Dan Kuhar shares personal insights into his role, what drew him to ThinkingAhead and the world of executive search, and what happens when nonprofit organizations develop a long-term relationship with a recruiting partner. Whether you’re considering a career in executive recruiting or curious about our firm’s unique approach, this episode is packed with valuable perspectives.

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So it's actually a career that.

Never even knew was viable or something that I thought I'd be attracted to.

Um, you know, I spent many years as a educator, as a principal, as a builder of innovative charter schools for under-resourced kids, something I never even considered.

I did a lot of hiring and firing and people management, you know, building schools, but never realized that.

Just the hiring aspect, being very strategic and nuanced, there could be a career.

So when I decided to pivot from education, I still needed to have like very meaningful, impactful work, right?

Like I don't work for a paycheck.

So I still had to find a role where I felt like I still was putting good into the world, uh, very mission driven as a person.

So when I found nonprofit recruiting, which is very mission driven, extremely rewarding.

In between leaving education and kind of finding my way to recruiting, though I spent many years helping schools raise money.

So that was kind of my foray into, you know, just a different way to, uh, engage with schools and help help kids.

So.

Helping a bunch of, uh, kiddos and groups raise money so they could enrich and, and do those really fun experiential type things that are meaningful and impactful and kids don't forget.

That was really enjoyable.

But then I took.

A transition from that to the recruiting.

Uh, and then when I land there, I, it was like a fish in water, uh, even though COVID happened like three months into it.

But like the muscles that I was building as an educator and a principal and a builder of charter schools and helping schools raise funds, you know, kind of just transitioned perfectly into recruiting, especially in the nonprofit recruiting space.

So I get to work with.

Amazing mission-driven nonprofits across the country.

A lot of those missions I would actually like, they're authentically meaningful to me.

I would work there, so, so when I take their great story to the market, the genuineness and the authenticity in my story is, is real.

So it's easy to bring top talent to these great missions and watch them scale and flourish.

So it's exciting.

As a principal and as a executive director of charter schools and fighting that fight, you really have to deal with a lot of opposition and a lot of conflict management and conflict resolution.

So I didn't realize that I was building those muscles of being outta your comfort zone, building authentic relationships with such a myriad of stakeholders, like that's what I did for better part of two decades.

And I didn't realize that those skills were directly transferrable and applicable to the world of recruiting.

Like I am a professional relationship builder and dot connector.

And again, like as far as the, you know, I call it shoveling the ugly, like the conflict or uncomfortable conversations, like as a principal, I had them daily.

I think I made someone at least one person cry every day as a principal.

So in this role, you know, I get to very authentically connect and help people, uh, whether that be a, a candidate or a client, and I get to connect great top talent in the market.

To these great mission-driven nonprofits, and I can feel really good about that positive impact.

That's the best part, right?

Again, I, I'm not motivated by a paycheck, so the impact that I can have when I take a great story from a, a great mission-driven nonprofit, I go and find top talent that meet the parameters of what they're looking for.

Connect those dots.

And then, you know, just get to watch the work that they do.

Get to see them, scale their impact, get to see them.

You know, a lot of times it's kids supporting or youth supporting nonprofits.

So it just means more kids benefit when, you know, a great fundraiser comes in and can find more resources.

And now it just means, you know, more kids are impacted in a positive way or it's environmental.

And do a lot of work in the conservation, uh, nonprofit space.

So, uh, it means, uh, the world is a better place and that impact is powerful and meaningful.

And that's what drives me as a recruiter, is being able to find and build those great relationships with top talent and then bring them to these great missions and watch them scale their impact.

You know, a lot of nonprofits and a lot of organizations in general are fee averse.

Which totally understandable.

When I was a charter school builder, I would just work 20 hours and, you know, hire my own people instead of, you know, pay a penny of kid dollars towards recruiting.

But we spend all day, every day.

Building strong relationships in the market, right in the nonprofit space across the country.

You know, it's our job to build strong rapport and trust and authentic relationships with the top 15, top 20%, you know, of, of the professionals in that space.

So it gives us a huge headstart.

It gives us this huge network of people to, to reach out to and say, Hey, are you interested?

Do you know five people?

That might be right.

It gives us this huge headstart, and then we are backed with an army of resources.

We have this whole resource team that I'll say, Hey, this is the type of candidate I'm looking for, or These are the core five skills in this region.

Go.

And they'll generate 200 people for me to reach out to via phone or email, and again, go down that rabbit hole from referrals to referrals till you find that just that great candidate that fits the parameters is really excited, authentically connected to mission.

So a lot of organizations come to us because they just don't have the capacity.

Internally to do that full scale, either regional or national search.

And then again, we have huge networks.

Just posting it to my personal LinkedIn, I have.

Over 5,000 contacts of people relevant in my spaces.

So that is just such a great way to jumpstart a search and kind of begin to attract people, and again, kind of work referral to referral until we get to just that great fit.

Always looking for a mutually beneficial fit, like back to impact, right?

I don't do this.

Just to get paid.

Like that's not motivating.

Like I want that candidate to be so excited and so mission connected, and I want that client to be so excited about this match because that's how the magic happens, right?

That's how that impact over the years, where that candidate is there driving that mission.

And, and, you know, the world benefits.

That's the fun part.

As I mentioned before, like when I pivoted from being a school leader to a, uh, helping kids and school groups raise money, you know, it was a tough decision.

I really enjoyed that job.

Like, I got to go to schools.

I got to, you know, work with kids and, and teachers and get them excited and be a goofball, which I like to do.

So it was a tough decision, but when I decided to join recruiting, I, I was all in, right?

That's how I do it.

I'm like, success is going to happen.

Burn the boats.

I'm here.

I'm gonna make it happen.

Three months into starting this career, COVID happened.

I started January, 2020.

March, 2020.

COVID happened and like nonprofit recruiting just.

I mean, it went away.

Like everyone I was calling was like, we're furloughing.

We're laying off.

All hiring is frozen.

Like so that's like one of the grandest challenges that you could imagine as you pivot into a new career.

And then obviously the world shuts down.

So it was either.

Just quit, right, and move on or stay committed.

Bring your A game.

Continue to reach out to people in your market.

Build authentic relationships.

Check in on people, and you know, build that momentum even through unknown, crazy time.

And then, you know, after that, then it was easy, right?

I mean, you know, if you can live through a COVID year where your market is just doing nothing after that, it seems easy, right?

So you have good, strong relationships with people to springboard you, and then when the market comes back, it just feels easy, right?

A a lot of people say that this is like a really hard job and there is a high washout rate, but like coming from being a school builder.

A charter school advocate, a principal, and then living through my first year being COVID.

This is the easiest job I ever had, and I love it.

I love the impact I can have.

I love the people I get to talk with.

We, you know, again, I work for missions that I have authentic passion for, so I'm talking to people who share a mutual passion, either about environment or kids or supporting under-resourced populations.

Like there, there's an authentic connection already.

And then, you know, we, we can build that trust and I can be a support to them, whether they're looking for a change now or two years from now.

Like, I don't plan to go anywhere.

This, this is what I wanna do.

So people know that.

And when you can fulfill what you say and you're not going anywhere, that trust can be built.

And life is good.

So yeah, so I think COVID year was a big challenge, but because I'm still here, this feels a lot easier than it does to maybe some other recruiters.

A lot of the kind of like rumors or people's opinion of recruiters.

It's true, right?

There's a lot of people that are fresh outta college and kind of, I mean, literally you're trained to fake it till you make it right?

And there's a bunch of those people that are kind of a flash in the pan in the recruiting industry.

Like some of them get traction, but again, there's a 70 something percent washout rate.

So people kind of like fake.

And then realize that they're not gonna make it and pivot over to something else.

So, so some of the misconceptions are true, but, um, you know, I found my way to recruiting, you know, after I had a full career in education and the charter school world and, and supporting kids.

And then I have a heavy conservation background, zoology, bachelor's and master's in science education.

So, so I've never been faking anything in this, um, career.

Like, you know, I, I tend to work for missions where I have an authentic passion.

And then I also have, you know, a lot of science content background.

Uh, a lot of personal, you know, environmental conservation, adventure experience.

Uh, and then again, spent about two decades pouring my guts into helping kids in underserved communities.

So like, it's easy to be authentic, it's easy to bring great people to great missions that speak to me.

Yeah, I'd say misconceptions though.

One misconception is that, you know, recruiters are fee driven or money driven, right?

We are very competitive and you know, when we do great work, you know, we, we are paid a fee.

It's a hundred percent commission business, so there's a little bit of pressure there, but for me, again, I'm, I'm driven by impact and if I focus on serving clients and supporting candidates across the country.

The finances take care of themselves.

I don't have to worry about that part or focus on that part at all.

Like I'm mission-driven.

I wanna serve clients.

I want to connect the dots of great top talent in the market to these great mission-driven nonprofits and watch them flourish.

And then, you know, I'm able to feed my family, which is all I wanna do.