A New Way to Recruit with Michael Smith, CMO at UseVerb

·48 min·3 clips

"Mike, I don't need what you know, I need who you are."

1. Your Career Podcast with Jane Jackson focuses on Michael Smith and UseVerb, with episode 260 framed around "A New Way to Recruit." 2. Jane Jackson interviews Michael Smith, Chief Marketing Officer at UseVerb, and Michael brings over two decades in oil and gas, including Woodside, ConocoPhillips, and Shell. 3. The episode asks why recruitment should show "who you are" before the interview, not only "what you know" on a resume. 4. Michael says he wanted to be a fighter pilot, but chronic asthma and a chest condition stopped that path. 5. He links his early interests in Formula One, jet fighters, mechanics, and athletics to speed, precision, and a dislike of "nine to five" thinking. 6. Michael explains that he chose mechanical engineering over architecture because engines, cars, and hands-on problem solving fit him better. 7. He also describes holding a fitter and turner trade alongside his professional engineering background, which gave him both practical and theoretical understanding. 8. Michael says his Italian family background and his role as president of the Shell social club helped him learn to bring people together. 9. He says that mindset helped him contribute to bringing one of the world's largest gas facilities onto station at a project in South Korea. 10. Michael describes COVID as a "great reset" that made him question titles, ego, promotions, and whether he was spending enough time with his wife and children. 11. He says fatherhood changed his perspective, and he mentions that he wanted five children before his wife said they should stop at three. 12. Paul Duker, UseVerb founder and a friend from when Michael was 17, becomes the person who reconnects Michael to the company. 13. Michael repeats Duker’s line, "Mike, I don't need what you know, I need who you are," as the moment that changed how he thought about his own value. 14. He argues that people usually leave jobs because they cannot work with managers or teams, not because they cannot do the spreadsheet work. 15. Michael says UseVerb is trying to "rehumanize recruitment" by putting personality first, because "resumes are just so deadly boring." 16. He gives a concrete example from a sales rep role: Seek produced about 960 applications, while a video-based process produced 60 responses from people willing to make the extra effort. 17. The interview is energetic, repetitive in places, and built around long answers from Michael rather than a formal product demo. 18. Jane Jackson steers the conversation toward career clarity, family, and the value of being seen, while Michael answers with many examples and direct slogans such as "speak life." 19. People interested in recruitment, career change, and employer branding. 20. Listeners wanting a tightly edited technical product demo.

As heard by us

A grounded look at crowded hiring and the human signal that still cuts through.

Michael Smith makes a plain case for how hiring can feel crowded with near identical resumes and little that sets one applicant apart. The stronger thread is the shift he draws away from titles and polished achievement and toward impact, purpose, and authenticity, which gives…

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Want a clearer lens on hiring noise and how video can help a candidate stand out?

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