DE Talk | Is the Future of Talent Acquisition Human or AI-Driven?

Season 2 • Episode 1

Talent acquisition is rapidly changing at an unprecedented rate. The use of advanced technology and artificial intelligence is quickly becoming the industry standard. But how do we keep humans in the loop to ensure that the human factor remains in human resources, while also embracing AI? Tune in to see what Peter Weddle, CEO at TAtech, predicts for the future of talent acquisition, how you can address change now by embracing technology and automation, and what, in his opinion, is the greatest danger that exists for the field. (Hint, it’s not what you think it is!)

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About DE Talk

For DirectEmployers, it’s all about valuable connections and meaningful conversations. This monthly podcast features honest and open dialogue between powerhouse industry experts on a variety of HR topics ranging from OFCCP compliance advice to emerging recruitment marketing trends, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and insightful solutions that help infuse new life into your HR strategies.

Hosted by Candee Chambers, Executive Director of DirectEmployers Association.

Guest Host

Episode Guest

Episode Transcript

Candee Chambers:
Welcome to the DE Talk Podcast! Tune in for dialogue between HR experts to amp up your HR strategies. Don’t worry, we’ll mix in a few laughs, as we know you need it.

Shannon Offord:
This is Shannon Offord and you’re listening to the DE Talk Podcast. There is no denying that talent acquisition is rapidly changing at an unprecedented rate. Use of advanced technology and artificial intelligence, as well as advanced analytics, is quickly becoming the industry standard; and many are wondering why their job that was once very people-centric has become filled with technology and tools that make them part futurist, part TA, and part data analyst. Then, take into account the global pandemic, and many organizations have taken this time to rethink their practices and prepare for what the future may hold. But what is the future of talent acquisition? Today, our guest is Peter Weddle who is perfect to discuss this topic. He is the CEO of TAtech. He’s also served as a CEO of three HR consulting companies. He’s also attended West Point, Oxford University, and holds advanced degrees from Middlebury College and also Harvard University.

Peter, welcome to the podcast!

Peter Weddle:

Thanks, Shannon. It’s great to be here.

Shannon Offord:
You and I have known each other for a few years now and had some really great conversations throughout the years. I’m really happy to have you join me here today. I know I covered a lot in the intro, but can you tell me just a little bit more about your background?

Peter Weddle:
Sure. I have been in HR my entire career in one way or another, but always with a connection to technology. My fascination has always been the intersection of people and technology. Back in the mid ’90s, back in the dark ages, I sold a company that I had started; it was arguably one of the largest in the country that used computers to match people to jobs. I had a lucky break, landed a job as a biweekly columnist for the Wall Street Journal covering the employment space on the internet, and that gave me the catbird seat as the internet was exploding with new capabilities, new functionality, all around talent acquisition.

In 2007-2008, right in the middle of the Great Recession, it seemed to me that the industry, this brand new technology industry for recruiting, had matured enough that it needed a trade association, so I founded what is today TAtech, and it serves as the centerpiece of the trade of the industry for talent technology. It’s a global organization, and its members cover job boards, social medial sites, aggregators, AI and machine learning companies, programmatic ad buying companies, recruitment advertising and marketing agencies, virtually any organization that uses technology to help employers recruit top talent. Collectively, the membership powers operate 70,000 sites today.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. Are you getting a lot of employer interest in the Association lately, or is it mainly vendors and those types of organizations that really participate in TAtech?

Peter Weddle:
We’re seeing a lot more interest on the part of employers. Obviously, as you said in the introduction, technology is playing a much bigger role in the recruiting team, but there’s also a lot of disruption going on in the workplace itself thanks to technology. While recruiters are working to absorb all this technology and the jobs they have, the jobs for which they are recruiting are changing at warp speed as well thanks to the introduction of technology. Whole new industries are being created, and other industries are in decline, so it’s an area where you really need to stay up to speed, you need to become conversant in what’s state-of-the-art, and how best to apply it to your particular enterprise or organization, and I think employers are finding that the best way to do that is through a dialogue. They want the companies that build this stuff, those are our members, they want them to know what recruiters and talent acquisition teams and HR departments need to be successful; and on the other hand they want to know what is the capability of that technology, and equally as important, “How do I take it and put it into the tech stack I already own?”

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. I know that’s one of the big reasons that TAtech and DirectEmployers have really partnered, is to really try to get our Members more involved in the space and learning about different types of technology. I know that we had some different conferences planned for this year; unfortunately, COVID came and didn’t allow those conferences to happen. But I know in the future we’re hoping to do some of those conferences, those 101 conferences to get people, companies and employers, really up to speed on some of the technology that’s out there.

