I once had a roommate who dated a stripper named Candy. Never thought that would be relevant to a podcast, but here we are. Strange days, but that’s Europe for ya’. On this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast Does Europe, the boys aren’t only (un)covering strippers, but also discussing Google’s latest lawsuit, alleging Big G unfairly competing against job board JobIndex, a new lie detection software that’s bound to be abused by rogue recruiters, and Elon Musk’s X Hiring from a European point of view. Did I mention these are strange days in Europe?
Yup, gotta listen.
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[music]
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.
Joel: Oh, Yeah. It's International NFT Day. So, dust off your Bored Apes and your CryptoPunks.
Chad: What?
Joel: This is the Chad and Cheese Podcast Does Europe. I'm your co-host, Joel "Doodles" Cheesman.
Chad: I'm Chad "Bang and blame" Sowash.
Lieven: And I'm Lieven "Broadcasting from a real studio today" Van Nieuwenhuyze.
Joel: And on this episode, Google gets accused of unlawful job aggregation, liar, liar, pants on fire and X hiring from a European point of view. Let's do this.
Chad: Where have you been, Lieven?
Lieven: Busy. Busy.
Joel: I thought you said Europeans were back at work, you're still on vacation from what I can tell.
Chad: [laughter]
Lieven: I've been all over the place, all over the place. Busy, busy, busy. I know I've been neglecting you guys. I'm so sorry.
Chad: It hurts, it hurts my heart.
Lieven: Yeah, yeah.
Joel: I'm only hurt that I didn't get an invite to the Brugge House of HR corporate event. That's all I'm upset about.
Chad: [laughter] I wanna hold off for their big party. That's my thing. I wanna hold off for that. So, you can do the Brugge thing but I wanna hold off for the big party.
Lieven: Be careful what you wish for because if Rika hears, she might invite you after all and then you're expected to take the plane and come over.
Chad: Yes.
Joel: I got some leather pants I wanna bring to Europe.
[laughter]
Joel: That's what I'm talking about.
Chad: Well, they're actually assless chaps. But other than that...
[laughter]
Joel: Which I wish I was wearing on the mechanical bull at RecFest but that's a different conversation. So hot...
Chad: Weak. Weak.
Joel: Second degree burns on my thighs are not fun, are not fun. Holy shit.
Chad: Oh, the trials and tribulations of sucking at riding a bull. Yes.
Joel: Yes, yes.
Chad: A mechanical bull.
Joel: Shall we get to...
Chad: The one that you asked for, by the way.
SFX: Shout-out.
Chad: Yes. Okay. I get the first shout-out. This is the fun one.
Joel: Yep.
Chad: 'Cause it's shout-out to beer after all of this last week of debauchery and Nashville drinking beer. Annual research by the Kirin Holdings Company, a Japanese beer company for all those who've never had a Kirin. Here are the top five...
Joel: Ooh.
Chad: Countries that drank the most beer per capita.
Joel: USA. Give it to me.
Chad: Number five, Poland.
Joel: What?
Chad: Number four, Romania. Number three, Lithuania. Number two, Austria. And number one, almost doubling Austria's consumption per capita, The Czech Republic, kids.
Joel: Yeah.
Chad: Wow. So, listen...
Lieven: Was this a global list?
Chad: It was global. Germany was number seven, the US was 17 and Belgium didn't even make it into the top 30, Lieven. Wow.
Lieven: We sell our beer. We sell our bear.
Joel: How is Austria so high? It's like the size of Connecticut. Like how much beer...
Chad: It's per capita.
Joel: Oh, per capita.
Chad: It's per person, yes. That's where we try to make it fair. Yeah. So, if we just take a look at the all out consumption, China, obviously with the most people in the world and then the US. I mean, those are there but per capita, who by person drinks most? It's the Czech Republic. Now, Czech Republic beer is pretty good. I like it...
Lieven: Yeah.
Chad: But it's not amazing, that's for goddamn sure. [chuckle]
Joel: It's not Belgian, is it?
Chad: No, it's not Belgian beer. I think the next breakdown we're gonna have to check out is the top five global consumption of what brands of beer, what types of beer. Maybe that's next.
