The RAG Podcast - Recruitment Agency Growth Podcast
The RAG Podcast features real and raw conversations with successful recruitment entrepreneurs about what is happening in their businesses right now and their plans to navigate market changes.
Episodes
Season 10 | Ep2 Mike Williams: My Team Can Bill $250K Off My Accounts. That's the Problem.
Mike Williams was handed a cold desk in a rural US town and told to place accountants. There weren't any. So he placed an engineer instead, and kept going, until his boss's boss rang to tell him the whole thing was going to fail and he'd be fired when it did.He became Rookie of the Year and made President's Club all 5 years. Then he quit, moved from Massachusetts to Charlotte, North Carolina, and
Season 10 | Ep1 Jordan Shlosberg: Why Your Old Conversations Are Now Your Best Asset
Three years ago Jordan Shlosberg walked up to me at an expo and asked to sponsor this show. I said no. I'd had enough of CRM companies.Two years on from our first conversation in a Sheffield hotel, Atlas is in the multiple thousands of users, with 60 staff spread across Greece, Bosnia, Italy, India, Colombia and Liverpool. He still won't disclose revenue. He's aiming at Vincere and Loxo first, the
Season 9 | Ep40 Max Learmonth: From Kitchen Table to £2.4m in Three Years
Max Learmonth was a professional rugby player who fell into recruitment by accident. He answered one trainee ad at Robert Half, started two weeks later, and never looked back.He climbed fast. £180,000 in his first year, £300,000 in his second, then off the tools rebuilding offices for a global giant. But somewhere in the grind, he lost himself. 'I'd become an arsehole,' he says. 'A typical Wolf of
Season 9 | Ep39 Scott Lechley: How a Solo Founder Went 100% Retained and Had His Best Year Yet
Scott Lechley started Lechley Associates with £10,000, a new baby at home, and six months of recruitment experience. Twenty four years later he is still the only person in the business, and he is on track for the best year he has ever had.Lechley Associates places the people who run the UK's biggest construction and infrastructure programmes. Framework directors, board level hires, the leaders beh
Season 9 | Ep38 Louise Archer: From Zero Retained Revenue to £12M and 1,500 Recruiters Trained
Louise Archer spent more than twenty years as a contingent recruiter. She believed retained was probably smoke and mirrors, something dressed up to justify a bigger fee, and definitely not a pool she was ever going to swim in.Then her employer handed her a project called Most Money Soonest, with a brief to make the permanent division's revenue predictable enough to survive a major acquisition. She
Season 9 | Ep37 Tom Kelly: £10M NFI in Space Recruitment With 35 People
In 2022, EVONA had eighty staff, a Manchester office, a six-hundred-thousand-pound monthly cost base, and had just spent three hundred thousand pounds flying the whole company to Monaco. Tom Kelly calls it the moment four first-time founders lost perspective.What followed was one of the more honest rebuilds you will hear in recruitment. Contract team gone. Marketing team gone. Management team rest
Season 9 | Ep36 Mike Ames: £39M in Exits. The Life He Almost Missed Building It.
Mike Ames built his first recruitment business from scratch in 1989 with six months of industry experience and two partners. One of them died in a car accident after 18 months. He became MD. He had a breakdown. He rebuilt the business entirely around scalability, removed himself from the centre of it, and sold to a NYSE-listed company for £24 million at the age of 38.He thought that would feel lik
Season 9 | Ep35 Oliver Paull: £800K in 3 Years, Solo, From a London Flat
At 28, Oliver Paull runs Rec Gen completely alone from his flat in London. £209K in year one at an 81% profit margin. £298K in year two. Past £270K already this year. Close to £800K in under three years, with no staff, no office and no cold client outreach.It did not start that way. In his first recruitment role he was on target to bill £650K and leaving the office to have panic attacks three time
Season 9 | Ep34 Mathew Gollop: 7 to 85 People, a Near Collapse, and the Free Idea That Paid Him Back
Mathew Gollop found Hong Kong in the back of Recruiter magazine. A glossy advert, a Chinese temple, a palm tree. He flew out, signed the contract, and landed in February 2001.The dot-com bubble had just burst. Then 9/11. Then SARS.Within a year the founder wanted out, and Mathew took the business over. It was the only way to keep his job.When the market finally turned, it turned hard. Connected Gr
Season 9 | Ep33 Greg Fischer: $4.2M Revenue, $1.4M Net - Then He Left With Nothing but a Handshake
Greg Fischer did not plan to spend ten years in recruitment. He joined a solo healthcare practice in LA as employee number one, figured it would pay the bills, and planned to open a gym someday. He never left.Instead he built one of the most profitable staffing businesses in the US. $4.2 million in NFI, $1.4 million net profit. 38 people and a seven-figure equity stake with a $50 million exit on t
Season 9 | Ep32 Paul Strouts: When Growing Headcount Is a Strategy and When It Is Just a Cost
Paul Strouts has run a business of four people.His first business, James Harvard, quickly grew beyond 100 people and sold to Hays for approximately £20 million at 32.He then spent a decade running Hays Life Sciences globally. Got headhunted to PE Backed Acacium and quickly made two strategic acquisitions.He now runs:3 brands.250 people.12 countries.Contingent, SOW, RPO and Solutions revenuePredict
