She'd never write a CV that does her justice — she's far too busy being brilliant. So I did it for her. Consider this her résumé, with a heartbeat.
The candidate in question: Karen Kerkow
Scroll to meet her ↓Most candidates list their strengths. My mum has just been quietly living hers for decades.
Some people talk about their to-do list. My mum quietly demolishes hers, then starts eyeing up everyone else's. "I'll sort it" isn't a maybe — it's a binding legal contract.
She also doesn't do anything by halves: whatever the role is, she puts her whole self into it. Inspiring or mildly intimidating, depending on where you're standing.
Put my mum in a room with a total stranger and you'll come back to find a lifelong friendship and possibly a dinner invitation. She genuinely loves talking to people, and it shows.
Your trickiest client, your shyest new hire and the delivery driver who's always running late will all somehow leave the conversation in a better mood. Front desk, sales floor, customer calls — natural habitat.
Hand my mum something she's never done before and she won't panic — she'll ask good questions, take a few notes, and be quietly better at it than the rest of us by Thursday.
She has zero ego about not knowing something yet, which is the superpower most CVs only pretend to have. Your onboarding budget is about to have a very relaxing week.
My mum's default setting is "how can I help?" and she genuinely cannot switch it off — we've tried. That instinct is worth a small fortune in any customer-facing role: she clocks what someone needs before they've finished asking for it.
Mild warning: customers may become emotionally attached and start requesting her by name.
My mum will remember your name, your dog's name, the fact you had a rough week, and your exact coffee order — without writing a single thing down.
Teams don't quietly fall apart around people like her; they actually want to show up. Retention specialists: she does for free what you spend all of Q4 trying to achieve.
Full disclosure from her child and lifelong taste-tester: my mum cooks insane home-cooked meals and bakes things that have genuinely no right to be that good. Hire her and watch Monday-morning attendance mysteriously climb to 100%.
She's also got a backyard that's basically a company BBQ waiting to happen — there go your summer social plans, sorted.
Dog people are loyal, patient, impossible to rattle and weirdly excellent in a crisis — and my mum is the blueprint. She'll stick around, she'll have your back, and she'll be exactly as kind and warm-hearted on day 900 as she was on day one.
She leads with her heart, puts everyone else first, and somehow still gets more done than the rest of us. And if you've got an office dog? Consider this interview already aced.
You can teach a lot of things. You can't teach being Karen.— Her son, & lifelong reference
That's all seven reasons. There are honestly more — I just had to stop somewhere. If you'd like to meet the candidate herself, here's where to find her.