Joel: I wanna see the list for meth usage. I think we'd fare better on that one as Americans. I think...
Chad: Yes.
Joel: I think we do better on that one. All right. Well, my shout-out...
SFX: Ai, papi.
Joel: All right, our industry has seen some pretty kooky names over the years, guys. HiBob, JobStar, Jobfox, I could go on but we may have a winner for worst name with the introduction of Candydate out of the UK.
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: When I say Candydate, what do you think of?
Lieven: Ah, sounds great.
Chad: It's like the new Tinder, right?
Joel: Yeah.
Chad: I mean, Candydate. Woo.
Joel: Yeah, so...
Lieven: I wish...
Joel: It's supposed to read like candidate but ends up sounding like... And it's spelled like, my roommate in college, she used to hook up with a stripper named Candy.
Chad: Yes.
Lieven: Of course.
Chad: It sounds like a stripper, like a stripper like dating app.
Joel: Yeah. Yeah. Like, "Hey dude, you wanna go to The Chug for dollar pictures?" "No, man. I got a date with Candy tonight. I got a Candydate." Candydate is billed as an applicant matching system that leverages short videos. I'm not sure what's on those short videos. So, its...
Chad: OnlyFans videos.
Joel: Its tagline is, Recruitment sweet as candy. Oh, god. Are you serious?
Chad: That sounds like a Cheesman joke right there.
Joel: Yeah, that's bad. That's bad. Recruitment as sweet as candy. Candydate gets a shout-out for just being awful, just being awful but making me laugh.
Lieven: I do love the name Candydates. I should have come up with that one, Candydate. I love it in fact.
Chad: [laughter] I love it.
Lieven: Okay, maybe its a bit embarrassing but I love it. Candydate.
Joel: Lieven, you got a shout-out, man, while you ponder how many girls named Candy you've dated in your lifetime?
Lieven: Not one. I feel I'm missing out on something. So, shout-out to all the Candys in the world. I've never dated a Candy. Please face this one.
SFX: Just the tears.
Lieven: I think everyone should have dated at least one Candy in his lifetime.
Chad: You might wanna check with your wife on that one, but okay.
SFX: What are you doing, step bro?
Lieven: Honey, I'll call you Candy. Something like that. She never ever listens to the show. She wouldn't even know.
Chad: Oh, okay.
Lieven: I mean, I asked her and she said, "That's the podcast, right?" And I said, "Yes." And, "I don't even know where it's listed". So then, I gave up. But, she has other qualities.
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: Well, maybe we can meet her because we're going to Europe pretty soon.
Lieven: You are.
Joel: Chad, tell us about that.
Chad: Yes. UNLEASH World is coming, kids, in Paris. That's right, early to mid-ish. I guess you could say. October.
Joel: 12th to the 14th. Something like that. 13th, 14th.
Chad: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So, if you aren't registered, there's still time left, just go to chadcheese.com/events. I mean, this is one of the staples when it comes to events that you have to go to, not just because it's in Paris, but it's UNLEASH Paris. We've got a great startup competition. They've got startup alleys. It's really incredibly cool. So, come check us out. I don't even know what we're gonna be doing yet, Cheesman.
Joel: Lieven, are you gonna be there? Is Lieven coming to UNLEASH?
Lieven: I'm just going to drop by to give you both a hug and say hello and show you my candy.
[laughter]
Chad: And then go to Moulin Rouge.
Joel: Bring us a Douville and introduce us to Candy. That's it.
SFX: Ai, papi.
Chad: I'm going to Moulin Rouge this time, dammit. I am meding up.
Lieven: You should.
Chad: I'm not catching the Paris flu this time.
Joel: Well, we know where Lieven will be. Hopefully the House of HR event finally has a date. Lieven, tell us about it.
Chad: Ooh, when is this?
Lieven: Next year, 2024, March 19th. And it will be in Amsterdam this year. It's a beautiful location, beautiful location, walking distance from all the places you're not supposed to be except if you're with Candy, of course. But, it's really... The location alone is the reason to be there. But on our next episode, I'll give you all the details. The title, as I mentioned before, I guess, is The Digital Shift and it's about managing your digital teams. You have workers and you have coworkers and you have digital workers, and that's the whole idea. It's about AI, it's about digital and it's of course about Amsterdam.