Season 9 | Ep31 Nathan O'Connell: Building a £1M R2R business on 4 x Retained Clients
Nathan O'Connell spent nine years as a British military officer. Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. He finished on the withdrawal with 16 Air Assault Brigade and left the forces two weeks before his 30th birthday with no sales background, no LinkedIn profile, and no recruitment experience of any kind.He got into rec-to-rec by accident. Spotted an advert on his wife’s Instagram, joined R2R Global, and was g
Season 9 | Ep30 Emily Angeloni: Why She Nearly Walked Away From WOW After 9 Years of growth
Emily Angeloni co-founded WOW Recruitment in Sydney at 22. No salary for six months. Just her laptop, working from a building set for demolition. Nine years later: a team of 18 across every major Australian state, New Zealand, and the United States. One of the most respected boutique sales and marketing agencies in the country.The year she became a mother, her co-founder told her he was leaving. S
Season 9 | Ep29 Charlie Saffro: What Nobody Tells You About Selling Your Recruitment Business
Charlie Saffro started CS Recruiting by accident. Pregnant with her third child, out of a job overnight, doing free matchmaking from the school carpool line in Chicago. Her first placement fee was $1,200 with a year-long guarantee. Sixteen years later, she had built a $5 million logistics and supply chain recruitment firm with 48 employees at its peak. Inc. Best Workplaces honouree. TEDx speaker.
Season 9 | Ep28 Blaine Daws: £1.5M Year One to £15M Today. Working 7 Days a Week to Get There.
Blaine Daws started in data centres in 2008 with a stack of papers and a wired phone. By 25, he was billing £475k a year as a solo 360 recruiter. At a family Christmas party in December 2019, he met Karl Chatterjee, a man who had already sold two recruitment businesses for multi-millions. Karl said: "Why are you going to line someone else's pockets?" Four weeks later, WNTD was incorporated. Two we
Season 9 | Ep27 Andy Strong: Why He Waited 17 Years to Start His Own Recruitment Business
Andy Strong spent 10 years in retail selling mobile phones. Then 17 years building the biggest delivery team at a SaaS recruitment firm in Dorset. He became one of four divisional directors. His team placed 82% of the company's US hires from Poole. He drove 400% growth in North American placements.And then he went to therapy.Eight sessions later, he ended an eight-year relationship, resigned from
Season 9 | Ep26 Jon Woolley: How a Solo Recruiter Billed $1M in Two Years from Home
Jon Woolley spent nearly a decade at Vantage Consulting. He opened their US arm, built a team of eight, and scaled it to $1.6 million. Then, three weeks before his third child was born, he walked away.No team. No clients. No pipeline. Just £30,000 in savings and a niche most recruiters have never heard of: industrial automation. The people who programme the machines that make the stuff, from pharm
Season 9 | Ep25 Christian Mather: The Wealth Planner Recruitment Founders Are Calling First
This is not a typical RAG episode.Christian Mather is not a recruiter. He has never filled a role, run a desk, or managed a team. He is a wealth planner. And since niching into recruitment founders about two and a half years ago, he has become one of the most in-demand advisors in the industry.Since January alone, he has had over 100 enquiries and spoken to 60 founders about the same thing: how to
Season 9 | Ep24 How David Bloxham Flipped a 130-Person Agency to 95% Contract Revenue
David Bloxham first appeared on The RAG Podcast in March 2020. That episode was recorded the week before the world went into lockdown. He had 130 staff, a fresh MBO behind him, and a business that was growing.Six years later, he is back. Same seat. Very different business.In the years since, David has navigated a pandemic, a post-COVID hiring boom, a brutal tech slump, and the rise of AI. Each tim
Season 9 | Ep23 Ben Richardson & Mike Bott: Why LHi Group appointed two CEOs
Ben Richardson & Mike Bott: Why LHi Group appointed two CEOsFor 25 years, LHi Group had one CEO.Founder Tom Glanfield built the business from scratch with Jim Denning taking over in 2020 and leading it it through COVID.A global recruitment group, LHi has5 brands.300 people.9Offices across the US and EuropeBen Richardson and Mike Bott had both spent their careers inside LHi.Both joined as entry
Season 9 | Ep22 Lucy Robinson: Fired from her job, now running a £650k global search firm
Lucy Robinson: Fired from her job, now running a £650k global search firmLucy Robinson runs LCR International, a global executive search firm specialising in fresh produce across six continents.Today, the business is doing around £650k in revenue, but the story really started in December 2019 when Lucy was fired from her job for not hitting targets.At the time, she had no savings, a three-year-old
Season 9 | Ep21 Jory Humphreys & Sam Hope: How they built $25M in 25 months using offshore leverage
In June 2023, Jory Humphreys and Sam Hope launched H People with limited capital but an insane energy to work hard.Within 25 months, they'd built a $25 million business. $8.2 million in year one, $15.5 million revenue and $1 million in EBITDA in their second full year. They're now Australia's number two fastest-growing company.But what makes their story different isn't the revenue. It's the model
Season 9 | Ep20 Emma Storey: How 2 part-time working mums billed £500K in their first 2 years!
