Abby Kohut is the President of Staffing Symphony. Abby’s career began in computer sales. She worked for a computer reseller for five years, managing major accounts such as Bear Stearns, Grey Advertising, Gartner Group and the Museum of Natural History and was elected into Apple’s Million Dollar Club. Although successful in sales, Abby felt most passionate about hiring and mentoring new sales reps for the company. That passion motivated her to launch her career in Human Resources and career development.
Abby’s next successful recruiting project was at Cheyenne Software, where she recruited 500 employees in two years, effectively doubling the size of the company. Following that, Abby worked for Kaplan, Inc., a world leader in educational services, for seven years. Abby took on various roles including Senior Director of Recruiting and Career Development, which offered her the opportunity to lead a team of recruiters responsible for filling staff and management positions across the country. In particular, Abby led teams that hired 50 Customer Service Representatives in two months and 900 part time K-12 teachers in four months. She also career coached and mentored many top internal applicants into new roles within the company.
As a Staffing Consultant, Abby managed several recruiting projects for Alpharma, Inc., one of which helped them double the size of the division, from 300 to 600 employees. Abby also led the expansion of a national outside sales force and support staff for the Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist Magazine and CFO Magazine. As the Interim Director of Recruiting for Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital, Abby managed a large recruiting team responsible for filling 1,000-2,000 positions per year and developed written documentation around their processes and procedures. She also managed an expansion project for LEO Pharma and helped them grow from six employees to 300 in two years. In 2018, Abby was named by CNBC as a Top Recruiter and also was the winner of The Society of Human Resources Pinnacle Award.
Abby’s articles on AbsolutelyAbby.com inspire job seekers to stay motivated as they continue their search for their ideal job. Abby has presented to over 500 job search groups and was interviewed on Sirius XM, CNBC, Fox News Live, ABC’s Good Morning Connecticut, WKTU-FM, WOR-AM, WDVR-FM, and the Joe Franklin show on Bloomberg Radio. Her books “Absolutely Abby’s 101 Job Search Secrets” and “Absolutely Abby’s Top 12 Interview Questions Exposed” teach candidates secrets about the job search process that other recruiters won’t tell you. Abby was selected as one of the top 100 influential people online according to Fast Company Magazine and was named as one of “The Monster 11 for 2011: Career Experts Who Can Help Your Job Search”. Since 2009, Abby has been on a mission to help one million job seekers.