The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I am joined by Kayleigh Bottomley, the Founder and SVP of Storm4. Storm4 is another branch of Levin, the fastest-growing group of recruitment companies in the world. A couple of weeks ago I shared a repeat of a 2021 episode with James Brown, the founder of Leven group. This was one of my highest played episodes since the start of the RAG Podcast, probably because Levin is one of the most talked about organisations in our sector.They are taking the recruitment industry by storm and doing things differently.In February 2021, Kayleigh started Storm4, since then they have continued the insane growth of the group as they’ve gone from 0 to 125 staff across multiple locations.Every single recruiter Storm4 hires is a graduate with no experience and in just over 12 months they were able to become profitable too!In this episode she’s sharing how she’s done it! I really went deep into the processes, procedures, and people that are required for a team to grow this fast.If you are inspired by insane growth and fast-moving recruitment organisations, then then this one's for you.Talent Ticker  Looking for a way to grow your recruitment business in 2022? Talent Ticker is here to help. More than 300 recruitment agencies are using Talent Ticker to automate their recruiters’ most monotonous tasks, help them predict who will be hiring 3 months in advance, and provide simple tools to identify ideal passive and active candidates to pitch for open roles. Learn more at get.talentticker.ai/hoxo and take advantage of their special offer for our listeners.

On today’s episode, I was joined by John Dyson.John is the founder of FJR Group, a specialist recruitment firm headquartered in Manchester with an office in London, operating across financial services, HR, and technology.John started the business in May 2011, the very same month that I personally started in recruitment.In that period of time, he’s grown a business to over 50 people and has opened multiple offices.Recently, during a snowboarding holiday in France, John suffered an accident where he broke his back in a couple of places and had bleeding in the brain.This specific accident led to many positive decisions and changes to his business - something John would never have foreseen!In this episode, you’re going to find out about a recruitment owner who I believe is doing things in a hybrid way.There are recruitment owners that keep the business lean and wrap everything around themselves, and there are ones who aim to build businesses as fast and as big as they can for growth and exit.John is kind of in between.He’s building a great leadership team to manage the day-to day-operation of FJR Group, but he’s very close to the frontline.To anyone looking to grow their business in a more considered way - not wanting it to be a lifestyle but not necessarily wanting it to be the biggest agency in the world - I think this episode will inspire and support you in so many different ways.VincereA message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.Common traps to watch out for:- Not understanding the pricing model- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issuesGet Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3

In early 2021, I interviewed James, the CEO of Levin, to discuss his growth plans on The RAG Podcast.Now, almost 2 years later, the company with brands Storm2, Storm3, Storm4, Storm5, and Storm6, published $44m USD NFI in its third year and has grown to over 600 people.This trajectory is remarkable!I am re-releasing my episode with James as so many people loved it.It is still in the top 3 most-played episodes of The RAG and there are so many amazing learnings to take from it!I will be back with fresh eps from next week but in the meantime, enjoy learning from the trailblazers of the global sector!VincereA message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.Common traps to watch out for:- Not understanding the pricing model- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issuesGet Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3

On this week's episode of the RAG Podcast, you are stuck with me again! In October, I was invited to the very first recruitment expo in Germany. This was hosted by a company called StaffingPro, in coordination with APSco. This expo was targeted mainly at the agency market, but also at some in-house recruiters. I was invited to Frankfurt for a couple of days and I spoke on stage about the three fundamental things every single recruitment agency needs to consider if they want to stand out on LinkedIn. Now that might sound quite similar to the talk I did in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, which I featured on the podcast, but this presentation focuses on recruitment agencies more holistically, not just on personal branding. In this episode, it's going to be me talking on stage in Germany, in Frankfurt, and you'll hear all about the three things every recruitment company needs to consider if they want to stand out from the competition now and in the future. The sound quality is not as good as normal because I was on stage during that talk, but I do hope you enjoy this episode. Please feel free to ask any questions. I hope it gives you a lot of value.Talent Ticker Looking for a way to grow your recruitment business in 2022? Talent Ticker is here to help. More than 300 recruitment agencies are using Talent Ticker to automate their recruiters’ most monotonous tasks, help them predict who will be hiring 3 months in advance, and provide simple tools to identify ideal passive and active candidates to pitch for open roles.Learn more at get.talentticker.ai/hoxo and take advantage of their special offer for our listeners.

On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast I was joined by Richard Wright, CEO of Acre.Acre is a specialist recruitment consultancy focusing on everything to do with sustainability, which includes climate change, social issues, and more.Richard has a long history in the recruitment sector. He originally worked for one of the biggest organisations in the world and later bought into a boutique agency as a partner. Richard was at the helm of that business for a long time and eventually sold the business to Randstad. He then stayed in the company for a further three years post-acquisition, before exiting and having some time out of the industry.After a period of time believing he would leave the industry forever, he was persuaded to come back and joined Acre back when it was a 10-person business.It now has well over a hundred staff and 4 international locations.During the episode, Richard was very open about his career and said that right now, he's enjoying it more than he ever has before. Who'd have thought that you could continue to love this game more and more over time?You’re going to love this episode.Richard is super knowledgeable, super inspiring, and a really nice guy.VincereA message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.Common traps to watch:- Not understanding the pricing model- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issuesGet Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3

