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Talentless

Talentless

By: WRKdefined Podcast Network
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Welcome to Talentless 👋, the podcast that’s all HR, all talent, and zero fluff—the official show for recruiters, by recruiters! If you’re in the people business, this is your one-stop shop for everything that matters. Hosted Industry Leaders Ashley King and Desiree Goldey, we’re here to dig into the heart of what makes workplaces tick (and sometimes, blow up). From talent acquisition tips that actually work to the real talk on DEI and workforce trauma reshaping our industry, we’re not afraid to get into the messy, the meaningful, and the downright motivating. Buckle up—this is where you become the best in the business.All rights reserved by WRKdefined Career Success Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Your Origin Story Is the Job Skill Nobody's Hiring For (with T. Tara Turk-Haynes)

    Your Origin Story Is the Job Skill Nobody's Hiring For (with T. Tara Turk-Haynes)
    Jul 1 2026
    This one's special, it's Talentless's 1-Year Anniversary Episode. Thank you for listening, sharing, and showing up for us this year. For our anniversary episode, Des and Ashley sit down with T. Tara Turk-Haynes, founder of Equity Activations, creator of The Origin Arc framework, first-generation college grad and first-generation corporate worker, and 15+ years deep in talent acquisition and people operations. She's been featured in Lars Schmidt's Redefining HR, profiled by Business Insider, and spoken at RecFest, Culture Amp, and Living Corporate.This conversation went deeper than we expected and harder. Tara doesn't dance around the DEI rollback. She tells us why it failed (spoiler: we put icing over a crumbling cake), what The Origin Arc actually unlocks for hiring managers and recruiters, why feedback is the talent acquisition crisis nobody is naming, and why she will not spend her therapy sessions trying to convert the immovable middle of corporate America. If you've ever sat in an intake meeting that lasted 12 minutes, ghosted a candidate after seven rounds, or wondered why your DEI work didn't stick this episode is your wake-up call. What You'll Learn The Origin Arc - what it is, where it came from, and how to use it in intake meetings, interviews, and one-on-onesWhy DEI failed the way it did (and the icing-on-a-crumbling-cake metaphor you won't unsee). Why business leaders have "the attention span of goldfish" and how to embed real work into operations so it actually sticks The feedback crisis in talent acquisition and why candidates have very long memoriesWhy "bringing your whole self to work" is a lie and what to bring instead How to interview hiring managers in an intake using journalism-style reverse-engineered questions Why education births empathy and what that means for managers leading diverse teamsTara's "don't care more than the people who get paid the most" mic-drop moment AI as the great amplifier of both the best and worst of TA Where to Find T. Tara Website: equityactivations.com Free download: Small business hiring checklist (for new and small businesses building their first hiring practice) Newsletter: Linked at equityactivations.com Instagram & Threads: @ttaraturkhaynes (where the spicy takes live) YouTube: Job seeker advice and TA insight LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ttaraturkhaynes/ Email for senior People & TA leadership roles: ttarahaynes@gmail.com Connect with Talentless Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Instagram • LinkedIn • TikTok • YouTube • BlueSky • Threads Newsletter: talentless.beehiiv.com 1-Year Anniversary Giveaway: Talentless Anniversary Giveaway 2026 Got a #DumDumTalent story? Email desiree@talentlesspodcast.com
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    52 mins
  • The Talent You Were Trained to Throw Away (with Chason Forehand)

