The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

This week’s episode is a collaboration between RAG Podcast and Recruitment Mentors Podcast! Hishem and I host two of the most well-known, highly-regarded podcasts in our sector. We started them at roughly the same time, and we even used to record them in the same Hoxo HQ studio! After sitting down together at the recent recruitment expo, we realised that we’ve released well over 500 recruitment episodes and interviewed/met 1000+ over this period We thought it would be interesting to come together to discuss the five traits that we see in the most successful recruitment founders. You'll find that Hishem and I do agree on most areas, but we have slightly different views in certain areas too. Hope you enjoy this special episode and do take notes!! 00:00 Introduction 09:03 Chapter 1: Creating a Business that Works for You 16:11 Chapter 2: The Power of Niche and Brand 33:30 Chapter 4: Building a Sales Culture 44:30 Getting Out of Your Own Way 56:44 Prioritising Personal Health and Well-being __________________________________________ Episode sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing process to find the top 1% and secure these people roles in UK agencies doing research, marketing, finance, sourcing, end-to-end recruiting, coordination and account management. All candidates are benchmarked against UK competency frameworks and are tested for the highest level of communication and language skills. It’s a simple process: You pay a deposit to kick off the search, they provide a candidates shortlist in 14 days. You can also put people through your own process and then hire perm or on a freelance basis, depending on your needs. They are totally transparent with salaries. Typically, your global talent will earn 30% more than their local benchmark, giving you high levels of motivation and work ethic, but you’ll still pay 70% less than a UK equivalent support. It’s a no-brainer to complement existing teams to handle surplus demand or to ease cost pressures. If you’re not using this time to rip up your business model and rebuild it with global resources, you are going to fall behind those that do. Due to demand and capacity restraints, they are operating a waiting list at the moment, so be quick to get in touch: www.tryuntapped.com __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Hoxo Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on...

I'm excited to be joined again by Lysha Holmes. Lysha is the founder of Qui Recruitment, a specialist Rec2Rec based in Manchester. Someone I've worked with since the pandemic who's now built a 100% inbound business. She went from being an amazing recruiter with incredible integrity who would only represent the best recruiters in the Northwest to carrying on that and building an online brand that is seen by thousands of people every single day! She now sources all candidates via 100% inbound enquiries on LinkedIn and traditional offline inbound business referrals. She explains why: In this episode, we unpack how she's done it. We also look at the reality of the Rec2Rec space right now. We talk about the lot. So, take notes. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast and guest Lysha Holmes 07:24 Adopting a Consistent and Authentic Approach 13:28 The Importance of Trust and Consistency in Branding 27:14 Sponsor Message: Vincere's Time Temp Solution 41:18 Building Foundational Skills in Recruitment and Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Goals __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within seven days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming, and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: This course is part of the hugely successful Personal Brand Bootcamp which has seen over 5000 recruiters graduate and drive millions of warm leads and £££ in revenue as a result! Get free access to the course once you’ve downloaded our guide. __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Vincere Vincere’s portals are a quick-win solution for agencies in need of a no-code candidate and client portal. It’s your one-way ticket to attracting top-tier candidates and clients with everything they need in one place. Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account and configure it to your own brand and theme so it feels like you. You can publish jobs from Vincere’s Job Portal and...

On this week’s show, I'm joined by Scott Brown, the founder of Heriot Brown, a UK-based in-house legal recruitment specialist agency. Scott started his recruitment business almost by accident. He made the switch to recruitment because he felt unfulfilled as a lawyer and wanted to have more control over his career. He wanted to gain sales experience. Less than two years later, he launched his own recruitment firm. Scott admits that his lack of experience before launching his business had both positive and negative results. Eight years later, they’ve: And Scott hasn’t even scratched the surface. This is a must-listen if you’re interested in finding out how Scott got to where he is today, what community-led actually means, and what’s next for this exciting business! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast and Scott Brown 09:41 Scott's journey from lawyer to recruitment entrepreneur 31:00 Starting Heriot Brown: challenges and successes 37:13 Untapped: Transitioning to remote recruitment solutions 38:40 Leveraging global resources 53:20 Building a personal brand 45:26 Investing in a structured approach 01:05:28 Innovation in the recruitment industry __________________________________________ Episode sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing process to find the top 1% and secure these people roles in UK agencies doing research, marketing, finance, sourcing, end-to-end recruiting, coordination and account management. All candidates are benchmarked against UK competency frameworks and are tested for the highest level of communication and language skills. It’s a simple process: You pay a deposit to kick off the search, they provide a candidates shortlist in 14 days. You can also put people through your own process and then hire perm or on a freelance basis, depending on your needs. They are totally transparent with salaries. Typically, your global talent will earn 30% more than their local benchmark, giving you high levels of motivation and work ethic, but you’ll still pay 70% less than a UK equivalent support. It’s a no-brainer to complement existing teams to handle surplus demand or to ease cost pressures. If you’re not using this time to rip up your business model and rebuild it with global resources, you are going to fall behind those that do. Due to demand and capacity restraints, they are operating a waiting list at the moment, so...