Chad: I can see a Chad and Cheese VIP party in the Red Light District.
Lieven: I'm going to arrange you two boats because I saw RecFest gave you a... What was it? A boat?
Chad: A pontoon. Yeah.
Lieven: Yes. A drinking boat, it wasn't drinking. How did you call it?
Joel: Booze Cruise.
Chad: Booze Cruise.
Lieven: The Booze Cruise. The Booze Cruise. I was so jealous. And I tell, okay, if they can give them a booze cruise, I'll give them two.
Chad: Yes.
Joel: Chad and Cheese, a booze cruise and Candy.
SFX: What are you doing step bro?
Joel: From Amsterdam next year. I'm excited. I'm excited.
[music]
CHad: TOPICS!
Joel: All right, boys. Google is facing a lawsuit in Denmark for allegedly and illegally aggregating job listings from a rival marketplace. The case highlights potential limitations on Google's job ambitions and raises concerns about the influence of big tech on niche industries. Jobindex, who says it's the leading Danish job marketplace, claims Google violated copyright by republishing its listings. This legal challenge may set a precedent for other global recruitment platforms to go after Big G. Chad, does Denmark have a case or are they in dane in the membrane?
Chad: So bad. So first and foremost, I'm not the biggest fan of Google and their ability to have a monopoly in search for many countries all over the world. But, this lawsuit to me makes no fucking sense. So, I have questions.
Joel: Yep.
Chad: Number one, I thought the job site had to elect to use Google for Jobs by adopting the Google for Jobs markup language. So, did they use the markup language? That's my first question. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. But, that was the standard for the US companies. Then number two, Google scraping content. I mean, Google is a search engine. It scrapes content and indexes content without asking for permission. Why are we having to even have this discussion? It feels like I'm explaining 1994 to a job board. And why isn't Jobindex stopping the scrape with their robots TXT file? Why not? I don't get it. So, my third one...
Joel: Yep.
Chad: Last but not least, copyright infringement. See number one and number two, for God's sakes. If you don't want your shit indexed, you have options. And I really feel like I'm talking to job board toddlers here, but Jobindex has been around since 1996. So, this is either a bullshit ploy or they're the dumbest job board in the world. The question was, which one is it?
Joel: Yep.
Chad: Then you look a little bit further and it's like, oh, wait a minute, I see exactly what's happening. Here's from the SIA Report, "Jobindex reported a 7.8% drop in second quarter revenue which is about 12.9 million." So, that was compared to the same quarter this previous year. This is a bang and blame moment, baby. It's a failing, it's a failing dog of a job board that now needs a reason to blame somebody and Google is the biggest bully in the room. So, why not?
SFX: Doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Joel: So, this is a quote from the CEO of Jobindex. "We're willing to compete with Google but it must be on equal terms, not with Google for Jobs having products on its shelves that aren't theirs." So, is he saying that if all the jobs were on Google, he'd be okay with it? I don't think so. I mean, Google has been dealing with these litigious Europeans for over a decade. The US gets a bad rap about suing everybody but the Europeans are just as bad at suing companies. Look, Google's very careful about these aren't Google jobs, these aren't on Google. And I think that's a big reason why they nixed Hire because they knew if they had Google for hire and people were posting jobs on Google, that they were gonna face issues like this, most likely in Europe, which they are. These are listings that go to other job sites, it's a vertical search just like travel or shopping that sends you to another job posting on another site, whether it's the company site, whether it's Monster, whether it's whatever. Right? So to me, like this guy would do be doing a lot better if they put resources to hiring some SEOs to help them optimize their job postings to rank better on the Google for Jobs solution.
Joel: We talked to someone recently, Chad, about how to optimize your jobs, what to do, what to look for. Apparently, Jobindex isn't doing that or people, maybe they have a shitty brand and people don't wanna click on it when they see it in Google results and they're not getting traffic that they want to, I don't know Jobindex enough to know if they're a shitty site or if they're spamming people or the job seekers just know that they're a bad site to go to, but they are doing it wrong. Most sites that know how to leverage Google for Jobs are getting an increase in traffic, not a decrease.
