Live from the Shaker Green Room, Mary Battle Broxton joined The Chad & Cheese at RecFest USA to talk AI, authenticity, algorithms, and hiring without the ‘lazy applicants.’ ‘Embrace the robots, or get left in the dust,’ as Mary urges talent leaders to dive headfirst into AI tools like Paradox. Forget the old-school ways; it's all about tech-fueled, authentic candidate experiences now, where people and bots get to know each other before onboarding. Oh, and by 2025, you better be ready to keep up, or, as Mary might say, enjoy life as a digital dinosaur.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION
Intro: Hide your kids. Lock the doors. You're listening to HR's Most Dangerous Podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are here to punch the recruiting industry right where it hurts. Complete with breaking news, brash opinion, and loads of snark. Buckle up, boys and girls. It's time for the Chad and Cheese Podcast.
[music]
Joel: So, good morning.
Mary Battle Broxton: Good morning.
Joel: Tell us who you are and what you're doing here.
Mary Battle Broxton: So, I'm Mary Battle Broxton, and I lead employer brand and recruitment marketing for Tractor Supply Company. And I'm here at RecFest USA to talk about Generative AI and the success that we've seen with implementing Paradox.
Chad: Wow, that's pretty big. And "Mary Battle Bro-" I mean, what a cool name.
Joel: That's a mouthful. Yeah, totally.
Chad: What a cool name. That is awesome.
Joel: Are you a superhero in your spare time? Could be.
Mary Battle Broxton: I like to think so. [laughter]
Joel: Yeah, there you go. [laughter] Well, you're a mom we know, so yes, you are a superhero.
Mary Battle Broxton: Yeah.
Chad: That's a very good point, very good point. Okay, so, what piece of advice would you give to TA leaders after 2020... Especially, let's just talk about Gen AI 'cause it seems like everybody's afraid of it. What piece of advice would you give your fellow peers about Gen AI?
Mary Battle Broxton: The first thing I would say is just embrace the disruption, right? We have no idea where this bullet train is headed. We know we're on a track, but we don't know the destination. Things are evolving so quickly. So, being open and agile is really important. I think having to upskill our teams to kind of mirror some of the digital and marketing teams that we work with is really important. We can't expect our counterparts in IT to know exactly what we need from technology from a candidate experience. And then leveraging technology, not just to make our jobs easier and to be more efficient for our teams, but to really place an emphasis on candidate experience.
Joel: So, we've heard a lot of Paradox stories around efficiency, time saved, dollars saved. What's your story?
Mary Battle Broxton: I think my story is... So, Tractor's in a lot of rural communities and places where we might think that people are afraid of technology. But when I get emails from people who have interacted with our career site assistance, or they come to some of our hiring events and they're like, "Hey, we spoke with Cory," it just makes that connection stronger with our brand for our candidates. So, they think that Cory is a real recruiter or TA professional that they're interacting with. Because the conversation is so natural, they don't feel like they're talking to a chatbot.
Chad: Why did you pick "Cory?" 'Cause everybody names their chatbots for a certain reason. Why'd you pick "Cory?"
Mary Battle Broxton: We wanted Cory to be as ambiguous and up to our candidate's imagination. So, Cory is either a male or a female name, and our avatar is pretty racially ambiguous. So, that was one of the things that we were looking for. People make their own stories about Cory, and not to come with it with a predisposed idea of who she is.
Joel: Yep.
Chad: So, we're coming into Q4.
Mary Battle Broxton: Yes.
Chad: Right? What has surprised you thus far about 2024?
Mary Battle Broxton: 2024 has been very interesting. I think we've seen a lot of change within the traditional or more of the employer brand speak, right?
Chad: Okay.
Mary Battle Broxton: We've seen a lot of companies pivoting from things that we placed an emphasis on during the COVID timeframe. So, what's been surprising to me is how companies are starting to pivot and to be a little bit more authentic about who they are in their hiring experience with candidates.