Peter Weddle:
Boy, you and me both. I can’t wait to get back to in-person events so that we can actually see and interact with people in the real world rather than via Zoom platform. I can’t wait.

Shannon Offord:
I think there’s a lot of Zoom fatigue. I was joking with one of our people on our marketing team today that yesterday was the first time I’d put on a nice shirt in six months, so looking forward to getting back out there and having some good conversations with employers and also other people that are in our industry.

How have you seen talent acquisition shift over the past 10 to 15 years? I know obviously with COVID going on right now some things have changed, but a lot of those new technology things were emerging prior to COVID. What have you seen over the last years?

Peter Weddle:
Well, I think back in the early days, let’s push it back just a little bit further maybe back to the year 2000, really we were questioning the role of technology in the recruiting team, “How are we going to fit job boards, and then aggregators, and then social media sites into the strategies and tactics that we have under way?” The real dynamic was figuring out the role of technology. Today, it’s exactly the opposite. We’re trying to figure out the role of recruiters. All of the technology is now a given. It’s obviously different in every organization, but there’s no doubt that we’re seeing an increasingly automated, an increasingly intelligent, technology-based recruiting function; and in that kind of environment, what are humans supposed to do?

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
What do they do that’s best for their skill sets, their attributes, their characteristics?

Shannon Offord:
I know at your 2019 TAtech North America you gave a presentation and you mentioned that there were two events that were happening that really were going to change pretty much everything as far as talent acquisition is concerned; one of those was, I think if I’m correct, climate change, and the other one slipped my mind, but there were two things that you mentioned. Could you talk about those two things and what changes you see because of those two events?

Peter Weddle:
Sure. As you might remember, I pointed to the approach of a point of no return.

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
And that point of no return is defined by two dynamics that are underway, and the first is popularly known as “the technological singularity.” It’s that point in time when machines are going to finally, and forever, become smarter than humans. Once we’ve passed that point, there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. Machines are going to be smarter than humans in every conceivable way. That point of no return, according to the vast majority of scientists who work in artificial intelligence and machine learning, is just two decades away.

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
It’s the year 2040. But at the very same time that that is happening, the UN’s climate change policy group, the one that reviewed all of the latest research, and took a look at all of the best scientific thinking, they discovered that the Earth’s surface is going to warm to the point where it will be irreversible, and I call that “the climactic singularity.” It’s 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the average temperature of the Earth’s surface back at the dawn of the industrial era; and that doesn’t seem like a lot, but we’re already at 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit higher than that point back in the 1800s when the industrial era began, and look at how severe the weather is. When it goes up another 0.6 degrees, the Earth will never, ever get cooler, we will have passed a point of no return for the climate as well, and I call the convergence of those two events because that climactic singularity is going to also occur in the very same year, 2040. To me, that is an event so huge, so impactful to the way we live our lives, to the very definition of what it means to be a human on this planet, that I call it “the Titanicity.” It is something almost beyond imagination. It sounds like science fiction, but it is real, and it’s going to occur during the careers of most of the people listening to this podcast.

Shannon Offord:
Yeah. I was just doing some math to see when I was going to retire. Unfortunately, I’ll still be in the workforce at that point.

Peter Weddle:
Yeah. I wrote a book about the first singularity, the technological singularity, called “Circa 2118,” because I think while the point of no return is 2040, what we humans are going to have to deal with… the changes in our lives, the changes in the way we work, the changes in the way we live… all of that will take 100 years to play out. It’s not like you and I are going to see everything, but we will feel the impact of a world defined by machines that are just smarter than we are; and when you lay on top of that an increasingly volatile weather system because the planet is angry we’ve abused it for too long, you really do have a very different kind of life experience. I don’t think it overstates it. I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to describe it as an existential challenge.

Shannon Offord:
How do you feel the global current situation, how do you feel the global pandemic, has really impacted TA?

Peter Weddle:
Well, I think in fairness talent acquisition isn’t just dealing with the pandemic: it’s dealing with the social justice movement; it’s dealing with the recession.

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
We here at TAtech do a weekly newsletter for the talent acquisition community among employers, and I wrote a piece called, “A Cure for Common Corporate Insanity,” and what I was talking about there is that Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and I think that’s what a lot of companies are doing. They are looking at the impact of the pandemic, looking at the impact of the recession and the social justice movement, and a lot of hiring has stopped.

