The Hiring Room

AI is transforming the way companies hire. It can scan resumes in seconds, surface stronger candidates, summarize interviews, and create clarity in early-stage screening.The real question is not whether to use AI. It is how to use it responsibly.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman sits down with Sean Griffith, Founder and CEO of Truffle, to discuss how hiring technology can elevate decision-making without removing the human element that drives great outcomes.Sean built Truffle specifically for small and mid-sized companies that need better early-stage signal without handing decisions over to automation. The platform helps hiring teams move beyond resume overload by introducing structured, human-centered screening that surfaces stronger candidates faster.Sean also shares his entrepreneurial journey — from launching and learning from an early startup, to helping scale SimpleTexting from $1 million to $40 million in revenue, navigating multiple acquisitions, and building again with deeper operational discipline. Across every stage, one insight remained constant: hiring is the highest-leverage decision inside any organization.This conversation covers:• Why hiring is often the most under-structured function in business• How founders can maintain hiring quality as companies scale• The right role for AI in early-stage candidate screening• Why fully automated interview avatars miss critical nuance• How structured signal improves decision confidence• Why trajectory matters more than tenure• How defining culture early protects long-term growthTruffle represents a practical middle ground. It uses AI to organize and surface signal, while keeping humans firmly in the loop for judgment, interpretation, and final decisions.Technology can accelerate clarity.But context — and discernment — still belong to people.About the GuestSean Griffith is the Founder and CEO of Truffle, a hiring platform built to help small and mid-sized businesses improve early-stage candidate screening while keeping humans in the loop.Previously, Sean helped grow SimpleTexting from $1 million to $40 million in revenue before its acquisition and later led operations and product strategy within a global public company. His experience spans startup growth, operational scaling, and culture design.About the HostRenee Beckman is the Founder of MSeed, a talent advisory firm serving growth-stage and mid-market companies.With over two decades of executive search experience, Renee builds structured hiring systems that reduce costly hiring mistakes and strengthen leadership teams. Through her SearchOS methodology, she helps companies create disciplined, repeatable hiring ecosystems designed for long-term performance.Learn more at:www.mseed.com

The truth about leadership is not found in strategy decks or executive meetings.It is found on the floor.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman speaks with Lynne Ulishney, Director of Human Resources at Trigon America, about what it takes to lead inside complex manufacturing environments.From multi-union facilities to armored car operations to medical device production, Lynne shares how operational immersion builds credibility, strengthens hiring decisions, and protects culture.This conversation explores:• Why leaders must understand the work being done• What really drives turnover• How acknowledgment impacts retention• Why HR is often misunderstood in terminations• The importance of mentorship and apprenticeship• How unrealistic job descriptions limit hiring• Why transferable skills are undervalued• The operational discipline required to build trustIf you care about hiring, culture, or leadership development, this episode offers practical insight from someone who has worked at every level of the operation.About the HostRenee Beckman is the Founder of MSeed, partnering with growth-stage and mid-market companies to build structured, repeatable hiring systems.Through Executive Search and her SearchOS framework, Renee helps leadership teams align hiring decisions with long-term business performance.Learn more at:www.mseed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckman/

“Pain is one of my best teachers.”In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman sits down with employee benefits advisor Brendan Nicholls of Hub International for a candid conversation about mistakes, growth, and what experience actually teaches you.Brendan shares the early leadership errors that shaped his career. From asking illegal interview questions as a first-time manager to learning hard lessons about culture, assumptions, and accountability, those missteps pushed him deeper into HR, workforce strategy, and employee benefits.This episode explores:The costly mistakes new managers make and how to recoverWhat toxic culture looks like from the insideWhy healthcare costs are rising and how companies respondThe structural disadvantage small and mid-market employers faceWhy benchmarking benefits is not the same as understanding your workforceThe growing demand for mental health support in the workplaceThe generational shift in leadership expectationsWhy HR remains one of the most complex and under-recognized roles in businessThe conversation moves beyond insurance into leadership psychology, mentorship, resilience, and the reality that growth rarely comes from comfort.Sometimes the best strategy lessons do not come from success. They come from what hurt.Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanFounder of MSeed, Renee Beckman works with growth-stage and mid-market companies to build stronger hiring systems.Through Executive Search, Advisory, and her proprietary SearchOS methodology, MSeed helps leadership teams hire with clarity, structure, and long-term alignment.Everything discussed on this podcast reflects how real organizations grow. Through disciplined decision-making, honest conversations, and learning from mistakes.Learn more atwww.mseed.com

