– + Learn

One Hire at a Time: Mitch Kutin’s Job Search Success Story

by

Share

Listen On:
Read the Success Story

Career pivots during uncertain times can lead to unexpected opportunities. Find Your Dream Job guest Mitch Kutin successfully transitioned from fitness gym operations manager to university recruiter, navigating the shift from hands-on physical work to a professional office environment. After experiencing a poor culture fit at one company, Mitch learned that researching an organization’s culture matters as much as its role requirements. His successful strategy involved meticulous organization – tracking applications, tailoring resumes for specific positions, and analyzing success rates. Mitch stresses that today’s high-volume environment requires persistence and treating rejection as a numbers game. Don’t limit yourself geographically, as expanding the search radius significantly increases opportunities. Success comes from thorough company research, customized applications over easy-apply features, and systematic tracking with self-reflection throughout the process.

About Our Guest:

Mitch Kutin is a recruitment specialist at the University of Oregon. 

Resources in This Episode:

Transcript

Find Your Dream Job, Bonus Episode 85:

One Hire at a Time: Mitch Kutin’s Job Search Success Story

Airdate: September 2, 2025

Mac Prichard:

This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.

I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.

One of the best ways to get good at job hunting is to talk to people who do it well.

That’s why once a month, I interview a Mac’s List reader who found a job they love. Our guest today is Mitch Kutin.

He’s a recruitment specialist at the University of Oregon.

Changing careers can be daunting, especially during uncertain times. In a story you can find on the Mac’s List website, Mitch shares how he turned a pandemic pivot into a new career in recruiting.

Mitch joins us today to talk about how he made this switch, the strategies that helped him land the job, and the lessons he learned along the way.

Well, Mitch, why do you love your job?

Mitch Kutin:

I work at the University of Oregon, go ducks. I love my job because the team that I have found myself on is just one of those special units that I feel is so difficult to know you’re going to step into. Although I had very good feelings throughout the recruiting process.

We do an extraordinary job at keeping the team feeling like a team, being a cohesive unit as we work together to cover all the facets of HR, payroll, and business ops.

An example of this is that our director, Courtney, has us do in-person weekly meetings on Wednesdays. We start these meetings off by going over our core values, kind of giving people just shout-outs and kudos for doing well at exemplifying those values that we as a team really hold center to how we’re doing our work.

It’s a practice that I take notes on– the culture management– because it shouts out your personal successes, but always in collaboration with either a partner unit we’re working with, and frequently team members who we’re working with on specific projects.

Doing it in person, I have just found to be so good at reinforcing the team building component, the good culture component. It brings us into a space where you get better the longer you’re in that space.

But after a full year of being with the university, you can really see how we, around the team that I’m on, all have good ideas about the work we do with each other and the work our colleagues do.

And it’s a very comfortable and successful team environment to work in. I could not be happier with where I landed from my job search.

Mac Prichard:

Well, terrific. Congratulations. And you came to this work after a career pivot during the pandemic, Mitch. What was the hardest part about making that change?

Mitch Kutin:

It’s a two-front answer. There was the hardest part about stepping away from what I was doing before. I was the operations manager of a ninja fitness gym. You know, it’s a small, mom-and-pop-style fitness location, and you really get to know the members.

Four hundred people coming in and out, taking classes, doing private training, and you have a really solid relationship with the community around you, especially as the operations manager overseeing all the physical training.

So leaving that was difficult. There was a real, you know, season of my life that I loved, and stepping away from it was intentional, important, the right decision, but not without the meaning and thoughtfulness that should come with that kind of a goodbye.

Going from a professional position where you are on your feet overseeing training, overseeing literal obstacles being built, and all the administrative obstacles, especially during the COVID pandemic, to a position where you’re then sitting at a desk or standing at a desk – luckily, I’ve always had a sit-stand…

Looking at spreadsheets, going from how do I phrase something to a customer on the fly in an in-person interaction to having maybe half the interactions you have as a recruiter being written, having to watch for email tone, kind of getting into that new, at least new for me transition to professional language, professional tact, some office politics, I think, just comes with the territory that you’re in the space together and you have to know how to navigate that.

