Unlocked Professional: AI and Future of Work

About Unlocked Professional: AI and Future of Work

How great leaders hire, build, and keep teams, and which AI tools will actually help. Most companies are stuck in "experimentation theater". Buying AI tools that go nowhere while their teams are exhausted by the hype. Welcome to The Unlocked Professional, where we stop playing with AI and start running it like a business operation. Hosted by Jeff Midland, we interview the visionaries from Chief AI Officers to Workforce Futurists. We give you the "Cheat Code" for staying relevant. Learn to move from being just a worker to an Architect of the future. We dive deep into Human-Centric AI, Agentic workflows, and the ADOPT method to ensure you remain irreplaceable. Stop the social grinding and start building a real strategy that works with AI, not against it.

Publisher

Jeff Midland | AI & Future of Work Enthusiast

Category

business · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Mar 2026

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   What a Talent Engineer at Zapier Builds Instead of Another AI Sourcing Tool | Dan McCarthy

   Most AI recruiting tools get built the wrong way, and the fix starts with thinking like an engineer. In this episode, we sit down with Dan McCarthy, senior talent engineer at Zapier and builder of Shopify's talent engineering function. Dan shares how a path through jazz, bartending, and CrossFit shaped his approach to talent engineering, internal tooling, AI screening, and talent intelligence. Discover when a recruiting tool is worth building, how to count its true cost, and why learning speed may matter more than a resume. Key Topics Nonlinear career paths as an edge in AI-driven recruiting What a talent engineer does at Shopify and Zapier The hidden costs of building internal recruiting tools Building a talent intelligence MCP from public data sources How AI screening can expand candidate signal Why resumes may matter less than learning speed Episode Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Dan McCarthy and why most AI recruiting tools are built the wrong way 00:53 Dan's path from jazz vibraphonist in Toronto to talent engineer 03:05 The books that shaped Dan's thinking and how Range reframed imposter syndrome 04:42 Why cross-pollinating skills matters in HR and recruiting 07:27 What a talent engineer does and Shopify's Life Story interview 09:19 Learning from a culture that encourages experimentation 10:10 From CrossFit gym owner to teaching himself front-end development and SQL 12:57 Why nontraditional practitioners are changing talent work 14:09 Dan's day-to-day at Zapier, from small utility builds to greenfield projects 16:10 Thinking like an engineer and why most builds fail the maintenance test 20:27 Running the numbers on total cost of ownership 22:26 When a sourcing tool is worth building and where surgical tools make sense 24:02 The false confidence of easy AI apps and why tech should free up candidate time 26:52 How Dan built the talent intelligence MCP from structured data sources 29:35 Using the system for dashboards, Q&A, skills, and intake briefs 31:40 Using data to improve closing calls and candidate conversations 34:21 Why resumes are losing value and learning speed matters more 37:33 Shopify's seven out of ten idea and why thinking outlasts tool familiarity 40:31 How AI screening expands signal and what a 15-minute conversation reveals 43:03 Rethinking interview design and the fear versus opportunity of AI screening 47:48 Hiring without resumes, senior roles, and reducing application friction 53:38 Where to connect with Dan and learn more about his work Guest Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamdanmccarthy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamdanmccarthy/) Keywords: AI Recruiting, Talent Engineering, Talent Acquisition, Recruiting Operations, Talent Intelligence, AI Screening, Skills-Based Hiring, Learning Agility, Future of Work, Zapier, Shopify, Dan McCarthy

2. 

   14 Oct 2026

   He Built a Text Message Hiring Tool That Cut Hiring From 17 Days to 48 Hours | Jonathan Duarte

