October 19, 2023

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Dating and Taking a Chance on a Candidate

Hosts:

Episode Highlights

Subscribe to the Talent Insights podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, (recommended for Android users), Amazon Music, or Spotify. Watch us on YouTube—and don’t forget to rate us!

COLLAB ALERT!  In this special episode, the Hirewell Hot Corner and the Recruiting Reality ladies collaborate and talk about the biggest saga to hit the NFL this year, the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce relationship. The Recruiting Reality Show finds segue between Entertainment and Recruiting similar to the way the Hirewell Hot Corner does that with Sports and Recruiting, so what better relationship to get together and chat about? The NFL is already the biggest sports league in the U.S. and adding Taylor Swift to the madness has made it even more popular.  The convo starts with explaining the magnitude of increased jersey sales, viewership, and overall hype surrounding the league and how these two celebrities got together.  The group then segue this unlikely duo into recruiting by encouraging hiring managers to take chances on folks who don’t check every single box but have the intangible that makes them more valuable than someone who does. At the end of the segment, the team shares their favorite Taylor Swift songs in the Two-Minute Drill so tune in to find out just what T-Swift songs they like the most. 

Episode Transcript

Normally, I would say, welcome back to the Hirewell Hot Corner where sports and recruitment meet. But today is a little bit of a special episode for those who follow the Hot Corner. Louie and I have been known to do a crossover event or 2 in our past with fellow Hirewell content creators. So we’d like to take the opportunity to welcome Shania and Liz from Recruiting Reality.

Welcome, ladies. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for letting us join. This is a perfect instance for us to do a crossover episode, because on our side of the fence, Recruiting Reality is all about matching up entertainment with recruiting tips, so I don’t think we could get a better mashup than Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Not at all. You know, for those who are fans of the Hot Corner, obviously, we combined the realities of sports and recruiting. We found what better way to have some monumental crossover from sports and the entertainment side than the power couple that is existing in front of us in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Yeah, it’s something that kind of has gotten annoying, but at the same time, you can’t look away. It’s- like Someone asked me the other day. I think at our all company meetup. I was like, it’s like, it’s taken the world by storm but you don’t want to look away, even though it might be kind of annoying and in your face.

It’s wild. Exactly. And you’ll notice that three of us are, not me are wearing football jerseys. And then I’m here to wrap those of us who really know nothing about football that are tuning in because we are swifties at heart. So I’m here to represent all of us. But you know what, Liz, you bring up a good point, this new relationship has sparked a good amount of impact on the NFL. A lot of new viewership, large social media increases among a few notable people, mainly the Kelce brothers, some sales of jerseys are going up, people are interested.

Yeah, awesome. I think the part about their relationship that I appreciate the most is they’re both superstars in their own right. I mean, let’s get that absolutely straight. Travis Kelce is probably top five all time in his position in the NFL. Taylor Swift is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

But they’re not overly like public with their relationship. They’re not in everyone’s face, despite the fact that everyone else in the world is trying to take advantage of this and get it out there. So it’s just, it’s just nice. No, I completely agree. I think for so many people, there’s just this, like, shock factor because Taylor Swift typically has a type, and so suddenly there is like, it’s a football player and we’re all just like, what?

And so, one of the things that Shania mentioned for recruiting reality is we love to connect entertainment with recruiting. And so the connection for us here was taking that chance on someone that you wouldn’t normally take a chance on. So in recruiting, whether you’re a hiring manager, a recruiter, you’re- someone’s reached out to you who maybe doesn’t have the background that you normally would go for,

for a role that you’re recruiting for. Just taking the chance and seeing what happens, is something that I think I’ve really taken out of this. Absolutely. Yeah. I think, Louie, I’m pretty sure we’ve done a previous episode talking about the different things that a candidate can do to stand out if they don’t necessarily have everything on the resume, everything on the paper that fits for the job they’re applying for.

Yeah, I’m a firm believer in having some crossover experience, whether it’s maybe not in the direct industry, but, you know, a person can sell themselves pretty well. It’s just about getting them in front of the person who ultimately would be giving them the chance. So, I think, us as recruiters, that’s kind of our job is to paint that picture.

Like we are understanding maybe this candidate doesn’t check the industry box or this box, but, you feel very confident that if you could just talk to them, you’ll get that understanding of what we have of this person, so. Yeah, I mean, there’s nuance to it. It’s not going to work every time, but I urge more hiring managers to consider that.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think that, in our day and age with LinkedIn and being able to continue to support people on their job search, like we don’t know exactly what happened in the beginning of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s relationship, but what we saw from the podcast was, he gave the friendship bracelet. She said she doesn’t talk before and after concerts. He got bummed. The video blew up and then all of a sudden she’s at a Chiefs game. So it could have been the Swifties. It could have been the NFL fans that continued to push and get in her face. You know, it’s open for interpretation.

