About
Our Mission
The traditional recruitment model is broken. The process has turned into a kind of bad dating app where both sides are trying to look as attractive as possible to each other. This creates unrealistic expectations which leads to poor candidate selection during the recruitment process and ultimately results in frustration for everyone.
Our mission emerged from seeing how candidates and organisations both seek alignment of values and direction, yet often miss finding meaningful connections through conventional recruitment practices. I founded Pike & Owl as a boutique recruitment and executive coaching firm focused on connecting exceptional international talent with organisations in Europe. We aim to transform the standard process by creating matches where authentic value alignment leads to both organisational success and individual fulfilment, supporting executives through career transitions with deep understanding of leadership challenges.
Our Vision
We fundamentally believe successful placements and career transitions depend on authentic value alignment between individuals and organisations. Rather than simply matching skills to job descriptions, we conduct deep explorations of both companies’ actual needs and candidates’ authentic strengths. When executives understand their authentic value and aren’t pretending to be what a company wants, they become better leaders who propel organisations forward. This is the difference between fitting in and belonging – as Brené Brown says “the opposite of belonging is fitting in.” True belonging leads to happier professionals, stronger teams, and organisations that achieve their goals through aligned values and direction.
Our vision is to occupy a specialised niche at the intersection of executive recruitment and leadership development, differentiated through my executive experience, psychological understanding, and international expertise. By helping executives discover their authentic value and find roles where they truly belong, we create meaningful, lasting partnerships that benefit both individuals and organisations, measuring success by long-term impact rather than transactional placements.
Our Founder
Rikke Wivel has worked at the executive level for most of her career. She served as CEO of EMG from 2020 to 2022, leading strategic marketing and communications for industrial technology companies. Before that, she held leadership positions at organisations like Cirque du Soleil, Monster Worldwide, Staples Europe, and Beiersdorf, where she developed and implemented marketing and business strategies that drove growth.
Her career has been truly international. Danish by birth, Rikke moved away after university and has only worked in international organisations. She’s lived and led teams in Montreal, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and Rotterdam. This has given her deep knowledge of different markets and business cultures, particularly in Europe, and an understanding of what it takes to succeed across borders.
