Building Internal Mobility & Operational Impact at Cox Enterprises

Chris Hoyt: Aren’t you a sailor? You wanna talk about sailing around the world?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: No. My husband is. I’m just trying to make him happy. Like, I’m not gonna do this for life, but a vacation sounds great.

Chris Hoyt: You’re the sa—you’re the pa… what would that be? Is that a passenger on a sailboat? I have no idea. What’s a—

Jeri Lynn Wilson: I can be a passenger princess, for sure.

Chris Hoyt: A crew—

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Mate. Is that what it is? Deckhand? That works. Oh, the chef. I have to cook? I’ll get the cocktails. I’m really good at making cocktails.

Chris Hoyt: The mixologist! The ship mixologist. Make all the painkillers.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Yes!

Chris Hoyt: Oh, I love that.

Announcer: Welcome to the Recruiting Community Podcast, the go-to channel for talent acquisition leaders and practitioners. This show is brought to you by CXR, a trusted community of thousands connecting the best minds in the industry to explore topics like attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent. Hosted by Chris Hoyt and Gerry Crispin. We are thrilled to have you join the conversation.

Chris Hoyt: All right, welcome everybody. I’m Chris Hoyt. I’m the CEO of CareerXroads and the CXR community. Happy to be here. Today we’re actually at Unleash, hanging out at the Shaker booth, talking to some of the folks who’ve come by. It’s been pretty well attended so far—we’re on day one—and I’m very excited.

Jeri Lynn, do you wanna give us an overview of what you do at Cox Enterprises?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Sure! I lead strategy and operations for Cox Enterprises’ talent acquisition team. That means we oversee our vendor solutions—we outsource about half of our recruitment—and manage vendor relationships. We also handle recruiter enablement, including our tools, technology, projects, and project management. Talent insights, candidate experience, and internal mobility all fall under our umbrella as well.

Chris Hoyt: So it sounds like you get all the cool stuff.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: I get the fun stuff.

Chris Hoyt: You get the toys, the shiny bobs… and maybe not-so-shiny bobs too. This seems like a great event for you. Have you seen anything interesting so far? No need to name names.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: I’m really interested—we just launched Paradox, so I’m gonna stop by and say hi. And I hope to find HiredScore—we’ll be working with them soon.

Chris Hoyt: That’s exciting! Let’s talk a little about internal mobility and internal recruitment. Can you lay out what that looks like at Cox?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: That’s been a big shift in our TA strategy this year. Last year, we had some transformations across the business and stood up career counselors on the candidate experience side. These internal mobility advisors are like career coaches. Whether employees are affected by changes or just looking to grow, these advisors help them navigate their journey.

It’s like an outplacement service, but for internals. We help them network, which is different from what the outplacement team does. Now we’re focused on helping all employees, regardless of where they are in their development. Cox is a huge company—45,000 employees—and we have tons of development programs. It can be hard to navigate. Who do you network with? Do you update your resume? Do you practice interviewing? These coaches sit side-by-side and help with all that.

Chris Hoyt: I love that. So often, big organizations just leave it to the employee to figure out their next move. “We’ve got an internal careers page—good luck!” It’s great to hear that you’re making it proactive. And I assume that leads to better retention?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Exactly. We hope this boosts our voice of the employee surveys too.

Chris Hoyt: How long has this program been up?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Since Q4 of last year, so it’s very recent. We’re just now getting into the rules of engagement—how career coaches and recruiters work together.

Chris Hoyt: What about the politics? Internal mobility always brings up the “That’s my talent—you can’t have them!” issue.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: We haven’t really had to address that yet. Our focus is on helping individuals identify their current skills and what they need to grow. That might be within their department or elsewhere. We’re not placing people—we’re coaching them. But as we implement more tools, like Career Hub in Workday, that might introduce more of that “poaching” dynamic. We’ll address it when it arises.

Chris Hoyt: Fair enough. I’ve been to Cox Enterprises and the vibe there is amazing. The culture really stands out—and the campus is wildly impressive.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: It’s a magical place.

Chris Hoyt: It really is. Every amenity we saw was being used. The courtyard, the lounge chairs, the on-demand coffee—it was all in play. That kind of culture has to help with internal programs like this.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: A hundred percent.

Chris Hoyt: So, is there a shift or tactic you think people are underestimating right now?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: It’s not new, but from an operations standpoint, I think we struggle with balance—between process and experience. We focus on making processes efficient and hitting SLAs, but often overlook the experience we leave behind. I believe experience should drive the process, which should then drive tools, tech, and data.

Chris Hoyt: So you reverse-engineer from the desired experience?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Exactly. Start with the experience, then support it with efficient processes and tools.

Chris Hoyt: That makes a lot of sense. Any big wins yet?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Not yet, but that might be my first piece of advice.

Chris Hoyt: Let’s go with that! What advice would you give TA leaders this year?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: I’d say be really thoughtful about your approach to AI—and how you justify the budget for it. It was easy to sell to the recruiting team: we’re removing administrative burdens so they can spend more time with candidates and hiring managers. That helped with adoption—like with Paradox.

But I wasn’t as thoughtful with what finance needed to hear. It’s not just about saved hours. It’s the value-added human connections that come from it. Now, with budget season here, I need to go back and quantify that story.

Chris Hoyt: That’s a solid lesson learned. You took a user-first approach, which helped adoption. Now it’s about sustainability and justification at the executive level.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Exactly. I sold it as “we saved 300 man-hours in a few weeks,” which is great. But now I need to show the impact on revenue, hiring speed, and overall value. I should’ve built that story from the start.

Chris Hoyt: And you’re a leader bringing people along for the journey, hearing their feedback and building the narrative. That’s powerful.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: I hope so!

Chris Hoyt: Final question: if you were gonna write a book about all this, what would the title be?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: “Curiosity, Courage, and Connection.” That’s our team motto this year. In operations, we’re problem solvers. Curiosity helps us spot issues. Courage lets us act on what we find. And connection builds trust with recruiters, hiring managers, and the business. It creates a flywheel—making it easier to keep that momentum going.

Chris Hoyt: I love that. Who gets the first signed copy?

Jeri Lynn Wilson: My husband, Jason. The sailor.

Chris Hoyt: Perfect. He can read it on the boat—or you can read it to him while he’s doing all the “saily” things. Jeri Lynn, thank you so much for stopping by. I really appreciate it and wish you the best. I hope you meet some incredible people at the show.

Jeri Lynn Wilson: Me too. Thank you!

Chris Hoyt: For more podcasts, check out cxr.works/podcast. You’ll find previous and upcoming episodes. Follow us on social media and hit the subscribe button. We’ll see you next time.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the Recruiting Community Podcast, where talent acquisition leaders connect, learn, and grow together. Be sure to visit cxr.works/podcast to explore past episodes and see what’s coming up next. Interested in joining the CXR community? Visit us at www.cxr.works. We’ll catch you in the next episode.