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Try Harder Is Not A Strategy

John Vlastelica 5 Episodes Oct 6, 2026

Try Harder Is Not A Strategy is a podcast about recruiting and talent acquisition hosted by John Vlastelica, drawing on his 30 years of experience in the field. Each episode interviews talent leaders from companies that are leading the way, with a particular focus on high-volume hiring. The show argues that the rapid changes reshaping hiring — including the impact of AI — demand real strategy rather than simply more effort. It is aimed at recruiting professionals, HR leaders, and anyone who wants to keep pace with where the industry is heading.

Episodes

FedEx - Offers within minutes, Moving recruiters from transactional to problem solvers and forecasters, Candidate experience Oct 6, 2026 00:49:04 In this episode, I talk with Kylie Kingston and Melissa Oakley of FedEx about how one of the world’s largest employers transformed frontline hiring at extraordinary scale. FedEx operates in more than 220 countries and territories and employs approximately 450,000 permanent and seasonal team members. For FedEx, hiring package handlers, material handlers, drivers, retail employees, and other frontli

Gallo - Agile TA Model, Candidate Experience, Developing Recruiters, and Intelligence vs Wisdom Sep 29, 2026 00:53:03 In this episode, I talk with Ryan Cook, Head ofTalent Acquisition at Gallo, about redesigning TA for a business—and a profession—experiencing rapid change. Ryan previously led talent acquisition for Jacobs/CH2M and is one of the most consistently recognized leaders in our field for candidate experience.Founded in 1933, Gallo has evolved from a wine company into a total alcohol beverage company wit

Pepsico - TA Org Model Redesign, Standardizing then Scaling, Talent Foresights, Automation vs Humans Doing Work Sep 10, 2026 00:54:28 In this episode, I talk with Blair Bennett, Senior Vice President of Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo, about transforming TA inside one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies. PepsiCo is a $90 billion-plus organization operating in more than 200 countries and territories, with over 300,000 associates. Approximately 230,000 employees are frontline workers who help make, move, and sell its

Marriott - Quality of Hire, Assessments, People Analytics, and Using AI to Understand Work Aug 5, 2026 01:05:41 I interviewed my friend and assessment/people analytics expert, Tyler Weeks, PhD, who is the Managing Vice President of People Technology, Research and Analytics at Marriott International. Questions We ExploreHow useful are assessments in predicting whether someone will become a successful hire?Should quality of hire be measured at the individual or team level?How much responsibility do managers a

Compass Group - Automation, Candidate Experience, AI with Voice, Build vs Buy Jul 29, 2026 00:23:41 I sat down with Shay Johnson, Vice President of Strategic HR Partnerships at Compass Group USA. Questions We ExploreHow do you design hiring technology for 150,000 to 180,000 annual hires across more than 30 brands?Can familiar technology create a better candidate experience than a highly differentiated one?Where should automation lead the hiring process, and where should humans step in?How can TA

Try Harder Is Not A Strategy

Episodes

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