I'm joined by an old client of mine, Paul Smith. Paul is the Managing Director of Deploy Recruitment, a specialist infrastructure and technology recruitment business heavily invested in the rail sector. Paul started the recruitment side of this business just over 10 years ago. In this episode, he tells me about the last year and how he completed the MBO to buy out the original Partners and fully own the company. Today, so many recruitment founders partner with other people — whether business partners, back office providers, solutions providers, or investors. And I see so many get to a point when, a little bit down the line, it doesn't feel like the right fit anymore. Paul is open about why he decided to buy out his partners, the risks (personal and professional) he faced, and how he ultimately got it done. He also shares the emotional side of the process and how he’s felt since taking ownership. A super honest guy who does not mince his words. That's what I love about Paul. For anyone who's thinking about selling to their employees as an MBO, completing an MBO in the future, or buying out a business partner, you've got to listen to this episode. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast 00:29 Overview of Deploy Recruitment 01:27 Paul's decision to buy out the company 03:23 Paul's experience with laser eye treatment 04:21 Overview of Deploy Recruitment's services 05:20 Expansion into other industries and territories 06:17 Challenges and opportunities in the industry 07:15 The importance of infrastructure maintenance 08:12 Issues with technology and connectivity 09:08 Benefits and challenges of electric vehicles 10:34 Introduction to Paul Smith and Deploy Recruitment 11:04 Paul's background and decision to join Deploy Recruitment 12:19 Joining a non-recruitment company and leveraging their resources 13:44 The growth of Deploy Recruitment 14:41 Finding clients by observing train stations 18:12 The challenges of cash flow in the industry 20:08 Expanding into different sectors and offering additional services 22:14 The importance of process and procedure in the rail industry 23:13 Servicing internal projects and external clients 24:09 The 24/7 nature of the business 26:06 Managing on-call responsibilities 27:44 Understanding turnover, gross profit, and net fee income 28:14 Offering flexible payment options to clients 30:09 Expanding services and finding new ways to work with clients 31:55 Using data to provide real-time insights to clients 35:11 Taking over the business 36:12 Timing and circumstance 37:07 Impact of COVID-19 38:41 Opportunity to buy the business 39:05 Transition and management buyout 42:02 Executing the buyout 44:14 Personal risk and commitment 46:00 Challenges and considerations 49:30 Being a leader 50:26 Vision for the future 57:26 Hiring good people 58:11 Streamlining operations 01:00:03 Importance of content on LinkedIn 01:02:51 Continuous learning and growth __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want...

I'm super excited to be joined by Mirtes Lobaito, the CEO and founder of AGM Tech Solutions, a recruitment firm headquartered in New Jersey in the US. Mirtes shares her inspirational journey from Brazil to the US, where she started her business with no English language skills and worked her way up from cleaning homes to tech sales. She eventually entered the recruitment industry and decided to start her own company. Despite facing challenges and self-doubt, Mirtes grew AGM Tech Solutions into a successful IT staffing firm, achieving over $100 million in revenue in just five years. And she's done all of this whilst raising three children too :) Mirtes’s energy is incredible – her story inspired me, and I’m sure you will be too! Takeaways If you are looking for a story to get you off the ground and start or inspiration to drive your recruitment business even further, this is the one for you. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast 00:57 Overview of AGM Tech Solutions 06:18 Mirtes' decision to stay in the US 08:54 Mirtes' transition into tech sales 10:46 Mirtes' success as a salesperson 13:02 Mirtes' entry into the recruitment industry 20:45 Setting up AGM Tech Solutions 23:57 Building the team and growing the business 29:35 AGM Tech Solutions' growth and recognition 33:21 Building a business in a post-COVID way 34:19 The rationale behind dotted locations 36:31 Engaging with candidates and clients post-COVID 38:01 Winning business by becoming an extension of the customer 39:02 Opening the door with new business 40:09 The role of the CEO 47:19 The vision for the future 53:26 Balancing work and life 01:00:00 Tips for starting a recruitment agency __________________________________________ Episode sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing...