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
So, what they are doing is they’re doing what they’ve always done. They are reducing the budgets of recruiting teams, they’re laying-off recruiters; and at the very same time that they’re doing that, they’re telling those recruiting teams, “Now, listening. The key to business success is higher performers, so we want you to get out there and hire a whole bunch of high performers. Oh, by the way, while you’re doing that, make sure that it’s a diverse population and that we have D&I well-covered.” They’re laying this huge requirement on the recruiting team, but at the same time they’re going back to old habits: reducing the budget, cutting headcount.

Shannon Offord:
Yeah. We actually had a D&I Roundtable yesterday, and one of the questions that we asked basically was just the annual budget cuts, and you have to do more with less, and pretty much everyone in that Zoom call started nodding their head “yes.” So, I definitely think that you’re right. People do revert back to what they know, unfortunately, and start to reduce headcount and still expect all the work to get done. Do you think that technology… obviously, it can play a part in that to help, but what do you think about AI and how that’s going to play a role moving forward in talent acquisition?

Peter Weddle:
Well, I think it is a challenge. I think the problem is that the capability of this intelligent technology is accelerating and growing so fast that we’re quickly passing the point where humans could keep up. Moore’s Law said that the power of computers was going to double every two years. Well, that looks like horse-and-buggy kinds of rates compared to the way AI is developing.

I think in the near term there are two challenges. We do a biweekly webinar series for HR and talent acquisition people called TAtech Live, and when people register we only ask them one question and that is, “In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic challenge, what is the single greatest challenge that you’re facing in talent acquisition?” and in many cases, among the top three responses, every time we run a program, is two things: the first is keeping up to date, “How do we as talent acquisition professionals even know what are the capabilities out there, let alone what will work in our organization?” and the second is, “How do we integrate this stuff into our tech stack and make sure that it works as represented?”

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
I think those are two big challenges that companies are going to have to address here and now, and they’re not trivial by any means. Then, as we said at the very outset, as time goes along and this stuff becomes more and more powerful, we’re going to have to really figure out where humans fit in.

Shannon Offord:
Yeah. I would agree with that.

Another thing that you and I had talked about actually last year was helping companies understand what AI really is. I know a lot of people tout that their systems are powered by AI, that type of thing; but I think for some people or some organizations, they use AI in their product description that employers are going to gravitate towards it, when in all actuality their system may not really be true AI, but may be more of a table or a matching type of a situation. I know the 101 series that we were going to have this year really covered what really is AI, and I feel that’s something that we still need to do in 2021.

Peter Weddle:
I think that’s absolutely right. There is even an argument among AI developers about what AI is; so if they can’t get agreement, it’s going to be tough for us laypeople who are trying to put the stuff to work. But I do think, to your point, we need to be at least conversant enough that we can tell when we’re listening to hype, when we’re listening to technobabble, and when we’re listening to people who really do have a product with powerful intelligent technology, deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, any of the variations of artificial intelligence that we are able to employ today, and those really are just the precursor. The power of the technology is just unlimited and continues to advance every day.

Shannon Offord:
Right. One thing you mentioned earlier, you talked about the social justice movement. Do you think technology can make a difference for companies trying to do better in the D&I space?

Peter Weddle:
I’m glad you asked that question because obviously it’s on everybody’s mind these days. I’m sure your email box, as is mine, is filled with invitations to webinars and discussions about how best to advance a company’s D&I, and I think it’s important to examine and where appropriate adopt new strategies and tactics; I do think that that is a worthwhile exercise, but here’s the rub: as you and I were talking about the other day, culture starts at the top.

Shannon Offord:
Right.

Peter Weddle:
And a talent acquisition team can have really some of the best strategies, the best thought-through tactics, they can do it all right; but if it isn’t a true facet of the company’s culture, they will not be successful, and that was brought home glaringly in a story in the New York Times this past Monday about a company called Carta, which was a Silicone Valley, or maybe still is a Silicone Valley unicorn, that really a very successful company in the financial services place, and their CEO made a lot of public statements. They even promoted it on billboards in the Valley about how every employee and companies in the future should be an owner of the company, that the old way of working was really more about serfdom, and the future was going to be about people owning a piece of the rock. The problem is that apparently that didn’t happen, and the company has now been sued by a number of former employees. To me, what’s most tragic is the title of the article about this company; it was, “Talking Equality, But Not Practicing It.” If a company says all the right things, but because of the culture from the top it doesn’t walk the talk, then no matter what the talent acquisition team does it will not be successful.

