Cleaning Toilets, Cracking CVs, and Changing Recruiting with Steven McGrath - My First Job ep24

Steven McGrath, Product Experience Manager at Poetry, kicks off his recruiting story far from the tech world—scrubbing bathrooms at 13 and cycling uphill to wash dishes and walk dogs in rural Scotland. From Canada’s hot tub scene to oil and gas recruitment back home, Steve shares how his unconventional path gave him an empathy-first view of hiring. In this episode, he tells Mike how he went from paper résumés to revolutionizing recruiter productivity with Poetry. Along the way, Steve opens up about staying human in an AI-powered world, why recruiters deserve better tools, and how being “too nice” can actually be your greatest strength. Highlights Include: Manual labor in Canada and how immigration laws changed his life Recruiting in pre-LinkedIn days using paper files and intuition Giving free résumé help to overlooked candidates How Poetry is giving recruiters their time (and sanity) back What makes Scottish OnlyFans truly unforgettable 📍 Connect with Steven on LinkedIn and visit poetryhr.com to learn more.