Spotlight: Kelly Torchia on pursuing executive search after 25 years in recruiting

Kelly Torchia experienced a variety of cities, roles and schedules during her career, but the dedication she applies to finding and placing the best talent has been consistent for over 25 years. Now, as a senior associate practice leader working within the finance and accounting vertical at Charles Aris, Kelly is excited to continue honing her standards for excellence.

The future recruiter moved a lot even as a child, but she claims Indiana after having spent her teenage and early college years in the north-central region of the state. Kelly’s father often relocated for his work in the industrial sector, and after she attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, her family followed him to the San Francisco area.

Pursuing temp work in her new home on the West Coast, Kelly applied her degree in liberal arts and communication to a variety of companies. A staffing agency eventually recruited her to work for a smaller, industrial organization where her two-day temping stint evolved into a five-year career as a recruiter focused on placing engineers, architects and CAD designers within local industrial manufacturing companies. Kelly enjoyed her time with this team but made the difficult decision to leave and pursue opportunities back in Indiana.

In Indiana, Kelly took to online job boards in search of an organization where she could apply her already-strong recruiting experience. The hiring solutions firm Robert Half was looking to add a staffing professional role to its administrative and customer support practice group, and Kelly signed on, eventually moving into a leadership capacity as a vice president and branch director.

Robert Half is where Kelly would spend the next 23 years, starting in Indiana and relocating to the Tampa Bay area, where her role and responsibilities consistently evolved as she grew her experience and sought out a variety of growth opportunities. After spending time focused on recruiting and business development, she moved into a regional training role that required a rigorous travel schedule.

In her time leading a recruiting practice with Robert Half, she worked across industries such as healthcare, administration, finance and accounting. While she spent the early years of her career building out the firm’s healthcare recruiting capabilities, finding and placing candidates in the finance and accounting arena proved highly satisfying.

According to Kelly, the leadership and training roles she led were also highly rewarding. In these positions she was able to guide close team members through their career development goals and train future leaders within the firm. In 2020, when the pandemic halted travel, Kelly’s high-mileage role transitioned back to the Saint Petersburg, Florida office, where she spent the next two years as a practice director for the administrative and customer support group.

At the end of this two-year period, Kelly decided it was time to explore new career paths and make a change in her professional life. She had some exposure to executive-level recruiting in her tenure with Robert Half but wanted deep experience working with C-Suite-level searches. When an opportunity appeared with the Charles Aris Finance & Accounting Practice, she reached out.

Kelly was already familiar with the finance and accounting industry and had a deep understanding of its facets from her career conversations with candidates in prior roles. Speaking with people of this background over the years helped develop Kelly’s confidence, and upon meeting finance and accounting practice leaders Jim Etling and Ryan Morgan at Charles Aris, she confirmed her decision to join the executive search firm.

The now senior associate practice leader works fully remote from her home in St. Pete where she spends her free time fundraising for the SPCA and taking care of her golden retriever, Ace. Kelly is also an avid reader and enjoys the outdoors, frequently paddling her kayak around the waters of Tampa Bay and playing tennis.

She’s excited to bring her recruiting knowledge to Charles Aris clients in need of top financial leaders, especially for roles with overlapping talent needs in finance, accounting, healthcare and administration.

If you’re interested in learning more about our recruiting capabilities in finance and accounting, contact Kelly Torchia at kelly.torchia@charlesaris.com or (571) 701-9201.