So always supporting people on LinkedIn and then us as recruiters just continuing to be that seller. Yeah. You talk about the social media and the LinkedIn side, there’s more opportunity than ever to put yourself out there and go above and beyond just what a resume might say on a piece of paper to showcase your skills.

And we talk about the intangible side of it. You look at football players like Tom Brady was a sixth round pick, you know, Drew Brees was undersized, but he had the intangibles. Travis Kelce wasn’t a highly toted prospect coming out of college. He went to a smaller school at University of Cincinnati, which is now in the big 12, but he was overlooked by a lot of people.

And now he’s probably going to be one of the best to ever do it at his position. I had no idea. See, we’re learning so much about football today. Swifties, you got to tune into this one. Yeah, I mean, to go from Cincinnati, almost kicked out of school, I believe, to now on the biggest stage being the best at his position currently in the NFL and winning Super Bowls, and I think he even said that dating Taylor is like, better than all that, which is a bit sappy, but hey, I’m happy for them, I guess.

The man is nothing if not smooth. Yeah, he’s got the rizz I think is what the kids are calling it. Oh. The kids. I’m going to have to Google that when we’re done. I think it comes off charisma and they call it the rizz. Ohhh. I could be wrong. This is just something I thought. You’re right, Lou. Yeah. Hey, look at me.

I love it. Well, and you have to wonder. I mean, you know, one thing that we talked about is just how much more viewership the NFL has now. But I do wonder how many more guys are like turning on Taylor Swift. I mean, we were just talking about favorite songs over here and how many are like, well, I’m just going to,

this is going to work, so let me just turn this on. Well, that is a great way of Liz segueing to what Louie and I call the two minute drill, which is how we usually end our shows, the Hirewell Hot Corner. Louie, what is your favorite Taylor Swift song? Giving it to me right off the bat. So, long story short, I actually saw Taylor Swift perform outside of soldier field in Chicago, which is the bears stadium when she was probably 17, had the glittery guitar or whatever. Free concert.

So like songs like our song and is it, I think Romeo and Juliet or whatever. Those are good. And that’s to the extent of my Taylor Swift song listening. So I’ll go with those two. There you go. Shania? Mine’s an old one that not many people know if they haven’t been a Swiftie or not currently a Swiftie, and it’s called “Hey Stephen.” I don’t know why. I love it. I love it with all my heart. That’s a good one. I remember that one. Thanks, Lou.

Not going to pretend like, I’m sure I’ve heard it. My wife plays all of the stuff constantly, so probably. But mine is definitely more of a popular pick at this point. It’s gotten a resurgence this year, for some reason, “Cruel summer” on her Lover album. I’m not really sure why 2023 people decided it’s the best thing ever again, but I enjoy it. The TikTokers. Yeah, well, yeah, that’s fair. Liz? “Love Story,” I mean, Louie said it, Romeo and Juliet. I’ve been singing it in my head. It’s just a classic and it’s so good.

Out of all 250s, I’m- 250, I think, Swift songs, I’m sorry that I had to take one of your favorites. I apologize. No it’s okay. This is a good thing. No, we’re not mad at that. Excellent. Liz, Shania, thank you both so much for jumping on here with us. We really enjoyed the shows you’ve made so far. Everything you do for Hirewell, it does not go unnoticed. For those who are new to their content, please go follow along on LinkedIn, check out Recruiting Reality. Check out every episode of the Hirewell Hot Corner as per usual, and Louie, take us home. Yeah, stay classy, LinkedIn.

Episode 45
In this week’s episode, Dan and Louie begin the show talking about the Copa America and Euro Cup tournaments coming to an end....
Episode 44
In this week’s episode, Dan and Louie recap the NHL and NBA Final after they saw the Florida Panthers and Boston Celtics win...
Episode 43
In this week’s episode, Dan and Louie dive into the heat of summer sports by discussing the NHL and NBA Finals.  Both are...
Episode 42
In this episode, Dan and Louie begin by discussing the NHL and NBA Finals getting ready to kick off in the next couple days. They...
Episode 41
In this episode, Dan and Louie begin by discussing the world of sports, as usual. The breeze by the MLB and Golf Season...
Episode 40
In this episode, Dan and Louie begin the show discussing the NHL and NBA Playoffs and how the NHL Playoffs have been far...

Our Shows

Our Latest Blog

Check out this awful job ad

No link, just the high points. Snippet from an actual job ad: “Yes, you will be quizzed on this.” 3 times! I’ll lead with the takeaway: changing your messaging to overcorrect for 1 bad hire/experience makes you sound like an ...