About Tricia Tamkin

Tricia’s youth in the Chicago burbs was spent divided between reading and sports. She was the only girl in the boys’ league for baseball, and still managed to sneak in gymnastics, cheerleading, and a starring role in Grease.

Tricia’s prep school made college comparatively easy. When something is too easy, Tricia moves on. At 19, she interviewed for a job she’d never heard of – Headhunter. The day after her interview, she called the agency owner and told him she’d made a decision. She was going to be a recruiter, either for him or someone else. She was immediately hired, and went on to be the top producer in the firm before she was old enough to have a cocktail.

In the early days, Tricia was content to be the top biller anywhere she went. Then her boss told her she needed to play nicer in the sandbox with the other employees. A month later she opened Wolftec, her executive search firm.

Nearly a quarter century later, she’s been widowed twice, fought and won several court battles, given birth, and lost a parent. She’s expanded her staff to more than a dozen, and then slimmed it back down, outsourcing everything.

Then, a client asked her to stop recruiting tech salespeople, and instead to build them a recruiting team. With her years of owning a firm, constant professional development, and help from Jason, she did just that. She recruited the team, made the hiring decisions, trained them, and worked herself out of a client… but into a new industry.

Tricia has spent the last thirteen years speaking on the most prominent stages in the recruiting industry, developing and delivering acclaimed training programs, and coaching some of the highest producers in our industry. She’s an F’n gladiator, who does random acts of kindness every day. She also still makes cold calls and answers her own phone. 

Timeline

2026

Retirement. Balance. Joy. Peace.

2025

Began reclaiming personal identity and meaning through therapy

2024

MARS program launch. The most complete recruiter support program ever.

2023

Co-launches first ever ChatGPT program for the recruiting industry.

2022

After more than a year of having a waitlist for Private Coaching, co-launched Group Coaching program for the recruiting industry.

2021

Major overhaul of both sourcing and sales programs, and development of over 100 hours of new recruiting training.

2020

Heads down in Church of Executive Search Private Coaching Practice. Help dozens of recruiters generate millions of dollars.

2019

Presented Keynotes and Breakout Sessions at 14 conferences in one year.

2018

Co-Founded Church of Executive Search, while simultaneously training and recruiting.

2017

Attended Tony Robbin’s Business Mastery- overloaded with ideas.

2016

Expanded Moore eSSentials staff and focused on building training and speaking business.

2015

Launched Client Cornucopia. Married again, third time’s a charm.

2014

Taught Pinnacle Society for the first time (top 80 headhunters in North America) to rave reviews.

2013

Co-launched first ever Facebook sourcing class, 18 days after Facebook launched Graph Search.

2012

First time speaking at ASA, traveled around North America and Canada training recruiters.

2011

Taught first Sourcing Class and first Private Training for an executive search firm.

2010

Retained to recruit, hire, train and build external recruiting department for client.

2009

Second Husband dies, better knock this off. Let everyone go and moved recruiting desk home.

2008

Build Wolftec to 10 recruiters and 3 support staff.

2007

Launch FastGround, a web-based real estate collaboration platform.

2006

Win award from Cognizant Technology Solutions for executive search excellence.

2005

Son is born, husband is diagnosed with terminal blood cancer.

2004

Closed Lockwood Ross (it was profitable, but not fun!) Returned to sole focus in recruiting.

2003

Generate 1M from one client for first time (Accenture).

2002

Launch Lockwood Ross, an outplacement firm. Married second husband.

2001

Closed $150K engaged deal (50/50/50), biggest to date.

2000

Tech bubble bursts, closed Padigent, bought Disney property.

1999

First husband dies, started traveling extensively and launched Padigent, and HR company for startup firms.

1998

Only accepted 100K jobs. Blanked for 5 months. Closed 11 deals in 10 weeks. Took 3 months off.

1997

Started Wolftec, an executive search firm still running today, took first class in Boolean.

1996

Top internal recruiter with 72 starts, 94% of which were unassisted with over 19% executives.

1995

Accepted internal recruiting position at Whitman Hart.

1994

Top producing recruiter in 15-person agency, billing 272K in first twelve months.

1993

Left college after 2 years to become a commission only agency recruiter in IT.

1991

Graduated from St. Francis High School, and began college at Eastern Illinois University.

1985

Won essay contest to be the Attorney General of Bloomingdale for a day.

1978

Played the Grand Prize Game on Bozo’s Circus and missed the first bucket.

1973

Born September 17th, an only child.

