The Breakthrough Hiring Show: Modern Recruiting, AI, and Talent Strategy
May 28, 2026 · 46 min · 13 segments
Jessica Wheeler went from growing up in Vancouver, Washington to building talent programs at some of the biggest names in entertainment and…
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Jessica WheelerGuestJames MackeyHostUm, so what you're referring to is basically when you have independent cultures, like, not only combining the systems and the teams, but d- d- how to incorporate and, and, uh, essentially integrate the cultures together?
I mean, being in environments or have, being in a culture where, you know, it's, it's very challenging, either because it's very intense and, but you work with maybe the, maybe the people that you work with, um, can be very intense and can be, um...
I don't wanna say toxic because I think that, I mean, I've definitely been in those environments.
But I would say that very high expectations, very high demands, and very, very challenging in terms of, like, the way that they treat, talk, and push back.
So you have that environment, and then you have the environment where, you know, everyone has an opinion.
I don't know that one of them is better or harder or, or worse than the other, but I'm in a place now where I am actually h- bringing all of those experiences and bringing all of those together.
So in gaming specifically, because there's, there's a lot that's riding on a specific date, and this would be the case in, you know, film or in media, in entertainment in general, because you've got these, you know, deadlines of, like, you have to have a trailer ready to go by this date, or you have to have milestones in building games.
So there's a lot of pressure, and there can be some really difficult, hard conversations.
Um, and then you've got, you know, a world where maybe those deadlines aren't as hard or as strict.
Bringing those two teams together, that is hard because you've got these, you've got one sort of group that's like, "Hey, we're all friends," you know? Like, "Yeah, we don't have to worry about that.
Like, that metric doesn't really matter." And then you've got another group of people that are like, "Bullshit, it doesn't matter.
Like, we've got $100,000 on the line here," in some cases, million dollars on the line, right? We have to meet that.
And so trying to help both of them see each side, that's, m- I mean, that's a lot of work.
But the more that they interact, the m- and the, the better that they get to know each other, and I see it directly within my team, they've actually created a really great working relationship, and they have really found a way to have balance between the two and lean into each other because one is a g- you know, one's on the game team, and they, they know that, like, this is the deadline for this person to make this hire, to have this data set or this, this point out to the business within a certain time.
And so they've ac- actually started acting as a resource for that person because maybe they don't have as challenging of deadlines or their metrics maybe aren't as, as strict or as tough.
Um, so what you're referring to is basically when you have independent cultures, like, not only combining the systems and the teams, but d- d- how to incorporate and, and, uh, essentially integrate the cultures together?
I mean, being in environments or have, being in a culture where, you know, it's, it's very challenging, either because it's very intense and, but you work with maybe the, maybe the people that you work with, um, can be very intense and can be, um...
I don't wanna say toxic because I think that, I mean, I've definitely been in those environments.
But I would say that very high expectations, very high demands, and very, very challenging in terms of, like, the way that they treat, talk, and push back.
So you have that environment, and then you have the environment where, you know, everyone has an opinion.
I don't know that one of them is better or harder or, or worse than the other, but I'm in a place now where I am actually h- bringing all of those experiences and bringing all of those together.
So in gaming specifically, because there's, there's a lot that's riding on a specific date, and this would be the case in, you know, film or in media, in entertainment in general, because you've got these, you know, deadlines of, like, you have to have a trailer ready to go by this date, or you have to have milestones in building games.
So there's a lot of pressure, and there can be some really difficult, hard conversations.
Um, and then you've got, you know, a world where maybe those deadlines aren't as hard or as strict.
Bringing those two teams together, that is hard because you've got these, you've got one sort of group that's like, "Hey, we're all friends," you know? Like, "Yeah, we don't have to worry about that.
Like, that metric doesn't really matter." And then you've got another group of people that are like, "Bullshit, it doesn't matter.
Like, we've got $100,000 on the line here," in some cases, million dollars on the line, right? We have to meet that.
And so trying to help both of them see each side, that's, m- I mean, that's a lot of work.
But the more that they interact, the m- and the, the better that they get to know each other, and I see it directly within my team, they've actually created a really great working relationship, and they have really found a way to have balance between the two and lean into each other because one is a g- you know, one's on the game team, and they, they know that, like, this is the deadline for this person to make this hire, to have this data set or this, this point out to the business within a certain time.
And so they've ac- actually started acting as a resource for that person because maybe they don't have as challenging of deadlines or their metrics maybe aren't as, as strict or as tough.
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