   Resumes used to tell recruiters who was worth calling, but AI has made them an unreliable signal. In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Duarte, founder of GoHire and a 33-year HR technology veteran who helped build one of the first job boards. Jonathan shares his expertise on frontline hiring, text-based screening, SMS compliance, and the risks of opaque AI matching tools. Learn why recruiting leaders may need to add friction back into hiring to protect quality and compliance. Key Topics Why AI-written resumes undermined traditional screening Text-based screening and self-scheduling for frontline hiring The legal, bias, and compliance risks of AI hiring tools Skill validation and the return of friction in future hiring Episode Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Jonathan Duarte and why AI resumes broke traditional recruiting 00:28 From AOL discs and early job boards to conversational AI in regulated enterprises 02:18 Jonathan's lifelong focus on process automation and lessons from Gateway 2000 05:38 Systems thinking, automation vs. AI, and why outputs must be defined 07:20 Moving to Tahoe and rebuilding life around movement 12:03 Referral hires vs. job boards 13:50 Selling the job distribution platform and seeing the recession coming 16:08 Why recruiting is an early economic signal 17:36 Why Jonathan stepped away and what happened next 18:30 Innovation in the AI era and why HR remains a people-centered field 20:22 What GoHire does for frontline hiring 22:42 Why many candidates respond and interview after work hours 23:38 Cutting time to fill from 14 days to 24–48 hours 26:26 Engaging career-site visitors more effectively 27:56 Why candidate data belongs to the client 30:08 Why SMS is more complex than simply sending a text 33:32 The risks of AI resume matching and the need for governance and validation 37:27 Where friction may return and how to right-size AI pre-screens 43:11 Human verification and skill validation 45:06 A four-level AI skills rubric 47:29 How roles are being redefined and why job seekers need a new strategy Guest Links Company Website: https://gohire.com/author-jduarte/ (https://gohire.com/author-jduarte/) Personal Website: https://jonathanduarte.com/ (https://jonathanduarte.com/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bestlinkedinprofile/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bestlinkedinprofile/?isSelfProfile=false) Keywords: AI in Recruiting, Talent Acquisition, HR Technology, AI-Generated Resumes, Frontline Hiring, Text Recruiting, SMS Compliance, AI Governance, Skills-Based Hiring, Future of Work, GoHire, Jonathan Duarte

3. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Most CEOs Know Less About Their Employees Than LinkedIn Does | Jason Averbook

   AI won't replace people, but it will replace the jobs and workflows we know today. In this episode, we sit down with Jason Averbook, a longtime HR technology leader and the entrepreneur behind the voice AI platform Savo. Jason shares his expertise on employee listening, durable skills, workforce planning, and the real barriers to AI adoption. Discover why 1990s processes won't survive in 2026 and how to own your relevance in an always-on era of change. Key Topics Why AI will replace jobs, not people Listening and other durable skills in an AI-first world Using voice AI to replace broken employee surveys Redesigning outdated processes, hiring, and workforce planning Episode Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Jason Averbook and why the AI adoption question is wrong 02:19 Jason's early lessons from a teacher mom, a sales-driven dad, and tech tinkering 03:33 Managing hotels, experience design, and listening as a durable skill 04:59 Why the Bay Area still matters as a hub for innovation 06:29 What Leapgen stood for and why energy, audacity, and proof matter 07:53 Quitting at 23 and the cost of burning bridges 09:22 How AI makes it easier to pivot, take risks, and start something new 11:38 Why AI will change jobs, not replace people 14:18 Owning your syllabus and taking responsibility for your relevance 15:17 How Now to Next uses software to improve services and human outcomes 16:41 Why surveys are broken and voice captures richer employee sentiment 18:40 Using voice AI for culture, maturity, flight feedback, and customer experience 20:55 Why tools only matter if leaders act on what they learn 22:40 How Jason spots signals, handles uncertainty, and pivots quickly 26:17 Durable skills: critical thinking, curiosity, wisdom, and agency 27:46 Big company inertia and workforce planning with stale data 30:07 Resetting hiring around strengths, weaknesses, and role matching 32:32 Why faster broken systems aren't real innovation 35:11 Why the AI shift is always on, not an A-to-B technology swap 38:30 Transforming while keeping the lights on as cycles compress to months 43:27 Treating change as strategy and building a learning habit now 46:28 Closing thoughts on creating value, jobs, and knowledge Guest Links Website: https://www.nowtonext.ai/ (https://www.nowtonext.ai/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonaverbook/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonaverbook/ (https://www.instagram.com/jasonaverbook/) Substack: https://jasonaverbook.substack.com/ (https://jasonaverbook.substack.com/) Keywords: Future of Work, AI Adoption, HR Technology, Employee Listening, Voice AI, Survey Fatigue, Durable Skills, Workforce Planning, Skills-Based Hiring, Now to Next, Savo, Jason Averbook

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings