Michael Duplessis
Support Services Group
“It's not a company offering a job. It's presenting an opportunity and allowing someone to choose it.”
Michael Duplessis has been named to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, the annual award recognizing up to 100 leaders in each category of talent acquisition. Honorees are nominated by peers or found by committees that look for excellent work wherever it happens, then chosen for the depth of their craft and their impact on hiring. This is Michael's story.
Mike Duplessis didn't set out to build a career in recruiting. Like many talent leaders, he found his way into the profession through operational leadership and problem-solving, and today he serves as Vice President, People & Talent Acquisition at Support Services Group.
The path began in the mid-1990s at Dish Network, where he was responsible for running a 1,000-seat customer service call center in McKeesport. At the time, the operation had only one HR representative supporting the entire workforce, which meant much of the recruiting responsibility fell directly on the operations team. That practical necessity became his first real exposure to hiring.
He later moved to TTEC, where he continued to work in customer experience and operations. After nearly a decade in operational leadership roles, the company found itself facing a significant challenge: it had gone almost a year without a VP of Talent Acquisition while preparing for major hiring ramps. Leadership needed someone who understood the business and could solve the problem quickly, and Mike stepped in. "They needed someone to fill the gap, and talent acquisition was the problem," he explains.
He took on the role of VP of Talent Acquisition, and from that point forward recruiting became the center of his career. In the years since, he has continued to lead global hiring strategies and build large-scale recruiting operations across organizations.
How AI Is Changing the Recruiting Landscape
As artificial intelligence continues to transform the hiring process, Mike sees the recruiting landscape evolving on both sides of the equation. Employers now use AI tools for resume screening, candidate matching within ATS platforms, job simulations, and assessments. At the same time, job seekers are using AI to generate resumes, tailor applications, and navigate application systems more efficiently. The result, in Mike's words, is something of a technology chess match. "It's almost AI versus AI," he says.
Despite the growing influence of technology, he argues that the most important part of the hiring process hasn't changed. "At the end of the day, someone still has to say yes," Mike explains, referring both to the company hiring the candidate and to the candidate choosing the opportunity. No matter how sophisticated the tools become, recruiting still comes down to human decisions.
Advice for Talent Leaders Heading Into 2026
As recruiting continues to evolve, Mike believes the biggest challenge talent leaders face is the sheer volume of applicants in today's hiring environment. With platforms like LinkedIn, it's common for job postings to receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applications within hours, a scale that makes it difficult for recruiting teams to efficiently identify the right candidates.
Because of that shift, he encourages leaders to rethink how they structure their recruiting strategies. First, he recommends building talent pools so organizations know where to find the right candidates before roles even open. Second, he emphasizes the importance of understanding which job boards work best for specific regions or talent markets; in his global work, Mike frequently uses platforms such as Indeed, JobStreet, and other region-specific hiring sites.
His most important recommendation, however, focuses on the hiring decision itself. Mike encourages what he calls "selection by community." Instead of leaving hiring decisions to a small group, he believes more team members should participate in evaluating candidates by reviewing interviews, assessments, and feedback collaboratively. When teams feel involved in the hiring decision, it strengthens alignment and improves long-term success once the candidate joins.
Ultimately, Mike believes recruiting success comes down to matching the right person to the right role. That requires giving candidates a clear and honest view of what the job actually looks like so they can determine whether it truly fits their skills and goals. In today's hiring environment, he believes two outcomes matter most: speed to proficiency and long-term retention. When companies get that match right, recruiting becomes more than filling positions. It becomes a strategic driver of organizational success.
The Talent 100 exists to celebrate the people shaping the future of how the world hires, and few embody that better than Michael. We are honored to welcome Michael Duplessis to the Talent 100, Class of 2026, and grateful for the experience, perspective, and craft they bring to this community. Congratulations, Michael. Welcome to the Talent 100.
About the Talent 100
The Talent 100 is an annual list spotlighting the leaders who push HR and talent acquisition forward, organized by Noon AI. Honorees are selected through peer nominations and independent selection committees. Selection is entirely merit-based, with no fees or pay-to-play requirements.
