The Resilient Recruiter How a $4M Recruiting Firm Rebuilt After a Brutal Year, with Josh Volinsky
A hot market can hide a lot of problems.
Josh Volinsky and his partners launched Synergy Search in September 2020, and the accounting and finance recruiting firm has reached as high as $6M in revenue. When the market normalized, recruiters who had learned to work transactionally struggled to adapt, a run of hires didn't work out, and the founders recognized that they weren't tracking the activity behind their results.
"We got sloppy. And when you aren't tracking activity in any way, you can't see it coming."
In August 2025, a breakfast conversation between the three founders became the start of what Josh calls the reboot. That October, three recruiters each billed over $100K in a single month. At the time of recording, Synergy has 15 employees and revenue in the mid- to upper-$4 M range.
Josh explains how they introduced accountability into a firm built on freedom, what their scorecard now measures, and why shared office days became part of the reset. He also discusses supporting the team following the death of their colleague Cara, and the training process that has helped accountants become successful recruiters.
In this episode:
- How a strong market can disguise weaknesses in your recruiting business
- The breakfast question that prompted Synergy's reboot
- How conversion data encouraged a top biller to improve
- Why Josh prioritizes client interviews, job orders and calls
- How a Bullhorn-connected phone system reduced manual administration
- Why Synergy hires accountants and trains them to recruit
- How a written blueprint and regular role plays support new recruiters
Episode highlights:
[01:24] Hiring accountants as recruiters
[07:28] Preparing financially to launch the business
[18:11] Dividing responsibilities between three founders
[22:32] Building the recruiting blueprint
[25:29] Practical role plays that involve the whole team
[43:58] The market shift that exposed transactional habits
[48:31] The breakfast conversation that started the reboot
[54:06] The three recruiting metrics Josh prioritizes
About Josh Volinsky
Josh is a co-founder of Synergy Search, an accounting and finance recruiting firm with offices in Maryland and Nashville. He began recruiting in 2007 and launched Synergy with Mark Hammond and Gary Palank in September 2020. He remains an active biller and joined The Pinnacle Society in spring 2025.
Connect with Josh
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshvolinsky/
Synergy Search: https://synergysearch.com/
Podcast Partners
Recruiterflow: The AI-native ATS and CRM built for serious recruiting businesses. https://recruitmentcoach.com/recruiterflow
Juicebox: The modern AI platform for recruiting search, outreach and pipeline management. https://recruitmentcoach.com/juicebox
Free Resources
Take the 7-Figure Freedom Scorecard: https://recruitmentcoach.com/scorecard
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What would you change if you could start your recruitment firm again today?