Chad: Yeah.
Joel: So, these boneheads need to figure out their marketing, need to figure out their brand. Stop blaming Google, stop looking for a quick paycheck from Google to help facilitate whatever lost revenues you have.
Chad: Deep pockets.
Joel: This is ridiculous. Look in the mirror, get your shit straight and fix it and you'll find that Google is your best friend, not your worst enemy.
Lieven: I tend to agree with both of you. I looked into this. I feel if Google copies job ads to get enlisted in the Google for Job app and then links to the source in this case, Jobindex, I don't see a problem. They should be happy.
Chad: Yeah.
Lieven: They're helping them getting their jobs filled. If they would use job ads from Jobindex but link to a different source to finish the application, that would be something totally different. But in this case, I don't think it's the case. So, normally jobs got listed on Google for Jobs via an API, not by scraping. If the Danish company, if Jobindex, didn't connect their own websites to that API, they never linked it. But, Google is scraping and it's putting it in Google for Jobs, then they might have a case because normally, it's only through an API and you have to reach out to Google themself to have your jobs listed. They apparently didn't and their jobs are listed anyway, so they could have a point. And they claim, and that's probably the reason why they go to courts, they claim since Google launched Google for Jobs, we had a big drop in organic ranking, in organic traffic. And that's... They feel their competitive... They've got a competitive disadvantage. And there, they might have a case because if a small European company is trying to sue big evil Google, European lawyers might tend to feel sympathetic.
Joel: But be clear, this isn't Google scraping their jobs and putting them on Google as Google jobs. This is Google sending them traffic for free. Jobindex can shut off Google in a second.
Lieven: Yeah.
Joel: All they have to do is put robots.txt...
Chad: Yes.
Joel: Like deny Google. So, this is so ironic that this company has their jobs on Google for free and then they're gonna go sue Google for the same reason that... I mean, it's just so stupid.
Lieven: For not getting enough for free, something like that.
Joel: Unless Google is just write checks...
Lieven: That's ridiculous.
Joel: Over nothing just by getting letters from lawyers. This is ridiculous. No court...
Chad: Yes.
Joel: Like no court in any industrialized world is gonna take this case.
Chad: No.
Joel: This is just ridiculous.
Lieven: Maybe in France.
[laughter]
Chad: Possibly, possibly. But it's... Again, it's on Jobindex. If they... I mean, if they're getting their jobs into Google for Jobs, which they'd have to have the markup, number one. And that means that Jobindex would actually have to do the work to be able to get their jobs into Google for Jobs.
Lieven: Of course.
Chad: If this is just an SEO, your search engine ranking pages, you've been doing this for years and you know... You've been around since 1996. If you don't know how to robots.txt and get that shit either blocked by this point, this is on you. Right? This is what search engines do, this is what they've always done. Right? So, this is the dumbest lawsuit.
Joel: And to be around since '96 and not understand SEO and how Google works, how are you still in business? How are you still in business? Like, it's just, it's just maddening.
Chad: It's all about bottom line and drop in revenue and they've got to blame somebody and Google is the easiest target, especially now in the EU is the easiest target to go after. I just think this is the dumbest set of reasons to go after Google. There are some great reasons to go after Google, there are some amazing reasons to go after Google. These are not... None of these are reasons.
Lieven: Yeah.
Joel: Yeah. This is where this case is going.
SFX: SFX.
Chad: [laughter]
Lieven: I suggest we follow it and keep reporting on it.
Joel: We will follow this for sure. Yeah. Yeah, we'll follow it getting...
Chad: Oh, this will be fun. I actually reached out to the... One of the founders of Jobindex or part of the C-suite to ask them to come on to explain this to us because as you can hear already, we think it's dumb. So, please help us understand why it's not dumb.
SFX: SFX.
Joel: Is is that what happened when you asked them to...
Chad: I just reached out this morning. Give them time. Give them time. Okay.
Joel: We'll give them a little bit of time. All righty, till then, well now they're never, they're never, they're never calling back. When we come back, a little lying...
Chad: Yes.
Joel: A little lying on the show. All right, boys. A new tool mysteriously out of Iceland promises to help anyone detect lies over video calls. That's right, LiarLiar.AI says it's an AI-powered lie detection tool that analyzes body language and facial cues during video calls.
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: It translates psychological indicators into mathematical formulas, whatever the hell that means, using real-time video feeds to detect potential deceit through subtle cues like eye gaze and heart rate changes. LiarLiar.AI promises real-time insights without invasive measures making it effective for truth-seeking during video interactions across various platforms while maintaining data privacy, privacy allegedly. Liar Liar is one of Jim Carrey's best films but is it a good tool for employers? Chad, your thoughts.
Chad: So, Jobindex would have a much stronger case against these guys than they do Google. Okay? And they're probably not even connected to this LiarLiar system. This to me, I thought was a joke. Right out of the gate, I thought is this April Fool's Day? Do I wear a heart rate monitor? How do you know what my heart rate is? How do you know over video what my heart rate is? We've had this discussion before around HireVue who got smacked in the face where Illinois actually created a regulation that was specific to facial recognition in HireVue alone. To me, for this to be happening in Europe, this is gonna be stamped out incredibly fast. [chuckle]
Joel: I wonder what the laws are in Iceland as far as you know.
Lieven: But why do you think it's from Iceland? I thought it was from Bulgaria.
Joel: Mysteriously, so, I did some digging.
Chad: Is it Bulgaria?
Lieven: I thought it was Bulgaria.
Joel: The domain and everything looks like it's in Iceland. Now, it looks like they're spreading out a little bit. Anyway, it's kind of irrelevant to the topic but they are a little bit dodgy to say the least. This is not like...
Chad: Sketchy.
Joel: We got some VC and we're setting up shop in London. I mean, this looks a little bit dicey. So, Chad is dead right. Like, no legitimate company is gonna touch this with a ten foot pole in terms of recruiting. I guess some individuals in regards to dating or something may try this. What does scare me though...
Chad: Ooh, Candydate.
Lieven: Yeah. The moment that I asked Candy for a dinner or...
Joel: Candydate's new functionality.
SFX: Ai, papi.
Joel: Okay.
Chad: [laughter] Oh, that brings back memories.
Joel: It's so cheap. HireVue is not a like, "I'm gonna go rogue. I'm a person recruiter and I'm gonna get this and my company doesn't know about it." This thing is cheap enough that there are gonna be some rogue recruiters download this on their computer, try it out, do interviews online and use it to recruit. And if that gets back to the company's hiring practices, then oh shit, then the company's in a world of hurt. So, whereas HireVue you're spending tens of thousands of dollars...
Chad: Easily.
Joel: And there's no risk of like an individual recruiter going rogue and like buying this product. LiarLiar is gonna get some recruiters that buy it and use it and if you're an employer, make sure that your recruiting team if they're off-site or whatever is not using shit like this because you will get pinched in a big way if it comes back that you're using this type of...
Chad: Or staffing companies that you pay to do this because you're still liable. This doesn't just go to the staffing company or the RPO. This is something... I mean this is where it's really incredibly important that you understand the stack that the staffing company or the RPO is using to be able to provide the output of candidates in the candidate pool for you. And if anybody would know anything about this, it'd be Lieven...
Joel: It would be.
Chad: Because he does a little bit of technology in a pretty goddamn big umbrella of staffing companies. [laughter]
Lieven: First of all, we wouldn't use a tool like this officially in our company, of course. But, I did try it out and I... For only 35 euros, I was able to become a founding client which will give me lifetime access...
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: There you go. There you go.
Lieven: To LiarLiar.AI.
Chad: Oh, god.
SFX: All right, all right, all right.
Lieven: Yes, for only 35 euros. I mean, I had to try it and then I tried to install it on Apple but it didn't really work out. And then I got some kind of help from ??? if I pronounce him correctly who happens to be the founder of LiarLiar and the company owner. And it's... I think it's one man company. He was really friendly, he helped me out on how to install it. It never worked out on Apple, but he promised me it would work like a charm on a PC. I didn't try it yet. I'm going to try it on a PC and next time, I'll tell you how it works. But, I looked into it and I...