Shannon Offord:
That is a great point and we touched a lot on that. I know you and I have had that conversation a few times; and I know that during our roundtable we had yesterday, that was really touched on. Because I think everyone out there is looking for technology to really help them to this. Yeah, technology I feel can play a part in it; but like you said, it needs to be part… I mean if your culture is not one that actually promotes diversity, it doesn’t matter what piece of technology you use, you still won’t have a diverse organization, so I’m definitely in the same page with you there. I know that I’ve been asked that question a lot, and you’re right. I’ve had so many things in my inbox about diversity webinars, and just different things around diversity that people are inviting us to, and trying to get us to participate on.

Another quick question I have for you. You see technology every single day, and you live it, breathe it, this is what you do. Is there an area in technology, as far as something that’s related to TA, that you’re extremely curious about, and why?

Peter Weddle:
Well, I am fascinated with the general area of automation, and that covers programmatic ad buying, it covers artificial intelligence and machine learning, and there are some other technologies, but what fascinates me about that is a question I think we’re going to cover in the joint event that TAtech and DirectEmployers is going to do later this fall, and that is: can there be such a thing as candidate empathy when there’s so much technology touching the candidate? Can machines be empathetic? And if they can’t, then if we’re using this technology so much, how do we humans, who are still in the process… humans are still in the loop, if you will… how do we convey that empathy in a way that we optimize a candidate’s experience?

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. You got ahead of me a little bit. I know we’re going to be co-hosting a conference November 12th and 13th, “Strategic Conversations About Talent Acquisition: How Must the Funnel Change?” Can you talk a little bit about that conference? Obviously, I know I can, but you’re our guest today and I’d rather have you cover that.

Peter Weddle:
As you well know and can probably describe better than I, we’re very excited about this event because it’s completely different from every other conference that we have seen in the digital space. All of those conferences are pretty much like an in-person conference; they’re just delivered on a digital platform. You login to the conference and you’re basically talked at for an hour or three hours or five hours, however long the conference goes on. What we’ve decided to do is to make the attendees part of the program. What we want to do is have strategic conversations about really important topics in our space. Each session will begin with a 20 minute discussion: one person from the industry side, one person from the employer side, talking about an important topic like, “Is there such a thing as candidate empathy in an era of recruitment automation?”

Then, we’re going to open up the floor to all of the people who attended the event. Unlike at an in-person event where if you’re lucky you’re just one of one or two people who are called on for Q&A, what we want to do is actually engage in a strategic dialogue with everybody who wants to talk to the speakers… or the discussants, if you will… about that particular topic. We can bring them up on the Zoom platform, people can see each other, they can have a meaningful conversation about these topics, and I think that’s the way that we really move the needle in terms of mutual understanding and eventually mutual benefit. I think this is going to break new ground. This is going to be a way for people to really engage with thought leaders in an impactful way, and to really have their say, to be able to offer their views, and thereby participate in the dialogue.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. Again, I could probably answer this, too, but what are some of the topics people can look forward to at the event?

Peter Weddle:
Well, let’s see. How can a corporate career site help an employer advance its D&I efforts? What steps should recruiters take to ensure that they maximize their ROI in technology? What’s the appropriate role for technology in a company that practices values-based recruitment? And one that is very important, given everything we just talked about: what can recruiters do to ensure their AI-based recruiting tools aren’t promoting bias?

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. I know another thing you mentioned was how there will be conversation leaders, and how you mentioned that there will be people from the TA side, and then people from the solution provider side as well. The people that we talked about from the employer side will be primarily from the TAtech top 100. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Peter Weddle:
Yeah, I’d love to. I think it’s a perfectly appropriate celebration every year of the top 100 HR influencers, and this recognizes people who are really helping to advance HR in a meaningful way. While from time to time talent acquisition people are included, they really don’t get, in our view, the visibility that they deserve. So, we are launching in September the top 100 most influential TA thought leaders being drawn from both employers, staffing firms, RPOs, and from industry. What we want to do is we want to recognize these folks and celebrate the innovation and the advancement that they’ve helped to ferment in the talent acquisition space, but we want to do it differently than the way other lists like this come out. Usually, they’re one-offs, “Hey, everybody. Here’s the Top 100 HR Influencers,” and that’s fine, but what we want to do is we want to do the celebration all year long, so we’re going to introduce the top 100 in four seasonal classes. In other words, in September we’ll announce the fall class, the first 25 of the top 100 talent acquisition thought leaders. Then, in the winter, we’ll introduce the winter class and re-celebrate the fall class, so we will acknowledge and celebrate these 100 people on an ongoing basis all year long, and we will draw from that group the people who will be the conversation leaders during our event in November.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. I know we’re extremely excited about the partnership that we have with TAtech and also the collaboration we’re having on this event, so thank you for that. Like I say, we’re super excited about it.