I am so excited to be rejoined by Chriss Abbass, the CEO of Talentful, four years after our first episode together. For those who don’t know, Talentful is the world's leading embedded talent recruitment solution, working with some of the best tech companies on the planet. I had Chris in my studio in London back in 2019. At the time, his business was 4 years old and had already grown to 150 people and £9 million in net margin. Today, another 4 years have passed, and their last company account was over £30 million! In this episode, Chris and I discussed Navigating uncertainties and building creative strategies to win more businessThe boom in revenue and growth they experienced in 2021 and 2022 I personally learned so much from this conversation, hearing about the journey of one of the most innovative and cutting-edge recruitment agencies out there. I hope you love it too! __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: This course is part of the hugely successful Personal Brand Bootcamp which has seen over 5000 recruiters graduate and drive millions of warm leads and £££ in revenue as a result! Get free access to the course once you’ve downloaded our guide. __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Vincere Vincere’s portals are a quick-win solution for agencies in need of a no-code candidate and client portal. It’s your one-way ticket to attracting top-tier candidates and clients with everything they need in one place. Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your...

I'm super excited to be joined by Oliver Legg, the co-founder of Aspiron Search, a specialist headhunter in the cybersecurity market operating from the UK but placing people all over the US. Oliver started his career as a regional sales manager for a home security installation company seven years ago. Today, alongside Joe his co-founder, they generate over 7 figures a year with a team of five in the cybersecurity market. A super modern agency with a focus on brand and content (their podcast alone last year made them 320,000 in net fee income) Takeaways If you're looking to grow your business or want to launch your own agency and want to hear from someone who didn't start too long ago, but is having an amazing journey, then you've got to listen to this! Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:26 Oliver's Journey into Recruitment 06:12 Transition from Sales to Recruitment 09:03 Joining Iceberg and Early Success 14:21 Starting Asperon Search 25:29 Early Success and Growth 28:29 Working with Recruit Hub 31:17 Opening the Crawley Office 34:12 Boom Time and Hiring 35:12 Introduction to Triuntapped 36:12 Process of Working with Triuntapped 37:08 Benefits of Using Triuntapped 37:37 Challenges of Growing a Team in 2022 38:59 Lessons Learned in 2022 40:43 Adapting the Business Model 43:10 The Impact of Change on the Business 44:39 The Importance of Consistency and Adaptation 45:07 Navigating the Challenges of 2023 46:04 The Resilience of the Business 47:29 The Power of LinkedIn and Content Creation 49:24 Investing in the Business 50:51 Starting a Business and Lessons Learned 53:46 The Decision to Move to Bournemouth 56:06 The Impact of the Move on the Team 58:01 Current Way of Working 59:27 Future Hiring Plans 01:02:16 The Benefits of Being Together 01:05:38 Goals for 2024 01:08:41 Closing Remarks __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing...

In this episode, Ephram Stephenson, CEO and founder of Collar Talent Group, joins me for part 2 of the Collar Talent Group story! I interviewed Ephram Jan 2023 when his business was just over a year old and he'd already reached a head count of 100. 13 months later, and the business now has 140 people across multiple Australian offices, making them the fastest growing agency in the country. In this follow-up show, Ephram shares insights on how he has rapidly grown the business, built a strong company culture, and attracted top talent. Ephram strategically headhunted his leadership team, and together they have a combined experience of over 500 years in recruitment! Key takeaways As always, we talk about the things he's got wrong as well as the success. Ephram’s got bags of energy, and he's fun to be around. So if you're looking to grow your business at scale and with speed, check this one out! __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: This course is part of the hugely successful Personal Brand Bootcamp which has seen over 5000 recruiters graduate and drive millions of warm leads and £££ in revenue as a result! Get free access to the course once you’ve downloaded our guide. __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Vincere Vincere’s portals are a quick-win solution for agencies in need of a no-code candidate and client portal. It’s your one-way ticket to attracting top-tier candidates and clients with everything they need in one place. Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account and configure it to your own brand and theme so it feels like...