Joel: It says it integrates with Zoom and other video platforms...
Lieven: Yeah.
Joel: Have you tried it on Zoom?
Lieven: And this just makes it so much fun. I mean, you see on your screen all these little ratings and you can share your screen and you can show the people in the meeting, "Haha, you were lying, detected."
[laughter]
Lieven: This is much fun. I mean, I'm looking forward to it.
Joel: Your blood pressure went up. We can tell.
Lieven: I Knew you were full of shit. Look, look, look. Yeah. And then, your eye was blinking. The system has seen it. And...
Joel: Could you imagine an interview where at the end of the interview they show you the screenshot of your lies from your interview?
Chad: Yeah.
Lieven: I mean...
Joel: Oh, my god.
Lieven: It's a perfect way to test the resilience of a candidate, I mean.
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah.
Lieven: How will a candidate respond to being accused...
Chad: Of lying.
Lieven: Of lying by a tool like this? It's a great test.
Joel: Do they have like an insurance policy if you're sued for using this, that they'll support your lawsuit and...
Chad: [laughter]
Lieven: Nobody believes it works, so you can't. I mean, it's a trick.
Joel: I bet if you look in the terms, there's like a, "Not to be used for professional purposes, only for entertainment purposes."
Lieven: It actually never mentions anything like hiring or something, but does look like a great website. The guy was really helpful and I happen to be very enthusiastic about it.
Joel: You're enthusiastic about it.
Lieven: We're going to give it a try, I'll keep you posted.
Chad: It's like a new toy.
Joel: I'm telling Rika that Lieven is going rogue and using a lie detector tool in his interviews.
Lieven: I never do interviews with candidates anymore...
Joel: It's okay.
Lieven: So, I'm allowed to use it if...
Chad: Like other vendors, right?
Joel: I interview Candy...
Chad: Yeah, yeah.
Lieven: Candydates. If I date Candy, I'll use it.
[laughter]
SFX: SFX.
Joel: Oh, god. How much time do we spend on that?
Lieven: You have to admit it's a creative idea.
Chad: Sure.
Lieven: I like it.
Joel: But, it's more like novelty.
Lieven: Of course, of course.
Chad: It's snake oil.
Joel: Totally.
Chad: It is total, total snake oil.
Lieven: It's funny.
Joel: Totally. Some dating app is gonna buy this and like tell you when you're... I'm not going there.
[laughter]
Joel: Okay, let's go to... From one tech that might work to another tech that works some of the time. Do Europeans like to play cards? Well, X, the artist formally known as Twitter unveiled job cards for displaying job listings in user feeds last week. These cards showcase job details and redirect users to external application forms. They work on desktop and iOS but Android support remains unclear. XHiring introduced in July aims to compete with LinkedIn offering job postings to verified X accounts which cost 1000 USD per month. We've discussed this on the weekly show from an American point of view but let's look at it from a pair of European eyes. Lieven, what are your thoughts on Elon Musk getting into the hiring business?
Lieven: You do remember, I used to be a very big fan of Elon Musk.
Joel: You love Musk.
SFX: [laughter]
Lieven: I used to love him. I used to love him, but then he screwed Ukraine and then I stopped loving him all of a sudden. So...
Chad: That'll do it. That'll do it.
Lieven: I'm an ex Twitter user. I'm not an X user, I'm an ex Twitter user. And there are so many people in Western Europe who really don't use, even never used Twitter at all. So, I think it's a much bigger thing in where you live and where we do. It's Twitter or X now. In Belgium for example, is something politicians are on. Some journalists are on to see what those politicians might tweet whenever they're drunk. And then, you have those extreme right people who are using it as a channel to talk to other extreme right people. But, the bullshit told there is not something one would proudly share with his employer and Twitter claims or Elon claims this might be a competitor to LinkedIn. This has nothing to do with LinkedIn. I mean, LinkedIn has a huge database with valuable resumes. But on Twitter or on X, people don't even use their real names in many cases and they shouldn't because you don't want to get confronted with the bullshit you tell on Twitter. So, it's something... It's totally different. I don't believe for one second this will work.
