Boomerang Boomers: The Real Reason Retirees Are Returning to Work w/ Dr. Bob Murray & Alicia Fortinberry
Release Date: 04/17/2025
Beyond the Résumé: How to Find Talent in the Places Everyone Overlooks w/ Jay Kondrup & Justin Brower
Talent Hunters
Everyone says they want “top talent.” But most recruiters look for it in all the same places. The same résumés, the same titles, the same predictable career paths. And now, with LinkedIn doing most of the heavy lifting, many recruiters have forgotten how to actually recruit. They inbox, keyword search, and wait for the algorithm to serve up the same recycled profiles, and then wonder why their placements feel interchangeable. Talent rarely looks the way you expect it to. Sometimes it’s the Ivy League grad working as an accountant for a supermarket chain; a role most recruiters would...
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The Power of the Frontline Workforce & How Leaders Can Unlock It w/ Mike White
Talent Hunters
In manufacturing, people are always talking about innovation. But very often, the focus on automation, robotics, and AI leaves out the real key to performance and progress. The frontline workers who make everything run. For decades, the frontline workforce has been managed like machinery: interchangeable, replaceable, and measured only in hours worked or units produced. But if you’ve ever walked a plant floor, you know the truth: one great employee can change the entire rhythm of production. The right people aren’t just cogs in a process; they are the process. The challenge is...
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Procurement Meets Partnership: Inside the HPS and HireQuest Collaboration w/ Nathan Stock & Matt Wilkerson
Talent Hunters
Businesses everywhere are facing the same challenge: trying to meet financial goals, production goals, and staffing needs, all at once. Budgets are tightening, teams are shrinking, and hiring has become a constant uphill climb. The pressure to “do more with less” isn’t just a slogan anymore, it’s reality for nearly every organization. That’s the landscape where a new partnership between HPS, a 75-year-old member-owned group purchasing organization, and HireQuest is taking shape. It’s arriving at a moment when organizations need more than contracts. They need collaborators who can...
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What Every Recruiter Needs to Know About Public Health Talent w/ Dr. Desiree Strickland
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Public health is one of the most misunderstood fields in the job market. It’s full of people who quietly hold entire communities together, designing prevention programs, managing data, and saving lives. Yet they’re often underpaid, overlooked, and invisible to recruiters. The irony is that the very professionals trained to serve others often struggle to advocate for themselves. They’re taught to be humble, to focus on the team, and to chase the same oversaturated government jobs as everyone else. It leaves brilliant, mission-driven people stuck, and a huge pool of untapped talent...
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Why Veteran Hiring Strategies Fail and How Companies Can Get It Right w/ Emily King Grandinetta
Talent Hunters
Companies constantly talk about hiring and supporting veterans. While that sounds patriotic and well-intentioned, they often miss the mark on execution. Recruiting campaigns, hiring pledges, and onboarding slide decks look good on paper, yet the results are sobering: too many veteran hires fail. It’s not because they can’t lead, it’s because both sides underestimate the culture shock of the transition. Employers assume an officer’s leadership skills will automatically translate. Veterans assume their adaptability in uniform will carry them through. Those unspoken...
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A Perfect Partnership: The Story Behind HireQuest’s Command Center Acquisition w/ Kevin Semerad & David Hartley - Replay
Talent Hunters
A successful acquisition takes place when an organization that sees something special to invest in meets a company that will be propelled further through a partnership. It’s a perfect marriage allowing both sides to achieve more together than they would separately. This is what HireQuest looks for when they’re looking to acquire a business. It’s not about money - in a people-facing service-based industry like recruiting, the true asset of a business is its employees. An acquisition is about empowering and pouring into organizations that are bringing value to the industry. That’s why...
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Healthcare Hiring: How to Build the Workforce to Match Growth w/ Theresa Franco
Talent Hunters
In healthcare, hiring used to be about credentials and clinical experience. Post-pandemic, it became a desperate race to fill open shifts. Care delivery has exploded beyond hospital walls. It’s expanded into outpatient clinics, rural settings, and even tech-driven virtual care. The problem is, healthcare workforce pipelines haven’t caught up to this change. If we don’t radically re-engineer how we bring in nursing talent, the system will buckle under the weight of an aging population, chronic illness, and burnout. Recruiters play a huge role in this. It’s not just about...
