Whitney Bardeleben
Whitney Bardeleben
Director of Talent - Blain's Farm & Fleet (Blain Supply, Inc.)
For many talent leaders, recruiting is a career they discover unexpectedly. For Whitney Bardeleben, it began with merchandising, retail leadership, and a willingness to step into a role she had never formally trained for.
After studying merchandising, Whitney began her career as a shoe buyer for a Midwest retailer. A few years later, she moved back to her home state of Michigan and joined a family-owned furniture retailer in a managerial role.
Part of her responsibility included staffing, onboarding, and training for the region she supported. At the time, the company was transitioning from paper applications to Taleo, and many stores struggled to adopt the new system.
Rather than waiting for someone else to solve the problem, Whitney learned the platform, built a training process, and helped her store improve staffing consistency while reducing turnover.
Leadership noticed.
Soon, she was asked to support other stores and share the process she had created. As the company grew, Whitney was “voluntold” into its first regional recruiting role.
“They had never had a designated recruiter,” she recalls. “I got to stand up the recruiting office.”
On her first day, she received a laptop and a sticky note with the Monster and CareerBuilder logins.
“They said, ‘Have fun,’” she says.
From there, Whitney built recruiting processes, partnered with leaders, identified gaps, and helped the organization staff new markets and store openings. Eventually, she was sent to Chicago to support new store builds and ground-up staffing efforts.
“I’m not formally trained,” she says. “I fell out of the learning tree and hit every branch on the way down.”
Learning Through Relationships
Looking back, Whitney credits much of her growth to leaders who saw potential in her before she fully saw it in herself.
One of the most influential was the HR director at Art Van Furniture who first encouraged her to step into recruiting.
That leader taught her the power of connection and strong relationships.
“Recruiting is hard. Being an HR practitioner is hard,” Whitney says. “But if you have great relationships and strong partnerships, people trust you. They stop seeing you as someone doing transactional work and start seeing you as an extension of their team.”
That lesson has stayed with her throughout every role she has held since.
Another leader taught her resilience during the inevitable disappointments of recruiting.
When a great candidate declined an offer or a search fell through, he would remind her: “Today’s peacock is tomorrow’s feather duster.”
The phrase stuck.
For Whitney, it became a reminder not to dwell too long on the opportunity that got away.
“Just because that one got away doesn’t mean it was the one,” she says.
A third leader helped her grow confidence later in her career, encouraging her to find her voice and own her expertise.
“She taught me not to be afraid to professionally show people that I am the subject matter expert,” Whitney says.
That lesson helped her understand that confidence, when paired with professionalism and credibility, can create greater impact than simply trying to be well-liked.
Embracing AI as Assistive Intelligence
As recruiting continues to evolve, Whitney encourages talent leaders not to fear technology.
Her experience with AI began early. While at McDonald’s Corporation, she was part of a team that worked with Paradox on an AI-driven recruiting system designed to automate the apply, interview, and onboarding process.
That experience shaped how she views AI today.
“AI can be scary,” she says. “But in talent acquisition, there is so much administrative work that takes us away from people.”
For Whitney, AI should not replace recruiters. It should create more space for them to do the work businesses truly need: advising, consulting, supporting hiring managers, understanding the market, and improving the candidate experience.
“AI is assistive intelligence,” she says.
When implemented thoughtfully, she believes AI can help recruiters move away from repetitive tasks and into more strategic, relationship-driven work.
Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026
Whitney’s advice for talent leaders is simple: do not be afraid of AI. Embrace it, but do so intentionally.
Technology should be implemented with purpose, care, and a clear understanding of how it supports both recruiters and candidates.
Used well, AI can help talent teams become more consultative, more responsive, and more connected to the business.
But the heart of recruiting remains unchanged.
Relationships, trust, resilience, and human judgment still matter most.
By combining curiosity, adaptability, relationship-building, and a practical approach to technology, Whitney Bardeleben represents the kind of leader helping talent acquisition move forward while keeping people at the center of the work.
