really are. Managers and leaders are seeing their team members in a different light.”
     - Alexis Gladstone

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

What started as an idea to help 19 Black womxn with resume review sessions on Juneteenth has evolved into an initiative serving a network of 1,000 people and counting towards a goal of 10,000.  Niani Tolbert joins Hiring University to share the details on how #HireBlack started, the immediate impact it has already had, and where it is headed next! 

"It is important for companies to invest in developing talent.  Companies not investing in learning, development, or internships are not really committed to diversifying talent or generating leaders"
- Niani Tolbert

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Want to find out how to get the attention of one of the hottest home fitness companies around?  20-year industry maven, Flavio Hernandez from Beachbody On Demand fitness shares his insights! 

Flavio also shares what he thinks are the three things that separate good recruiters from GREAT recruiters. You won't want to miss this episode!  

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. These are words and concepts cited by Leonid Igolnik as he shares his thoughts on attracting, building, and nurturing world-class engineering teams as an engineering executive at leading SaaS providers Taleo and SignalFx, who was acquired by Splunk in August 2019 for $1B. 

"I've been personally successful at attracting top talent because in order to win, you don't necessarily need to be better, but you do need to be different.  The good engineers get hundreds of job solicitations every week. What do you or your company offer that makes you different?"

     - Leonid Igolnik

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Dan Sullivan, Google Cloud Certified Architect, and Data Engineer who has published dozens of white papers, training manuals, and books joins Hiring U!  Dan discusses the ongoing cloud talent shortage and the launch of the Certify U! Cloud Apprenticeship program. 

 “A candidate will complete their certification and that is an important step, but then those people will go and have an interview. And one of the first questions people will say is great that you have a certification. What have you done in the industry, what's your experience? Can you show me something? And that's a pretty high hurdle to get over.”

             -       Dan Sullivan

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Two Cal Bears and a Davis Aggie join Hiring University and share their thoughts on how the pandemic has changed their views and opinions related to career choice, voting, and how to find their first jobs when 40 million Americans are currently unemployed.  Their answers are thoughtful, inspirational, and demonstrate a grittiness that will define Gen Z today and for the rest of their lives. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Steve Glaveski, CEO and Co-Founder of Collective Campus, an corporate innovation and startup accelerator based in Melbourne, Australia with clients across the world, joins Hiring University to share how individuals and companies can unlock their latent potential to create more impact for humanity and lead more fulfilling lives.  Steve shares inspiration for current job seekers, “Every no gets you closer to a yes.”, and organizations who are working to thrive and scale, “It's not about the size of the army, it's not about the tool, it's about how you work!” 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Karen Maarouf joins Hiring University to discuss and explore how staffing firms are adapting to life in a pandemic. "We are all in this together and have to adapt, even if that means doing things we don't usually do like hiring temperature takers to enable businesses to reopen!" 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

We're in a global pandemic and friends keep telling you that nobody is hiring—but is that true? For Ursus, a consulting firm focused on staffing and cloud advisory, they are hiring—and doing so at a feverish pace. 
  
 In this podcast, we'll be joined by Jon Beck, CEO, and Founder of Ursus. He answers questions about finding work during challenging times, and how to stand out amongst the crowd of other job seekers as well as:
  
  * Open roles and what qualifications are necessary 
  * Company culture and direction 
  * His hopes and anticipations for the months ahead 
  * And much more! 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Carolyn Betts, Founder and CEO of Betts Recruiting shares best practices for sales, marketing and business development candidates looking for their next job opportunity. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Wes Beck shares best practices for job seekers looking for job opportunities in the largest technology companies in the world. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Noah Wisnia shares his progressive predictions for where technology meets the recruiting process and offers some great tips for job seekers. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com

Jordie Kern joins us to share best practices for finding a job, and in particular veterans looking for work in the era of COVID-19. 

For more Hiring University episodes tune into your favorite podcast player or visit us at www.ursusinc.com