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From Temp Work to Strategic Weapon: The New Era of Contract Staffing w/ Tim Ozier
Talent Hunters
Contract staffing used to mean plugging holes; covering maternity leaves, bridging gaps until a full-time hire came on board, or filling in while HR caught up. But in today’s economy, it’s something very different. In a world that has grown comfortable with gig work and fractional talent, contract staffing has become a strategic weapon. The rise of the gig economy normalized the idea that not every role needs to be permanent. What started with Uber drivers and freelance creatives has now permeated every sector where fractional and project-based work is not the exception, but...
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Recruiting Is Slow, Here’s How to Still Win Business in 2025 w/ Scott Clark
Talent Hunters
Today’s recruiting landscape is full of challenges, hurdles, and hiccups. Tariffs are squeezing certain sectors. AI has brought change to the industry. Economic uncertainty is making candidates hesitant to move. Hiring managers are harder to reach. And when business does come in, it’s often from existing relationships, leaving you wondering how to keep your pipeline alive when the phone stops ringing. For recruiters, the temptation is to hunker down and focus only on current searches. But in this market, stopping your marketing is the fastest way to run out of work. The people...
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Workforce Multiplier: How AI Is Reinventing the Modern Factory w/ Richard Tabassi
Talent Hunters
Smart factories, where machines that think enable the manufacturing process, aren’t science fiction anymore. They are already here. AI-powered smart factories are transforming how rockets are built, hiring decisions are made, and how manufacturing lines adapt in real time. As this tech accelerates, it’s easy to ask what this means for humans. Will humans be eliminated from the manufacturing process? No. It’s just going to require an evolution of the human workforce. Smarter, more adaptable people who can bridge the gap between physical and digital systems, wield generative AI like a...
info_outlineOne of the biggest trends we’ve seen in the working world recently is the rise of the Boomerang Boomer—retirees returning to the workforce.
There are many factors driving this trend, and while financial necessity might seem like the obvious reason, it’s not the only motivator.
Human beings are relationship-forming animals. We’re actually driven by purpose, community, and learning, not just money.
We need to feel useful in ways that go beyond financial contribution.
The challenge is that many of the other places where humans used to find these things—connection, identity, meaning—are disappearing.
So work becomes the place where we try to meet those needs.
For Boomers returning to the workforce, things might feel a bit unfamiliar. AI and remote work have reshaped what “going to work” looks like.
But here’s the good news: those are just tools. At its core, work is still about relationships, and that part hasn’t changed.
So, is the modern workplace really designed for how human beings work best? What do we actually need to thrive at work?
In this episode, we’re joined by internationally recognized thought leaders in behavioral science and business management, Dr. Bob Murray and Dr. Alicia Fortinberry. We talk about the psychology of work, and why money isn’t actually the main motivator.
Guest Bio
Dr. Bob Murray and Dr. Alicia Fortinberry are internationally recognized thought leaders in behavioral science and business management. Over 30 years ago, their groundbreaking work—rooted in emerging neuroscience and clinical practice—highlighted the central role of relationships in human wellbeing, a now widely accepted idea that was radical at the time. Their research has influenced fields ranging from mental and physical health to organizational culture and strategy, earning them global acclaim and an AAS Science Achievement Award.They developed a practical, science-based method for building strong connections to enhance health, performance, and fulfillment. They've lectured at leading institutions including Duke, Tufts, and the University of Melbourne, and taught graduate courses at the University of California at Northridge and Melbourne Law School. Their bestsellers, Creating Optimism and Raising an Optimistic Child, made their approach accessible to a broader audience. Through their firm Fortinberry Murray, they’ve helped Fortune 500 companies and major organizations build relationship-centered cultures and strategies. They served as keynote speakers, executive coaches, and advisors worldwide, and were appointed by President Obama to lead the U.S. National Workstress Initiative. Bob also serves on the board of the Mental Health Institute of Legal Professions and advises the NSW Law Council on lawyer mental health. Visit https://www.fortinberrymurray.com/ for more information.
About Your Host
Vince Holt is the founder and CEO of Management Recruiters of Mercer Island. With 35+ years industry experience, he is the only MRINetwork team member to win CSAM of the Year, Person of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards. In addition to spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, Vince has raced motorcycles for over 50 years, winning 5 National Championships.
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