From Global TA Director to Career Coach: Melissa Grabiner’s Journey

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, Melissa Grabiner, Founder of GrabCo and a top-ranked HR influencer, shares how she transitioned from an 18-year career as a Global Director of Talent Acquisition to building a thriving job search coaching business. After being laid off twice due to location changes, Melissa leaned into the overwhelming demand from LinkedIn followers asking for resume and profile help — turning what started as advice in her DMs into a full-scale coaching brand. Today, she’s helped over 700 job seekers land roles by rewriting resumes, optimizing LinkedIn profiles, and revealing insider recruiter search strategies most candidates never see.Melissa opens up about how she grew her LinkedIn following from 30,000 to nearly 500,000 in five years through consistency, authenticity, and deeply empathetic job seeker content. She breaks down her hands-on coaching model, why she personally responds to every DM, how LinkedIn Recruiter licenses work behind the scenes, and how brand partnerships have become an additional revenue stream. Looking ahead, she shares plans to launch a newsletter and scale through group coaching — all while staying true to the authenticity that built her platform.