I help ambitious professionals get paid more in roles that actually fit their lives, using real hiring strategy.
Hi! I’m Career Coach Nicole.
I’m a career strategist and recruiting leader with 14+ years of experience inside hiring systems.
I’ve led recruiting teams, partnered directly with hiring managers, and reviewed thousands of candidate decisions from the inside.
I don’t teach career theory.
I translate how hiring actually works and help you use that system to your advantage.
The Real Problem
You’re not underqualified.
You’re under-strategizing.
Right now, you’re probably doing some version of this:
Applying to good roles » no response
Getting interviews » no offer
Knowing you’ve outgrown your job » but not making a move
It’s not random.
It’s not bad luck.
It’s what happens when you don’t fully understand how hiring teams are evaluating you.
And until that changes, the results don’t change either.
What I Do Differently
Most career advice doesn’t work because it ignores how hiring decisions are actually made.
I help you stop guessing.
Instead of “spray and pray” job searching or generic career advice, we focus on:
How your experience is actually interpreted by hiring teams
What makes a candidate move from “qualified” to “priority”
How to position yourself for a higher-level role or salary jump
How to make your next move intentionally, not reactive (we want your next career move to stick)
This is not coaching for confidence alone.
This is strategy that leads to lasting outcomes.
Why This Matters For You
Most career advice is built on guesswork.
Mine isn’t.
Everything I teach comes from:
how candidates are actually evaluated
how hiring managers make decisions
and what it really takes to move from “qualified” to “chosen”
I’ve built my own career through multiple pivots.
And I’ve helped hundreds of people do the same: more strategically, and with better outcomes.
About Nicole
I didn’t start my career in recruiting.
I started as a first-generation college student with a painting degree, navigating a system that doesn’t exactly come with instructions (especially during a recession).
My first roles paid $11k, then $30k, then $40k. While I was proud of the work I was doing (career coaching in universities and education access in non-profits), I hit a point a lot of my clients hit:
I was working hard, doing everything “right”… and it still wasn’t translating into the income I actually wanted.
So I made a strategic pivot into recruiting.
Not by accident, on purpose.
Because I wanted to understand how hiring actually works from the inside, so I could help people change their careers for the better.
Since then, I’ve:
Reviewed and evaluated thousands of candidates across roles and levels
Supported hiring for 650+ early career hires (interns + new grads)
Hired across startups, enterprise, and mid-sized companies
Recruited across internship-level to executive-level roles
Managed recruiting teams and advised hiring managers on hundreds of hiring decisions
Interviewed 1000+ people
Personally issued hundreds of job offers, including salary negotiation between candidates and the business
Hired in very diverse industries, from agriculture to SaaS tech
Built recruiting strategies and processes from the ground up
Today, I’m a Director of Recruiting at NetNation and Founder of Good Work Recruiting, a boutique recruiting firm.
Which means I regularly sit on the other side of the table: deciding who moves forward, who gets offers, and why.
Who I Work With
I work with ambitious professionals who are ready to make a meaningful move in their career.
My clients are typically:
Currently employed or recently in transition
Based in the U.S. or Canada
Ready to invest time, energy, and resources into real change
Open to feedback and willing to take “imperfect action”
Focused on outcomes
Looking for a salary increase, promotion, or career pivot
This is not for passive job seekers or people “just exploring options.”
This is for people ready to make the change.
What Results Look Like
Clients come to me when they want clarity, and stay because of outcomes.
That often looks like:
Landing interviews they weren’t getting before
Securing offers after stalled searches
Increasing compensation by $10k - $50k+ through stronger positioning and negotiation
Moving into roles that better match their level of capability
Regaining control and direction in their career trajectory
Why Work With Me
My advantage is not just coaching: it’s recruiting leadership experience.
I regularly sit inside the hiring process from the employer side:
deciding who gets interviews
advising hiring managers on candidate decisions
building talent pipelines across industries
and seeing exactly why strong candidates get overlooked
That perspective changes how I approach every client strategy.
We don’t guess.
We work with how hiring actually functions today.
Outside of All-Things-Career
As much as I love all things career (and can really nerd out at a happy hour about job application strategy), I’m a BIG beliver that your career should support your life… not take it over.
When I’m not working, I’m usually:
outside (camping, floating the river, at a music festival, or hanging out in the backyard)
painting (full circle moment - check out my work here)
spending time with friends + family
chasing my latest ADHD hyper-fixation, like thrifting the perfect linen shirt, or meticulously curating lists of karaoke songs
or hanging out with Copper, my American Foxhound rescue pup, who makes celebrity appearances on Zoom.
I’m a biracial, bi-city girl, living in both Charlotte, NC / Austin, TX, working with US and Canada-based clients.
Aggressively resisting the urge to use exclamation points in sales copy… but in real life, no promises. I’m an Enneagram 7, after all. (!!!)
My clients get strategy, real results, and a real human with a lot of weird jokes.
From My Clients: