The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast

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 Working with family in a business can be genuinely rewarding, but only with clear boundaries and communication. Growing up with an entrepreneurial parent can instil a strong work ethic and independence from a young age.Success in recruitment requires a genuine passion for the industry and a willingness to go the extra mile for clients and candidates.Taking over a family business involves careful negotiation and planning, with the support of external advisors and a clear vision for the future. Working with family can lead to better conversations and different perspectives.Creating a meaningful and sustainable business means focusing on growth, training, and offering employee opportunities.Balancing growth and fairness is essential for building a good business.Being open-minded and embracing change usually leads to innovation and success.Building a safe environment for feedback and ideas is crucial for business growth.Gender equality should focus on removing limitations and treating everyone as equals.Prioritising and being agile are vital in managing work and family life.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast00:58 Laura's journey and joining the family business03:18 Overview of OA Group05:15 Laura's early career and working with her mother08:06 Growing up with an entrepreneurial parent09:04 Laura's interest in business and entrepreneurship10:34 Joining Osborne Appointments16:11 Early days of recruiting and the types of jobs19:19 Balancing work and motherhood25:45 Progressing in her career and becoming a manager29:25 Realising her entrepreneurial ambitions31:19 Negotiating the deal to take over the business37:48 Taking ownership of the business43:34 Working with family and post-acquisition vision45:01 Creating a meaningful and sustainable business46:20 Balancing growth and fairness46:50 Key principles for a viable business47:48 Embracing change and being open-minded49:18 Seeking outside opinions and ideas50:14 Creating a safe environment for feedback and innovation53:02 The importance of in-person interaction in recruitment58:12 Gender equality and avoiding self-limitations01:02:48 Juggling work and family life01:07:45 The importance of prioritising and being agile__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: UntappedSafe 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

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. TakeawaysNegotiating an exit from a previous company can be challenging, especially when it comes to non-compete agreements and investment decisions.Focusing on operational billing and setting high standards can help build a strong foundation for a recruitment agency.Investing in personal branding and leveraging platforms like LinkedIn can have a significant impact on client retention and business growth.Internal recruitment plays a crucial role in building a successful company and finding the best talent to drive growth.Having a clear vision and exit strategy can guide the long-term goals and direction of a recruitment agency.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast and guest introduction01:25 Josh Huggins' background and journey to starting GS203:20 Overview of GS2 and its divisions04:39 Target market and clients of GS206:02 The changing recruitment landscape and opportunities in a post-COVID world07:00 Josh's background in football and transition to recruitment10:46 Joining Principal People and the growth of the business16:28 Transitioning to a senior role at Principal People20:44 The process of selling Principal People and the challenges faced27:51 The decision to start GS2 and the challenges faced36:48 The attempted buyback of Principal People and the decision to start GS240:33 The exit from Principal People and the start of GS244:28 Naming and structure of GS245:23 Negotiating the exit and setting up GS247:39 Starting GS2 and building the team49:21 Returning to operational billing and setting standards51:15 Recruiting levels and service offerings52:08 Investing in personal branding and learning from Hoxo53:07 Changing the mindset of recruitment and staying connected with clients55:28 The impact of personal branding on revenue57:21 Bringing Tom Glanfield on board and internal recruitment01:00:15 Building GS2 with an exit in mind01:02:09 The vision for GS2 and future growth__________________________________________Hoxo MessageReady 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/3PLjaJYIf 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:4 bite-sized training videos that can immediately help you boost business on LinkedInExclusive access to Hoxo 20:10:5 warm leads tracking templateFree support from the Hoxo team to help you implement the process and get the resultsThis 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: VincereVincere’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 andconfigure 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 one easy click. You can also offer candidates a quick and easy job search interface, so it’s made easy for them to find their perfect role.And for your clients, you can offer them unique logins so they can access everythingthey need 24/7, so they can rate and review candidates and arrange interviews.Find out more on vincere.io/rag

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:Their start-up story whilst navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic at the same timeBusiness planning basicsTransitioning to a four-day workweek and the benefits they’ve experiencedManaging client expectations and effective communication Balancing work and parenthood Returning to work after maternity leaveChallenges and successes of 2022Profit margins in the recruitment industryThe current state of the business and their future vision!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. Chapters00:00 Introduction to Mackey Myers02:20 Working together at Michael Page08:29 Leaving Michael Page and starting a new business12:38 Navigating the challenges of Covid-1919:40 Setting up Mackey Myers27:19 Hiring and scaling the business34:24 First year of Mackey Myers42:47 Lessons learned and balancing personal life45:42 Business planning basics46:43 Transition to a four-day workweek48:04 Benefits of a four-day workweek49:02 Operating model of a four-day workweek50:53 Managing client expectations52:20 Communication with clients54:07 Balancing work and parenthood55:34 Returning to work after maternity leave59:21 Challenges and successes of 202201:01:09 Profit margins in the recruitment industry01:02:29 Current state of the business01:05:06 Future vision for the business__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: RecruitHubOur 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 feesIf 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: UntappedSafe 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 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

