I grew up around the family business and had an entrepreneurial streak myself. I started my first business at 17. But people around me would often discourage my dreams. If a business didn’t work out, they’d encourage me to go work for someone else. Whenever I did work for something else, though, I was always miserable. One of those early corporate jobs was in recruiting. I excelled in the industry but as an employee, I always felt stressed out, anxious, stifled, and controlled. A little bit bullied, too. I had horrible experiences with unethical, dishonest employers. I wasn’t happy and knew our client weren’t getting the best service either.
Over time, I began to notice that a recruiting job could be done from anywhere. Two years in to my career, I moved and got the chance to work remotely. I began to crave more and more flexibility. I wanted to be able to travel, and do better work for my customers. Ultimately I wanted to be responsible for my own success or failure. So I set out on my own. I started a few companies, set goals for myself, and excelled at reaching them. I even founded a tech startup for the the recruiting space and learned a lot that way!
Then, I got pregnant with my daughter. That pregnancy changed everything about my career.
I was subcontracting for a company I really wanted to believe in, and the money was amazing. But over the course of my pregnancy, my work environment became hostile and abusive. I was a top performer for clients, and yet because of my desire to have a family, I was suddenly a second class citizen. So I transitioned to a different company. But when I actually went to have my daughter, I ended up with complications, surgery and a long recovery that I did not expect. My partners in the company fought me on the unemployment I was due. My memories of the early months of my daughter’s life are a blur of legal battles, frustration, and disruption. But it didn’t end there. Once my daughter was several months old, everyone around me started pushing me to go back to work. I felt totally torn between being mother to my daughter and doing the work that I loved. There was never enough time for everything when I was constantly on the run to a 9 to 5 job.
I fully understand the financial challenges faced by families where one spouse wants to stay home with children, but they need two incomes. My experiences returning to work after having my daughter was born led me to realize that it was time to create a different kind of recruiting company: one that allowed top-performing recruiters from retained backgrounds to work part time, be with their families, and still generate the amazing results their clients need. Tech companies are losing out on some of the best recruiters in the industry, every time a new mom quits due to frustration, abuse on the job, or lack of flexibility.
That’s why I created Talent Matched. As a team we have 60 years of experience in retained recruiting. We treat our staff like the top professionals they are—and the results tell the story. Now, I’m in talks with a recruiter with 20 years of experience in retained search who is also a mom to take over operations so I can focus on sales. She can literally convert any passive candidate! Our business is growing steadily. Our clients constantly thank us for our ethics, attention to detail and amazing talent attraction skills. Today as the leader of my team of moms, I feel centered. I have a vision and a roadmap for our future. I feel completely free—and so do my amazing recruiters and their families.
Our recruiters are super committed converters. As moms we already handle a complex role, but we love the business so much, and are so good at it, that we bring in the results like no one else. That’s the power of commitment—and if it’s one thing that working moms have, it’s commitment.