This week, I'm super excited to be joined by Alex Woodhead, the founder of a brand new 10-day-old talent and engineering consultancy called Apera. A business that specialises in recruitment for future mobility, space and clean energy. This is a super niche futuristic market with so much space for growth. And it isn’t Alex’s first time attacking it! We talk about how Alex started in recruitment: his journey from trainee to Director in his first firm, how he co-founded a company called Strativ, and built one of the fastest-growing recruitment companies on the planet. Within four years, they had a 100+ headcount and £13 million in NFI. Find out how they achieved this and why, a year later, he negotiated his exit and started his own business once again. Alex is one of those founders who has a crazy work ethic, unbelievable self-confidence and belief in what he’s doing. But what stands out about Alex – and we get into it in this episode – is that his success is not a result of having the best sales skills. It's about having the best product and then building a business around that product. Takeaways If you want to grow your recruitment firm or just listen and learn from one of the best leaders in our industry, then you do not want to miss this episode! __________________________________________ Episode sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing process to find the top 1% and secure these people roles in UK agencies doing research, marketing, finance, sourcing, end-to-end recruiting, coordination and account management. All candidates are benchmarked against UK competency frameworks and are tested for the highest level of communication and language skills. It’s a simple process: You pay a deposit to kick off the search, they provide a candidates shortlist in 14...

On this week's show, Oscar Orellana-Hyder, the Founder of Cordell Partners, shares his journey from being a sceptic of personal branding on LinkedIn to building a successful recruitment agency in the UAE. I’ve worked with Oscar since 2021. He was a Hoxo client whilst working for Robert Walters. He went from someone who thought that using LinkedIn was complete nonsense and was billing £350k per year using only traditional methods, to doubling this within 12 months! All through 100% inbound business, generated via his LinkedIn personal brand. In late 2023, he decided that he finally had the skills and the confidence to launch his own agency. And his personal brand is still generating business all over the region. If you're really interested in finding out how a personal brand on LinkedIn can actually pay dividends in terms of revenue, you've got to listen to this episode. Takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction to The RAG Podcast and Cordell Partners 01:28 Oscar's transformation and launching Cordell Partners 02:52 The name and vision of Cordell Partners 03:49 The importance of family in the UAE 05:41 The influence of family ethics in business 07:34 The niche market of investment recruitment 09:59 Transitioning from corporate recruitment to niche market 11:24 The decision to move to Dubai 13:20 The impact of personal branding on revenue 16:14 Joining Robert Walters and focusing on Abu Dhabi 19:57 The impact of The RAG Podcast and LinkedIn 26:14 The catalyst for starting Cordell Partners 38:11 Setting up Cordell Partners and the vision for the future 45:15 Building businesses from nothing 45:42 Growing the team 46:41 Finding self-sufficient people 47:11 Value of being part of a community 48:08 Future plans and retirement 49:35 Expanding to other regions 50:05 Identity and accents in the region 51:01 Embracing change and transient nature 51:28 Infrastructure challenges 52:25 Living in a transient place 53:19 Future business goals 54:16 Importance of commitment to the region 55:37 Exploring other countries in the region 56:04 Openness to answering questions and helping others 56:56 Sponsor message: Hoxo __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do

On this week's show, I'm joined by Jonathan Berry, the director of the Middle East region for Robert Walters Group. I’ve known him for five years and have been working with him for four years. Jonathan was the first staff member at Robert Walters to join my bootcamp. And I'm now working with over 700 recruiters across the Group. Jonathan came to Dubai after working for Robert Walters in Sydney, and is now running the business in the region. In this episode, he shares his journey from being a lawyer to transitioning into recruitment and building a successful recruitment desk in Dubai. Jonathan discusses the challenges and opportunities of working in the Middle East market and the impact of COVID-19 on recruitment. We also reflect on his leadership role and the importance of personal branding in his success so far. Jonathan explains how LinkedIn has translated into revenue and emphasises the need for a long-term strategy rather than a short-term focus. Takeaways A great guy with a refreshing approach to recruitment – take notes, as this is super valuable! __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing process to find the top 1% and secure these people roles in UK agencies doing research,...

