Carina Hoff is a Eustis, Florida, native who came to Jacksonville to play volleyball for the University of North Florida. She’s a right-side hitter who majored in Health Administration as an undergrad and also got a master’s degree in Athletic Administration. She played both indoor and beach volleyball and won two division championships (2014 and 2016) with the UNF beach volleyball team.
After graduation, Carina played professional volleyball in Finland and Austria. She returned to the States in 2021 to look for a business career, since the pandemic had made volleyball seasons and travel unpredictable all over the world. The staff at XPG Recruit reached out to her about a recruiting position with ProCare Therapy, a company that staffs clinical and therapy professionals for schools across the country.
“I didn’t really know much about the staffing industry or recruiting,” Carina says. “But once I learned more, it seemed like a good fit for me. I was hired to help start up a new Jacksonville office in 2021, and I’m really enjoying the work.”
Carina loves working with the young team at ProCare Therapy, and the skills she acquired as a student athlete have helped her succeed in the company. “As an athlete, you have to be very disciplined and organized,” she says. “You learn to work well within a structure (between training, practice, travel and meets) and you have to be self-motivated. I have met my sales goals because I knew how to manage my time and stay on task.”
In fact, Carina was promoted within her team and now coaches new hires on how to achieve their sales goals. She spends lots of time coaching these days, since she is also a part-time coach for girls’ varsity volleyball at Fletcher High School in Jacksonville. “Coaching is natural for me,” she says. “I like helping people achieve their potential and gain confidence in their skills.”
Carina says athletes understand that it takes plenty of hard work and practice before you see a return on investment. They don’t expect immediate results, so they don’t get discouraged easily. And although coaching is a big part of every athlete’s career, they also understand that they have to put in the effort themselves, even when they don’t feel like it and when no one’s making them do it. “I can tell right away who will be successful in this company by how disciplined and self-motivated they are,” she says. “If they’re not willing to put in the work, they won’t get the results they want.”
XPG Recruit knows that sales and staffing are a good fit for athletes because they’re competitive, fast-moving industries. The toughness, grit, and intense focus a player gains through sports makes her a fearsome competitor in business as well.