Aurelien Drieu is Qonto's Head of Talent Acquisition. Over the past six years, he's helped scale the company from 200 to 1,700+ employees. In this conversation, he shares how his team uses AI to move faster without trading off on quality - from automating dashboards and building in-house agents that take on repetitive but high-leverage prep work (persona finalisation, interview grids, job descriptions, case studies) to note-taking, AI interviewing tests, and testing candidates' AI fluency during the interview process. The result: a 25% productivity gain between late 2025 and Q1 2026, and a clear point of view on why the next phase of recruiting won't be won by the most automated teams, but by those that pair automation with sharper human judgment.

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What does it actually take to grow as a talent leader when the playbook keeps changing? Chelsea Kovak, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at TaskRabbit, shares how she thinks about AI, data, tooling, and the skills recruiters need to build in a market that’s moving faster than ever. Along the way, she reflects on her path from sales to talent acquisition, the value of being a connector, and why adaptability may be the most important skill in modern recruiting.

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Growing up between Canada and East Africa, Michael Kieran’s childhood was shaped by international communities, close encounters with elephants and lions, and experiences that challenged the way he saw the world. He brings that same perspective to building high-performing recruiting teams grounded in consistency, ambition, and continuous growth as a Fractional Talent Leader. In this conversation, he shares why the best TA organizations think differently about performance, AI, and what it really means to become world-class.

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Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

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Jessica Wheeler went from growing up in Vancouver, Washington to building talent programs at some of the biggest names in entertainment and gaming, including Hulu, Activision, and Take-Two Interactive. Now VP, Global Head of TA Strategy at Take-Two, she shares how scaling Hulu from 500 to 3,000 employees, leading through reputation challenges at Activision, and centralizing TA across 2K, Zynga, and Take-Two shaped her leadership style.

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Intro (00:00)

Background (00:46)

Career (06:52)

Ta (29:22)

Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

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Adam Spector’s path has never been conventional, from leaving DC for boarding school to pivoting from law school into tech and startups. Now Founder & CEO of Chore, he shares how building companies, learning from early startup failures, and obsessing over AI shaped his belief that founders should rethink hiring entirely. His message is simple: don’t hire unless you absolutely have to.

Connect with host James Mackey on LinkedIn!

Intro (00:00)

Background (00:46)

Career (13:08)

TA (20:49)

Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

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Mary Price grew up as a first-generation American, learning early lessons in grit, integrity, and trust from her family and her uncle’s shoe repair shop. Today, as the founder of Penfield Talent, she brings that same people-first philosophy to talent leadership, executive search, and helping companies build high-trust teams. In this conversation, she shares how she balances empathy with high standards, what AI can and can’t replace in recruiting, and the inside story of leading GTM hiring at Slack through the Salesforce acquisition, when her team doubled the sales organization in one year during COVID.

Connect with host James Mackey on LinkedIn!

Intro (00:00)

Background (00:46)

Career (09:02)

TA (37:38)

Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

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Katie Potter, VP of Talent Operations at Healthie, grew up in upstate New York with a deeply competitive spirit — skiing by age three and racing against high schoolers before she was even a teenager. In this episode, she shares her unconventional path from studying forensic psychology to discovering Industrial & Organizational psychology, ultimately leading her into the world of talent acquisition and helping scale hiring at high-growth startups. She also discusses how she’s leveraging AI to build faster, more thoughtful, and more candidate-centric recruiting processes in today’s evolving hiring landscape.

Connect with host James Mackey on LinkedIn!

Intro (00:00)

Background (00:46)

Healthie (13:30)

AI (17:06)

TA (33:53)

Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

Follow us:
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Kelsey Hersh grew up between two completely different worlds: one grounded in structure, the other filled with artists, Burning Man gatherings, and weekly fire dancing circles. Now Head of Talent Acquisition at Hometap, she brings that same ability to navigate different environments into building values-driven teams and trusted hiring partnerships. In this conversation, she shares why adaptability, human connection, and long-term fit matter more than ever in an AI-driven hiring landscape.

Connect with host James Mackey on LinkedIn!

Intro (00:00)

Background (00:46)

Talent Acquisition (17:41)

Advice/ Growth (32:48)

Thank you to our sponsor, SecureVision, for making this show possible!

Follow us:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82436841/

SecureVision: #1 Rated Embedded Recruitment Firm on G2!
https://www.g2.com/products/securevision/reviews

Thanks for listening!