On this week's show, I'm delighted to be joined by Calvin Lee-Pickett, the CEO and founder of Calvin James Recruitment. Calvin came from the UK to Dubai as an employee of Robert Half Recruitment, a global organisation. A few years later, he decided to start his own business. Without any experience as a business owner, he has grown organically over the last five years. And in this past year, things have REALLY changed for Calvin and his team! In this episode, Calvin discusses how he pivoted his business model to monetise the growing candidate base he’d built and the challenges he faced in setting up a business in Dubai. We also talk about the impact of COVID-19 on the business and the importance of building a solid personal brand. Calvin is a really great guy who’s building something special. You don’t want to miss this one! Takeaways __________________________________________ *RAG Sponsor message* Hoxo Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document, you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily, and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO, Sean Anderson (the creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: This course is part of the hugely successful Personal Brand Bootcamp, which has seen over 5000 recruiters graduate and drive millions of warm leads and £££ in revenue as a result! Get free access to the course once you’ve downloaded our guide. __________________________________________ *RAG Sponsor message*: Vincere Vincere’s portals are a quick-win solution for agencies in need of a no-code candidate and client portal. It’s your one-way ticket to attracting top-tier candidates and clients with everything they need in one place. Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account and configure it to your own brand and theme so it feels like you. You can publish jobs from Vincere’s Job Portal and sync them directly to your website in

Episode 2 of my LIVE series in the UAE and I'm joined by Abdul Rahman Risilia, CEO and founder of ARC Talent. Abdul is someone I actually worked with when I started my recruitment career in Melbourne in 2011, but I didn’t realise this until the show because, back then, he worked under a completely different name! In this episode, Abdul shares his journey from door-to-door sales to building a successful recruitment business in Dubai, growing through the various challenges along the way, and his unique business model and approach to hiring. We talk about You don’t wanna miss this! __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole offshore sourcing and recruiting teams. They source from the most exciting talent pools on the planet for recruitment staff and embed elite talent into your company to improve diversity, productivity and the cost of your teams. Your UK team will also love the help with some of the repetitive, time-consuming work that lands on their desk, improving their job satisfaction. They put around 3000 candidates per month through an intense 4-stage interview and online testing process to find the top 1% and secure these people roles in UK agencies doing research, marketing, finance, sourcing, end-to-end recruiting, coordination and account management. All candidates are benchmarked against UK competency frameworks and are tested for the highest level of communication and language skills. It’s a simple process: You pay a deposit to kick off the search, they provide a candidates shortlist in 14 days. You can also put people through your own process and then hire perm or on a freelance basis, depending on your needs. They are totally transparent with salaries. Typically, your global talent will earn 30% more than their local benchmark, giving you high levels of motivation and work ethic, but you’ll still pay 70% less than a UK equivalent support. It’s a no-brainer to complement existing teams to handle surplus demand or to ease cost pressures. If you’re not using this time to rip up your business model and rebuild it with global resources, you are going to fall...

The first of our 5 x episodes recorded Live in the UAE kicks off with ME as the guest! So Chris Redmond, who's been on our show three times since 2019, approached me about interviewing me and telling both the Hoxo story and my learnings from almost 300 episodes of the RAG on my recent trip to Dubai! In this episode, I opened up a lot! We discuss Thanks to Chris for taking the time to host this episode; it was so much fun to be on the other side of the mic! I hope you find this valuable! Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG Podcast 05:11 The story of Hoxo Media 06:11 Hoxo's services: branding and personal branding 13:22 The impact of personal branding 20:02 The RAG Podcast: purpose and impact 24:25 Lessons from successful recruitment owners 30:05 Interviewing style and emotional moments 37:20 Hoxo's future plans 42:07 Scientist or artist: Sean's approach 43:31 Overcoming challenges and taking action 46:20 The power of energy and inspiration 47:15 Appreciation and friendship 47:44 Closing remarks and sponsorship __________________________________________ *RAG Sponsor message* Hoxo Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: This course is part of the hugely successful Personal Brand Bootcamp which has seen over 5000 recruiters graduate and drive millions of warm leads and £££ in revenue as a result! Get free access to the course once you’ve downloaded our guide. __________________________________________ *RAG Sponsor message*: Vincere Vincere’s portals are a quick-win solution for agencies in need of a no-code candidate and client portal. It’s your one-way ticket to attracting top-tier candidates and clients with everything they need in one place. Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account and configure it to your own brand and theme so it...