That transition was almost a coming of age for me professionally. It went from a role that I was so comfortable in. I borderline created the operations manager role for myself, to filling shoes that were outlined by somebody else, with an expectation that was at the time still being created. I love being able to create positions that I’ve stepped into.

But recruiting and being a professional recruiter on an HR team comes with a whole host of how-tos that you grow into if you didn’t go to school for something like that.

Mac Prichard:

So, you’re at the University of Oregon now, Mitch. How did you find your current job?

Mitch Kutin:

I was with the nonprofit when I first started as a recruiter for about two and a half years. I had a brief amount of time with another company. I had hit the point with the first organization where I love the people I worked with, really loved the team and the work I did, but there wasn’t any upward mobility left in the role I had.

I learned everything I was going to learn there, and it was time for me to step away and find some new opportunities, really stepping into a larger pond. The next organization I won’t take too much time with it.

You know, sometimes you roll the dice and it’s not a good fit. It taught me a lot about how someone on the job-hunting side of the recruiting cycle should put in the time and effort to research a company and its culture.

And even if a position looks like a really good position, having the confidence that you are going to be a good fit with the team you’ve been talking to through the recruiting process, I think can save a lot of time and effort and maybe some painful realizations later culture fit is important and it can really play into job satisfaction.

Try taking the briefest pause from job hunting and then getting right back to thinking there’d be a better fit for me somewhere else. The challenges I encountered were, by and large, like that daunting new age numbers game that we all play in so many places.

There are websites after websites, including LinkedIn and Indeed, as well as Facebook Jobs. Depending on what you’re looking for, you’ll find more specific ones where a position is posted. You can go and apply. Lots of them are set up for an easy application, and it makes the process super quick.

But of course, the faster you can apply, the more applications you can send out. There are more of us on the planet now. It’s just that the industry, or at least the volume of applications, has exploded.

Mac Prichard:

It has. And so you left the gym, you were at another organization where you were working and recruiting, and you were ready for a change. You were looking online and you saw those easy- apply numbers.

Why the University of Oregon, Mitch? And how did you learn about the position, and what worked for you when you were applying for that job? How did you beat those often intimidating figures that you can find online?

Mitch Kutin:

You look at it from the outside, see what works, do your homework, and talk to experts. I will preach the gospel of Mac’s List being such a good resource for anybody, because I mean, it’s a field where some of us are fortunate we work in the field, so we have that behind-the-curtain knowledge of what’s going on.

Mac Prichard:

Yeah. And I know some listeners and viewers are eager to hear from behind the curtain. Talk about your experience both as a candidate when you applied to the University of Oregon, and let’s also, in a moment, talk about your experience as a recruiter. But what worked for you when you were applying for that position at Oregon?

Mitch Kutin:

All right. So the numbers game is an important base level to remember. There are more applications going out now than ever. Refining your application for the company and position you are trying to land is super important.

It is worth taking the time, as it often pays dividends in the interview process. If you took the time to sit down, read the position description, and do the tailoring work for your resume and application materials yourself.

AI is important to know how to use and super helpful, but really thinking about things, I don’t think there’s any substitute for it. Having done that work, if you get to the point where you’re talking to a recruiter, you’re in the interview, you’ve thought about it for longer, and that thought really shows in those conversations, I think it can help anybody stand out at that phase to have done the work beforehand.

Don’t limit yourself. Be creative, look at different positions in different industries, and look at your skillset. In your resume, I’d say exemplify achievements that highlight a robust set of skills for each achievement rather than just listing off what you have done, being able to cite sources with real numbers, how many successes you’ve had, how many interactions you do, you know, in X amount of time.

All of that takes up slices of the pie chart that, together, come into landing the job, catching a recruiter’s eye, and being that standout candidate.

