On a special episode of The RAG Podcast this week, I want to share with you my talk at the Recruitment Agency Expo 2022 in London. “The 5 Weekly Habits All Recruiters Need To Build A Winning Personal Brand On LinkedIn” Company pages don't get a lot of engagement on LinkedIn. The recruiters in your business are the best way of getting your brand's message to market. Every consultant you employ has a platform to reach thousands of people, and there is a formula to follow for success. I talked thro...
Feb 21, 2022•34 min•Season 6Ep. 16
I was joined by Tom Hibberd - Founding Director at Precision Resource Group (PRG) parent company to Panoramic Associates, iO Associates, Panoramic Care and Finitas. With 20 years in the recruitment industry, like so many other successful owners, Tom started his career at S3 before going alone. In 2009, Tom jointly founded Panoramic Associates and spent the first 2 years enjoying life as a small and extremely profitable recruitment agency. After significant success and exciting growth within the ...
Feb 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 15
This week's episode sees the return of a great friend and one of the recruitment industry’s most trusted advisors: the one and only James Osborne is back on The RAG Podcast! James is the Chairman of The Recruitment Network, a global community of almost 9,000 active recruiters, managers, and business leaders. We discussed how mad the market was in 2021, what James expects to see as the next big thing appearing on the recruitment industry’s horizon, and why candidate short markets shouldn’t be a p...
Feb 07, 2022•57 min•Season 6Ep. 14
This week we welcome Clare Cooper back to The RAG Podcast for a third time! Clare is the founder of Storm3, the second brand in the Levin group. I first interviewed Clare when she was a global lead for one of the world's most recognised recruitment brands. Clare launched Storm3 in Feb 2021, and I interviewed her for the second time just 4 weeks later - when she was the only employee of the business! Today, Storm3 is 60 people strong, with teams in London, Amsterdam, Dallas, and Singapore. By the...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 13
Our first episode of 2022 and what a cracker to be kicking off with! I was delighted to be joined by Alex Zoboli, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Cornerstone Recruitment Japan K.K. Alex and his business partner scaled their previous recruitment business in Japan from 20 to 200 people and opened their own business only 2 years ago. Already 40 people and looking to grow again to 200 as fast as possible! It was super exciting to find out more about his story to date, secrets to success and plan...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 12
On the final episode of 2021, I was delighted to be joined by Adrian Kinnersley. Adrian is the Founder & CEO of TwentyAI, headquartered in London with offices in New York, Charlotte, and Austin US. Launched in the middle of the global financial crisis, Adrian was certain he wanted to build a brand he could be proud of. He’d already worked for a number of traditional recruitment agencies and wanted to do things his way! Now happily living in the USA and operating remotely, in this episode we ...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 6Ep. 11
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was joined by Lewis Maleh, Founder and CEO of Bentley Lewis, an award-winning boutique executive search firm. Also the host of 2 x podcasts: “Don't take out your phone!" and “The Recruitment Show”. Lewis believes he and his team are building the best executive search team in the world. Lewis had no prior experience of exec search, but decided to back himself to make it work.12 years later, it’s safe to say he delivered! The business was previousl...
Dec 13, 2021•56 min•Season 6Ep. 10
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was delighted to be joined by Amy Golding Amy Golding is the CEO of Opus Talent Solutions, Headquartered in Bristol, UK, Opus has more than 1,000 clients in over 50 countries with 300 staff across eight offices spanning the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and the US. I met Amy back in late 2017 and found her to be truly inspiring, she had such grand plans for the business. Recently acquired by Graphite Capital a UK mid-market private equity specia...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 9
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, on this week's episode of The RAG Podcast I am re-joined by James Johnson! James is the founder of District 4 and also a CEO coach. James works with ambitious founders, CEOs and VCs where the difference between success and failure is £m's James was previously the CEO of Nicoll Curtin and decided to change his lifestyle after he and his wife suffered from their second miscarriage. The stress of running a global business meant that he was under inves...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 8
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was delighted to be joined by Ishpal Bansal Ishpa l founded Aston Holmes , a resourcing and talent acquisition consultancy, alongside his business partner Brad Bloom in 2014. Shortly after launching the business, Ishpal was diagnosed with a heart condition and needed open heart surgery! Thankfully he came through treatment and since then has gone on to grow teams across the UK and Africa (LDN, Cape and J’burg) Approaching 50 people and growing we...