In this episode of the RAG podcast, Sean Anderson interviews Richard Morton, the founder of MatchMedics. Richard shares his journey of launching a recruitment company in his 50s and emphasises that it's never too late to pursue your dreams. He discusses the challenges he faced in the early years and the turning point after reading the book 'Traction'. Richard explains how MatchMedics narrowed its focus to specialise in recruiting doctors and the subsequent growth in team size and revenue. He also highlights the expansion into the local market and other specialities, such as general practice. Sean and Richard discuss the impact of LinkedIn on his recruitment business and the potential it holds for finding high-level candidates. He shares how Hoxo's Personal Branding Bootcamp has helped his team develop a unified language and methodology for using the platform effectively. The conversation also explores the impact of content generation and the importance of becoming a recognisable brand online. They discuss the future vision of the business, opportunities for growth, and the importance of building a strong team and environment. This is a must-listen for anyone wanting to hear first-hand about the journey of building a rec business from the ground up, and what it takes to start driving success! Takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast 00:56 Richard Morton's background and launching MatchMedics 04:16 Richard's start in recruitment in 1989 08:24 Transitioning from being an employee to an entrepreneur 12:15 Starting MatchMedics and the early challenges 19:14 The turning point after reading the book 'Traction' 25:17 Narrowing the focus to specialise in recruiting doctors 27:40 Expansion into the local market and other specialities 28:39 Growth in team size and revenue 38:22 Managing the resourcer-recruiter model 44:26 Expansion into the general practice market 45:21 Richard's role in the company 46:20 The challenges of transitioning from doing the work to managing 46:50 The benefits of participating in the Hoxo Personal Brand Academy 47:16 Discovering the potential of LinkedIn 48:13 The impact of LinkedIn on business 49:07 Creating a unified language and methodology 50:03 The Impact of Hoxo on content generation 50:33 Generating placeable candidates 52:29 Educating the competition 52:58 The vision and future of the business 53:24 Building a strong team and environment 56:13 The journey and potential growth 57:09 Seizing opportunities and driving success 58:04 Understanding rotations in the healthcare sector 59:16...

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Jamie Reynolds, a man who’s held some impressive titles in his career but most notably was the Former CEO of PMP Recruitment, a part of the Cordant Group, COO of Halian, and most recently, CEO of The Recruitment Co. In this in-depth episode, he shares his journey from a 17-year-old trainee to his moves toward CEO. During his time at Cordant, he delivered multiple millions in profit through a company wide business transformation programme. Jamie is passionate about empowering people to think differently, and it’s inspiring to hear how he uses this mindset to deliver financial results! It’s not always smooth sailing, and it’s refreshing to hear someone speak so realistically about mental health and wellbeing. Jamie and I discussed the lessons he learned during the acquisition and merger of Halian and Staff Group, including the need for empathy and respect when making tough decisions like redundancies. One of the good guys in the recruitment sector, take notes- there is lots to learn! Takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:20 Jamie’sackground and expertise 06:04 Transition from service sector to recruitment sector 07:20 Jamie's journey to CEO level 10:38 Joining the Cordant Group 12:59 Transformation within the Cordant Group 19:04 Implementing transformational projects 25:11 Managing multiple projects 32:15 Turning around the business 36:32 Transition to Group CEO 40:56 Transformation during the pandemic 43:46 Dealing with redundancies 49:55 Role evolution and disposals 52:06 Acquisition and merger of Halian and Staff Group 53:31 Lessons learned from exits and transformations 55:50 Success of PMP Recruitment 56:42 Driving results 57:08 Ability to work with both large and small businesses 58:58 Offering growth, transformation, and coaching/mentoring 01:00:37 Jamie's life and approach to work 01:02:31 Importance of mental health and well-being 01:04:06 Closing remarks and contact information __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training

