Purpose-driven RECRUITING for mission-led organiZations
Hiring exceptional people is hard. Hiring people who actually get the mission is harder.
Plenty of people have applied. They fit the job description, but no one aligns with your mission.
Your team is absorbing the gap. The projects that need this person are stalled. And the search is consuming hours you don't have.
You need someone who believes in the work and strengthens the culture. We find that person, with the depth of human judgment that this kind of search actually requires. Average placements are 45 to 60 days.
We take the search process off your plate.
what we hear often
Recognize any of this?
"This role has been open for months. Everyone's covering for it, and the strain is starting to show."
"Our inbox is full of applications and the majority look like they were written solely by AI. Same, same, and more of the same.”
"Our last recruiter made the placement and disappeared. When it didn't work out, we were completely on our own."
"We can't afford to get this one wrong. The cost of a bad hire at this level would be felt across the whole organization."
None of this is a failure on your part. You're managing this search on top of everything else you're already carrying, without a search partner who goes into your organization deeply enough to recognize the right person when they find them.
That's where every Kind World Collective search begins.
our philosophy
Hiring has become surprisingly impersonal.
Post a role. Sort through hundreds of applications. Schedule interviews. Make the hire. Hope it works out.
We've never believed great hiring works that way.
Before we start any search, we spend real time understanding your company. Not just the role description, the "why" behind your business. The values that guide decisions. The leadership style that helps people thrive. The team chemistry. The things that rarely make it into a job posting but matter enormously once someone is inside the organization.
We treat your candidates with the same care and humanity we give you, because when the process feels human and respectful, the right people lean in. The companies we work with trust us to represent their culture well to candidates. We take that seriously.
As a result, the people we place bring more than a strong resume. They bring steadiness, curiosity, and a genuine connection to the mission.
Most recruiting firms pull from the same cookie-cutter talent pool, move fast, and call it done. It's exactly what Kind World Collective was built to change.
is this for you
For the founders, people leaders, and HR teams at organizations building something meaningful.
-
This is for you if
You've got an important role to fill, and the cost of getting it wrong is keeping you up at night.
Your team's been covering the gap for months, and the strain is starting to show in the work and morale.
You've worked with recruiters who moved fast and placed wrong, and you’re not doing that again.
Culture fit and values alignment matter to you as much as what's on the CV.
You believe the right hire can lift the energy of a whole team, and the wrong one can drain it just as fast.
-
This might not be for you if
You need the cheapest, fastest fill, and fit is secondary.
You want a stack of CVs by Friday more than the right person by next month.
You'd rather hire on credentials alone than on whether someone genuinely believes in the work.
You're looking for a vendor, not a partner who will work alongside your internal team.
AI hiring vs. human intuition
AI tools promised to make hiring easier, so why does it feel harder than ever to find the right person?
AI can find you more candidates. But it will never have the experience, wisdom, and intuition to recognize who actually belongs inside your company once the interviews are over.
At Kind World Collective, human oversight, intuition, and expertise aren't a fallback. They're the whole point, and the actual reason we're so damn great at what we do. The best hires aren't just a match on paper. It takes judgment that AI will never be able to replace. It takes that intuitive read on a person that only human to human intuition can touch. It takes a team that cares deeply enough to express their concerns, flags, and "hold on" energy that makes the difference between the wrong or right hire.
Trusting someone else to find the right person for your team, is serious business. You need actual humans to navigate the process. That part will never be automated at Kind World Collective.
Why We Exist
20+ years in talent acquisition, talent development, and social impact strategy. 15 years at adidas, building global recruiting and social purpose from inside one of the most iconic brands in the world
Kind World Collective founder, Tauna Dean, has spent more than twenty years at the intersection of talent and purpose — learning how to find great people, and how to use a company's reach and influence to create measurable impact in the world.
Most of that work happened at adidas. She was a founding member of the Global Talent Acquisition team in Germany, then built the first in-house Executive Search function in North America. In 2016, she launched adidas' Social Purpose work in the U.S. By 2019, it had become a global competency across every market.
She truly loved the brand, the people, and the work. But over time, she kept noticing the same gap: companies doing meaningful things in the world were still hiring the same way everyone else did. Quickly. Transactionally. And without purpose at the core of everything they do.
Kind World Collective is what she built after leaving adidas in 2021. A more personal kind of firm — shaped by everything she had learned about people, purpose, and leadership.
She started it during the pandemic, from her kitchen table, while raising her young daughter on her own.
Today, the Kind World Collective team brings experience from leading recruiting at brands like adidas, Nike, Apple, Airbnb, Keen Footwear, Doc Martens, and the Mars Company. That depth of experience shows up in every search, candidate conversation, and hire we make.
“I've always felt called to do things differently. Whether that's becoming a single mom by choice at 42 or building a recruiting firm that genuinely believes it can help shape a better world. The road less travelled is the one I'm wired to choose. And honestly, most of the folks I represent through Kind World Collective sort of live their lives the same way.”
— Tauna, Founder
CLIENTS WE HAVE WORKED WITH:
How We Work
A custom search built around your organization.
You'll have the right person in the right seat within 45 to 60 days.
-
We start by understanding the role beyond the job description. We learn your company's story, mission, values, and what success looks like in this hire. We get to know the team dynamic, the leadership style, and the things that rarely make it into a job posting but matter enormously once someone is inside the organization.
-
We identify and reach out to candidates who bring both the experience and the alignment you need. Your company's story is told before a job opening is ever mentioned so the right people are already invested before they reach you. You’ll meet candidates who have been thoughtfully vetted — not just for skills, but for the kind of person they are and the values they bring.
-
You’ll get hands-on support through the entire interview process. We help you evaluate candidates holistically, facilitate reference checks, and guide the offer conversation. But we don't disappear after the placement — we stay in touch through the new hire's first few months to make sure things are working on both sides.
We work with:
We hold ourselves to the same standards we look for in others. We're B-Corp Certified and proud 1% for the Planet member.
Purpose-driven startups and brands
B-Corps
GLOBAL BRANDS ESG & CSR teams
1% for the planet members
Diversity, eQUITY, inclusion and belonging teams
Foundations, not-for-profits and government agencies
Creative & communications for change agencies
All organizations building a kinder, cleaner, and more connected world.
What They Say About Us
Some kind words from the people who've worked with us.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
“Working with Kind World Collective was the best hiring experience I've had. I felt confident that we were getting great candidates who were genuinely interested in the position. Their communication was proactive and clear, and they were just generally really fun to work with.”
— Meggie Finn, Director, Brand & Fan Development
THREE HIRES FROM ONE SEARCH
“I literally asked them to find a unicorn. On top of the right market research skills, we were hoping to find a candidate who spoke a second language other than Spanish or Mandarin. KWC hit that exact target. Ultimately they found three employees for my team, and they're all working out wonderfully.”
— Corinne McCarthy, VP, Market Intelligence
CAFÉ YUMM!
“Tauna and team, you have truly delivered on every promise throughout this recruiting process. This has been the most enjoyable recruiting experience I have ever had. You have built an incredible brand with Kind World Collective, and we look forward to collaborating with you again very soon.”
— Chris Jirges, Café Yumm!
A search off your plate. A team that can exhale. A hire who fits the mission.
It starts with our custom search process.
Sixty days from now, this search could be over and the right person could be in the right seat.
Tell us about your company and the open roles on your team. We’ll take it from there.