Hiring in 27 Seconds: Luke Marshall on Growth, Gen Z & Video-First Recruitment with UseVerb
From Pick My Brain with Alan 'the nice one' Jones · 36:15
Show by Day One®
Win $2,000 in credits with the Day One Network — take our 2-minute audience survey before 30 June: dayone.fm/surveyEpisode SummaryCan a 27-second video replace a cover letter?In this episode, Alan sits down with Luke Marshall, Head of Growth at UseVerb, a startup reinventing the way frontline teams hire with short-form video job applications. Luke shares his journey from big-budget media agencies to lean startup teams, the lessons learned from building and rebuilding UseVerb, and why Gen Z is redefining how we think about recruitment, content, and connection.You’ll hear why UseVerb is doubling down on portrait video, how they’re targeting multi-location retailers and hospitality groups, and what their experiments in landing pages, email outreach, and TikTok-style branding have revealed so far.If you’ve ever tried hiring at scale or building a startup in a noisy market, Luke’s insights on growth, product-market fit, and trust-based hiring will hit home.Time Stamps02:02 – Childhood dreams, Jurassic Park, and marine dinosaurs03:12 – From media agency life to the startup world04:34 – The origin story of UseVerb and what went wrong the first time07:41 – Rebooting the startup: What’s different now08:40 – The power of a 27-second video job application10:57 – Why Gen Z gets video — and how that’s a hiring advantage12:07 – Who UseVerb is built for (and how to reach them)14:37 – Why TikTok changed everything for startup marketing16:46 – UseVerb’s omnichannel growth strategy18:18 – Creating content for portrait video vs landscape: Lessons from Gen Z22:43 – Personalised landing pages: Too creepy or just right?24:39 – How UseVerb uses AI to write emails that don’t sound like AI29:25 – Why diversity in case studies matters for conversion31:34 – The heartbreak of bounce rates and browser tab 7633:26 – Final thoughts + a callout for user research participantsResources Mentioned🙋🏻♂️ Luke’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshwah/🗣️ UseVerb – https://www.useverb.com/🧊 SmartLead – https://smartlead.ai/ – tool for cold outbound🕸️ Make.com – https://www.make.com/ – no-code automation for landing page generation📋 Microsoft Clarity – https://clarity.microsoft.com/ – session replay for landing page behaviourSponsors:Pick My Brain is supported by our wonderful sponsors:Deel: Global hiring and payroll can be a headache. Deel brings HR, IT and payroll together in one platform, helping companies including Shopify, Revolut and ElevenLabs scale internationally.Ready to expand your business?Build your global team with Deel at deel.com/dayone.___Galah Cyber offers Application Security Assessment Get a clear, ten-minute snapshot of your AppSec maturity across the five core principles. Fast, practical insights you can act on straight away at https://www.galahcyber.com.au/assessThe Day One NetworkPick My Brain is part of Day One, the podcast network dedicated to founders, operators & investors.To learn more, join our newsletter to be notified of new and upcoming shows. The only content we create is content that will help Australian founders.Mentioned in this episode:Vanta PMB May 2025_01Deel x PX_Script 1
More episodes of Pick My Brain with Alan 'the nice one' Jones
More episodes
- Why Investors Keep Saying No (And What to Do About It) | Justin Wastnage from Vloggi
- Fixing Fitting Rooms (and Startup Pitches) with Olivya Munro
- Late Payments, Big Problems: Stephen Neli on Fixing Small Biz Cash Flow with Zellus
- Introducing Perspective X | Hosted by Pauline Fetaui - Perspective X with Pauline Fetaui
- Would You Rent Your Backyard for Events? Say Hello to Kabir Arora from Backya
- How to Hook Investors: Alan Jones Breaks Down Braiv’s Winning Pitch
- How Bardar Pivoted: Dexter Todd’s Festival Data Playbook
- How to Build Ethical AI for Artists: Kartini Ludwig Pitches Koup Music
- How to Build a Community-Led Startup | with James Davie from Miyagi
- How to Win Clients When Everyone’s Using the Same AI
podsearch is a free, independent podcast search engine. Read about podsearch, the privacy policy or contact us.