In this week's episode, I was joined by Laura Clark, CEO of OA Group, who shares her journey of joining the family business and eventually taking over as CEO. She discusses the challenges and rewards of working with her mother and the lessons she learned from her entrepreneurial upbringing. Laura also talks about the growth and operations of OA Group, her early career in recruitment, and the negotiation process of buying out her mother's stake in the business. This episode highlights the importance of hard work, independence, and the drive to improve in the recruitment industry. Key takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast 00:58 Laura's journey and joining the family business 03:18 Overview of OA Group 05:15 Laura's early career and working with her mother 08:06 Growing up with an entrepreneurial parent 09:04 Laura's interest in business and entrepreneurship 10:34 Joining Osborne Appointments 16:11 Early days of recruiting and the types of jobs 19:19 Balancing work and motherhood 25:45 Progressing in her career and becoming a manager 29:25 Realising her entrepreneurial ambitions 31:19 Negotiating the deal to take over the business 37:48 Taking ownership of the business 43:34 Working with family and post-acquisition vision 45:01 Creating a meaningful and sustainable business 46:20 Balancing growth and fairness 46:50 Key principles for a viable business 47:48 Embracing change and being open-minded 49:18 Seeking outside opinions and ideas 50:14 Creating a safe environment for feedback and innovation 53:02 The importance of in-person interaction in recruitment 58:12 Gender equality and avoiding self-limitations 01:02:48 Juggling work and family life 01:07:45 The importance of prioritising and being agile __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Safe to say, last year was tricky for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business performance. But anyone who has tried it knows it’s not easy to get right. That’s where Untapped comes in. Untapped is one of the hottest companies in the market right now, helping agencies in the UK, US, Middle East and Australia transition to the new world, leverage elite remote individuals and even build whole...

On this week's show, I'm delighted to be joined by Josh Huggins, the founder of GS2, a global sustainability search recruitment firm headquartered in Basingstoke. The business is just over 18 months old, with eight employees. Josh shares his journey from being a professional footballer to starting his own recruitment business. After becoming the second-largest shareholder at Principal People he, alongside Simon Bliss, led the process of selling the business. He had to wait five years and faced many challenges before making the bold decision to leave and start GS2. Takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast and guest introduction 01:25 Josh Huggins' background and journey to starting GS2 03:20 Overview of GS2 and its divisions 04:39 Target market and clients of GS2 06:02 The changing recruitment landscape and opportunities in a post-COVID world 07:00 Josh's background in football and transition to recruitment 10:46 Joining Principal People and the growth of the business 16:28 Transitioning to a senior role at Principal People 20:44 The process of selling Principal People and the challenges faced 27:51 The decision to start GS2 and the challenges faced 36:48 The attempted buyback of Principal People and the decision to start GS2 40:33 The exit from Principal People and the start of GS2 44:28 Naming and structure of GS2 45:23 Negotiating the exit and setting up GS2 47:39 Starting GS2 and building the team 49:21 Returning to operational billing and setting standards 51:15 Recruiting levels and service offerings 52:08 Investing in personal branding and learning from Hoxo 53:07 Changing the mindset of recruitment and staying connected with clients 55:28 The impact of personal branding on revenue 57:21 Bringing Tom Glanfield on board and internal recruitment 01:00:15 Building GS2 with an exit in mind 01:02:09 The vision for GS2 and future growth __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO...