    The Talent You Were Trained to Throw Away (with Chason Forehand)
    Jun 24 2026
    "People-first" is the most overused, underutilized phrase on LinkedIn. Everyone says it. Almost nobody does it. This week, Des and Ashley sit down with Chason Forehand — chef with 45+ years in the culinary world, founder of HR-4U Inc. (a four-time Platinum Seal of Transparency nonprofit), creator of Transformation Kitchen™ (now operating in Nicaragua with locations coming to New York, Beacon, and Australia), and co-host of the Time2CHANGE podcast. But before all of that, Chason was a kid in an abusive home. A drug addict hiding in plain sight. Homeless. Incarcerated. Food-insecure. Until a Michelin-track chef put three piles in front of him and decided to pay it forward. This episode is what happens when someone who has lived on every side of "unhireable" sits down with two recruiters who believe they can change the wealth gap without a single piece of legislation. It's a conversation about action over words, profits versus people, and the responsibility that sits in every job description, salary band, and "culture fit" decision recruiters make. This is one to listen to twice. What You'll Learn Why "people-first" is the most performative phrase in HR — and what it actually looks like in action How 44% of U.S. workers below a living wage is a recruiter and HR problem (and how to start fixing it Monday morning) The truth about the CEO-to-lowest-employee pay ratio and why HR holds the cap key What other countries (Australia, Nicaragua) get right that the U.S. gets disgustingly wrong about workforce development The story of the chef who saved Chason's life with three piles on a counter Why resume gaps are skills — and why recruiters need to stop treating maternity, caregiving, and recovery as disqualifiers How the Juneteenth General Order #3 quietly shaped the employer-employee dynamic we still live under today Best Quotes "The problem isn't the word. The problem is that it's overused and underutilized. People are talking, but there's no action behind their words." — Chason "We could change the wealth gap in America without a single piece of legislation, and the only group in the United States that can do that is HR and recruiters. Period." — Ashley "How much is enough? Because we have enough in the United States that there should not be a single person who goes without a home, a hot meal, a shower — all the things." — Chason "If you are the human resource, that is basically a hat that says 'I'm always picking people, never picking profit.' That's my job." — Ashley "I'm here today because someone else cared enough about me as a human being. And now I'm gonna pour into you. Action over words." — Chason (quoting the chef who saved his life) "People-first is an action. It's not a value statement. Please remember that at all times." — Desiree Talent Outside the Box Ashley takes us back to June 19, 1865 — General Order Number Three, read in Galveston, Texas, twenty miles from where she sits today. The order that legally ended slavery in Texas also legally transitioned the master-slave dynamic into "employer and hired labor." She walks us through how that linguistic and structural shift still shapes how we think about employment in America today — and why every recruiter and HR pro should know this history. Where to Find Chason LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chason-forehand-rcf1222 All links + donate: linktr.ee/chasonforehand HR-4U Inc. + Transformation Kitchen™: TKNicaragua, TKBeacon, TKAustralia Podcast: Time2CHANGE (everywhere you listen) Connect with Talentless Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts Instagram • LinkedIn • TikTok • YouTube • BlueSky Newsletter: talentless.beehiiv.com Join the Discord community via talentlesspodcast.com Got a #DumDumTalent story? Email desiree@talentlesspodcast.com
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    49 mins
  • Empathy Is Not Soft. It's a Damn Strategy. (with Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller)

    Empathy Is Not Soft. It's a Damn Strategy. (with Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller)
    Jun 17 2026
    Empathy is the most overused word in leadership right now. Everyone says it. Almost nobody does it. This week, Des and Ashley sit down with Dr. Melissa Robinson-Winemiller , TEDx speaker, international bestselling author of The Empathic Leader, host of The Empathic Leader podcast, and the founder of EQ via Empathy. Two doctorates, an MBA, a master's in data analytics, and a personal story that turned losing a career into a mission. She came armed with research, receipts, and the data point that stopped Ashley mid-sentence: there are 43 distinct types of empathy — and most leaders are only using one of them (badly). This one isn't about feelings. It's about strategy. Get in. What You'll Learn The 43 types of empathy and why "feeling what someone feels" is only 1/43rd of it Why self-empathy is the foundation every leader skips (and the 35% leadership burnout rate it creates) Niceness vs. kindness why one is gift wrap and the other is the real work Dark empathy how psychopaths, narcissists, and Machiavellians use cognitive empathy as a manipulation tool (and how to spot it) Where the hiring process is the LEAST empathic experience companies offer Why performance reviews are quietly robbing your team of growth How to handle layoffs and terminations without leaving wreckage Whether AI has empathy (spoiler: no, and the new term we coined for what it does have) Where to Find Dr. Melissa LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dr-melissa-a-robinson-winemiller Book: The Empathic Leader — Amazon (paperback + Audible, narrated by Dr. Melissa herself) YouTube: @The.Empathic.Leader Podcast: The Empathic Leader Podcast (everywhere you listen)
    Show More Show Less
    49 mins
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