Summary
Is AI a skill to list on a job description, or simply the way work gets done now? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji sits down with Amy Garefis, Chief People Officer at ZipRecruiter, who spent most of her career as a CPA before moving into HR four years ago. Amy explains why the hardest part of that move was accepting that people decisions rarely have a right answer, and why ZipRecruiter keeps investing in interns and early career talent while other companies pull back. She walks through how her people team is adopting AI, from baseline courses to self-identified evangelists building workflows, and why freed-up time disappears unless you plan for it. She also shares the story of ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks in Phoenix, where the original goal of productivity gave way to something the company values more: connection. A practical conversation for people leaders working out how to bring their teams along on AI without losing the human side of the work.

Chapters
00:00 Cold open
00:43 Welcome Amy Garefis of ZipRecruiter
01:06 From CPA to chief people officer
04:11 Why HR decisions rarely have a right answer
05:47 Should new grads start in HR?
08:04 Why ZipRecruiter still hires early career talent
11:11 Is AI turning everyone into a manager?
15:11 Tokens, time and how the people team uses AI
20:38 Building AI fluency across the company
25:08 ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks
34:38 Advice for leaders driving AI adoption

Takeaways
- AI is a way of working, not a skill. Amy expects it to appear in job descriptions for now, then fade into a baseline expectation the way "internet" once did.
- HR rarely has a right answer. Moving from accounting meant getting comfortable with decisions everyone can relate to and has an opinion on.
- Automation does not create free time by itself. Decide in advance which strategic work the saved hours will go to, or other tasks will absorb them.
- Make AI adoption accessible. Offer a finite set of tools, share small real examples, and let self-identified evangelists lead inside each department.
- In-person time pays off in connection more than output. ZipRecruiter's collaboration weeks started as a productivity play and became a team building one.

Connect with the Guest
Amy Garefis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-garefis/
Company Website: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/

Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR.

See more at kinfolkhq.com