Hiring conversations have changed — and not necessarily for the better.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman sits down with HR leader and executive coach Nikole Maculan to unpack what is happening inside today’s interview process and why so many candidates leave feeling disconnected from it.Nikole shares her journey from accounting to strategic HR leadership and into executive coaching, reflecting on how mentorship, curiosity, and self-awareness shaped her approach to leadership. The conversation moves into the realities of modern interviewing: scripted questions, limited dialogue, compliance driven fear, and the growing gap between process and people.Renee and Nikole explore the difference between coaching and advising, why powerful questions matter more than canned answers, and how leaders can restore trust in hiring. They also discuss the art of termination, the responsibility organizations carry when making employment decisions, and the role AI is beginning to play in shaping candidate evaluation.This episode is a candid, experience driven conversation for leaders who want to bring structure, clarity, and humanity back to the hiring process.🎙️ HOSTED BY RENEE L. BECKMANRenee Beckman is a leadership and management recruiter with over 25 years of experience placing accounting, finance, and HR leaders across growth stage and mid market organizations. She is the creator of the SearchOS hiring framework and founder of MSeed.MSeed helps companies build smarter hiring engines so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using structured process, clear must haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment, while never losing sight of the human side of hiring.Learn more atwww.mseedinc.comlinkedin.com/in/renee-beckman

Founder led sales works. Until it doesn’t.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman sits down with Susan Wiemeyer, a former enterprise sales leader turned fractional CRO, to explore what changes when companies move from founder driven selling to building a scalable sales organization.Susan draws on decades of experience leading sales teams inside large global companies and explains how those same principles must be adapted for small and mid market businesses. They discuss why sales success depends on disciplined process, coaching, and forecasting, not instinct or personality.The conversation covers how to manage and develop sales teams, what consistently separates top performers from average ones, and why misaligned compensation plans and unrealistic quotas quietly undermine revenue growth. Renee and Susan also address cold outreach, LinkedIn selling culture, and why sales continues to be misunderstood despite being the engine behind every business.This episode is a practical conversation for founders, CEOs, and leaders who want predictable revenue without burning out their teams or relying on guesswork.🎙️ HOSTED BY RENEE L. BECKMANIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth stage and mid market companies build smarter hiring engines so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches, structured process, clear must haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment, while never losing sight of the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOS Cohorts atwww.mseed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckman/

In this episode of The Hiring Room, executive recruiter Renee Beckman speaks with CFO and entrepreneur Annette Welsh-Kastner about leadership, hiring, and the realities of leaving corporate life to build a consulting business.Annette built her career leading finance and accounting teams in middle market and growth stage companies. As a CFO, she managed large teams, executive stakeholders, and complex business operations. Today, she runs a consulting firm supporting multiple organizations at once, which brings flexibility and autonomy along with constant responsibility and decision pressure.This episode explores:The true cost of entrepreneurship and executive freedomWork life integration for leaders and foundersRevenue accountability and business ownership stressLeading teams as an external advisorHiring strategy and hiring for attitudeCoaching, mentorship, and leadership developmentWomen in executive leadership and workplace dynamicsNavigating authority and influence in male dominated industriesHow career ambition evolves with family and life stagesThis conversation is especially relevant for CFOs, founders, executives, HR leaders, and professionals considering entrepreneurship or fractional leadership roles.Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth stage and mid market companies build smarter hiring engines so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We also design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches, structured process, clear must haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment, while never losing sight of the human side of hiring.Learn more at www.mseed.com