I have two more serious questions, and then we’re going to get into something a little bit more fun, some rapid-fire questions. One of them I’m just going to throw in there that you’re probably not prepared for, but we’ll ask it anyway.

Peter Weddle:
All right.

Shannon Offord:
I like whole impromptu thing. It’s fun, as long as I’m not the one answering the questions.

So, I know that you’re writing a book about technology and other issues that will affect our lives in the coming decades. Do you want to talk just a little bit about that? I know you’ve written several books, but I know this will be your latest.

Peter Weddle:
Yeah. Well, I mentioned it earlier. I’m writing a book, I’ve done the research, on this intersection of that point in time in 2040 when machines will become forever smarter than humans, and the climate will become, or the Earth’s surface will become forever hotter and never get cooler. What I want to do is try to talk about what I call “a perfect catastrophe,” but also lay out a roadmap to how we can begin to address those two crises right now, the things that we can do to really be the masters of our future rather than the victim. Because I think if we can get past that point of no return and turn the crises into opportunities, we will introduce a new era that I call “the Neonaissance.” The Renaissance was all about looking backwards to classical thinking, classical philosophy, classical literature, and bringing it into the modern era. The Neonaissance won’t look backwards; it will look forward. It will look at, “How can humans work in a world where there is very little, if any, paid employment because machines will be doing most of the work?” and “How can humans better treat their planet so that they leave the Earth better off for their kids and grandkids than it was when they arrived?”

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. Any more plug for that book? I’m trying to give you some time, the opportunity…

Peter Weddle:
You don’t want to get me going down that path too far, but it will be out in January 2021. I’ve decided that I think this is such an important issue that we’re going to, for the first six months or so, we’re going to offer it for free to anybody who wants. It will be a free download for Kindle and I hope that people will read it. I think it employs a technique that I call “newsfeed realism,” which takes the kinds of information that you see in your newsfeed every day and extrapolates it into what it might be like once we’ve passed this point of no return, so there is a fictional component to the book. Then, I think I’m up to 185 footnotes. A lot of research went into this book, so it’s based on fact, it’s based on science, but there’s also an opportunity to imagine what it would be like if we don’t attend to this problem; and if we do, how much better it will be.

Shannon Offord:
I was getting ready to ask you for the friends and family discount for the book, but now that you’re offering it for free I guess I don’t have to ask that question later.

Peter Weddle:
I’ll send you the link as soon as it’s ready.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. One other question I want to ask before we get into having some fun. What advice would you give employers and talent acquisition professionals as it relates to HR technology, and fitting in with the changes that are taking place right now? I know it’s a tough question.

Peter Weddle:
Well, I think this is not new, it’s certainly not new for me, but I think that one does not have to be a computer scientist, a data maven. One simply needs to get to the point where he or she is comfortable with technology and uses it as a tool, which is all it is, in his or her work. I think the most important skill that people need to have is the skill of continuous learning. They have to believe that they’re never too old, never too experienced, never too senior to get better; and that part of their job, part of their career advancement, is that continuous acquisition of new skills.

I think the greatest danger that we in talent acquisition have is the habit trap. We get into a rut of doing things the same way, it gets comfortable, we understand how it works, it’s familiar, and we humans as a species just don’t like change very much. Unfortunately, the world that we are in, we talked about the accelerating pace of the introduction of this new technology: the world we’re in is going to be one of not only continuous change, but accelerating change; and the only way to keep up, the only way to maintain one’s position with relation to this technology, in my opinion, is through continuous learning.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. Great answer.

Like I mentioned, we’re going to have some fun; we do this at the end of all of our podcasts. Like I said, I’m going to throw you for a loop on some of these because I’m sure you probably weren’t ready for these, but feel free to say whatever comes to your mind when I ask these questions.

Cell phone of choice: Apple or Android?

Peter Weddle:
Apple.

Shannon Offord:
Very good answer.

I know you went to West Point, and we mentioned this earlier that you are a graduate of West Point. If Navy and Air Force played in a football game, who would you root for: Air Force or Navy?