Nov 22, 2021•56 min•Season 6Ep. 7
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was joined by Nick Vaughan, Founder of Hamlyn Williams and now CEO & Founder of Talent Ticker an actionable market intelligence platform for the recruitment industry. Nick’s life began as a 3rd generation farmer in Herefordshire who moved to London to work in the city. After learning his trade with S3 and JCW, he launched Hamlyn Williams in 2011, a specialised STEM focused Recruitment Agency with a HQ in Cardiff. Over the next 7 years Nick ma...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 6
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was delighted to be joined by Dr. Aria, a high performance psychologist who works with A list actors, singer and C Suites execs and business owners from 7 figures to billion pound organisations (including recruitment agencies) Just over 1 year ago today, I first heard about Dr. Aria when listening to his powerful story on The Diary of a CEO Podcast with Steven Bartlett.. I was recently single, living alone, and wondering WTF was going on with my ...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 5
On this weeks episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was joined by David Spencer-Percival, Founder & CEO of Life Science People and serial recruitment entrepreneur. David was in the founding team of Huntress Group in 2000 and exited in 2009 for a life changing sum of money. He then started Spencer Ogden in 2009 and repeated the process all over again! Growing to over 500 people and reaching over £100m in revenue, he then decided his work was done before leaving the company in 2020. He is now bac...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 4
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I was delighted to be joined by Gaelle Blake , the UKI Director for Permanent Appointments & UKI Director for Construction and Property Appointments at Hays Hays is known globally for its huge workforce in every corner of the world, and being at the helm of such a company will come with pressure and sacrifice! Being a female in this situation obviously presents additional pressures relating to family and industry stereotypes. Gaelle and I were ...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 3
On this weeks episode of The RAG Podcast Live, I will be joined by a friend, client and mentor - Leo Harrison MBA Leo is one of the smartest guys I have ever had the pleasure to meet Leo founded Chapter 2 in Jan 2020 and after an obvious slow start, they are now one of the fastest-growing recruitment brands in the world But this isn't Leo's first venture, he was a founding member of the team at OLIVER, a Marketing Agency that builds in-house teams During his time in the business, he helped shape...
Oct 18, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 2
The RAG Podcast is BACK! What a first episode we have in store for you! Mark Znowski is a serial Recruitment Entrepreneur He started, scaled, and sold Staffgroup UK & Europe over 12 years and has since invested in other recruitment agencies and started his latest venture EngTal - Engineering Talent A true family man as well as a businessman, Mark shared insights into the areas he has got right and other areas he has gotten wrong in his hugely successful career! Thank you to our friends and s...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 1
This is the LAST episode of the season! 2020/21 has been epic for The RAG Podcast, interviewing over 120 amazing recruitment business owners throughout one of the craziest times we have ever seen! Before I begin my short break from recording, I am excited to be interviewing Jamie Woods, CEO & Founder of JCW Group - a 14 year old international recruitment agency in London, Frankfurt, New York, Austin and LA. Starting the business from his living room at the age of 24 with 2 yrs recruitment ex...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 27
Hannah is the Co-founder and CEO of Meet Recruitment - a 12 year old international Life Science recruitment agency in London, Berlin, New York and San Francisco. Like many others I have interviewed, Hannah was a graduate of S3 and started Meet with her co-founders at the age of 26! In this episode we discussed: 🎙The story of launching Meet from Charlotte St in London in 2009, just after the GFC 🎙How they grew the business in the early days and decided to invest in their back office once they h...
Jun 17, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 26
Today’s episode was EPIC! It was funny, serious, honest and inspiring all in one... Andy Larholt is the Founder and CEO of Montash - a 16 year old international technology recruitment agency in London An exceptional biller at S3 from 18-24 yrs old, Andy launched Montash from his bedroom in his mid 20’s! 16 years later, on his 42nd birthday he has over 50 staff working from London, servicing clients around the world. And what a journey he has had! In this episode we discussed: 🎙The story of star...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 25
I was really excited about today’s episode as my guest was someone who I had heard so much about during my recruitment days. Daniel Fox is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Trilogy International, Forbes Testing and Quantum Six; all specialist businesses within the technology and business change & transformation markets Prior to this he worked with the same people who trained me during my recruitment days in London, so we shared so many mutual contacts and stories! In this episode we di...
