Episode 98: Inside Talent Strategy, Retention, and Employer Expectations with Matt Lowney

Episode notes

Let’s be honest: recruiting is rarely simple—and in high-turnover, high-volume environments, it’s downright relentless. But what if we stopped overcomplicating it and focused on what really matters: clear expectations, streamlined systems, and actually respecting people’s time? In this episode of Recruiting is No Joke , Joel Lalgee sits down with Matt Lowney, Managing Director of Talent Acquisition at CoreCivic, a corrections and reentry services company hiring 8,000+ people a year. From healthcare to corrections, Matt brings decades of experience managing large-scale, multi-site recruiting operations and shares his playbook for making high-volume hiring not only work—but work better. With humor, Matt digs into what’s broken in hiring today—from inflated job titles and unclear expectations to the overhyped promise of “culture.” He’s brutally honest about what candidates really want (spoiler: it’s not ping-pong tables) and why it’s time to separate why someone joins from why they stay. This isn’t your typical TA chat.