On this week’s episode of the RAG, I’m excited to be featuring one of my own talks. Last week I presented at the Birmingham Recruitment Agency Expo in a room filled with well over 200 recruitment professionals. I discussed my thoughts and opinions on how LinkedIn is going to change over the next few years and what every recruiter should be doing now to make the most of their own opportunity before it does. I've rerecorded this session live in front of about 35 recruitment professionals as part o...
Oct 12, 2022•35 min•Season 6Ep. 6
On this week’s episode, I was joined by David Morgan, who in 2000 co-founded Morgan Law, a UK specialist public sector recruitment agency with 35 staff. In this episode, we went through David’s 22 years as a founder to unearth the highs, the lows, and the learnings you can take from them. We covered: -The reality of setting up a business in 2000 when the recruitment industry still operated using fax machines! -How his life changed as the business grew -David’s relationship with alcohol and how t...
Oct 05, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Hannah was a guest on The RAG in June 2021 and she told the story of growing Meet, an international talent provider to the life sciences sector. At this point the business was 12 years old, 135 staff and multiple offices globally. She ended the episode by telling me that they had significant and strategic growth plans. I wasn’t entirely sure what this meant as Hannah chose not to elaborate. In September 2021, I realised why Hannah kept her cards so close to her chest, as Meet announced that lowe...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Lloyd is BACK! This is episode 3 with Lloyd, as he came onto the show twice in 2019. In part 1, he was leading a small agency of 15 staff and spoke mainly about his career as a £1.6m biller and how/why he launched his original agency known as Focus Cloud. In late 2019, he talked about the growth of his agency to over 30 people and how his dream was to build Focus Cloud to 100 staff in the future, by expanding into numerous cloud-based recruitment markets. I had an absolute blast recording the fi...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Season 7Ep. 3
On this week’s episode, I was delighted to be joined by Alex Odwell, Founder of fintech specialist recruitment agency Referment and most recently of tech business - Radar. Alex has been in the recruitment industry for 14 years. Previously a member of the founding team at Harrington Starr group, he left to launch his own agency in 2016. Referment was born to attract more candidates via referrals. As this is something every agency relies on, Alex was obsessed with making this process faster and mo...
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 2
We are back with season 6 and WHAT a guest to kick this season off! In this season, we will be continually digging into the stories of amazing recruitment founders but also talking about the reality of today’s economy. If any changes are happening in our sector then I want to find out and bring it to you first. On this week’s episode I was delighted to be joined by Ed Rossiter, Co-Founder & CEO of Phoenix Search, a specialist recruitment firm headquartered in Ireland but with offices in Lond...
Sep 07, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 1
On this week’s episode we wrap up Season 5 of the show in spectacular style! I was honoured to be joined by Ben and Dan, Co-Founders of Edison Search a specialist IoT recruitment firm headquartered in Basingstoke UK with 20 staff within 14 months since inception. Ben and Dan worked together for a long time in their previous company, Ben was head of perm and Dan was head of contract recruitment. Their skills were always complimentary to each other and they always talked about starting their own f...
Aug 31, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 6Ep. 40
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Rogier, the CEO of PCN Recruitment, a payments sector specialist recruitment agency with 30+ staff across offices in Amsterdam, Berlin and the USA. Rogier joined the business as an entry-level recruiter 9 years ago. He knew he wanted to work in sales and was keen on the payments sector - but he had no interest in staying in recruitment! When he heard about PCN he decided it would be a clever move to join as his first job. He worked as th...
Aug 24, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 39
On this week’s episode, I was joined by Chris O’Connell, a Leadership Coach, NED 🚀 and the host of The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast. A top billing recruiter at S3, in his early 20s Chris co-founded Timothy James Recruitment, which he and his business partner grew to £25 million in turnover within 9 years. Chris had a life where he focused on the business 100% and sacrificed all else. Over the next 3 years, everything came crashing down: He had a painful exit from the business His marriage end...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 38
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Toni, the Managing Director of Digital Gurus, a specialist Tech & Digital recruiter with 66 staff across offices in Manchester, London, Bristol and Birmingham. Toni joined the business as a Senior Consultant 11 years ago. She’d had a successful career in recruitment in Leeds and fancied a change of company and city. Little did she know when she arrived in Manchester that she would end up managing the whole business! In this episode w...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 37
On this week’s episode, I was joined by Kyle Winterbottom, the Founder of Orbition Group, a specialist Data & Analytics recruitment agency with 10 staff based in Manchester. Kyle first came on The RAG Podcast in November 2020 when his agency was less than 3 months old. Kyle was a member of the Hoxo Academy back then and was beginning to win business using his daily Linkedin content in addition to his marketing events and podcast that he was already running. In 18 months, he has managed to gr...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 36
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Lawrence & Elliot, the founders of Arto Recruitment, a specialist life science recruitment agency. The business is headquartered in Canterbury, Kent and expanded to more than 23 staff in just over 2 years of existence during the pandemic! Lawrence and Elliot have been best mates since they were 3 years old! Their story is one of real trust, ambition and friendship. People say to never go into business with friends, but these guys are...