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. TakeawaysVincere is committed to improving the user experience for small to mid-sized recruitment agencies.The product roadmap includes enhancements to the user interface, email functionality, and automation.Data security and compliance are top priorities for Vincere, especially when integrating with LinkedIn.The company is actively seeking customer feedback and engagement to shape the product development.Chapters00:00 Introduction to the RAG podcast00:57 Focus on the product roadmap02:25 Discussion on market conditions and plans03:23 Updates on product development06:40 Product roadmap for small to mid-sized market07:55 Improving UI and UX09:20 Improvements to velocity and data import tool10:20 Integration with LinkedIn and data security13:52 Payroll integration and expanding marketplace15:42 Revamping the scheduler for smaller agencies17:06 Improving email functionality and automation19:22 In-app training and product enablement21:43 Improving internal communication and knowledge sharing22:11 Introduction of workspace and AI functionality23:07 Adopting AI in Vincere25:03 Focus on improving system speed and security27:05 Addressing compliance and email functionality28:54 Marketing automation and marketplace mindset30:45 Engaging with customers and gathering feedback32:31 Prioritizing feature requests and engaging with customers35:23 Openness to customer feedback and engagement38:40 Closing remarks and contact information__________________________________________Hoxo MessageReady 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/3PLjaJYIf 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:4 bite-sized training videos that can immediately help you boost business on LinkedInExclusive access to Hoxo 20:10:5 warm leads tracking templateFree support from the Hoxo team to help you implement the process and get the resultsThis 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: VincereVincere’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 one easy click. You can also offer candidates a quick and easy job search interface, so it’s made easy for them to find their perfect role.And for your clients, you can offer them unique logins so they can access everything they need 24/7, so they can rate and review candidates and arrange interviews.Find out more on vincere.io/rag

Today I was joined by Dan Moussa and Kevin Warner, the founders of Telesca. Telesca is an 11 month old recruitment business headquartered in Brisbane with a completely unique model. These guys recruit in the energy and sustainability space and in a short space of time they’ve built a business with the following100% retained (30% upfront / 70% on success)Productised model with clear pricing and delivery structureUtlisation of Offshore experienced recruiters in Philippines.Soon to be 11 staff, every member of the team has 7+ yrs of experience In 11 months, they've generated over 7 figures but most importantly, they’ve done it in their own way!In this episode, we talk aboutHow they metHow they started the businessWhy they started the businessHow they have achieved the 4 steps above!We really go into detail about this model because I genuinely think it's amazing. I mean, it's super profitable, super scalable and sustainable as well, win win!You don’t wanna miss this!__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: RecruitHubOur 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 - we handle everything from company registration to contracts, to finance and support- No setup costs on the platform, no recurring fixed costs, and no surprise feesIf 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: UntappedSafe 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 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

On this week's episode, I'm excited as Chris Redmond, the founder and the CEO of RedHolt, is back on the show for the third time.In Q4 2019, he came into my office in East London; we recorded in person together and he claimed that he wanted to be a digital nomad.They’d just got rid of their office, cancelled the lease and were going completely remote.This was a pre-pandemic world and I'll be honest, I thought it was a bit mad. Six months later, the world went into lockdown. Fast-forward nine months and he came back on my daily show, the RAG Report, and talked quite openly about how the systems he'd put in place pre-pandemic meant that he had no real disruption at all. In 2023, Chris lives in Dubai, and he's still got a team in the UK that operate mainly in the media and broadcasting space. They are retained headhunters with a forensic process driven way of working.Chris has built an amazing lifestyle business which has consistently been running at about 60% profit - this is madness in our industry! He's now got the challenge of building a business that can be sold.He wants an exit plan, but how does he navigate that?Chris also lost 35 kg in 2023, and he looks incredible! How did he find the motivation and drive to make this lifestyle change? In this episode, we talk about his professional plan, plus his personal life. And, as Chris does not hold back, we get into as much detail as ever! You don't want to miss it.__________________________________________Hoxo MessageReady 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/3PLjaJYIf 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:4 bite-sized training videos that can immediately help you boost business on LinkedInExclusive access to Hoxo 20:10:5 warm leads tracking templateFree support from the Hoxo team to help you implement the process and get the resultsThis 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: VincereVincere’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 theyneed in one place.Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account andconfigure 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 oneeasy click. You can also offer candidates a quick and easy job search interface, so it’s made easy for them to find their perfect role.And for your clients, you can offer them unique logins so they can access everythingthey need 24/7, so they can rate and review candidates and arrange interviews.Find out more on vincere.io/rag