On this week’s episode, I was joined by Laurie Boyall, the Founder & Group CEO of McGregor Boyall, one of the most renowned recruitment agencies headquartered in London.Laurie started the agency in 1987, having never worked a day in recruitment in his life! He was a self trained computer programmer and having found a job via a recruitment agency in 86, he saw the invoice attached to his placement. This was all it took for him to change career path! In this episode, we covered Laurie’s 35 years as founder, which involved:- The early days of his career selling European travel tours to USA students- How his Angel-backed 1st business failed and he returned home after 3 years - How he then started his agency, having seen the invoice for his own services in IT- The reality of launching his business and needing to use a phone box for the first 3 weeks as BT phone lines were down- Laurie’s story of growth over the years and how he has constantly loved his role- The economic impact on his business right now and how he sees a huge recession hitting harder than most people think- His new role as CEO and how he spends his time Laurie is a real character, full of humour, honesty and wisdom. Anyone wanting to contact Laurie can reach him via LinkedIn Talent Ticker  Looking for a way to grow your recruitment business in 2022? Talent Ticker is here to help. More than 300 recruitment agencies are using Talent Ticker to automate their recruiters’ most monotonous tasks, help them predict who will be hiring 3 months in advance, and provide simple tools to identify ideal passive and active candidates to pitch for open roles. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3DE7wLl and take advantage of their special offer for our listeners.

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 of one of our Academy Taster Sessions, so this is a zoom recording, which is much clearer than the original stage recording, but it is the exact same presentation.I really hope you enjoy this because ultimately I think there are a lot of recruiters out there that don't quite know what they're doing on LinkedIn.They spend a fortuneOne of the biggest spends in recruitment businesses is on LinkedIn licenses. The average recruiter spends four hours a day and has a recruiter license, which is over £5000 per year, per person. Multiply that by your team and it's a huge investment!However the problem is that training, support and understanding of what you can do on the platform every day to reach thousands of people and ultimately stand out from the competition in your market is nonexistent in most agencies.So I’m giving you really simple, practical tips that you can use to take straight back to your agency.If you would like to find out more about how we can help you personally improve your performance and stand out on Linkedin, book a call with me and my team. Here we can then have a bespoke conversation with you in your recruitment business to see if our Academy program is right for you and whether we are the right fit: https://personalbrand.hoxomedia.com/registerVincereA message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.Common traps to watch:- Not understanding the pricing model- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issuesGet Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3

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 that's changed over the years-The breakdown of David’s first marriage and how this affected the business-David's approach to the business during and post Covid-19-The economic impact on his business right now and how he sees the market changing over the upcoming 18 months-His new role as CEO and how he spends his time David is an awesome guy with a unique and a powerful story, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did recording it!Anyone wanting to contact David can reach him via davidmorgan@morgan-law.comTalent Ticker Looking for a way to grow your recruitment business in 2022? Talent Ticker is here to help.More than 300 recruitment agencies are using Talent Ticker to automate their recruiters’ most monotonous tasks, help them predict who will be hiring 3 months in advance, and provide simple tools to identify ideal passive and active candidates to pitch for open roles.Learn more at https://bit.ly/3DE7wLl and take advantage of their special offer for our listeners.

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 lower mid-market private equity firm NorthEdge has backed the primary management buyout of the business. It then all made sense that Hannah had to be very careful about what she said on The RAG, as the transaction was at a very critical point!On this week’s episode I was so excited to have Hannah back on the show to talk about everything she couldn’t discuss last time.We covered-Why she felt the need to start the MBO process in the first place-The reality of the process -The impact on her life and family-The moment the transaction completed-What this means for her and her staff-How she has now grown the business to 230 people (a net growth of 95 in 16 months)-The working relationship with PE firms and why it can be an amazing one!For anyone looking to buy or sell a recruitment business, here is another story that details out the reality of the process and offers huge advice based on real life experience!VincereA message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.Common traps to watch:- Not understanding the pricing model- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issuesGet Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3

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 first two episodes; from hilarious moments to some really hard-hitting deep revelations, Lloyd held nothing back.On this week’s episode, Lloyd is back, but things are different. In the past 12 months, he has worked tirelessly to acquire the number one UK-based Microsoft recruitment partner known as Cognitive Group.I have had the Founder & CEO of Cognitive Group Jon Keen on the RAG before and know the company well.Lloyd shares the full story of how he acquired the business and became extremely close friends with Jon.The newly created Focus Cloud Group now consists of over 107 staff, with Lloyd at the helm as Group CEO.He has made his dream come true, but he is only just getting started!This is another amazing episode with an incredible person, enjoy! Talent Ticker  Looking for a way to grow your recruitment business in 2022? Talent Ticker is here to help.More than 300 recruitment agencies are using Talent Ticker to automate their recruiters’ most monotonous tasks, help them predict who will be hiring 3 months in advance, and provide simple tools to identify ideal passive and active candidates to pitch for open roles.Learn more at https://bit.ly/3DE7wLl and take advantage of their special offer for our listeners.