Search & Replace S04E17: Kleopatra Papazahariou

Imagine being told your entire life that you can’t achieve your dreams, only to find yourself on the brink of a life-changing decision. Kleopatra Papazahariou defied the expectations placed on her and transformed a simple temp job into a thriving six-figure career. Growing up in a traditional Greek immigrant family, Kleopatra found that her future was limited to marriage and motherhood. But when faced with a personal crisis, she made a bold move that saved her family and launched her into an unexpected and successful career in staffing. Kleopatra’s journey is a testament to the power of speaking up, seizing opportunities, and helping others rise to their potential. Whether you’re looking to reinvent your career or simply need a reminder of what’s possible when you believe in yourself, this episode of Search and Replace is packed with inspiration and practical wisdom. 

More about today’s guest:

• Get to know Kleopatra Papazahariou on her company website , kellyservices.com. 
• Connect with Kleopatra via her LinkedIn. 

Explore these related stories:

• 10 pieces of career advice that can help you reach your goals quickly. 
• Check out 11 reasons you should use a recruiter to guide you through the job-search process. 
• Brandi Fowler examines how staffing agencies work and how to use them to your advantage to land a job. 
• Why having a mentor is the perfect resource. 

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Transcript:

[00:00:00] Announcer: Support for the following podcast is provided by the user experience Specialists at Johns & Taylor. More information follows this episode.  

[00:00:09] Joe Taylor Jr.: What if your entire career comes down to just one moment where you decide it’s time to speak up for yourself? I’m Joe Taylor, Jr. This is Search and Replace. 

[00:00:20] Kleopatra Papazahariou says her early family life didn’t fully prepare her for the kind of big decisions she’d have to make as an adult. In fact, it only got her ready for a few very specific things.  

[00:00:41] Kleopatra Papazahariou: Being a girl in an immigrant family growing up Greek, they didn’t have a lot of expectations for us at all. You grow up, you get married, you have babies. It’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I mean, it’s the story of my life, it really is.  

[00:00:55] I remember the very first time somebody told me I couldn’t do something, and that feeling I had on the inside of, who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do, because I don’t even know what I can and can’t do at the time. 

[00:01:06] As weirdly as it is to say it like this, it was almost forced upon me, right?  

[00:01:10] Joe Taylor Jr.: Kleopatra found herself facing a challenge that really none of us ever expect, no matter what our lives were like growing up.  

[00:01:18] Kleopatra Papazahariou: I was in a situation where It was either do or not die, but it was kind of a drastic situation in my personal life. We were pretty poor at the time My ex, well, husband at the time had made some rather poor decisions for the family. Power was off. We didn’t have any food in the fridge. We couldn’t pay the bills. I only had a restaurant background, hotel background. You know, I think at the time I was only making like 10 bucks an hour. Both of us were unemployed.  

[00:01:49] It was really tough. So I had to get out there and find a job. I didn’t know what to do. I ended up a role a, as a receptionist making 10 bucks an hour that I had to drive an hour each way for five days a week, working four hours a day. Didn’t make any sense logically, right? You’d say that the gas money, the daycare, it seems like it would be lopsided. So financially, it seems like a silly move, but I thought who knows what it could lead to.  

[00:02:15] Joe Taylor Jr.: Seizing that opportunity set Kleopatra down a path that really would change her life in the long run.  

[00:02:22] Kleopatra Papazahariou: It ended up being that the agency that I was working for was hiring internally. And I raised my hand one day and I thought, You’re hiring? You didn’t call me? Like, you know I’m looking for work. And at the moment, I’d never ever raised my hand for anything like that before. I don’t know where it came from. But something rose up in me and said, Girl, you need to say something because you need to eat. 

[00:02:42] I went in for the interview and I was on the 30th floor of a high rise in downtown Milwaukee. And the lady that I was interviewing with, I don’t know if you’ve seen that TV show, Suits? Where they have like those crisp suits in downtown, they’re dressed to the nines and they’re so intimidating. Well, she’s interviewing me and she’s asking me all these tough questions. I don’t know how to answer them. But she’s like doing her hair in the window behind me. And I’m just like, oh, this is bombing. Like, this is going awful.  

