In this episode, Host Taylor Baker sits down with Brandon Stevens, CEO and founder of Scoutr, to discuss how data science, behavioral science, and AI can reshape talent acquisition and internal mobility through a skills-based approach that improves matching, development, and retention.

What You’ll Learn

• Why modern hiring breaks down when it relies too heavily on resumes and surface-level credentials instead of deeper, behavior-based data.
• How an “up-front interview” model can create richer candidate profiles and improve the quality of matches between people and roles.
• The difference between company culture and team culture and why team-level values and expectations are often the real driver of fit and performance.
• How skills-based career mapping supports growth not just vertically (promotions), but horizontally across functions and roles.
• What an internal talent marketplace can do for employee experience, mobility, and long-term retention not just external hiring.
• Why “status quo bias” is one of the biggest blockers to innovation in HR and recruiting, even when better solutions exist.
• The importance of change management and trust when introducing AI-enabled assessments and decision support into people operations.
• How partnerships with universities and regional economic development groups can strengthen talent pipelines by focusing on potential and development.

Brandon frames Scoutr’s mission as a shift from one-sided evaluation to a more mutual “partnership” between employers and individuals using better data, clearer expectations, and more human-centered systems to help organizations identify potential, develop people over time, and build healthier talent ecosystems.

To learn more about Brandon Stevens and their work, visit scoutr.team