Let’s be honest: recruiting is rarely simple—and in high-turnover, high-volume environments, it’s downright relentless. But what if we stopped overcomplicating it and focused on what really matters: clear expectations, streamlined systems, and actually respecting people’s time?

In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke, Joel Lalgee sits down with Matt Lowney, Managing Director of Talent Acquisition at CoreCivic, a corrections and reentry services company hiring 8,000+ people a year. From healthcare to corrections, Matt brings decades of experience managing large-scale, multi-site recruiting operations and shares his playbook for making high-volume hiring not only work—but work better.

With humor, Matt digs into what’s broken in hiring today—from inflated job titles and unclear expectations to the overhyped promise of “culture.” He’s brutally honest about what candidates really want (spoiler: it’s not ping-pong tables) and why it’s time to separate why someone joins from why they stay.

This isn’t your typical TA chat. You’ll hear how Matt’s team is testing AI workflows, spending $400k/month on omnichannel ads, and applying ruthless focus to improving “time to paycheck”—all while navigating human realities like burnout, motivation, and candidate experience at scale.

So whether you're deep in the hiring trenches or leading strategy from the top, this episode is packed with real-world insight to sharpen your recruitment edge.

This episode was brought to you by Interactive EQ. A one of a kind talent assessment platform that measures how people will handle real life situations. Check out what they do and let them know Joel sent you.

In this episode:

• [00:00] Introduction
• [00:51] Meet the guest: Matt Lowy
• [02:16] Matt's background and CoreCivic's hiring process
• [03:18] Sponsorship break: Interactive EQ
• [04:06] Challenges and strategies in recruitment
• [07:55] The evolution of recruitment and work culture
• [19:30] The role of AI in recruitment
• [21:13] Automation in recruitment
• [21:55] Inbound applications workflow
• [22:50] The role of recruiters in the future
• [23:45] Human interaction in recruitment
• [26:22] Challenges in recruitment
• [28:45] Candidate experience and feedback
• [32:22] Workplace culture and retention
• [38:11] Advice for job seekers
• [42:16] Conclusion and farewell

About Matt Lowney

Matt Lowney is Managing Director of Talent Acquisition at CoreCivic, where he oversees recruitment and HR operations for one of the largest correctional services organizations in the U.S. With more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and corrections hiring, Matt is known for scaling TA infrastructure, driving process improvements, and pushing past industry clichés to build real, people-first strategies that work—no fluff, no filler.

Matt Lowney Social Media

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About Joel Lalgee 

Joel Lalgee is an internationally known recruitment leader and coach who has helped thousands of recruiters build their brands online. In 2015, Joel started recruiting for a small start-up agency in Milwaukee. He quickly found his passion for recruitment. In 2019, he discovered content marketing, publishing his first posts on Linkedin. Since then, he has grown to over 400k followers, and his content has been seen over 1 billion times. In 2023, he started a business specializing in coaching recruiters, marketing consulting, and influencer partnerships.

Recruiting is No Joke Social Media

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