Digital · Marketing · Creative
KYOSearch PartnersDigital, marketing and creative headhunting
AI-Native · 20 Years of Recruiting Consultancy
Talent is your greatest advantage.
A boutique search partner for the digital, marketing and creative people who move a business forward — placed permanently, chosen carefully, advised honestly.
The Firm
Founded by Kelly Yosten. Senior-level recruiting since 2007 across business development and search, in multiple divisions and industries.
Every great brand is built by the people behind it.
KYO is a boutique house, not an agency floor. Twenty years of recruiting consultancy sit behind every search — which means you get a partner who has already met a thousand versions of the role you're trying to fill, and who will tell you plainly which version you actually need.
Modern tooling makes the work faster; judgment makes it right. AI handles the sourcing breadth, the market mapping and the noise. Kelly handles the conversations, the references, the read on whether a person will thrive in your particular room. Nothing is outsourced to a coordinator you'll never meet.
Specialties
Which disciplines does KYO search?
Three disciplines, searched deeply rather than broadly.
Digital
The teams that own acquisition, product surface and the numbers behind them.
- Growth & Performance
- Product & UX
- Digital Strategy
- Web & Development
- Social & Community
Marketing
Operators and leaders who turn a positioning deck into pipeline.
- Brand & Communications
- Demand Generation
- Content & Lifecycle
- Product Marketing
- CMO & VP Search
Creative
Makers and directors with a point of view — and the craft to defend it.
- Art & Creative Direction
- Brand & Product Design
- Copy & Content
- Video & Motion
- Studio & Production
Which engagement fits the hire you are making?
| Engagement | Reach for it when | How it works | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retained Executive Search | The role is leadership, confidential, or hard enough to define that the first three candidates will not answer the question | A committed engagement, funded in stages, with the market worked systematically | Companies |
| Direct-Hire Placement | The role is already well defined and properly priced, and what you need is coverage and someone to run it | A placement fee on hire | Companies |
| Hiring Strategy & Advisory | You are not yet sure the role is scoped right, or the last search stalled and nobody knows why | Standalone advisory, or the first phase of a search | Companies |
| Candidate Coaching | You are the one looking, and good applications are going nowhere | Direct work with Kelly on your search | Individuals |
More Than a Placement
What do you get beyond a placement?
A consultant first. A headhunter second.
Most firms are paid to fill the requisition in front of them. KYO is paid to be right. That means advising companies before a job description is ever written — and coaching professionals long before their name lands on a shortlist.
Read the JournalFor Companies
Hiring strategy & advisory
Before the search begins, we get to the nitty-gritty: what this hire is truly accountable for, what level actually delivers it, and what the market pays for that — not what a salary tool guessed.
- Scoping the right role — often one hire instead of the two you budgeted for
- Compensation reality-checks: where you're underpaying, and where you're overpaying for a title
- Interview process design that doesn't lose the best candidate in week three
- Market mapping — who exists, who's movable, what it takes to move them
For Candidates
Get seen & get hired
Talented people lose roles they'd have been great at because nobody ever read their resume. Kelly coaches on the mechanics — the unglamorous, decisive part of a search.
- Beating the ATS so a human being actually sees your application
- Resume rewrites that lead with outcomes, not responsibilities
- LinkedIn positioning and using your network the way recruiters do
- Using AI in your search without sounding like everyone else who used AI
For Companies
How does KYO work with companies?
Retained & direct-hire search.
Permanent placements only — no contract, no temp, no volume. Each engagement is a retained or placement-fee search run personally, with a shortlist you can actually read in one sitting: four or five people, each with a reason they're on the page.
You'll hear the truth about your search early. If the role is mis-scoped, if the comp band won't clear the market, if the perfect candidate you described doesn't exist — you'll know in week one, not month three.
See how the engagements workServices
Four ways to work with KYO.
- Retained Executive Search
A committed, funded engagement for leadership and confidential roles, where the whole market gets worked systematically rather than opportunistically.
- Direct-Hire Placement
Permanent placement on a placement-fee basis for well-defined roles. No contract, no temp, no volume.
- Hiring Strategy & Advisory
Work on the role before the search: what it is really accountable for, who delivers that, and what the market pays for it.
- Candidate Coaching
Coaching on resume, LinkedIn, network, applicant tracking systems and using AI in a search, for people in digital, marketing and creative.
For Talent
How does KYO work with candidates?
Confidential representation, honest counsel.
Your search stays yours. Nothing is submitted anywhere without your explicit yes, and your name never circulates as a resume in a database. When a role fits, you get the unvarnished version: the team, the tension, the money, the ceiling.
And when it doesn't fit, you still get something useful — a sharper resume, a stronger profile, a clearer read on where your experience commands the most. Relationships here outlast any single opening.
How representation worksThe Difference
“Recruiting is a relationship business — twenty years of it. AI just lets me run it at the scale of a firm.”
Kelly Yosten, Founder — KYO Search Partners
“You want all these things — but let's get to the nitty-gritty of what you really need.” It's the sentence that starts most engagements, and the reason clients come back. Expertise and honesty, in that order.
Common Questions
The questions that come up first.
What kind of roles does KYO Search Partners fill?
- Senior and leadership roles across three disciplines — digital, marketing and creative. That includes growth and performance, product and UX, brand and communications, demand generation, content, product marketing, art and creative direction, design, and CMO or VP-level search.
Does KYO do contract or temporary staffing?
- No. KYO places permanent, direct-hire talent only, through retained search and placement engagements. If you need contract or temporary coverage, we will tell you that up front rather than take the engagement.
What is the difference between retained and contingent search?
- A retained search is a committed engagement — the search is funded in stages and the market is worked systematically, which is appropriate for leadership roles and confidential replacements. Contingent search is paid only on placement. Retained search buys you focus and a documented process; contingent search buys you optionality.
Do you work with companies that have no internal recruiting team?
- That is most of our work. Companies of roughly 100 to 1,000 people usually have HR but no dedicated talent function, so senior searches land on someone who already has a full-time job. KYO runs the search end to end and advises on the role definition before it starts.
What does the consulting side actually cover?
- Two things. For companies: what the role really needs to be, what the right profile looks like, and what it should pay — often the answer is that you need less than the job description says and can save budget. For candidates: LinkedIn and network, resume, how applicant tracking systems actually work, and how to use AI in a search.
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