Leah Schonberg

Leah Schonberg

Vice President, Human Resources - RWS Global

For Leah Schonberg, recruiting has always been deeply connected to the broader employee experience.

Long before stepping fully into talent acquisition, Leah began her career as an administrative HR professional for a small restaurant group in New York.

At the time, recruiting was highly repetitive and transactional — focused primarily on filling roles quickly within a fast-moving hospitality environment.

But everything changed when she joined the startup Thinx, a femtech company known for period underwear products.

As an HR Manager at the rapidly growing company, Leah suddenly found herself responsible for scaling teams across multiple functions, including design, engineering, and corporate operations.

“When I started, I effectively scaled the team by around 75%,” Leah explained.

The experience pushed her far outside of her comfort zone.

She had to quickly learn how to recruit for highly specialized roles, understand what motivated different types of talent, and adapt her communication style depending on the audience she was speaking with.

“It really was a baptism by fire,” she said.

For Leah, those moments of uncertainty ultimately became the foundation of her recruiting philosophy.

“I think where you learn the best is when you're very uncomfortable and you're unsure and kind of pushed,” she shared.

As she gained more experience, Leah began viewing recruiting through a much wider lens.

Rather than seeing recruiting as simply sourcing and hiring candidates, she started connecting it to the full employee lifecycle and overall employee experience.

“At this point, I’m effectively a senior-level HR generalist because I’ve worked in so many aspects of HR,” Leah explained.

That cross-functional HR experience helped shape the way she approaches talent acquisition today.

For Leah, the candidate experience begins from the very first interaction.

“The employee experience starts with that first outreach,” she said.

That mindset continues to guide how she thinks about recruiting, communication, and leadership.

What Shaped Her Leadership Philosophy

Throughout her career, Leah has been heavily influenced by leaders who approached recruiting with authenticity, honesty, and genuine care for people.

One person who made a particularly meaningful impact was Agatha Drake, President of One Haus Recruiting in New York City.

Leah connected with Agatha during a difficult point in her career while recovering from severe burnout and considering her next professional move.

At the time, Agatha was helping Leah explore opportunities within hospitality recruiting and corporate HR leadership.

What stood out most to Leah was the level of honesty and support Agatha provided throughout the process.

“She provided probably one of the most supportive and genuine feedback conversations I’ve had with any recruiter,” Leah shared.

Rather than treating the interaction as a purely transactional recruiting conversation, Agatha focused on helping Leah think through her long-term growth and confidence as a leader.

“If you feel unsure about this next move, you have to feel really good about it — and you also have to be a little fearless when it comes to leveling up,” Leah recalled Agatha telling her.

That conversation left a lasting impression.

For much of her career, Leah admits her experiences with recruiters had often felt overly sales-driven and impersonal.

“Recruiting can be very sales driven,” she explained.

Agatha completely shifted that perception.

“She really shifted my perspective of what a recruiter could really be,” Leah said.

To Leah, Agatha represented a version of recruiting rooted in thoughtful communication, honesty, and human connection rather than pure transactional hiring.

“She was a thoughtful communicator who really saw the individuals in front of her,” Leah explained.

That people-first approach continues to influence Leah’s own leadership style today.

How AI Is Reshaping Recruiting

As AI rapidly changes the recruiting landscape, Leah believes the industry is still learning how to use the technology responsibly and effectively.

From her perspective, one of the biggest issues is that many professionals are relying on AI too heavily rather than using it strategically.

“I think the unfortunate part is that a lot of people use AI as a crutch,” Leah explained.

She has seen candidates rely on AI-generated interview responses, submit assignments that were clearly AI-written, and use the technology in ways that ultimately weaken authenticity and credibility.

“They’re not using it as a tool — they’re using it as a replacement,” she said.

For Leah, that distinction is critical.

While she believes AI can absolutely improve workflows and efficiency, she also believes recruiters and candidates alike need to understand the technology’s limitations.

“AI can be a very powerful tool,” Leah explained. “It also can make you look like a complete idiot if you don’t know how to use it.”

From a recruiting operations standpoint, Leah believes AI still has significant room for improvement.

In many ways, she sees the current state of AI recruiting technology as similar to the early evolution of applicant tracking systems.

Too often, systems focus heavily on keywords, filters, and rigid matching criteria while overlooking the broader story behind a candidate’s background and experience.

“We’re not taking into consideration the narrative of someone’s journey,” Leah explained.

She believes recruiting leaders must become more intentional about understanding AI’s blind spots instead of blindly relying on automation.

“I think we have to start using it as a tool and also seeing its blind spots,” she said.

For Leah, the future of recruiting will require balancing efficiency with deeper human understanding.

Leah’s Advice for Talent Leaders in 2026

As recruiting continues evolving alongside AI, Leah encourages talent leaders to approach the technology thoughtfully rather than treating it as a complete replacement for human judgment.

She believes the best recruiters will be the ones who know how to leverage AI strategically while still maintaining authenticity, emotional intelligence, and strong communication skills.

According to Leah, recruiting remains fundamentally human at its core.

While technology can help streamline workflows and surface information more quickly, it cannot fully replace the nuance required to understand people, assess potential, and build trust.

She also believes talent leaders must become more aware of how overreliance on automation can unintentionally weaken recruiting processes.

For Leah, the real opportunity lies in learning how to combine technological efficiency with thoughtful human decision-making.

Her perspective on recruiting reflects the broader philosophy that has guided her career from the very beginning: people should never feel like transactions.

Whether improving employee experiences, supporting candidates through career transitions, or building stronger recruiting processes, Leah believes meaningful human connection remains the most important part of talent acquisition.

That thoughtful, honest, and people-centered approach is exactly what makes Leah Schonberg a deserving member of the Talent 100.