Chief Change Officer
#358 Mary Shea: From Oboe Solos to Sales Strategy—A Career Reinvented — Part Three
Sat, 10 May 2025
Let’s be honest—today’s job search often feels like shouting into the void.In Part Three, Mary Shea—former General Manager at HireQuotient and co-CEO at Mediafly—tackles the modern job market from both sides of the table. She pulls back the curtain on how AI is reshaping recruitment: from sourcing passive candidates to fighting unconscious bias, automating outreach, and uncovering overlooked talent. But this isn’t a tech sales pitch—Mary gets real about what AI can’t do (like fix a broken candidate experience) and why human empathy still matters most.Whether you’re a recruiter overwhelmed by applications or a job seeker ghosted by someone half your age, this episode is your career compass for a chaotic hiring landscape.Key Highlights of Our Interview:AI That Actually Helps Recruiters Breathe“We offload 75% of the workload—so recruiters can stop drowning in admin and start connecting again.”Talent Hiding in Plain Sight“Using multiple data sources, we find candidates others miss—especially underrepresented voices skipped by bots.”When the Résumé Lies—or Leaves Too Much Out“Some of the best candidates don’t list everything. That’s where smart prompting and human judgment must align.”Automation ≠ Apathy“Done right, AI doesn’t depersonalize the process—it gives recruiters more time to be human.”Recruiting for the C-Suite? Yes, AI Can Help There Too“I used it to hire my Chief Customer Officer. Diverse candidates, faster process, better outcome.”The Real Human Cost of Getting It Wrong“First impressions matter. A bad recruiting experience damages more than the candidate—it hurts your brand.”Vince Shares His Story—And It Hits HomeA real-life example of age bias, HR tech gone wrong, and why leadership still requires presence and respect.Mary’s Advice to Job Seekers“Be granular. Use LinkedIn wisely. But never forget—every opportunity still starts with a relationship.”Networking Isn’t Dead—You’re Just Doing It Wrong“In-person, virtual, or omnichannel—connect deeply, not just digitally. That’s how humans hire.”_________________________Connect with us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Mary Shea PhD --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What is Mary Shea's career journey?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today, I've got a treat for you. We are welcoming back a familiar voice to the show, Mary Shea.
If you caught our first season back in March, you might remember her from episode three and four. If you missed those, don't worry. They're still there if you want to catch up. But we'll cover plenty of ground today. Now, let me tell you. Mary's career path is anything but ordinary.
We're talking a journey from classical musician to frontline salesperson, all the way to senior tech leader in sales and revenue enablement. Talk about range, huh? But here's what really makes Mary tick. She's all about using tech to shake things up in how we work. As she put it in her last conversation, she's not one for playing by the standard rule book.
Nope, Mary's is all about making waves and driving positive change. So it's no surprise she's now teamed up with a rising star in the HR tech world. Let's talk about why this matters. Our job market right now is like a roller coaster. We've got layoffs, downsizing, companies flipping their business models on their heads, and AI stepping into the ring.
Throw in some political and economic curve balls, and you've got a recipe for a lot of people hunting for jobs. It's not just about finding work, isn't it? We are in this fascinating era where you might have four generations all working side by side. And AI is like this double-edged sword opening doors for some while others are wondering if it will show them the door.
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Chapter 2: How is AI reshaping the recruitment process?
So where does it all leave us? What's the future of work looking like? That's exactly what we are diving in today with Mary. She's going to give us the lowdown on what's happening in HR and recruitment. Ready? Let's jump in and hear what Mary's got to say. Mary, welcome back.
Thank you, Vince. It's wonderful to be here.
You've had a deep career journey from being an industry analyst at Forrester to now collaborating with a rising star in HR technology. What drew you to this HR tech space? And what makes you believe we are at a tipping point for accelerated growth in this sector?
Wow, that's a great question. And there's lots of questions within the question. You're so wonderful at what you do, but thank you for asking. So, yeah, I won't go too far back in time, but I was an industry analyst at Forrester for seven years or so. It's one of the most wonderful jobs that you could ever possibly have.
You are working with some of the most intelligent, creative, forward-looking people. colleagues and the clients are the same as well. At a certain point in life, I decided to go back into industry and I worked with a unicorn out in Seattle and was CEO of a RevTech company based in Chicago recently.
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Chapter 3: What are the challenges of the modern job market?
And I've absolutely fallen in love with not only the technology that HireQuotient has, but the leader of the company, who is Smart Sudhana. He's a founder entrepreneur based out of India. The company is based in Singapore and San Francisco. And I met Smarth at Sastr probably about two and a half or almost coming up on three years now. And I was a keynote speaker.
