Melo Associates, LLC

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Melo Associates, LLC

Melo Associates is a small recruiting firm based in Chicago focused in Customer Success and Technolo

06/15/2026

from Parul Bhandari:

What does hiring right mean and do for your business? In the next episode of The Business of Success, my friend and co-author Swati Garg , CEO of Melo Associates talks about what makes the right hiring process so important to a company.

And what can go wrong without it!

As you think of building better from the inside out, recruitment and talent practice is another spindle on the wheel of longterm success.

Full episode is live now on The Business of Success podcast: https://thebusinessofsuccess.riverside.com/e/ep-11-a-bad-hire-costs-30-of-a-salary-how-to-recruit-right-with-swati-garg

06/10/2026

Repost from Melo Associates Founder and CEO, Swati Garg:

Parul Bhandari and I are getting excited.

We’re deep in the final review of the Study and are putting the finishing touches on the report. With 91 respondents participating, we’re looking forward to sharing the full findings in the coming weeks.

A SNEAK PEEK at one of the trends that stood out:

The fastest-growing Customer Success roles for 2026 are around technical, engineering-adjacent roles that help bridge customers, products, data, and AI.

🔹 Forward-Deployed Engineer
41% of respondents are either already using this title or actively considering it.

🔹 CS Engineer
37% are either already using this title or actively considering it, making it one of the most established emerging roles in the market.

🔹 AI Customer Success Operations Manager
29% are either already using this title or actively considering it. It also has the strongest future adoption pipeline, with nearly 20% of respondents actively evaluating the role.

As AI continues to reshape Customer Success, we're seeing organizations rethink team structures, skill sets, and the intersection of technical expertise and customer outcomes.

This is just one insight from the study. There is MUCH more to come!

Follow Parul Bhandari and me if you'd like a copy of the report when it is released. We can't wait to share the full results with you.

And if you're for these emerging roles, I'd love to connect. Helping companies identify, attract, and hire talent for the next generation of Customer Success teams is one of the most exciting parts of what we do Melo Associates!

Such exciting times in Customer Success talent!

06/04/2026

Reminder, Chicago!

Melo Associates Founder and CEO, Swati Garg, will be joining Ashley Ebersberger, PHR for Talent Collective’s “Women in Recruiting: POV Agency & In House Recruiters, Built Different and Stronger Together" on Wednesday, June 10th.

This conversation will bring both sides of recruiting into one room for an honest discussion on:
• How agency and in-house recruiting differ
• Where both sides align
• What each environment really looks like day to day
• How recruiters can work together to help companies build stronger teams

For anyone in recruiting, talent acquisition, hiring strategy, or exploring different career paths in the field, this is a great opportunity to hear both perspectives and connect with the Chicago recruiting community.

Special shoutout to Edie Greenberg PHR for coordinating this event.

Register here: https://luma.com/ly2xrizv

Picture credit to Talent Collective.

06/02/2026

Today, we’re celebrating our Founder & CEO, Swati Garg!

Her commitment to people, relationships, and meaningful connection has shaped Melo Associates from the very beginning. She champions people, invests in community, and sees potential others might miss. She brings people together, challenges teams to think bigger, and continues to raise the standard for what partnership in recruiting should look like.

Swati, your vision, dedication, and passion are felt by everyone who has the opportunity to work with you, learn from you, or share space with you.

You are a rockstar in every sense of the word, and we’re grateful to celebrate you today.

Happy Birthday, Swati!

05/29/2026

Things are moving fast, and incremental thinking will not be enough in the AI era.

After attending Planhat Open, Melo Associates Founder and CEO Swati Garg left with a clear takeaway: The future of Customer Success will belong to companies that think bigger about how they build teams, structure roles, and evolve operating models alongside AI.

A few themes stood out:
AI is both scary and exciting.
AI requires participation, not observation.
Innovation has to be responsible.
Roles are changing faster than hiring models.
Technology investment is not enough.

The companies that win in this next era will not simply adopt AI. They will rethink how teams are structured, how work gets done, how talent is evaluated, and how customer outcomes are delivered.

Thank you to the Planhat team for creating an event that challenged the conversation and made space for the kind of thinking CS leaders need right now.

05/07/2026

An AI-related title means very little without clear ownership behind it.

An CSM may support adoption and .
An AI Ops Manager may own automation, reporting, workflow efficiency, and lifecycle performance.
A Forward Deployed Engineer may support technical deployments and product feedback.
A Director of AI Customer Strategy may lead executive-level outcomes.

Those are very different roles. They require different profiles, different evaluation criteria, and different hiring strategies.

Before opening the search, leaders need to define:
💡 The business problem
💡 The scope
💡 The technical requirements
💡 The success metrics
💡 The internal ownership

Strong hiring starts before the job description goes live.

https://meloassociates.com/ai-is-reshaping-customer-success-titles/

05/05/2026

Big shoutout to Parul Bhandari for showing up in style and repping the Melo Associates shop!

The Melo Associates shop was created for the people shaping modern business: C-Suite , professionals, teams, , , .

Every piece is designed to represent the experience, perspective, and expertise you have earned from your career! Where you sit may vary, but the work it took to get there matters.

Celebrate your path.
Own your expertise.
Shop Melo Associates!

https://shop.meloassociates.com/

05/04/2026

AI-related Customer Success titles are showing up fast.

CSM.
AI Ops Manager.
Forward-Deployed Engineer.
Customer Success Engineer.
Director of AI Customer Strategy.

The titles are not the challenge, the lack of clarity is.

Before opening a search, hiring leaders need to define:

- What does this person own?
- How technical is the role?
- What outcomes define success?
- Where does this role sit?

The strongest teams will define the work before they define the title.

Melo Associates and CustomerXSuccess are gathering insight through the Customer Success AI Talent Survey. Share your perspective and enter to win one of two $50 gift cards.

Take the survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfH_d3PUNzkX4LqkJvJa73rvl8ybhaDP-8ufmJ4g0GewTqZ8g/viewform

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Chicago, IL

Website

http://meloassociates.com/

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