Entrepreneurship is often described as freedom, but the path to it is rarely linear.In this episode of The Hiring Room, host Renee L. Beckman sits down with Heather Winandy to explore career evolution, visibility, and what actually happens when capable people outgrow the roles they were hired into.Heather shares her journey from administrative leadership and project management inside large organizations to coaching, speaking, and entrepreneurship. Along the way, Renee and Heather discuss job hopping versus career strategy, why high performers in support roles are often overlooked, how neurodiversity shows up at work, and the mental and emotional shifts that occur when structure, deadlines, and certainty disappear.The conversation also touches on advocacy, networking, referrals, DEI and neurodiversity programming, writing and speaking as credibility builders, and why many professionals feel “invisible” long before they ever consider working for themselves.This episode is for professionals navigating career transitions, questioning traditional paths, or trying to understand how their skills translate beyond a job title.Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines—so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches: structured process, clear must-haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment—while never losing sight of the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOS Cohorts atwww.mseed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckman/

Hiring decisions now carry legal, cultural, and operational risk that many companies underestimate.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman speaks with labor and employment attorney Neil Dishman of Jackson Lewis about what has changed for employers heading into 2026. They discuss Illinois’ new AI disclosure laws, interview boundaries, criminal background checks, cannabis testing, and how hiring decisions are increasingly scrutinized.The conversation focuses on real-world scenarios leaders face every day and why unstructured hiring processes create exposure. Neil explains how employers should think about risk, compliance, and consistency without losing sight of the human impact hiring decisions have on people’s lives.HOSTED BY RENEE BECKMANIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed Search, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines—so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches: structured process, clear must-haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment—while never losing sight of the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOS Cohorts atwww.mseed.comrenee@mseedinc.com

In this episode of The Hiring Room, host Renee Beckman sits down with Denny DeDecker, Controller at Sollitt Construction, for a candid conversation on how ownership models fundamentally shape leadership behavior, culture, and long-term performance.Denny brings firsthand experience leading inside private equity–backed organizations where growth expectations are aggressive, pressure is constant, and certainty is limited. He contrasts that environment with his current role in an employee-owned company (ESOP), where shared ownership, long-term thinking, and collective accountability change how leaders operate and how teams perform.This is an honest discussion about leadership fit—why some executives thrive in private equity environments while others burn out, how ESOP structures create different incentives, and why understanding the business deeply (and surrounding yourself with smart people) ultimately makes you a stronger leader and a better hire.This conversation explores:How private equity ownership impacts leadership behavior and decision-makingWhy ESOPs create stronger long-term accountabilityHow pressure and uncertainty influence culture and retentionWhat types of leaders thrive in private equity environmentsHow ownership models affect performance incentivesWhy self-awareness matters more than title or compensationThe difference between solving business problems and blaming peopleThis episode is essential listening for executives, finance leaders, HR professionals, and founders evaluating leadership fit, ownership structures, and long-term culture in growth-oriented organizations.Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines—so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Learn more at www.mseed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckman/

In this episode of The Hiring Room, host Renee Beckman sits down with Juli Johnson, a seasoned Chief Human Resources and People Officer, for an honest and wide-ranging conversation about culture, confidence, and what it really takes to build strong organizations.Juli shares her non-linear path into HR, including a decade spent outside the function before stepping into people leadership. She explains why that experience shaped how she approaches culture, influence, and trust, especially in environments where HR has historically been undervalued or underutilized.The conversation explores imposter syndrome and confidence at senior levels, including how even experienced leaders can feel unqualified when reading job descriptions or navigating career transitions. Renee and Juli discuss why this feeling is more common than most people admit, and how organizational culture either amplifies or eases that pressure.Juli also reflects on her experience as the first Chief People Officer at her previous company, where the organization earned multiple workplace awards. She explains what made that success possible, including leadership readiness, honest self-reflection, and ensuring that people strategy was more than a symbolic role at the table.From there, the discussion turns to hiring and performance. Drawing from books like Who and Nine Lies About Work, Renee and Juli examine why most companies hire based on static job descriptions instead of clearly defined outcomes, and why goal setting often fails when it is not translated from the corporate level down to individual roles. Using sports team analogies, they explain how strong organizations are built by balancing strengths across teams, not by searching for “perfect” candidates.The episode closes with a candid look at accountability, trust, and growth, including why employees must take ownership of their development and why organizations must create environments where it is safe to ask for support, admit gaps, and learn.If you are a leader, HR professional, or executive navigating hiring, culture, or career transition, this conversation offers practical insight grounded in lived experience.What You’ll Learn• How strong HR and people functions are built from scratch• Why imposter syndrome affects even senior leaders• How to hire for outcomes instead of task lists• Why goal setting often fails inside organizations• How trust and clarity drive engagement and performance• What great teams do differently than average onesConnect with Juli JohnsonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliprofit/ Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches: structured process, clear must-haves, disciplined interviewing, leadership alignment, and a strong focus on the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOS Cohorts atwww.mseed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckman/