On this week's show, I was super excited to be joined by Anthony Kelly, the founder of DeepRec.ai which is a niche AI recruitment agency, part of the wider Trinnovo group. He joined the Trinnovo group three and a half years ago, as part of the Trust in Soda brand. After seeing early success, he left Ireland, moving to the UK and it was here that he realised he wanted to be an entrepreneur.At the start of 2023, Anthony decided that it was this year that he wanted to launch his agency and that he wanted to do it in Bishop's Stortford, to be close to his partner and newborn baby. A little negotiation with the founders of Trinnovo, and they agreed that he could launch his own business within the portfolio, as long as he wanted to build something of scale.They discussed building a business of circa 50 people in headcount with a 2 million EBITDA as a target focus. Anthony said, “yes, but I want to do it my way in an office five days a week in Bishops Stortford. We're not going to be in London.”They all agreed and got it off the ground.So he's now a team of five, five months in. He's got a plan to be 18 in 12 months. They're profitable and they're making significant waves from a placement perspective. In this show, I discuss:The strategy behind his businessHis approach to building something locally outside of LondonHow he's going to build that scale and what that will mean for him and the team in the futureIf you're wanting to speak to or learn from someone who's right in the thick of the first six months of growth of being a new founder, but with a vision of scale and exit and all the things that most people in our industry want, then this is an episode for you to listen to.Anthony is a charismatic, open, friendly Irish guy. I love talking to him. I'm sure you will too. Hoxo MessageAre you spending hours on LinkedIn and cold outreach and want more business coming to you over your competition? Well, if you're the founder or leader of a recruitment agency, here's what we can do for you at Hoxo.We will give you the training, support, and resources to take you from what I call “an offline recruiter”, reliant on posting jobs and sending in emails to open up new customers, ultimately looking like every other recruiter on LinkedIn - to “an online recruiter”, being seen by over 25,000 relevant people driving a 200% minimum increase in engagement on your profile and seeing daily lead lists from LinkedIn that you can follow up within six weeks time.And if you don't perform, you don't pay. How can we make such a bold, results-driven promise like this? Two reasons:1) While I've been building The RAG Podcast, we've actually done what we say we’ll do for our clients. In less than two years, we built a business generating from zero to over 1 million views per month on LinkedIn leading to multimillion-pound revenues with a sales team of me plus two people without making a single outbound call.2) Our track record - not only have we done it ourselves, but we've helped over 350 agencies and over 4,700 consultants do it as well, all in the last three years. Now, if that sounds interesting to you, make sure you fill in our contact form and we’ll tell you how we can help: https://bit.ly/3jpuEWa____________________________________________________________________________________Episode Sponsor: RecruitHubOur 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 - we handle everything from company registration to contracts, to finance and support- No setup costs on the platform, no recurring fixed costs, and no surprise feesIf 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: UntappedSafe 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 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

On this week’s show, I was super excited to be joined by Stuart Fry & Lloyd Cremer. Stuart is the CEO, and Lloyd is the CRO, of Halian, a recruitment and IT services business headquartered in the UK with multiple offices all over the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.Lloyd joined me from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Stuart was in Dubai. They recently completed an MBO where they bought the original founders out, and they're on a journey now for the next four years to create an incredible wealth creation exercise for a number of their teams across the world.Stuart joined almost 15 years ago and has seen the business grow in both recruitment and IT services, and Lloyd has come through a traditional recruitment route for over 15 years. In this episode, we talk aboutGrowing a recruitment firm as well as an IT services firmWhy they are focusing their business in the Middle East We debunk some myths about the Middle East, about living there and about getting paid in the Middle EastThe MBO and what their exit plan looks like Why they are NOT entering the US market, unlike the majority of other UK recruitment firmsIf you're looking to add different services on top of just recruitment, or if you're looking to join an organisation that's growing towards a wealth creation activity, then you should be listening to this show. __________________________________________Episode Sponsor: RecruitHubOur 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 - we handle everything from company registration to contracts, to finance and support- No setup costs on the platform, no recurring fixed costs, and no surprise feesIf 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: UntappedSafe 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 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: https://bit.ly/Hoxo-Untapped