Peter Weddle:
Notre Dame.

Shannon Offord:
Wow.

Peter Weddle:
No. I mean I’d love to see those two schools, masquerade as military academies, play football. It would be entertaining. I don’t know whom. I would probably root for Navy in the first half and Air Force in the second half; because no matter how hard we compete with on another, they are comrades in arms. We need them and we depend on them, so the competition ends at the edge of the field.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome. All right.

Most people know that I’m a big Ohio State fan. In the game Ohio State versus Michigan, who would you root for?

Peter Weddle:
Well, based on what you just said, I guess I better root for Ohio State.

Shannon Offord:
Oh, I love that answer. Go Bucks!

All right. Seriously… well, this is not a serious question, but quality of life or quantity of life? I guess it is a serious question.

Peter Weddle:
I think quality of life. I mean we just had a perfect example of that with Chadwick (Boseman). He didn’t live a very long life, but man did he live a high quality one.

Shannon Offord:
Yeah. And you wouldn’t even have known he’s sick all that entire time.

What is one of the things you would put on your bucket list?

Peter Weddle:
Can I put two?

Shannon Offord:
I will give you two.

Peter Weddle:
Okay. Well, the first one… I mean I’m a writer, as you mentioned. I’ve written over two dozen books, so I’d like to write a book that really had a profound impact on its readers; I think that’s every writer’s dream. The second is I grew up in Verona, Italy, and I would like to go back and spend more time there. I think it’s a magical city, and it’s a little bit off the beaten track for most tourists, which really helps it preserve its character and culture, and I’d like to spend some serious time there.

Shannon Offord:
That is one of the areas I would love… well, not that particular city, but Italy would definitely be a place I would consider. If I’m fortunate enough to ever retire, that would be a place that I would like to spend a lot of time there. The times I’ve been it was amazing, so I definitely understand why you put that on your bucket list.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in life?

Peter Weddle:
That’s easy: nothing’s more important than family and friends.

Shannon Offord:
I know that you are a lifelong learner. What are you currently learning? I know a lot of us have picked up different things during COVID. I’ve actually picked up bourbon drinking. But what are you currently learning right now?

Peter Weddle:
One thing I’m learning is how to manage my waistline in a quarantine.

Shannon Offord:
How’s is that looking like?

Peter Weddle:
That’s proven to be a great learning challenge. But my son was at one point a sous chef, and he has got me hooked on cooking. So, I am learning to cook different dishes, and that’s been a lot of fun for me.

Shannon Offord:
Have you found a favorite dish that you enjoy cooking so far?

Peter Weddle:
I do a veal scallopini with capers that I’m pretty proud of. It’s a New York Times recipe, so I can’t claim it as my own, but it really is divine and it’s not hard to do.

Shannon Offord:
All right. Last question: what is your favorite fast food restaurant?

Peter Weddle:
The choices are so many. I’d have to say Taco Bell.

Shannon Offord:
Wow.

Peter Weddle:
Yeah. I like that spicy stuff. But I have a son-in-law who is Mexican-American and he really gives me a hard time because to him that’s just not authentic food. I have to sneak off to Taco Bell, but I enjoy it.

Shannon Offord:
Well, Peter, thank you so much for joining us today. Obviously, you’re incredibly respected in the industry. I appreciate you taking the time to join us today, I know you’re extremely busy, and thank you for your continued partnership. I know you and I do differ in how we like our martini, I know you’re a gin person and I’m a vodka person, but I thoroughly enjoy talking to you every time we have an opportunity to chat; and I definitely appreciate, like I mentioned, the partnership.

Peter, for the listeners out there, if they want to connect with you, what’s the easiest way for them to do that?

Peter Weddle:
My email address is my first and last name: peterweddle, that’s W-E-D-D-L-E, at TAtech.org.

Shannon, listen, it’s been my pleasure. I always learn something when I talk to you. We are equally as excited about our partnership with DirectEmployers. We hope that we can really bring the dialogue between your members and other employers, and our members and other folks on the solution provider side, we can bring that dialogue up a notch or two to everyone’s benefit.

Shannon Offord:
We definitely appreciate that. Like I mentioned, we’re super excited and just enjoy our time we get to spend with you. Thanks again, and I’m sure we will talk soon.

Peter Weddle:
I’ll look forward to it.

Shannon Offord:
Awesome.

Candee Chambers:
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the DE Talk Podcast. Stay connected with DirectEmployers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast to receive notifications of new episodes each month.