Jun 03, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 24
Pleasure to be joined live on LinkedIn with Sam, Co-Founder of Orama Solutions. A specialist agency helping high growth tech companies achieve their scaling ambitions across UK, EU and USA. Sam and his partner Paul started the business in their mid-20’s, in fact only weeks after having the ‘chat’ about a potential start up together, they had quit and were making it happen! In this episode we discussed: 🎙The story of starting the business 🎙Why they chose to focus on the scale up tech market 🎙H...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 23
What a great chat I had with Andy today, a guy who at the age of 27 took over the helm of a loss making recruitment agency after running a successful contract division of another local recruitment company in Manchester. Now 14 years on, the business has just hit 100 staff and is on a trajectory for substantial growth moving forward In this episode we discussed: 🎙Why he decided to join Oscar as opposed to starting his own agency 🎙How and why half the office quit when he took over 🎙The up and d...
May 20, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Today I was honoured to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live by Bradley, the leader of one of the most reputable recruitment firms in the world today! At the age of 37, Brad has achieved an incredible amount in the recruitment industry. In this episode we discussed: 🎙His personal story of starting as Graduate Recruiter at MatchTech on the south coast of England 🎙His move back to London and supporting Eximius in growing from 8 to 100 staff 🎙His move to Spencer Ogden which took him on a plane to S...
May 13, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with Jonathan Keen, the Founder & CEO of Cognitive Group, a 30+ staff recruitment agency experts in Microsoft talent acquisition & recruitment, based in London. Having met Jon on numerous occasions, I knew I was going to enjoy this one! Originally from South Africa, Jon moved to the UK with no recruitment experience and limited funds. Having grown up in a household full of entrepreneurs, he knew this was also going to be his futu...
May 06, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 5Ep. 20
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with James Cox, the Co-Founder of Bio Talent and the CEO of Trinnovo Group. Trinnovo is a fast-growth, international recruitment company, bringing together three market specialists and our own social enterprise: • Trust in SODA - digital • Broadgate Search – governance, finance, change • BioTalent - life sciences • Ex-MilitaryCareers.com – enabling ex-military career success (social enterprise) Launched in Jan 2018, this growth in 3 year...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with James Fernandes and Simon Gardiner, the Co-Founders of Carrington West, an award winning agency specialising in technical recruitment for the built environment in the UK. Launched in Jan 2011, these guys have been on an epic journey! In this episode, we discussed: 🎙How and why they left to start the business 🎙Their start up story working from a brothers garage with no heating (and fingerless gloves) 🎙The move to bring on more par...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with CEO and Founder of Dartmouth Partners, Logan Naidu. Logan is now almost 9 years into the growth of his second recruitment agency and he feels like he is only just getting started! In this episode, I we discussed: 🎙Leaving a role in Corporate Finance and joining the recruitment sector at 24 yrs old 🎙Why he set up his own agency 1 yr into his career 🎙The growth of his first business and his role as £1m biller 🎙Being diagnosed with...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 17
Today I was delighted to be joined on The RAG Podcast Live with Recruitment Entrepreneur and former Dragon - James Caan CBE! Although famous for his time on BBC TV, James is the most followed recruitment professional in the world today with over 3million Linkedin followers! In this episode, we discussed: 🎙Launching, growing and selling Alexander Mann in 2013 for £260 million 🎙How he felt when he had enough money to retire at 42 years old 🎙Growing Humana International and moving into private e...
Mar 30, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 16
Today I was joined by Paul Flynn - an investor in recruitment and mental health businesses and the ex Founder / MD of Staffgroup which he sold in 2015 for over £20m A warm and open person, I have only ever heard great things about Paul from the market. This was my first ever chat with him in person and he certainly lived up to expectation. In today’s episode we discussed: 🎙 Paul’s early days at Progressive (S3) 🎙 His journey to launching Staffgroup in 2003 with 2 co-founders 🎙 How he suffered...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 15
Today I was joined live on LinkedIn by Tim Cook - Group CEO nGAGE, a portfolio of 16 specialist recruitment businesses with over 750 staff. A fascinating chat that felt like an educational lesson for myself throughout, in today’s episode we discussed 🎙 Tims 24 years of working at Hays 🎙 His journey to joining James Caan and subsequent MBO 🎙 How he was ready to sell his business for £200m and then covid hit 🎙 What he looks for when buying and selling recruitment agencies 🎙 His vision for nGA...
Mar 11, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Season 5Ep. 14