Jul 13, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Season 6Ep. 35
On this week’s episode, I was joined by Matthew Baird, the Founder of Baird & Co Recruitment, which is part of District4. Matt has been in recruitment since 2012 and has worked for a number of agencies recruiting into the social housing sector. During the pandemic, he became disillusioned with working for other people, and at a time of real uncertainty he made the bold and scary decision to start up alone… However, he didn’t have the finances or the knowledge to manage all areas of the start...
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 6Ep. 34
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Jamie & Tony, the founders of The Just Group, a specialist group of construction recruitment brands headquartered in Bromley, Kent with 24 staff which launched in 2012. Jamie & Tony launched the business with a 3rd partner Alan, and up until the pandemic things were going great! However, Covid hit the business for six and they quickly dropped to 6 staff and had to re-evaluate everything. In this episode they discuss how they: Dea...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 33
On this week’s episode, I was joined by Anthony Webster, the MD of DVF recruitment and Board Member of Career Legal Group - which has several recruitment entities in London with a collective staff of 50 people. Anthony was my colleague for almost 5 years and is also a true friend. Anthony, alongside Amar and I, was originally going to be a founder of Hoxo - the recruitment agency - in 2017. However, in late 2016 he decided to pull out after lengthy discussions and realising he could not commit t...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 32
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Jez Heard, the founder of Scale-Genesis, a specialist Blockchain & Crypto recruitment agency launched in November 2021 Jez is a 24 -year old lad from South Wales who is direct and honest! He only started in Recruitment in 2020 during the pandemic, and within less than 1 year decided to set up his own business He worked 14-hour days, 7 days a week He researched Blockchain and Crypto every single day He built his personal brand on Link...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 31
On today’s episode I was joined by Nader Beshara, the CoFounder and Director of Ingham Jones a start up financial services, risk, technology and compliance global recruitment search firm with 10 people headquartered in Brighton UK. Nader has been an avid listener of The RAG and I was delighted to hear that listening to the show has helped him a lot since launching in November 2020. We discussed the reality of his journey since launching during the pandemic and here are a few highlights - Launchi...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 6Ep. 30
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast I was joined by Harry Bigwood and Rex Rusling. Along with Ben Leeson, these guys founded The Rec Hub at the end of 2018 originally as a contingent agency. Soon they decided to flip the model to become an “Embedded Talent Partner” to Tech start & scale ups and have since grown to 50 people! In this episode we break down their decision to change the model and how this has helped them grow (it hasn’t been easy, I can assure you). We also talk about the ...
Jun 01, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 6Ep. 29
On today’s episode I was joined by Matthew Eames, the Founder and CEO of Eames Group, a global insurance and financial services recruitment agency with circa 140 people across UK, EU, Asia and now the USA Matthew was a guest on The RAG in Feb 2019 and whilst the business was a similar size back then, things were very different. Most notably: - Matt was not the CEO at the time and spent 50% of his time externally facing in business development and exec search - The business operated 5 days a week...
May 25, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 28
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast I was joined by Jake , my little brother. One of the most charismatic and successful guys I know (and annoyingly good-looking!) We got into recruitment in Melbourne together in 2011. Later in Sydney, Jake became a recruitment owner in his mid 20's, but in 2016 he sold his shares in TheDriveGroup. He was building a great business but, for some reason, he wasn't happy. He put this down to being 'home sick' and moved back to the UK. In 2017 he launched One ...
May 18, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Season 6Ep. 27
On this episode of The RAG Podcast I was joined by Joshua Rayner, the Founder & CEO of Rayner Personnel, a specialist in UK Property Recruitment. I originally interviewed Josh in February of 2019 in my first Hoxo office in London. At the time, Josh had a team of 13 who were all operating as franchisees. This involved buying into the business and scaling a branch of RP in their specific geographical area of the UK. In the first year, this approach appeared to be working (listen to the first e...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 26
On this week's episode, I was joined by Dan Taylor, MD of Morgan Hunt, a UK Public Sector specialist agency with 150 staff. Dan started at Hays in 1996 and has worked his way through many positions in his 26-year career. In 2018 he became MD of Morgan Hunt and has been on a journey to change the business for the better. Dan shares his unique insights into leading a large recruitment agency on a daily basis and how he never actually considered starting his own agency. His reason - he wanted to wo...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 6Ep. 25
On this episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Emrah Baykal, the Founder & CEO of RO, a specialist energy-focused recruitment agency. The agency is based in London & Houston with 10 staff, and is part of the Tempting Ventures Group of over 80 recruiters. Emrah is the first to admit that in the early days of his recruitment career, he loved a billers’ lunch or two. In the first couple of years as owner of RO, he would find any excuse to take his team out for drinks (mainly because he...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 24
On this week's episode I was joined by Chris Sheard, the founder of SR2 Recruitment, a 54 person agency with offices in Bristol, London and soon to be opening in Austin TX. Launched in the middle of 2017, the business is almost 4.5 yrs old and has grown extremely well in that period. In this episode Chris shares the story of why he decided to build a rec agency that gives 5% of operating profit to charity and the impact of having such a clear and powerful mission. Across the industry, attracting...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 23
On this episode of The RAG Podcast, I was joined by Ed Stevens, the Founder of 94 Group, a specialist group of recruitment agencies in London with 50 staff. This isn’t the first time Ed has built up a successful recruitment business. He launched, grew, and sold his shares in Eximius Group over 8 years between 2008 and 2016. Ed is honestly one of the most impressive recruitment owners I have ever met. His approach to growing this business is crystal clear: He is the ONLY shareholder and ONLY pers...
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 6Ep. 22
This week's episode was one that I wanted to have but was also really nervous about. It is without a doubt the most emotional and heartbreaking conversation I have ever recorded. I was joined by Liam Thomas, the Founder of Highfield Professional Solutions & Data X Connect, a specialist recruitment agency headquartered on the South Coast of England with 45 staff. Liam launched the business with his mate and business partner, Sam Hughes, 15 years ago when they were both 25 and fearless! A clas...
Mar 30, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 21
On today’s episode of The RAG Podcast I was joined by Adrian Carboni, the founder and CEO of Masento, a specialist technology recruitment agency in London. Adrian launched Masento 5 years ago after a 15-year career with his previous employer! From being one of the top billers in the company to leading the most profitable division, Adrian was granted shares in the business that were projected to yield life-changing returns. In this episode, Adrian talks at length about the reasons for walking awa...
Mar 23, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 6Ep. 20
In this week's episode, I’m excited to be joined by Spencer Knibbe, the Founder of MBK Search. Headquartered in NYC, the business now has 13 staff and has just opened its UK operation in 2022, intending to expand into APAC next year. As a listener of the show, Spencer and I connected recently and I was blown away by his story! Spencer never worked in recruitment for anyone else. After a successful career as the Head of Risk for a number of investment management powerhouses like Bridgewater and I...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 19
On a special episode of The RAG Podcast this week, I am joined by fellow Recruitment Podcast Host - Lysha Holmes! Lysha is a great friend of Hoxo and myself and we were deeply saddened to hear the news of her father passing away to cancer in October last year! He was diagnosed at such a late stage that the family did not get the time with him that they would have wanted. On 29th April this year, a small group of us will be raising awareness and money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund - vis...
Mar 09, 2022•44 min•Season 6Ep. 18
On this week's episode, I am excited to be joined by Stuart the Co-Founder and Director of Provide With 21 years since starting the business, Stuart has seen pretty much everything there is to see in a growing recruitment agency Most interestingly, post acquisition by TXM Group, Stuart moved into a new role as Director of Strategic Partnerships - leading their RPO division. I am super excited to hear the story of this change! The RAG sponsor It’s no secret that recruiters are notoriously time-po...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 6Ep. 17
