The Hiring Room is a podcast about people strategy, profit, and smarter hiring systems.
Executive recruiter and host Renee Beckman sits down with real leaders for real talk about what actually works in high-stakes hiring: building stronger teams, leading with clarity, developing real bench strength, and turning people strategy into profit.
If you own the hires, the headcount, or the P&L, this room is for you.
HR Leader: Why You Don’t Know What’s Happening On Your Team
In this episode of The Hiring Room, Renee sits down with Pooja Bhatt, a former enterprise HR leader, to break down ...one of the biggest blindspots in leadership. Leaders think they understand their team when they do not.
After 20 years in talent strategy and leadership development, Pooja shares what actually happens inside organizations when managers rely on assumptions instead of consistent communication, feedback, and structured hiring processes.
This conversation shows where things break down, starting with the interview process and continuing into performance management. It also explains why most leaders miss the signals that are right in front of them.
They discuss:
Why leaders do not actually know what is happening on their team
How poor hiring processes create long term retention problems
Why performance management fails in most organizations
The difference between managing and coaching
How lack of feedback loops leads to disengagement
Where AI can help surface what leaders miss
If you have ever been surprised by an employee leaving or performance issues appearing out of nowhere, this episode explains why.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro and how Renee met Pooja
02:00 20 years at IBM and career transition
05:00 Coaching versus managing in large organizations
07:30 AI in performance management
10:30 Why performance reviews do not work
13:00 The leadership blindspot
15:30 Hiring and retention connection
18:00 Metrics leaders rely on and what they miss
21:00 Leadership behaviors that impact teams
24:00 Why managers miss what is happening
28:00 Generational dynamics at work
32:00 Coaching early career professionals
36:00 Broken hiring processes
40:00 Candidate versus company disconnect
45:00 Career pivots and wine venture
52:00 Advice for HR leaders
56:00 Why hiring is broken
59:00 Retention starts at the interview
01:03:00 Final thoughts
About the Host
Renee Beckman is the Founder of MSeed, where she partners with growth stage and mid market companies to build disciplined, repeatable hiring systems.
With over two decades in executive search and talent strategy, Renee has interviewed thousands of professionals and built leadership teams across industries. Through her SearchOS methodology, she helps organizations reduce costly hiring mistakes and create structured hiring ecosystems that drive long term performance.
Learn more at:
http://www.mseed.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-beckmanShow More
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