“Don’t be afraid of AI. The more that we either utilize it or get to learn more about it, the better it can serve as an advantage.”
Jamie Adasi’s first major hiring assignment was to recruit 250 resident assistants while working in HR at the University of Maryland, College Park. She loved the work, beginning a two-decade career focused on inclusion, workforce equity, and expanding access to opportunity.
Today, as Director of Inclusive Excellence at Merit America, Adasi works inside a workforce development nonprofit focused on helping Americans in low-wage work move into family-sustaining careers. She sees hiring as one of the most important mechanisms for economic mobility—and believes the way organizations design that process determines who gets access.
Hiring as a Lever for Economic Mobility
Adasi’s work at Merit America connects directly to the organization’s mission. She partners closely with its hiring team to rethink how hiring works while ensuring the organization applies its principles of opportunity and inclusion internally.
She recently experienced that process from both sides when hiring the first member of her Inclusive Excellence team. As both a hiring manager and an advocate for inclusive hiring standards, she saw how seemingly small decisions around job descriptions, scorecards, and debriefs can shape who advances.
For Adasi, those details carry weight because there is always a person on the other side whose access to a career may depend on whether the process is fair.
Turning Inclusion Into Practice
Adasi’s approach to hiring grew alongside her work in inclusion. Early in her career, she focused on LGBTQ+ leadership, Black leadership, and representation for women, eventually recognizing hiring as a practical way to translate those priorities into organizational decisions.
That perspective has remained consistent throughout her career. Inclusion is not something she views as a separate initiative; it influences how organizations communicate, evaluate talent, and create access to opportunity.
Hiring therefore becomes more than filling positions. It is a system that can either widen or restrict access, making thoughtful process design an important part of workforce equity.
Use AI, but Keep Human Judgment
Adasi sees AI as a potentially valuable tool for making hiring more efficient and inclusive. It can reduce repetitive work, help create more inclusive job descriptions, support structured scorecards, and give candidates—including those without traditional degrees—new ways to communicate their skills and tailor their applications.
Her advice is not to fear the technology. Talent and inclusion leaders who actively learn how AI works can use it to their advantage as the tools continue to evolve.
But Adasi also believes AI outputs should ultimately receive human review. Leaders need to understand the technology’s broader consequences and remain accountable for decisions rather than outsourcing judgment to automated systems.
Her approach combines adoption with responsibility: use the technology, learn from it, and take advantage of what it can improve—but keep people accountable for the decisions that affect other people’s careers.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual recognition spotlighting leaders who are advancing HR and talent acquisition. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees, with selection based entirely on merit and no pay-to-play requirements. The recognition is organized by Noon AI.