What happens when a global powerhouse doing 180,000 hires a year gets tired of lighting cash on fire? Gotta listen to find out.

In this live RecFest session, the boys sit down with Shay Johnson, VP of Strategic HR Partnerships at Compass Group USA, who reveals how his team went from 2% conversion rates and duplicate job posts to building a hiring machine.

Shay drops real playbook tactics—SMS conversion tactics, re-engagement automation, database recycling, spend control, and high-volume hiring strategy that every enterprise TA leader should be stealing by Monday.

This one has it all the maths, modern TA strategy, automation wins, and a guy with better hair than Joel. Grab a bourbon and listen up.

0:00 – Meet Shay Johnson
1:20 – 2% conversion + dumpster fire
2:44 – 5 million candidates a year?
3:45 – Hiring managers go rogue.
9:56 – Stop buying new candidates—reuse the ones you already paid for
11:35 – Dalia + Paradox = Batman & Robin of hiring
16:17 – Hiring automation so good recruiters don’t know it exists
21:33 – Spending smarter > burning budget on sponsorship confetti
26:41 – In-house programmatic team = two nerds and a spreadsheet
29:23 – Change management that didn’t suck