Welcome to The Frontlines, the podcast that finally shines a spotlight on the most overlooked and most essential part of our workforce: frontline, high-volume hourly workers.

Hosted by industry insiders Tim Sackett and Madeline Laurano, The Frontlines dives into the real-world challenges, frustrations, and opportunities shaping how organizations hire and how people experience the hiring process. Because let’s be honest, this is the part of hiring we’ve ignored for decades. We post jobs and hope people show up. That doesn’t cut it anymore.

Each episode brings a raw, unfiltered look at what’s really happening, from broken application processes that take weeks (for jobs people need today), to outdated hiring systems designed for corporate roles but forced onto hourly workers. Tim and Madeline combine decades of hands-on experience with real stories from the field, both from employers trying to hire at scale and from workers navigating a system that often feels stacked against them.

But this isn’t just another HR podcast full of executive interviews. The Frontlines goes deeper. You’ll hear directly from the people living it, the candidates, the workers, the managers, alongside data, research, and practical insights on what’s actually working (and what’s not).

From AI-driven hiring transformations to mobile-first application experiences, from workforce demographics to the realities of shift work and internal mobility, this podcast tackles the conversations our industry hasn’t been having… but should.

If you care about hiring, retention, or just building a better experience for the people who keep your business running, this is your front-row seat to the future of work.

The Frontlines is presented by Workday's Frontline Workforce Management Solutions. 

What does the future of employer branding look like in an AI-driven hiring world? In this episode of The Frontlines Podcast, host Tim Sackett sits down with Amit Parmar, CEO and Co-Founder of Cliquify and former talent leader at IBM, Deloitte, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, to unpack the findings from the highly anticipated 2026 State of Employer Branding Report. Based on insights from global talent acquisition and employer branding leaders, the report reveals how the world's leading employers are adapting their hiring strategies, employer brand investments, and talent attraction efforts in a rapidly changing labor market.

Tim and Amit dive into the biggest trends shaping recruiting and frontline hiring today, including the growing influence of AI on candidate applications, the rise of social media as the highest-quality source of talent, and why employee storytelling is becoming more important than traditional job advertising. They discuss why organizations continue to underinvest in employer branding teams, how global companies are structuring their employer brand functions, and why social-first recruiting strategies are outperforming many legacy talent acquisition approaches.

The conversation also explores practical insights from the report, including employer branding budgets, technology stacks, content creation challenges, employee advocacy programs, and the increasing need for personalized candidate journeys. Amit shares lessons learned from building Cliquify into a successful HR technology company without venture capital funding, while offering actionable advice for CHROs, talent acquisition leaders, recruiting professionals, and employer brand practitioners looking to improve hiring outcomes in 2026 and beyond.

If you're interested in employer branding, recruiting technology, candidate experience, talent acquisition strategy, frontline hiring, employee referrals, AI recruiting, social recruiting, workforce planning, or the future of work, this episode delivers data-backed insights and real-world examples you can put into action immediately.

• Key findings from the 2026 State of Employer Branding Report
• Why social media is becoming the top source of quality hires
• How AI is changing candidate behavior and recruiting processes
• The future of employee storytelling and talent attraction
• Employer branding team structures, budgets, and technology trends
• Frontline hiring strategies that actually work
• Why employee referrals remain the gold standard for hiring success
• How to build a stronger employer brand in the next six months

Listen now to discover how leading organizations are winning the battle for talent and why employer branding has become one of the most strategic investments in recruiting today.

If you think frontline hiring is “solved,” this episode is about to challenge everything you believe.

In this must-listen conversation, Tim Sackett and Madeline Laurano sit down with Adam Godson—the former CEO of Paradox and now the driving force behind talent products at Workday—to unpack what’s really broken (and what’s finally working) in frontline hiring.

Adam’s story alone is worth the listen. From detasseling corn in Iowa to hanging “Now Hiring” signs on highways to leading one of the most influential talent tech portfolios in the world, he’s lived every layer of this problem. And that real-world experience shows up in how he thinks about hiring today: simple, fast, and brutally honest about what actually matters.

The big takeaway? Most companies are still overcomplicating the hell out of hiring.

You’ll hear why the traditional application process is filled with useless friction (seriously—why are we still asking for a supervisor’s name from two jobs ago?), and how the best organizations are winning by focusing on just a few critical questions: Can the candidate work? Will they show up? Can they do the job? That’s it.

But this episode goes way beyond theory.

Adam shares real examples that will make you rethink your entire process—like the candidate who applied via a drive-thru receipt and was hired within days, or how companies are cutting time-to-hire from weeks down to hours. We’re talking about a world where the top organizations can hire in under five hours, while others are still taking weeks—and losing talent because of it.

Tim and Madeline also dig into one of the most painful truths in talent acquisition: speed is the new competitive advantage. If you’re slow, you’re not just inefficient—you’re invisible. Candidates aren’t ghosting you…they’re getting hired somewhere else.

And then there’s the candidate experience.

From multilingual hiring breakthroughs to eliminating the dreaded “black hole,” this episode shows how conversational AI and better communication are finally closing the gap between candidates and companies. Imagine applying, scheduling, and getting hired in a single, seamless flow—no waiting, no guessing, no frustration.

Oh—and if you think this is just for hourly workers? Think again. Adam makes a compelling case that the same expectations are coming for white-collar hiring, whether companies are ready or not.

The conversation also zooms out to the bigger picture: workforce planning, internal mobility, shift flexibility, and how connected systems can finally align business needs with talent in real time.

Bottom line: this isn’t just about hiring faster—it’s about fundamentally redesigning how work gets done.

If you care about the future of frontline work, talent tech, or just want to understand why some companies are fully staffed and thriving while others are constantly struggling, this episode delivers.

Hit play. This is the frontline reality check HR has been waiting for.

Welcome to The Frontlines, the podcast that finally shines a spotlight on the most overlooked and most essential part of our workforce: frontline, high-volume hourly workers.

Hosted by industry insiders Tim Sackett and Madeline Laurano, The Frontlines dives into the real-world challenges, frustrations, and opportunities shaping how organizations hire and how people experience the hiring process. Because let’s be honest, this is the part of hiring we’ve ignored for decades. We post jobs and hope people show up. That doesn’t cut it anymore.

Each episode brings a raw, unfiltered look at what’s really happening, from broken application processes that take weeks (for jobs people need today), to outdated hiring systems designed for corporate roles but forced onto hourly workers. Tim and Madeline combine decades of hands-on experience with real stories from the field, both from employers trying to hire at scale and from workers navigating a system that often feels stacked against them.

But this isn’t just another HR podcast full of executive interviews. The Frontlines goes deeper. You’ll hear directly from the people living it, the candidates, the workers, the managers, alongside data, research, and practical insights on what’s actually working (and what’s not).

From AI-driven hiring transformations to mobile-first application experiences, from workforce demographics to the realities of shift work and internal mobility, this podcast tackles the conversations our industry hasn’t been having… but should.

If you care about hiring, retention, or just building a better experience for the people who keep your business running, this is your front-row seat to the future of work.