Joel: There's been some pitfalls recently with AI on the job seeker side and lazy applying, like applying to thousands and thousands of jobs. Have you seen that on your end? And what's been your experience with that?
Mary Battle Broxton: We haven't seen that too much. Some of what we've seen has been... Of course we're trying to get quality over quantity. So, we've been really targeted with where we spend our dollars and who we're trying to engage. So, less of a mass appeal approach and more of that targeted persona approach.
Joel: Yep.
Chad: So, in that same vein, are you using Cory to do kinda like some pre-screening upfront, asking some pre-screening questions to make sure that those individuals who are applying for jobs, they actually meet the requirements for the job?
Mary Battle Broxton: Nothing too crazy. A lot of our jobs that people apply for via Cory are more of our entry-level roles for like our distribution centers or our stores. So, there's not as much experience required, but things like schedule is really important and availability. So, those are some of the questions that we use Cory to kind of help us weed out people who might not be a fit for our schedules.
Joel: What are some other Generative AI tools that you're either using or maybe looking to use, and how that may impact your branding?
Mary Battle Broxton: Okay. So, I'm really excited about this one. Not just from a candidate experience, but once you get people in the door, how do you keep them engaged and comfortable with technology? And our IT department has been phenomenal in placing an emphasis on using Generative AI to help our store team members actually do their jobs. So, we have really rural specialized customers, oftentimes large acreage animals, and it's hard to be an expert in everything.
Chad: Oh yeah.
Mary Battle Broxton: So, we have a solution. It's available to look up, called "Hey GURA." And it's in the headset of our team members. So, they can ask GURA questions. GURA is one of our sales acronyms. It's our customer service credo. So, they're able to service each customer to the best of their ability.
Chad: Oh, wow.
Joel: So, like a cyber salesforce.
Chad: Generative AI in your ear.
Mary Battle Broxton: Yes.
Chad: So, okay. That being said, and that sounds incredibly cool, looking forward to 2025, what are you most excited about with tech recruitings, whatever it is, what are you most excited about for 2025?
Mary Battle Broxton: I'm excited about the challenge. How do we keep up? How do we keep evolving and being innovative? I don't think it's possible to keep up, to be honest. And it's not possible to use everything and to do everything. But getting a chance to really push our vendor partners, explore new things, I'm really... I love change. I love disruption. So, that's... That just that.
Chad: It's coming.
Mary Battle Broxton: That energy is really what I enjoy.
Chad: Yeah.
Mary Battle Broxton: Specifically though, I think that we have to be really authentic as TA professionals. And so we just continue to get challenged with our employer brand. What's the messaging that we're putting out? So, that evolution is something I'm really looking forward to. Candidates are sharing their stories. They're being transparent. And we need to do the same as leaders.
Joel: So we're here at RecFest.
Mary Battle Broxton: Yeah.
Joel: We just started the day. What kind of things are you gonna be looking for? What kind of vendors are you gonna be shopping?
Mary Battle Broxton: So, I'm here for all of my peeps. I love our vendor partners like Shaker, and I'm here to interact and to mingle. I work remotely, and there's a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time.
Chad: Nice.
Mary Battle Broxton: So, getting to network and to just... I'm a hugger, so getting to do that [chuckle] with the people who I work with on a daily or weekly basis, and I just haven't seen them in a long time.
Joel: Well, we've definitely enjoyed meeting you. For our listeners and viewers that want to connect with you, where should they go?
Mary Battle Broxton: LinkedIn. My inbox is always open. [laughter]
Outro: Wow. Look at you. You made it through an entire episode of the Chad and Cheese Podcast. Or maybe you cheated and fast forward it to the end. Either way, there's no doubt you wish you had that time back, valuable time you could have used to buy in nutritious meal at Taco Bell, enjoy a pour of your favorite whiskey, or just watch big booty Latinas and bug fights on TikTok. No? You hung out with these two chuckleheads instead. Now go take a shower and wash off all the guilt. But save some soap, because you'll be back like an awful train wreck you can't look away. And like Chad's favorite, Weston, "You can't quit them either." We out.
Commentaires