On this week’s show, you’ve got me again. I know I’ve been sharing solo episodes the last few weeks and had a couple of weeks’ break, but I really wanted to take this time to share my recap of Q3So personally, and professionally, I feel like it's probably been the most powerfully transformational quarter of my life.In this show, I discuss:Q2 being an extremely difficult quarter for our businesses (and a lot of other businesses as well)How we turned around our company for the better in Q3Hoxo’s 3 guiding principles going forward How becoming a father has changed my priorities and perspectives on work-life balanceOur vision for the futureThere's so much stuff I've done that I think can add value to you guys. I really hope you enjoy the show.Hoxo MessageAre you spending hours on LinkedIn and cold outreach and want more business coming to you over your competition? Well, if you're the founder or leader of a recruitment agency, here's what we can do for you at Hoxo.We will give you the training, support, and resources to take you from what I call “an offline recruiter”, reliant on posting jobs and sending in emails to open up new customers, ultimately looking like every other recruiter on LinkedIn - to “an online recruiter”, being seen by over 25,000 relevant people driving a 200% minimum increase in engagement on your profile and seeing daily lead lists from LinkedIn that you can follow up within six weeks time.And if you don't perform, you don't pay. How can we make such a bold, results-driven promise like this? Two reasons:1) While I've been building The RAG Podcast, we've actually done what we say we’ll do for our clients. In less than two years, we built a business generating from zero to over 1 million views per month on LinkedIn leading to multimillion-pound revenues with a sales team of me plus two people without making a single outbound call.2) Our track record - not only have we done it ourselves, but we've helped over 350 agencies and over 4,700 consultants do it as well, all in the last three years. Now, if that sounds interesting to you, make sure you fill in our contact form and we’ll tell you how we can help: https://bit.ly/3jpuEWa__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: VincereVincere’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 theyneed in one place.Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account andconfigure 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 oneeasy click. You can also offer candidates a quick and easy job search interface, so it’s made easy for them to find their perfect role.And for your clients, you can offer them unique logins so they can access everythingthey need 24/7, so they can rate and review candidates and arrange interviews.Find out more on vincere.io/rag

I’m still on paternity leave, so I'm going to give you another super valuable piece of content from my recent Personal Brand Taster series. In this week's episode, I want to feature the 4 steps that any recruitment company can adopt to become what I call an inbound recruiter.And that is a recruiter that:✔️ Lives off warm leads✔️ Is spotting 25 warm leads a week on LinkedIn and turning that into businessSo I'm going to give you four actionable steps that you can take today to do less outbound activity and more inbound activity. It's only going to be a maximum of 30 minutes. It's super valuable so take notes.Enjoy the session.Hoxo MessageAre you spending hours on LinkedIn and cold outreach and want more business coming to you over your competition? Well, if you're the founder or leader of a recruitment agency, here's what we can do for you at Hoxo.We will give you the training, support, and resources to take you from what I call “an offline recruiter”, reliant on posting jobs and sending in emails to open up new customers, ultimately looking like every other recruiter on LinkedIn - to “an online recruiter”, being seen by over 25,000 relevant people driving a 200% minimum increase in engagement on your profile and seeing daily lead lists from LinkedIn that you can follow up within six weeks time.And if you don't perform, you don't pay. How can we make such a bold, results-driven promise like this? Two reasons:1) While I've been building The RAG Podcast, we've actually done what we say we’ll do for our clients. In less than two years, we built a business generating from zero to over 1 million views per month on LinkedIn leading to multimillion-pound revenues with a sales team of me plus two people without making a single outbound call.2) Our track record - not only have we done it ourselves, but we've helped over 350 agencies and over 4,700 consultants do it as well, all in the last three years. Now, if that sounds interesting to you, make sure you fill in our contact form and we’ll tell you how we can help: https://bit.ly/3jpuEWa__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: VincereVincere’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 theyneed in one place.Easily set up your candidate, client, and job portal straight within your Vincere account andconfigure 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 oneeasy click. You can also offer candidates a quick and easy job search interface, so it’s made easy for them to find their perfect role.And for your clients, you can offer them unique logins so they can access everythingthey need 24/7, so they can rate and review candidates and arrange interviews.Find out more on vincere.io/rag