Enthusiastic Love from Tricia's Clients

Stacy Palas

Director of Recruiting & Headhunter Prodigy Executive Search

In July 2020, I decided to leave the agency I was working for and branch out on my own. I had never sourced or brought in new business and was looking for some assistance here. I was advised to contact Tricia and Jason…this was the best call I ever made! I’ve been working with Tricia and Jason for 2 years and have so much more confidence from what I’ve learned from them. I have access to weekly trainings, sourcing assistance, and have a private weekly meeting where I set the agenda as to what I need their help with. They also create other events you can join if interested such as book club, time tracking activities, health and fitness activities and more. Tricia and Jason are always available when something pops up that I want to run by them, they are just a quick email away and are always so willing to respond and help. I admit, it’s a big investment and they are very open about this, but it’s been worth every single penny I’ve paid (and more but don’t tell them I said that)! Tricia and Jason are a bit part of my business…I will never give up my spot unless they kick me out! If you want to branch out on your own but need a little handholding like I did or want to take your recruiting business to the next level, hire Tricia and Jason!! I can truly say that I would not be where I am today in my recruiting business if it wasn’t for them 😊

Barry Doctor

Senior Recruiter Marksman Security Corporation

Tricia and her team are simply amazing – deeply knowledgeable, able to break down complicated topics to simple bits and they present in a high energy, fast-paced way that entertains as it informs. If you need to sharpen your Boolean skills, I highly recommend Tricia.

Melita Gaupp

Owner & Talent Scout Scout & Source

TL; DR: Tricia is great, hire her! The longer version: I signed up for one of Tricia and Jason‘s training program, and I’m happy to say I’ve learned much more than I’d initially expected from it! The program has helped me to prioritize where I wanted grow my business and the best way to do that. I can recommend Tricia wholeheartedly. She‘s fun, experienced and an excellent advisor.

Mindi Rector

Founder & Principal Recruiter Irving York

I initially took Tricia and Jason’s eSourcing eSSentials training and it was so fantastic, I had to come back for more! Client Cornucopia far exceeded any expectations I had going in… It is packed to overflowing with critical market intel, key BD principles, and strategies and methodologies for success in this business. Tricia and Jason are excellent communicators who make each session fun and engaging – they are at the top of the training game. Hands down, I recommend Client Cornucopia for anyone wanting to elevate their BD skills and approach. I fully believe that if you use what you learn in this class, you will see a significant return on your investment.

Rich Rosen

Forbes, Top 50 Recruiters in America 6 years in a row!

Tricia and Jason, are easily some of the top trainers in the business. Providing some of the most up-to-date and relevant strategies possible. If you are looking for creativity and are tired of the same old tired approach this is the trainer/class for you

Gopinath Kokkonda

CEO at Alignity Solutions

Tricia is a amazing partner with great wisdom. Her indepth experience, out of box ideas combined with willingness to help others makes her a sought after coach & thought leader.

Shari Davidson CPC

President On Balance Search Consultants

I have been consistently working with Tricia and Jason since November 2021. I love learning. Some people may call me a self-help junkie. I have taken many different classes with the recruiter trainer/coaches in the industry. I have learned a lot from many of them. Tricia and Jason stand out above many of them. From Boolean training – to business development- to recruiting, they are the tops. What makes them unique is that they are not cookie cutter. Not one size fits everyone. One-to-one coaching is worth the time because it can help you with your specific needs. If you seek to go to the next level in your business, you will not go wrong hiring this dynamic team.

Charline Lauria

Talent Acquisition Consultant @ Maxwell Management Group

Tricia is a wealth of knowledge in the recruitment industry. I highly recommend working with Tricia to bring your recruitment skills to the next level! Thanks for all your help Tricia! Charline Lauria

Diane Sanders, CPC

President of Alltech, Inc

I recently completed the class Tricia offers on sourcing, it was by far the best training I have ever received. The class was interactive and real time examples were used in class so everyone worked together which kept it interesting. I would not hesitate to recommend Tricia (and Jason) for training.

John C. Mein

Silicon Valley Businesss Development and Sales

I just completed the 4 week Moore Essentials Sourcing Class and it was outstanding! Tricia and Jason are obvious experts in the field of recruiting from soup to nuts. They work so well together that the class is a joy to attend. I have been a recruiter for only two years and I learned so much from them. Another much more senior recruiter friend of mine had us sign up an Indian sourcing firm for $1500/month and the candidates they supplied were sub-par. Using the tools and techniques I learned from Tricia and Jason, I am now enabled to find far more and better candidates on my own. Both Tricia and Jason went out of their way to help every student in the class understand and use the concepts. I have now signed up for their Client Cornucopia class and can’t wait! –John C. Mein, recruiter in Silicon Valley focused on semiconductors and optical communications.