Leadership, Neuroscience, and the Human Cost of a Multi-Cognitive WorkplaceWhat happens to leadership, trust, and mental wellness when AI becomes a cognitive presence on the team?In this episode, Renee Beckman sits down with Jeanine Stewart, PhD, neuroscientist, former provost, and executive leadership coach, for a wide-ranging conversation on how leadership breaks down when humans are promoted without training, and how neuroscience explains both the damage and the solution.Jeanine shares her uncommon path from decades in academia to senior leadership roles as a chief academic officer, and then into the corporate world working with Fortune 100 leaders. Along the way, she saw a consistent pattern. Good people rise into leadership roles without preparation, guess their way through complexity, and unintentionally cause harm, not because of bad intent, but because they do not know what they do not know.The conversation explores how neuroscience and positive psychology illuminate what effective leadership actually requires, including trust, listening, and what Janine describes as neural synchrony, the biological process that allows humans to feel safe, connected, and capable of high performance in groups.From there, the discussion turns to AI. Janine introduces the idea of the multi-cognitive workplace, an environment where humans now work alongside non-human cognitive systems that do not follow social norms, do not behave consistently, and do not engage the human brain the way other people do. She explains why this creates subtle but real stress, confusion, and disengagement for employees, even when leaders do not realize it is happening.Renee and Jeanine also examine the unintended risks of AI-driven coaching tools, the limits of automation in leadership development, and why replacing human judgment with screens can erode trust, intuition, and mental wellness, especially for women and early-career employees.The episode closes with practical leadership guidance, including how new managers should approach so-called problem employees, why listening comes before advising, and how leaders can avoid the trap of checking the box instead of actually solving people problems.If you lead people, build teams, or are navigating leadership in an AI-enabled workplace, this episode offers a grounded, science-based perspective on how to evolve without losing the human core of work.What You’ll Learn• Why good leaders fail without training and how neuroscience explains it• How trust and performance are built through neural synchrony• What the multi-cognitive workplace means for leaders and teams• Why AI does not behave like humans and why that matters• The mental wellness risks of remote work and screen-based leadership• How to manage difficult employees by listening first• Why leadership requires engaging the whole person, not just outputHosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you are building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines so leadership teams make better hires with fewer interviews using a repeatable hiring process called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches. Structured process, clear must-haves, disciplined interviewing, leadership alignment, and a strong focus on the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOS Cohorts atwww.mseed.com

