About Kevin Holbert
Founder, Careeroffensive
Kevin Holbert grew up in a tiny village in Ohio called East Palestine – a place almost no one had heard of until a train derailment put it on the map for all the wrong reasons in 2022. Coming from a small town shaped how he works: straight talk, loyalty, and a deep sense of responsibility to the people who trust him.
Before he ever built a job board or a career product, Kevin was an engineer and operator. He ran manufacturing plants, managed large teams, and learned firsthand how companies make hiring decisions, what they really look for in people, and how much talent gets missed simply because the system is noisy and inefficient.
The Journey
From Engineering to Recruiting
Kevin launched a contingent recruiting firm after running manufacturing plants and managing large teams.
The Pattern Emerges
For every candidate placed, dozens more talented people remained stuck in the search. The system was broken.
Building at Scale
Developed a job marketing platform sending hundreds of millions of emails monthly, matching millions of candidates to roles.
Careeroffensive is Born
Built to help people go on offense—identify the next step up, find the right companies, and reach decision-makers directly.
The System is Broken
From the outside, it looked like a success story. But from the inside, Kevin could see the cracks.
Online job applications became black holes
Applications disappeared into overloaded ATS systems
"Easy Apply" became "Apply to everything"
AI-driven auto-applies flooded postings with low-intent resumes
Great candidates got buried in noise
Competing against automated volume, not other humans
The traditional online job search is no longer efficient.
15+ Years of Expertise
Kevin has lived every side of the hiring equation
Job Board Architecture
Built and scaled platforms that match millions of candidates to opportunities
Recruiting Operations
Ran contingent recruiting and consulted for major hiring organizations
Distributed Leadership
Led engineering teams across borders through extraordinary circumstances
Leadership That Shows Up
Kevin's approach to business isn't just technical – it's deeply personal.
For nearly a decade, he has led a distributed engineering and data team based in Ukraine. When the war began and borders closed, one of his senior developers and that developer's young family were suddenly living in an active war zone.
Instead of sending an email and hoping for the best, Kevin flew to Eastern Europe, crossed into Ukraine himself with a security team, and worked on the ground to help his employee's family reach safety. It was risky, uncomfortable, and far outside the normal job description of a founder – and exactly in line with how he believes leaders should act.
"You don't leave people stranded in a broken system when you have the means to help."
Why Careeroffensive Exists
Instead of asking, "How do we help people apply to more jobs?", Careeroffensive is built around a different question:
How do we help people go on offense in their career—identify the next step up, find the right companies, and reach decision-makers directly?
Careeroffensive is the culmination of Kevin's experience building job boards, running massive job alert systems, consulting for hiring organizations, and living every side of the hiring equation: candidate, recruiter, platform owner, and employer.
He knows exactly what happens after you click "Apply" – and why you so often never hear back.