[00:03:07] So as I’m walking out the door knowing I wasn’t getting the job, I looked her in the eyes. I’m shaking her hand and I said, look I know I don’t have a type A personality, but I know I can do this job if you just give me a chance. And she did! I thought that was the moment that I lost the job. It ended up being the moment that she said, yeah, she’s going to get it.  

[00:03:22] That year I started off as a recruiter who was making 35,000 a year. From 10 bucks an hour to 35,000 just like that. Mind you, I was a good Greek girl, right? So I didn’t go to school. I didn’t get my degree. I’ll let him do it. So I made 35, 000 that first year I netted 75, 000 with commissions and everything. Within a few years made it to six figures. I’ve never looked back.  

[00:03:46] Joe Taylor Jr.: That six figure career that Kleopatra landed all has to do with helping other people find their ideal jobs. 

[00:03:54] Kleopatra Papazahariou: What I’ve done since then in, what, 20 some years is build a career in staffing, basically working every single role, every vertical, except for engineering and science. You don’t want me doing that. And I have been a part of so many people’s career stories. So all the things that my parents said I couldn’t do, I’m out there helping other people do it. And it is the story of my life and it is the passion of my life. 

[00:04:21] And who knew? Because I took a 10-dollar temp job. That 10-dollar temp job for me eventually led to where I’m a single mom now and I was able to get out of a gnarly situation. And I’ve been able to help others do that.  

[00:04:36] Like I have a gal that never made more than 8 dollars an hour in her life and is now the director of business analytics for a firm in downtown New York City managing global software developers, QA teams, and offshore, onshore, like, she doesn’t have a degree either. She worked her way up from a receptionist, just like I did. And she surpassed me, like, she’s crushing it. We have people that are project managers that are now CIOs.  

[00:05:02] So I look at it from both perspectives. My candidates today are my hiring managers tomorrow. So I get to see the dream from both sides. 

[00:05:10] People that come in today as a candidate, and I get to put them in the job of their dreams. Now, when they’re in those roles, I get to help them build a department of their dreams and help them make those jobs their dreams and make that position their dream. 

[00:05:26] Joe Taylor Jr.: Kleopatra says that making the kind of human connection she forged with her job interviewer in that office building all those years ago is crucial for anyone looking to change careers today. 

[00:05:39] Kleopatra Papazahariou: I’m lucky because I’ve had some pretty good mentors. And I heard somebody say once, mentorship is good, it’s great, it’s awesome, but who’s your sponsor in life? Who’s your sponsor at work? So I think about that a lot and who can I, what doors can I kick down for somebody to help them get to where they want to get to? 

[00:05:56] My dad used to always say, your reputation walks into the room before you do, so make sure it’s got good things to say about you. So I try to walk with integrity everywhere I go because it is a small world. People know you and if you think about karma and try to do all the right things as much as you can then good things come back to you. 

[00:06:15] There are moments where I sit back and I feel like I’m watching myself and I’m like, oh my God, I’m really doing this and it is the coolest feeling in the world and I really love my job and I love the people around me. And what I find the most satisfaction in is seeing them succeed.  

[00:06:32] I used to say I want to see my name up in lights I don’t care anymore. I want to see yours, and yours, and yours, and I want to see them make more money. That kind of stuff, for me, is exhilarating.  

[00:06:45] Joe Taylor Jr.: That’s Kleopatra Papazahariou, Executive Board Member of the Illinois Search and Staffing Association. We’ve got links to Kleopatra’s work in our show notes and on our website at searchandreplace.show.  

[00:06:57] Today’s episode was produced by Nicole Hubbard with help from the entire Podcast Taxi team. I’m Joe Taylor Jr.  

[00:07:03] Announcer: This has been a Podcast Taxi radio production.  

[00:07:07] Support for Search and Replace is provided by Johns & Taylor, user experience specialists serving media and technology companies that want their websites to work. 

[00:07:17] Learn more about how top performing businesses eliminate barriers between customers and their goals at www.MakeTheWebsiteWorkForMe.com