And I have one more thing. Don’t limit yourself geographically. Working from home is great, but if you’re really looking to move forward in your career, you might have a lot more success broadening a search horizon geographically, being willing to move. It’s a huge and difficult step, but it opens up so many opportunities.

Mac Prichard:

And when you talk about working, not just remotely, but looking at hybrid positions too, which might require you to come into the office two or three days a week. Yeah. Tailor your resume, be selective, and spend the time to learn about the position within the organization.

That’s great advice in your role as a recruiter. In your article for us, for Mac’s List, you talked about your own search that brought you to the University of Oregon. One of the things that you called out was the way you organized your search, Mitch. Talk a bit about the tools you used and how they helped you when you were looking for the job you have now.

Mitch Kutin:

Organization. It’s one of the skills I learned as a recruiter. Have folder trees for everything, especially as you work in a more and more complicated organization doing the same level of professional work, but for yourself, I mean, showcases how well you can do the work if it is, you know, helping you succeed.

There’s a reason we all have the skills we do, and they help so much with the jobs we take on. But organizing your resume as you tailor it for specific jobs, filing away the different types of positions you have applied with, the different companies you’ve applied with, and keeping track of your applications manually.

Indeed and LinkedIn will also help you with this, and I want to make sure you’re aware of the data they can provide. It allows for a good reflective picture of what you’re doing for yourself and what you’re doing that’s either working or not.

If you can look at your search, see that you’ve sent out a hundred applications, and you haven’t heard back. Yeah, there’s information there that is super valuable, and the way forward is always learning, growing, implementing that new knowledge, and working on the tactics for your overall strategy.

If you’re not getting the callbacks from initial applications, look at your application material itself. It’s a lot of work, but sometimes tearing it all down and restarting from scratch is the easiest way to do a revamp rather than taking something that you’re finding doesn’t work and hitting the details.

If you’re landing lots of phone calls and you’re not moving into an interview, I lean so heavily on my friends at that point. Like I know for me, I offer friends assistance with resumes, assistance with mock interviews. And when I was in the position where I needed that, I didn’t hesitate to ask, just have somebody do a Q and A.

You can write the questions, or you can have the internet tell you what’s likely to be asked, but practicing them continues forward at each point in the applicant and interview process.

Figure out by tracking the information and keeping your notes organized per interactions that you have, what’s working, what’s not, and just keep building on what is working.

Mac Prichard:

Well, it’s been a great conversation. Mitch, now tell us what’s your number one job hunting tip?

Mitch Kutin:

Oh, the number one job hunting tip has to be persistence. It all floats back to the numbers game. We live in such a high-volume age. The age of information has all sorts going on, and to be able to stay, you know, just stay dedicated to the project and task of finding that new job. I have the fortitude internally to withstand a lot of rejection.

I know it’s difficult, like I have been there, and you almost gamify it if you know you’re going to be rejected 90% of the time, and you want to talk to 10 different companies. That’s 100 applications out.

Like I said, not limiting yourself geographically is how I ended up at the University of Oregon. I love Portland. It is so near and dear to my heart, but a really cool opportunity presented itself two hours down south.

So, you know, away I went, I didn’t limit myself to just the Portland area. I didn’t let all of the rejections that I encountered at different stages of the recruiting process with other companies slow me down.

I was just, okay, well, this worked. Here’s the next week’s, you know, 10 new postings for jobs that I’d be interested in. Onward and just have that momentum, keep it going. Do good self-care, stay positive, and just have internal fortitude. You’ll get through it.

Mac Prichard:

Thank you for sharing your story, Mitch. And if you’d like to learn more about Mitch Kutin’s job search, visit macslist.org/stories and go to the Mac’s List website for dozens of other success stories.

On the second Friday of every month, we have a new interview with a Mac’s List reader who has found a dream job. Go to macslist.org/stories.

In the meantime, thank you for listening to today’s bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job.

This show is produced by Mac’s List.

Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson creates our transcripts and manages our social media.

Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.

This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.