And he and Aishwarya, one of his colleagues, tracked me down pretty much the whole time that I was at Sastr. And they just wanted to talk tech and introduce me to the burgeoning company and build a relationship with me because I'm fairly well known in the industry and have a nice following. Grateful for that.
And we had so much to talk about that I invited him to come have breakfast with me at the hotel the next day. And you probably know me a little bit, Vince. I'm a bit of an introvert, even though I'm out there in the digital world and speaking, but I don't typically invite people I meet for breakfast. And so that was a strong indicator of my interest in Smarth and the company and his vision.
the company essentially is hr tech as you mentioned with a focus on recruiting and it's a software company it's not an agency i just want to be really clear and the software really takes some of the most sophisticated uses of generative ai and also automation the company has built rich ecosystem partnerships with a range of data providers that you would know
And it can essentially offload the first three quarters of the recruiting process for the recruiter. And why is this important? It's important because everyone's doing more with less these days. Many of the recruiters that I talk to, whether they're external or internal, are one human band, so to speak. There's not a lot of them. And so having...
An AI agent, that's how I like to refer to the technology, EasySource, to assist them and up-level the engagement process with candidates is absolutely amazing. The company takes a wide swath.
looking at candidates across a range of platforms not just linkedin and i know you and i'll talk about that because there's some challenges with just focusing on linkedin naturally and it can go out and find very specific candidates with very specific skills but not limited to just one or two sources.
And so that really helps the recruiter manage against the bias problem that I think sometimes we think about when we think about technology and automation and AI. And so I'm just blown away. The technology is elegant. It solves a timely real world problem. And the team is there to support every single customer 24-7. And it's a really special company.
And I'll just say one more thing and then I'll pause because I know you mentioned why is it the moment for HR tech? I've been following tech for close to two decades now. I started at Forrester back in the mid to late 90s. And we saw the emergence of technology. I'll skip CRM, but we'll start with marketing automation, right?
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Chapter 4: How does HireQuotient uncover hidden talent?
dramatically reduced the time that it would have taken me and other executives on the interview loops, because by the time HireQuotient had surfaced the candidates, they were really good. I was able to put four finalists together, which also included the internal referrals. And I'll tell you, personally, I fully expected to hire my former colleague.
And as we went through the interview process, I was becoming more and more taken with the two candidates that HireQuotient found. My final set finalists was two women, two men, two people of color. And honestly, I would have been happy to hire any one of them. They were all so strong. Everyone at the company thought it was an incredibly fair and well-run process.
And I hired an amazing person who is now doing a tremendous job in leading not only her organization, but is a strong number two for the current CEO of that company. I get it. I understand. Maybe I'm not going to change the hearts and minds of diehard recruiters who truly believe that the C-suite needs to be handheld every step of the way.
But I will say, because the AI can customize the external messaging so much, and because that's automated and omni-channel, it allows the person to stay in content, the recruiter to stay in content, constant contact with the candidate. This is a whole other topic, but how many times have you been ghosted and I've been ghosted by HR folks? It happens.
So it created a better brand experience, even for the candidates we didn't hire. And ultimately, once that three quarters of the recruiting process was handled by HireQuotient, we did white glove internally. I was involved in every interview. I was talking, as was our recruiter.
and i was texting talking with our finalists on a regular basis so just because you're augmenting a part of the process doesn't mean you walk away from a white glove or blue chip experience and so i really hope this these stories help come to life why i am debunking hopefully that theory and i know you have a different perspective so i really want to hear your thoughts
I can appreciate that if I were one of those candidates, by the way, in your process, I totally appreciate the fact that someone senior like you and your colleagues got really involved in the process. Because if I join, if you offer me a job, I will be working with you. How you treat me is indicative of how I will be treated as a colleague. Okay, so yes, I do have a story to share.
I don't usually share a lot of personal story, especially if I do interview because I want the focus to be on the guest. But this time for this topic, I do have a personal story. So if you could allow me. This recent experience of mine really got me thinking about the challenges and opportunities in the HR space today. So I was up for this senior position. and a big international brand.
You know, one of those roles that asks for over 20 years of work experience. Exciting stuff, right? Now, here's where it gets interesting. The person interviewing me, a young HR professional, maybe two or three years out of college, and she asked me to join her on a Zoom call. She sent this request through a automatic recruitment system. So I replied. I said, yes. I picked a date.
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Chapter 5: Can AI help in hiring for senior positions?
Thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show, leave us top-rated reviews, check out our website, and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Shen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.