Hiring decisions change people’s lives, and most companies do not treat them with that level of responsibility.In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee Beckman sits down with Kristine Ritzler, HR Manager at Prairie Capital Advisors, to unpack what thoughtful, ethical hiring looks like inside a growing professional services firm. From ESOP culture to onboarding accountability, Kristine brings a grounded, process driven perspective shaped by both her analytical background and real world HR experience.Kristine shares how she found her way into HR through accounting, why understanding the business must come before applying HR frameworks, and what it is like to be an HR team of one supporting multiple offices with different leadership styles and personalities. She explains how culture can be consistent without being identical, and why two things can be true at the same time.The conversation goes deep on hiring philosophy. Why “perfect on paper” candidates still fail. How subjective gut reactions can quietly sabotage hiring decisions. What recruiters and hiring managers miss when they rush to fill seats. Kristine also shares real interview stories, including overly eager candidates and culture misalignment, and explains why sometimes the most ethical decision is not to hire someone, even when they look like a slam dunk.Renee and Kristine also tackle AI in hiring and HR. Kristine offers a pragmatic view on where AI is genuinely helpful, such as summarizing notes, creating a starting point, and supporting HR teams of one. She is equally clear about where it falls short, especially when it comes to understanding culture, context, and people. The takeaway is simple. AI is a tool, not a decision maker.Finally, Kristine outlines her approach to onboarding and why managers often underestimate its importance. She explains why 30 and 90 day check ins reveal more about organizational gaps than employee performance. She closes with a principle that runs through the entire episode. Be empathetically direct in hiring, onboarding, performance management, and leadership.If you are a founder, executive, or HR leader trying to scale a team without mis hires, endless interviews, or broken onboarding, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth stage and mid market companies build smarter hiring engines, combining executive search with hiring advisory, interview design, and decision frameworks that align people strategy with business outcomes.Learn more at www.mseedinc.comWhat You Will LearnWhy ethical hiring starts with understanding the business, not filling a roleHow to assess culture fit without relying on vague or biased gut feelWhy perfect resumes still lead to bad hiresHow to onboard new hires responsibly, and why managers often get it wrongWhere AI helps HR teams, and where it does notWhat empathetically direct leadership looks like in practiceAbout the GuestKristine Ritzler is the HR Manager at Prairie Capital Advisors, a professional services firm specializing in investment banking, valuation, and ESOP advisory. As an HR team of one, Kristine supports a multi office organization and focuses on hiring, onboarding, performance, and culture through a business aligned lens.

What makes a startup feel “magical” and how do you build that kind of culture on purpose?In this episode, Renee Beckman sits down with Kristina Creed, a high-impact HR leader with deep experience moving between early-stage companies and larger organizations, to break down what it really takes to thrive in a startup environment. From the “messy middle” of undefined roles to the pace of hypergrowth, Kristine explains why certain people flourish in startups while others struggle, even when they look great on paper.Kristina shares what she saw inside a rocket-ship startup that scaled fast and was acquired quickly, including the culture signals that matter most: leaders who stay close to hiring, values that actually show up in day-to-day decisions, and teams built around collaboration rather than silos. She also unpacks a key insight most companies miss: in early-stage environments, you often have to hire for how someone operates, not just what they’ve done.The conversation also goes practical. Kristina explains how to interview for startup readiness (resourcefulness, comfort with ambiguity, and “I’ll figure it out” energy), why support functions like HR and finance need full business context, and how communication becomes the difference between stability and chaos during periods of change like acquisitions.Finally, Renee and Kristina tackle AI in HR and recruiting: where automation genuinely helps (especially in high-volume screening) and where leaders still need human judgment, oversight, and context to avoid risk and cultural erosion.If you’re a founder, HR leader, or operator navigating growth, this episode is a grounded playbook for building a culture people want to be part of—and a company that can scale without losing what made it special.What You’ll LearnThe traits of people who thrive in startups (and why “big company success” doesn’t always translate)How to create a “magical culture” that is real, not just slogans on a wallInterview questions that reveal resourcefulness, collaboration, and comfort with ambiguityWhy founder involvement in hiring protects culture as you scaleWhat acquisitions require from leadership communication and transparencyWhere AI fits in HR and recruiting—and where it should not replace humansConnect with Kristina CreedLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinacreed/Hosted by Renee L. BeckmanIf you’re building a company and hiring feels harder than it should, this is the work we do.MSeed, led by Renee Beckman, helps growth-stage and mid-market companies build smarter hiring engines—so leadership teams makes better hires with less interviews using a repeatable hiring process, called SearchOS. Our work goes beyond traditional recruiting. We also design hiring systems, interview frameworks, and decision models that align people strategy with business outcomes.Everything you hear on this podcast reflects how we operate in real searches: structured process, clear must-haves, disciplined interviewing, and leadership alignment—while focusing on the human side of hiring.Learn more about our Advisory, Executive Search, and SearchOs Cohorts at www.mseedinc.com

Andrew discusses how critical it is to set 90 - 180 day onboarding plans with new employees and your expectations of them as a leader. Don’t make assumptions, then you and your employee could be mis-aligned.Grab the details and other hot topics surrounding technology in HR, how to retain internal recruiters during soft markets andchallenges with labor shortage in manufacturing!