Steff Paletta

Learning the Business From the Ground Up

Agency recruiting shaped Steff's understanding of the profession. The pace was fast, the expectations were high, and success demanded persistence, adaptability, and grit. She learned how to manage multiple searches at once, how to build trust quickly, and how to operate with urgency, skills that would later translate seamlessly into corporate recruiting leadership.

After nearly a decade on the agency side, she moved in house, carrying with her a lasting appreciation for hustle and accountability. Her career has evolved alongside her life in the Northeast, where she has now lived for nearly twenty years. Today she is a senior recruiting leader at Alvarez & Marsal, where she has spent almost six years helping to build and scale a growing business from within a much larger global firm.

Building a Startup Inside a Global Organization

At Alvarez & Marsal, Steff operates within what she describes as a “startup within a startup.” Her group is small, just two recruiters supporting a rapidly expanding practice, while the broader firm employs more than 12,000 people globally. The contrast is exactly what energizes her: the chance to build something meaningful from the ground up.

That means sitting close to the business, learning how teams operate day to day, understanding their challenges, and helping them grow through thoughtful, intentional hiring. The proximity has made her not only a stronger recruiter but a better business partner. No two days look the same, every hire carries impact, and every conversation deepens her understanding of how talent decisions shape outcomes across the organization.

How Recruiting Is Changing

Having entered the profession before today's technology boom, Steff has watched the landscape shift dramatically. Sourcing methods, tools, and platforms have advanced steadily, and AI now sits at the center of most conversations across the industry. She sees tremendous opportunity in those innovations. She also believes the future of recruiting depends on balance.

Technology can help recruiters move faster, work smarter, and shed administrative burden. What it cannot do is replace the human element. For Steff, recruiting has always been about connection, judgment, empathy, and an understanding of what motivates people, and no tool, however advanced, can fully replicate those qualities. As firms work out how to integrate AI responsibly, she believes the most successful teams will be the ones that pair efficiency with humanity, leveraging the technology without losing the heart of the work.

Steff's Advice for 2026

Looking ahead, her guidance is clear and grounded in experience. Focus relentlessly on relationships. Whether the work involves candidates or internal stakeholders, recruiting should always be relationship centric, and trust, follow up, and consistency matter more than ever.

Prioritize the experience. A thoughtful, kind, and transparent process leaves a lasting impression regardless of the outcome, and both candidates and hiring teams deserve a high touch experience.

And keep recruiting human. No matter the role or the seniority, everyone deserves respect and care throughout the process. In a world that often feels rushed and transactional, kindness is a differentiator. As Steff puts it, the world can always use more grace, and recruiting, at its best, is one of the places where that grace can be felt most clearly.