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Blog | Talent Insights Blog
June 9, 2025

From Media Planner to SVP: Amy Onori on Career Pivots, Building Teams, and Leading with Purpose

Authors:

What does it look like to leap from media planning into executive HR leadership, and build one of the most agile recruiting teams at a global agency along the way?

In Episode 13 of Beyond the Offer, co-hosts Rosanna Snediker and Bill Gates sit down with Amy Onori, SVP of Talent Acquisition at Publicis Media, to explore her bold career pivots, lessons in leadership, and the operational mindset that fuels her success. From her early days in media buying to launching innovative hiring models, Amy’s story is packed with insight for recruiters, HR leaders, and anyone navigating change.

Pivoting with Purpose: From Media Buying to Recruiting

Amy’s career started in media planning, right as the 2008 recession hit. While she found herself drawn to the agency environment, the role itself didn’t spark her passion. Taking a leap of faith, she left a full-time job to accept a freelance recruiting coordinator position, unsure of what would come next.

“Career pivots aren’t setbacks—they’re often the first step toward something better.”

That single decision reshaped her entire path, leading her into talent acquisition, where she discovered the perfect intersection of people, process, and purpose.

Building High-Performing Teams Through Trust and Alignment

One of the episode’s standout insights is Amy’s people-first approach to building agile and accountable recruiting teams. At Publicis, she implemented a business partner model, where recruiters own hiring across all levels for a specific business unit, creating trust and consistency across the org.

“We’re not just recruiters—we’re strategic partners. We need to be the ones advising the business, not reacting to it.”

Her team structure is rooted in clarity and empowerment:

  • Each recruiter owns a defined vertical
  • Recruiters handle hiring from entry-level to VP
  • The team emphasizes pipelining, not just filling reqs

Leading with Operational Excellence and Future-First Thinking

Amy’s leadership philosophy centers around three pillars:
Operational Prowess. Results-Driven Focus. Future-First Thinking.

“Recruiters should be the most organized people in the room. We’re the ones informing the business of what’s happening with talent—not the other way around.”

From launching live hiring days to optimizing internal systems, Amy leads with innovation, ensuring her team stays scalable, strategic, and prepared for whatever comes next.

Agency vs. In-House: What Shifts, What Stays the Same

With experience across both boutique firms and global brands, Amy offers a unique take on agency versus in-house work. While the pace and processes change, the human side of recruiting remains constant: relationship-building, trust, and adaptability.

Her team at Publicis embraces that ethos, especially during hiring slowdowns, using those moments to refine strategy, reengage with candidates, and “hustle smarter” without burnout.

Key Takeaways:

  • Career pivots can create new leadership paths
  • Vision is the foundation of trust and influence
  • Recruiters thrive when treated as true business partners
  • Operational systems support sustainable hiring
  • Innovation and adaptability define future-ready teams

Listen to the full episode of Beyond the Offer for Amy Onori’s full journey. Plus actionable insights on career growth, team building, and modern recruitment strategy.

📩 Subscribe to Talent Insights for more episodes and updates on the future of hiring.

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Agentic HR Is Here: How It Impacts Talent Acquisition

By Matt Massucci | February 11, 2026 | Blog, Talent Insights Blog

Plenty has been written about AI over the past two years. For much of that time, AI has been more hype than reality. I THINK 2026 is when that starts to change. 

Here’s the first in a three part series of where we see AI going in the recruiting world. 

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For the last few years, most companies treated AI like a recruiting assistant. It helped draft job descriptions, summarize resumes, and speed up outreach. Useful, sure. But it didn’t fundamentally change how hiring worked. And oftentimes, things needed to be double checked before hitting send. 

I think that’s going to change. 

In 2026, we’re seeing the rise of agentic HR. These are systems that don’t just support recruiters. They can execute work autonomously inside defined guardrails.

That shift is forcing talent leaders to rethink what recruiting teams are actually responsible for and what still requires a human.

From Copilot AI to Agentic Recruiting Systems

Traditional recruiting AI waited for humans to click “next.”

Agentic systems don’t.

They can interpret real-time funnel data, align to hiring goals, and take multi-step action. That includes adjusting sourcing spend, coordinating interview schedules, and triggering workflow changes without manual oversight.

This isn’t automation layered onto old processes. It’s the early version of a self-driving recruiting function.

The Metric That Matters More Than Time-to-Fill

Time-to-fill and cost-per-hire still matter. They just don’t fully capture what’s changing.

A concept showing up more in 2026 is Return on Autonomy. It measures the value created when humans and autonomous systems are paired intentionally.

In plain terms, the question is simple.

Are we using technology to eliminate busywork, or are we just doing the same work faster?

Because speed doesn’t help if it leads to worse decisions, a weaker candidate experience, or more noise in the funnel.

Why This Changes the Role of TA Leadership

As agentic systems absorb transactional work like screening, scheduling, and coordination, the role of recruiting leadership shifts.

The best TA leaders are spending less time managing process and more time doing what actually drives hiring outcomes. That includes aligning hiring to business priorities, building trust with candidates, and improving decision quality.

The real opportunity of 2026 isn’t more AI. It’s that recruiters finally get to focus on the work that requires being human.

The Mistake Companies Are Making Right Now

Here’s the trap.

Companies adopt advanced recruiting technology but keep the same habits. Long approval chains. Inconsistent communication. Unclear evaluation criteria.

When that happens, speed increases, but trust collapses.

Candidates don’t experience innovation. They experience silence, confusion, and a process that feels even more impersonal than before.

In 2026, the human experience of hiring is becoming a differentiator again because so many companies are getting it wrong.

What Talent Leaders Should Be Thinking About Now

You don’t need a total rebuild tomorrow. But you do need clarity.

The companies winning in 2026 are asking the right questions.

What parts of our hiring process truly require human judgment?
Where are we slowing things down out of habit?
Are recruiters trained for strategic work, or just process management?
Do our systems increase transparency, or just efficiency?

These aren’t technology questions. They’re leadership questions.

What’s Next

Agentic HR is changing how recruiting works. It’s also creating a new challenge.

As employers deploy autonomous systems, candidates are doing the same. The result is an emerging AI-on-AI hiring arms race that’s flooding pipelines with highly optimized but low-trust applications.

Next in this series: The AI-on-AI Hiring Arms Race and How to Protect Hiring Quality Without Breaking Trust

A lot of companies are going to try to AI their way into faster hiring this year and still end up with worse results. If you want to build a recruiting model that actually works in 2026, one that balances speed, quality, and credibility, we can help. Reach out if you want a second set of eyes on your hiring approach.

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