EP 58 An "Accident" at Work and Gandalf is HR's Best Recruiter with Melissa Yergensen
Melissa Yergensen has done HR at a two-hundred-person county government, an underground mine, a giant hospitality company, and back again, and she has an opinion about which one prepared her best. It is not the one you would guess. She joins Steve and Tony to explain why she thinks corporate HR, the version with the big titles and the bigger silos, might be quietly making the profession worse, and why the HR people who never got a fancy title might actually be better at the job.
Along the way, there is a workers' comp claim that starts in a supply closet and ends somewhere nobody expected, a scheduling form with an answer nobody should have written down, and a small town where firing someone on Tuesday means running into them at your kid's basketball game on Wednesday. Steve and Tony also drag Melissa into a Lord of the Rings comparison she never asked for, and somehow it explains exactly why good people stay in bad jobs too long. Is HR having an identity crisis, or did it just get lost trying to sound smart at the executive table?
Learn more about Melissa Yergensen at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-yergensen-mshrm-sphr-ipma-scp-aa7a6711a/
Learn more about Fantastic Tony Benjamin at: https://www.thegrangellc.com/
Learn more about Steven "Big Deal" Smith at: https://thehiringtreebook.com/
Learn more about the Books mentioned on the podcast at: https://thehiringtreebook.com/hr-life-podcast
Learn More about the Netflix film Titan at: https://www.netflix.com/title/81712178
Learn more about Dyno Outfitters at: https://www.utahviaferrata.com/
Learn more about MegastarHR at: https://www.megastarhr.com/
Learn more about Pucks for Autism at: https://www.pucksforautism.com/
Learn more about Thrive Life Project at: https://www.thrivelifeproject.org/
Creators and Guests
Host
Fantastic Tony Benjamin
I am a unique HR leader with more than 20 years’ experience working for some of Utah’s oldest, fastest growing, and most well-known companies. My experience includes Superior Drilling Products, Air Medical Resource Group, Control4, Ovivo USA and Deseret Book. I am a regionally recognized authority on building successful cultures and am an alumni speaker at DisruptHR SLC and DisruptHR St. George. I have earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix, a Bachelor’s degree from Utah State University, and am a certified Professional of Human Resources (PHR). I'm married to a woman out of my league, have three brilliant kids I doesn’t deserve and, although I travel a lot, live in Vernal, Utah.
Host
Steven "Big Deal" Smith
Steve will be the first to tell you that recruiting is marketing. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance at Brigham Young University and started his career in recruiting in Feb 2005. In 2008, he took a risk during a recession to help start a new company with Ryan Kohler, called ApplicantPro, a full suite HR platform for small to mid-sized businesses. In March 2025, ApplicantPro became iSolved Talent Acquisition, now serving 177,000 clients and close to 9800 employees. Before the merger, ApplicantPro made the Inc 5000 list 12 years in a row, Top Places to work in Utah 3 years in a row, and Steve was named the Small Business Utah HR Achievement Award winner in May 2024. iSolved was also named an Indeed Platinum Partner in 2023, 2024, and 2025 and is one of only ten ATS platforms in the country to obtain that designation. SHRM-CP & PHR certified, Steve currently volunteers on the Utah SHRM State Council as the immediate past State Executive Director. His book, The Hiring Tree: Laws of Applicant Attraction, was released in early 2023, and has helped thousands of organizations across the country rethink their approach to hiring. If you need help understanding the principles and role of SEO, marketing, and AI when it comes to attracting job seekers, Steve provides a solid framework for hiring effectively.