On this week's show I was joined by Owen Myers and Jenna Mackie, the founders of Mackie Myers. Mackie Myers is a specialist accounting and finance recruitment firm headquartered in London, two and a half years old with 14 employees. Since launching, the business has doubled revenue year on year and operated in a sustainable way! They've introduced a 4-day work week after 12 months, which has been hugely successful. And they are now looking at growing from 14 to 40 - 50 over the next few years. In this episode, we talk about: For anyone who's listening, who wants to build a business in the future always right at the start of their journey, this one's gonna resonate because ultimately, these guys are two and a half years in, everything's fresh, everything's real, and they're making it work. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mackey Myers 02:20 Working together at Michael Page 08:29 Leaving Michael Page and starting a new business 12:38 Navigating the challenges of Covid-19 19:40 Setting up Mackey Myers 27:19 Hiring and scaling the business 34:24 First year of Mackey Myers 42:47 Lessons learned and balancing personal life 45:42 Business planning basics 46:43 Transition to a four-day workweek 48:04 Benefits of a four-day workweek 49:02 Operating model of a four-day workweek 50:53 Managing client expectations 52:20 Communication with clients 54:07 Balancing work and parenthood 55:34 Returning to work after maternity leave 59:21 Challenges and successes of 2022 01:01:09 Profit margins in the recruitment industry 01:02:29 Current state of the business 01:05:06 Future vision for the business __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: RecruitHub Our trusted partner RecruitHub helps new founders launch their own recruitment businesses in the UK, US & UAE. The community is growing rapidly, with over 70 founders on the RecruitHub platform. Everything you need to launch your own recruitment business with ease. - Receive 100% of the fees you bill - Own full commercial control of your business and increase its value - Cutting-edge tech stack, from ATS to sales automation - No admin - they handle everything from company registration to contracts, to finance and support - No setup costs on the platform, no recurring fixed costs, and no surprise fees If you're thinking of taking the next step in your career and want to discuss your business idea, please book a confidential chat with RecruitHub's team or learn more here: https://www.recruit-hub.com/uk-awareness/ __________________________________________ Episode Sponsor: Untapped Safe to say it’s been a tricky year for the recruitment sector globally. Many have had to operate through uncertain times, making tough calls and streamlining where possible. However, accessing lower-cost resources internationally has proven to be the 2023 cheat code for business...

On this week's episode I was once again joined by Vincere, specifically their Head of Product, Kristy Gilham. This is a follow-up to the conversation we recorded back in September. In this episode, we focused exclusively on the product roadmap and the things that they're working on right now to improve for you, the customer. You’ll hear some interesting insights into how they decide on which products to put into action, and which ones to leave off the table. Despite the negative press post-acquisition, hopefully you're starting to understand that Vinny are still committed to the customer. They’re also almost exclusively focused on working with small to medium-sized recruitment agencies – which is so important! So whether you’re a boutique agency looking for a new CRM or a current Vinny customer, enjoy the episode, listen up, and take notes. Takeaways Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast 00:57 Focus on the product roadmap 02:25 Discussion on market conditions and plans 03:23 Updates on product development 06:40 Product roadmap for small to mid-sized market 07:55 Improving UI and UX 09:20 Improvements to velocity and data import tool 10:20 Integration with LinkedIn and data security 13:52 Payroll integration and expanding marketplace 15:42 Revamping the scheduler for smaller agencies 17:06 Improving email functionality and automation 19:22 In-app training and product enablement 21:43 Improving internal communication and knowledge sharing 22:11 Introduction of workspace and AI functionality 23:07 Adopting AI in Vincere 25:03 Focus on improving system speed and security 27:05 Addressing compliance and email functionality 28:54 Marketing automation and marketplace mindset 30:45 Engaging with customers and gathering feedback 32:31 Prioritizing feature requests and engaging with customers 35:23 Openness to customer feedback and engagement 38:40 Closing remarks and contact information __________________________________________ Hoxo Message Ready to find 25+ warm leads within 7 days on LinkedIn? As a recruiter, most of the working day is spent chasing people via cold outreach on LinkedIn. This method is super time-consuming and most people don’t reply because they simply don’t know or trust you. But it can be different... If you follow the process in this document you will hack the LinkedIn Algorithm in just 15 minutes per day and drive warm leads whenever you want them. A warm lead is a person who you can 100% guarantee knows who you are, and what you do and has shown interest in you and/or your services in the past 48 hours. Over 5000 recruiters around the globe are following this process daily and the results have been amazing! You can have this too! Access the Hoxo 20:10:5 guide here: https://bit.ly/3PLjaJY If you’d prefer to consume this information directly from our Co-Founder & CEO Sean Anderson (The creator of 20:10:5), you can join our free training course now! Get access to: