Katie Gregoire

Katie Gregoire

Head of Recruiting - Highspot

Like many people in talent acquisition, Kathryn found her way into recruiting unexpectedly. She initially considered a career in sales and accepted an entry-level role with a healthcare staffing company, where she sold staffing services to hospitals, school districts, and nursing homes while also recruiting therapists to fill open positions.

Working in healthcare staffing after the 2008–2009 financial crisis gave her firsthand experience bridging the gap between sales and recruiting. Over time, she discovered that recruiting offered something unique: the opportunity to combine business acumen, people skills, and judgment into a single profession.

After six years in healthcare staffing, Kathryn made the transition into technology by joining Slalom. There, she developed a deeper understanding of business strategy, consulting, and solving complex organizational challenges through talent. The experience strengthened her belief that recruiting is ultimately about helping businesses solve problems through people.

Six and a half years ago, Kathryn joined Highspot as the company’s third recruiter when the organization had fewer than 300 employees. Since then, she has helped scale the company to nearly 1,000 employees and now oversees global recruiting across North America and EMEA, while partnering closely with teams in India.

What advice would you share with other talent leaders as we move further into 2026?

Kathryn’s first piece of advice is simple: control the controllables.

The talent landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with shifting markets, changing hiring plans, new technologies, and AI-driven transformations impacting the profession. While recruiters cannot control external conditions, they can control the quality of their work, the strength of their relationships, and the guidance they provide to business leaders.

She believes talent acquisition professionals are increasingly moving beyond transactional recruiting and becoming strategic advisors who help organizations understand market trends, talent dynamics, and hiring realities.

Her second piece of advice is to trust your gut.

While data remains an important tool for decision-making, recruiting is ultimately a people-centered profession. People are inherently unpredictable, and strong recruiters must balance analytics with experience, judgment, and intuition.

As Kathryn puts it, data helps tell the story, but instinct and human judgment often help recruiters make the best decisions.