Rebecca Zeleney
Rebecca Zeleney
Director, Talent Acquisition, Americas - Ciena
For Rebecca Zeleney, recruiting began with an unexpected opportunity inside a sales organization.
Originally working in a cold-calling sales environment, Rebecca's company was preparing to expand but didn't have a dedicated recruiting team to support the growth.
She stepped in to help.
What started as filling an immediate business need quickly became a career she genuinely enjoyed.
"I really enjoyed it," she says.
That experience opened the door to a profession she has now spent many years building, leading talent acquisition functions across multiple organizations.
Learning From Leaders Who Saw Potential in People
Looking back, Rebecca credits three individuals who helped shape the talent leader she is today.
The first is Deb Duma, Vice President of Human Resources at Baylis Medical.
Rebecca admired Deb's unique ability to understand what motivated people and where they would thrive professionally.
She combined a strong drive for results with genuine empathy, making thoughtful introductions and career matches that consistently proved successful.
Rebecca describes her as someone with an exceptional ability to connect the right people with the right opportunities.
The second leader was Dalia Nami, who also worked at Baylis Medical.
As one of Rebecca's earliest corporate recruiting leaders, Dalia helped introduce her to the fundamentals of in-house talent acquisition and guided her through the transition into corporate recruiting.
The third person is Lauren Wildfang.
Although Lauren was initially Rebecca's colleague before later joining her team, Rebecca says she learned just as much from Lauren as she did from many formal leaders.
Lauren's persistence, resilience, and unwavering determination to find solutions left a lasting impression.
"I've learned so much from her," Rebecca says.
AI Is Becoming More Practical—and More Complex
Rebecca believes the biggest shift over the past year is that AI has matured.
Rather than simply experimenting with the technology, recruiters now have access to tools and AI agents that genuinely work and deliver measurable value.
On the candidate side, she sees two very different trends emerging.
Many candidates are using AI responsibly to become more efficient, better prepared, and more confident throughout their job search.
At the same time, organizations are also seeing an increase in deepfakes and other forms of fraudulent candidate activity.
While these bad actors represent only a small percentage of applicants, Rebecca believes they have created a new responsibility for talent teams to strengthen hiring processes and remain vigilant throughout the interview journey.
Focus on Solving Real Problems
As AI adoption accelerates, Rebecca encourages talent leaders to remain disciplined rather than simply chasing every new technology.
She describes many AI products as "shiny tools" that promise transformational results but may not actually solve the business problems recruiters are facing.
Instead, she believes organizations should begin by clearly identifying the recruiting challenges they need to solve before evaluating whether AI is the right solution.
Talent leaders should ask difficult questions, thoroughly understand how each product works, and look beneath the marketing before making investment decisions.
"The right tools are the ones that solve real business problems."
Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026
Rebecca's advice is to embrace AI thoughtfully while maintaining a healthy level of skepticism.
Innovation is creating tremendous opportunities for recruiting teams, but successful adoption requires more than simply purchasing new technology.
Leaders must ensure that AI reduces bias rather than introducing it, supports better hiring decisions, and addresses genuine organizational needs.
For Rebecca, the future of recruiting belongs to leaders who combine curiosity with critical thinking—leveraging AI where it creates meaningful value while remaining focused on the human decisions that ultimately drive successful hiring.
By pairing empathy, practical leadership, and a problem-solving mindset, Rebecca Zeleney represents the type of talent leader helping organizations navigate the next generation of recruiting with both confidence and purpose.
