Carmen Mihalache, founder of PRO HR: “The future of recruitment is driven by technology and built on trust”

Discover the story of Carmen Mihalache, founder of PRO HR, as she shares insights on leadership, strategic recruitment, artificial intelligence, bold decision-making, organizational culture, and building trust-based relationships that drive sustainable results.

Carmen Mihalache began her career in recruitment at the largest real estate company in northern Bucharest, North Bucharest Investments, and currently owns PRO HR, her own recruitment company. Her greatest mentor and leader is Vlad Musteata, whose dedication and professionalism gave her the courage to start her own company and strive for more. It takes courage and the desire to aim higher.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence that would capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Carmen: A problem solver.

C&B: Looking back, what has been the “common thread” guiding your professional journey?

Carmen: Looking back, the common thread throughout my professional journey has been the desire to build trusting relationships and generate results through impactful projects. Regardless of the role or industry, I have consistently focused on identifying opportunities, finding the right candidates, developing partnerships, and turning challenges into practical solutions.

One defining moment was choosing to get involved in projects that required direct interaction with partners and clients, a decision that strengthened my communication, negotiation, and business development skills.

The second key moment was taking on responsibilities in large-scale projects, where I understood the importance of collaboration, efficient coordination, and a results-oriented approach. This experience confirmed that sustainable performance is built through consistency, adaptability, and strong relationships.

What has remained constant throughout all my choices is the desire to keep learning, create value for the organizations and people I work with, and contribute to the development of meaningful projects based on professionalism, trust, and a long-term vision.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or a failure that truly changed you?

Carmen: One of the moments that truly changed me was managing a period in which an important project did not develop as expected, despite the team’s dedication and hard work. It was an experience that forced me out of my comfort zone and helped me understand that success depends not only on competence and effort, but also on context, timing, and the ability to adapt.

C&B: What is a bold (or counterintuitive) decision that significantly influenced your career path?

Carmen: One of the boldest decisions I made was choosing projects with long-term development potential instead of opportunities that offered immediate benefits but limited future prospects. It was a counterintuitive decision because it involved greater responsibility, a higher degree of uncertainty, and results that would only become visible over time.

I carefully assessed the risks—from taking on ambitious goals to the possibility that the investment of time and resources might not produce immediate results. At the same time, I rejected the alternative of a comfortable but predictable career path because I believe that real growth happens when you choose challenges that expand your skills and perspective.

The result was accelerated professional growth, the strengthening of valuable partnerships, and involvement in impactful projects that gave me the opportunity to contribute strategically while developing both my leadership skills and my ability to make decisions in a dynamic environment. This experience confirmed that the most important opportunities often arise from decisions that require courage and confidence in your own vision.

C&B: How have you changed over time as a leader and professional?

Carmen: My transformation as a leader came when I learned to understand that we are all different, that everyone has their own potential and limitations—whether they choose to overcome them or not—and to accept other people’s limitations or even their lack of desire to strive for more.

C&B: What do you think people who work closely with you say about you—beyond your public image?

Carmen: I believe that people who work directly with me would describe me as someone committed, results-oriented, and reliable. I place great value on professionalism, honoring commitments, and building relationships based on trust and collaboration. I enjoy creating an environment where everyone can express their ideas and contribute meaningful value.

At the same time, I know that I can be demanding, both with myself and with those around me. When I commit to a goal, I have high expectations regarding quality and accountability, which may sometimes be perceived as perfectionism, a very intense work pace, or occasional criticism.

C&B: What truly differentiates you in the way you build or lead?

Carmen: I believe what truly sets me apart is the way I turn relationships and ideas into tangible results. To me, leadership is not just about coordination—it is about creating a framework in which people, partnerships, and objectives converge around a shared vision.

In every project I lead, I start with a clear understanding of the objectives and build processes based on communication, accountability, and transparency. I prefer making decisions grounded in data and context, while giving equal importance to intuition developed through experience and continuous dialogue with my team and partners.

One defining characteristic of mine is being solution-oriented. Whenever obstacles arise, my first step is not to identify who is to blame, but to understand the root cause and find the most effective way forward.

C&B: How has the current landscape (technology, AI, the economy) changed the way you work?

Carmen: The current landscape has significantly changed the way we approach recruitment. Artificial intelligence and digitalization have streamlined many operational stages, while also making it even more evident that recruitment remains, at its core, a people-centered process based on understanding the business context.

We have integrated digital tools and AI solutions into activities such as writing and optimizing job descriptions, market analysis, candidate sourcing, and automating administrative processes. This allows us to reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and devote more energy to interacting with people, assessing the compatibility between candidates and organizations, and delivering a high-quality recruitment experience.

At the same time, the economic environment has changed the way we advise companies. The focus is no longer solely on filling positions quickly, but on sustainable recruitment, talent retention, and identifying candidates who are the right fit both in terms of skills and organizational culture. Today, the success of a recruitment process is measured not only by making a hire but by the candidate’s long-term integration and performance.

I believe technology and artificial intelligence will continue to transform the recruitment industry, but they will not replace the elements that truly make the difference: empathy, judgment, experience, and the ability to build trusted relationships with both employers and the professionals we represent.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has had a significant impact on your performance?

Carmen: It’s very simple—for me, there is no such thing as “it can’t be done.” Discipline is extremely important, as is perseverance.

C&B: What principles guide your most important decisions?

Carmen: In recruitment, important decisions must combine objectivity with an understanding of the human context. The principles that guide me are transparency, integrity, accountability, and a focus on sustainable results. I believe that a good decision is one that creates value for both the company and the candidate, not just one that solves an immediate need.

One principle I never compromise on is the genuine fit between the candidate and the organization. Over the years, there have been situations where I advised a client not to finalize a hire, even though the recruitment process was at an advanced stage and there was pressure to fill the position quickly. Our assessment showed that, beyond professional competencies, there were significant differences between the candidate’s values and the organization’s culture, which would have negatively affected long-term integration and retention.

Although this decision meant restarting the recruitment process and making an additional effort, the outcome was finding a candidate who successfully integrated into the organization and contributed to the team’s long-term development. To me, this is a clear example that the right decisions are not always the fastest ones, but those that create lasting impact and are built on trust, professionalism, and responsibility.

C&B: How do you see your industry evolving over the next three to five years?

Carmen: Over the next three to five years, I believe recruitment will become increasingly strategic and more heavily influenced by technology, without diminishing the importance of the human factor. Artificial intelligence will automate a significant portion of administrative and sourcing activities, but decisions related to candidate selection, compatibility assessment, and relationship building will continue to rely on the experience and judgment of recruitment professionals.

C&B: What role do you aim to play in this evolution?

Carmen: I would be tempted to say that I want PRO HR to become the largest recruitment company in Romania, but let me correct that—I want PRO HR to become the best recruitment company in Romania.

C&B: What genuine advice would you give to someone who wants to build something meaningful today?

Carmen: My first piece of advice would be to invest time in truly understanding the market’s needs before investing in solutions. Very often, the enthusiasm of building something new leads entrepreneurs to focus on what they believe is valuable rather than on what customers genuinely need. In my opinion, listening to the market is one of the greatest competitive advantages.

My second piece of advice is to build relationships before chasing results. In recruitment, as in business in general, trust is earned over time and becomes a true differentiator. The most valuable collaborations and opportunities come from relationships built on consistency, professionalism, and mutual respect—not from short-term objectives.

Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is not to confuse speed with progress. There were times when I tried to do too many things at once, and experience taught me that sustainable results come from prioritization, discipline, and consistent execution. Today, I prefer building step by step, with clear objectives and well-founded decisions, rather than pursuing rapid growth that cannot be sustained over the long term.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your industry that few people talk about?

Carmen: An uncomfortable truth about recruitment is that, more often than not, the problem is not the lack of candidates, but the lack of a clear definition of what the employer is actually looking for. Many recruitment processes are prolonged not because of the market, but because the candidate profile changes throughout the process, the decision-makers are not aligned on the selection criteria, or expectations are not consistent with market realities.

Another aspect that is rarely discussed is that recruitment cannot compensate for an organization’s internal problems. Neither the best recruiter nor the most suitable candidate can succeed in an environment where clarity, leadership, or a healthy organizational culture are missing. Recruitment can bring the right people to the table, but retention and performance depend on what they find after joining the company.

That is why I believe the future of recruitment is not only about identifying talent but also about playing an increasingly important role as a strategic consultant, capable of providing organizations with a realistic perspective on the market, candidate expectations, and the conditions required to build high-performing teams for the long term.

Carmen Mihalache’s interview provides an authentic perspective on the future of recruitment, the role of artificial intelligence in HR, trust-based leadership, and the importance of aligning people with organizational culture.