Joel: You're a user, aren't you, Lieven, of Twitter/X...
Lieven: Oh, of Twitter because I felt kind of... You're a user, I'm not, I'm not a user...
Joel: House of HR has a ton of brands. Are those brands currently on X?
Lieven: Most of them probably are totally not. I have an account but I hardly use it.
Joel: Like, is House of HR on Twitter?
Lieven: No.
Joel: No?
Lieven: No. We probably have an account just to keep the name so nobody else can tweet out of our own name, but we don't ever put anything on Twitter. No.
Joel: So, not bullish on XHiring in your...
Lieven: Totally not and our clients aren't. Some people are, of course, and some people like it. Compared to Facebook or even Reddit, Twitter is nothing.
Joel: Yeah.
Lieven: Or Instagram or even WhatsApp or Snapchat. No, Twitter isn't a big thing. And I should specify, I'm talking about our own main markets, Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Germany. It's probably something else in the Nordics or in Eastern Europe, but I don't think there is a big thing as well. But correct me if I'm wrong.
Chad: I just don't understand why they're overextending themselves like this. I mean, you're talking about a market, the job market, the jobs market which is infinitesimal compared to the money that they've lost in the advertising market, right?
Lieven: Sorry, but what does infinitesimal mean?
Chad: Very small.
Lieven: Okay.
Chad: Incredibly small. Uber, uber small, right?
SFX: Just the tip.
Chad: So, it's so small, I don't know why you're wasting your time when you're losing hundreds of millions of dollars on the advertising side of the house. I mean, if he could just get his optics tweaked and quit being an idiot, I mean, he's lost so much money 'cause people don't want their brand on there. Now, here's the thing, if I don't want my brand on there and I stop spending millions of dollars in advertising, what the hell makes you think that I want to put my jobs on there? Again, it's a brand sentiment kind of a thing. So again, I think they're overextending and then we can get into the matching and relevant content discussion which it's gonna be hard as fuck for them. This is exactly one of the reasons why Facebook got out of it. So yeah, I think this is using a thimble to bail out the Titanic. It's just not gonna happen.
Joel: Lieven mentioned the influence of Twitter/X in Europe. So, currently the numbers that I saw was in the U.S, there are about 77 million active users on Twitter. Europe is twice the size population-wise of the U.S, but there are fewer users of Twitter in Europe than there are in the US. So, it's a much smaller pool that Elon would be trying to tap into. The other thing is in terms of... Some of the markets, a thousand a month is gonna be no big deal to be a verified account and just throw up jobs. But, a lot of these markets, $1,000 a month is real money. So, the penetration in the UK, France, Germany, I think that's a discussion. But, when we look at Estonia and some of the smaller markets, like I don't think it's even gonna be a consideration. So, I don't see XHiring being a huge impact in the US and I certainly don't see it as a big impact in Europe.
Chad: Or taking over LinkedIn. Again, we've talked about this before, Handshake, when they got their first... When they got their last big round, they came out hard in press saying, "We're targeting LinkedIn." That's how they got the money in the first place, right? They're like, "We can be like LinkedIn but only in this area." Twitter's doing the exact same thing. They're pointing at the big bully in the room, which is LinkedIn at this point, at least the big revenue share bully and it makes sense. But, we've seen this fail over and over and over and these guys, they just don't have what it takes.
Joel: But, you know what they say about the stuff that Elon Musk does?
SFX: 60% of the time, it works every time.
Chad: [laughter]
Joel: Boys, it's been fun. It's been too long. We're headed into fall. Lieven, we're coming to Europe soon and we will see you when we do. Another one in the can, we out.
Chad: We out.
Lieven: We out.
Outro: Wow, look at you. You made it through an entire episode of the Chad and Cheese Podcast or maybe you cheated and fast forwarded to the end. Either way, there's no doubt you wish you had that time back, valuable time you could have used to buy a 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 western, you can't quit them either. We out.
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