Hi, I’m Katherine
I’ve always been fascinated by people and what drives them. When I moved to the UK from South Africa in 1995 after studying at Stellenbosch University, I found my stride in senior-level recruitment, drawn to the psychology behind the choices we make at work.
By 2001, I was ready to launch my own business, Recrion, offering recruitment and retention services to employers.
This quickly grew into a thriving enterprise. But then came 2008 – a year that tested my resilience to the limit.
As the global financial crisis wreaked havoc on industries worldwide, my business faced unprecedented challenges. Recrion survived – just – but it was tough going.
And yet, that undeniably difficult time gave me the clarity I needed to reassess, adapt and rebuild – and it was from this experience that the idea for Career Ambitions was born.
With Career Ambitions, my mission was to help people build successful and meaningful careers. To do this, I first needed to deepen my understanding of what truly motivates people and how they make decisions.
In 2010, I started training with Shelle Rose Charvet, a globally recognised behavioural expert, who equipped me with specialist tools to help people unlock their potential.
One of these tools – the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile – provides a powerful insight into how people think, behave and communicate in different situations. As one of the few hundred LAB Profiling Master Practitioners worldwide, this unique psycholinguistic tool plays a central role in my work with clients.
Today, Career Ambitions brings together everything I’ve learned over the years – drawing on decades of experience in senior-level recruitment and behavioural profiling to enable both individuals and businesses to flourish.
Alongside this, my role on selection panels for the Judicial Appointments Commission has instilled a deeper sense of the importance of fairness, impartiality and rigour in hiring decisions, and has shaped my approach to my work.
Working together
Discover the power of the LAB Profile
Have you ever wondered why certain tasks energise you while others leave you drained?
Or why some team members get on effortlessly while others struggle to find common ground?
These questions point to something deeper – our subconscious drivers – which shape how we work, think and interact.
Using the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile, I help individuals and business leaders uncover these hidden patterns, so you can make better decisions, communicate more effectively and perform at your best.
Client stories
Katherine and I worked together after I had been made redundant to help me evaluate all of my career options. She probed me and asked thought-provoking questions to make my decision-making process a lot easier. Her ability to listen attentively and work with you to help connect the dots is a trait that few have. I would not hesitate to work with Katherine again!
Tobi Ajenifuja
From career management and direction to advising and supporting on my current role and challenges, every coaching session with Katherine left me feeling inspired and focused. It is clear she is passionate about her work and takes pride in supporting others to understand and articulate their individual needs.
Krizia Gallone
When I was made redundant due to Covid, Katherine helped me work out what was important to me and what I wanted to do next – and gave me the self-confidence to go out and get it. I enjoyed the flexible nature of the sessions (no fixed schedule and no fixed content) and honest feedback. I now have the role I wanted!
Tim Biggs
Katherine is the calm and reassuring person you need during periods of change and opportunity. She provides insights and practical advice to uncover your motivations and present yourself in the best possible light to make things happen. I would not hesitate to work with her again and have recommended her to friends and family.
Faye Pendall
Katherine’s support and guidance were fundamental to me defining what I would like to do next in my professional life and finding a new role. I very much liked the structure of my coaching sessions. They gave me a framework which I needed and made me question what I state on my CV and why. Katherine is a great listener, passionate about her work and able to understand what we care about and what matters when making our next career choice. In a way I wanted my sessions to continue indefinitely!
Anna Marchent
Katherine is a superb listener — and because she’s also easy to trust, I found that I could simply give a stream-of-consciousness account of my hopes and fears, which she could translate into an analysis of what I was saying. As a result, I felt deeply understood. Katherine combines this with practical know-how so the impact is to apply tried-and-tested tools to a well-diagnosed situation. Does it work? I’m now in a job which I find rewarding in every way, and which responds to needs I hadn’t articulated before.
Matthew Moss
Read my latest blog posts
Helping a client rediscover purpose after retirement
After a long career in engineering, Barry decided to retire when the company closed his office. But adjusting to life outside of work was a struggle – he found it difficult to fill his days and he lost the sense of purpose his job had given him. With the right guidance and support, Barry discovered…
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Making AI work in your career
How do you feel about the rapid development in AI? Fascinated? Terrified? Maybe a little bit of both? Whilst the possibilities it offers are undoubtedly exciting, we’ve all seen the alarming predictions in the media about how AI could kill certain jobs – and this has left many of us feeling anxious about how our…
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Unconscious bias versus hiring success
Too many hires don’t work out At a recent talk I gave to HR Directors about unconscious bias in recruitment, the overwhelming consensus was that far too many new hires don’t work out. If that doesn’t surprise you, you’ve probably been stung in the past. So what can we do to get it right first…
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