Emma Storey: How 2 part-time working mums billed £500K in their first 2 years!Emma Storey never thought she'd still be in recruitment after having kids.She'd never worked with a mum in the industry. Never had a role model who'd done it. The assumption was always the same: have a baby, and your recruitment career is over.But after successfully juggling recruitment and becoming a mum inside the pand
Season 9 | Ep19 Avetis Antaplyan on how he spent millions protecting his team (they still left anyway)
In 2022, Avetis Antaplyan was absolutely flying...HIRECLOUT, his global recruiting firm with 30 employees across the US, Colombia, Armenia, and India was breaking record after record.Two-time Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company, his best year ever and he felt everything was working.Then when the market hit hard in 2023-2024 and every other founder was doing layoffs, Avetis refused to cut people.Inst
Season 9 | Ep18 Peter Kornberg: How a Non-Recruiter Built $1M+ Revenue 15 years in a row (with Just 6 People)
Peter Kornberg: How a Non-Recruiter Built $1M+ Revenue 15 years in a row (with Just 6 People)Peter Kornberg never worked a day as an agency recruiter.He worked in Advertising and Marketing and became a Chief Digital Officer.He ran a product design agency in New York City. Clients started asking for talent they couldn't afford to engage the agency for. So Peter said: "We can provide you some people
Season 9 | Ep17 Alex Hashash: A Decade of Building Offshore Teams Across Three Continents
At 21 years old, Alex Hashash was managing 15 people and 18,000 hours of temporary nurses every single week.By his early thirties, he had 120 staff. Most of them offshore.But it didn't start with a playbook. It started with 3 am phone calls, traumatic Blackberry ringtones, and weekend rotas that never seemed to end.When his company decided to build an offshore capability, Alex didn't manage it fro
Season 9 | Ep16 Logan Naidu: How he made 100 cuts after a £30M deal (and survived the downturn)
Logan Naidu runs Kernel Global-a multi-brand recruitment group with 200 people across London, Hong Kong, Charlotte and New York.We first spoke in April 2021. He had 180 people. The market was about to explode.2021: £7 million EBITDA. 2022: £10 million EBITDA. Headcount doubled to 300.Then March 2023 hit. Logan closed a second PE deal. Paid out over £30 million to staff. The biggest individual payo
Season 9 | Ep15 Ryan Gorman: How He Built £250k in Fees Without Making a Single Cold Call
Ryan Gorman: How He Built £250k in Fees Without Making a Single Cold CallRyan Gorman launched Lofthouse Group in January 2021 with a newborn daughter at home.His wife asked him one question: "What sort of person do you want Isla seeing? Do you want her growing up seeing work as something you love, or just something you do to earn money?"Year one, solo, working part-time around his newborn: £93k in
Season 9 | Ep14 Stuart Mitchell: How he built $3M in 3 years (then realised he hated his own job)
Stuart Mitchell: How he built $3M in 3 years (then realised he hated his own job)Stuart Mitchell launched Hampton North in September 2022.$1.6 million year one. $2.5 million year two. On track for $3 million plus in year three.Now 10 staff and projects $1m profit for next year.I interviewed him on the show in the middle of 2023, and things were flying.But over the following 18 months, he nearly br
Season 9 | Ep13 Pete Watson: 22 years as a solo Rec2Rec in Australia (and why he'd never do it again)
Pete Watson: 22 years as a solo Rec2Rec in Australia (and why he'd never do it again)Pete Watson is the longest-serving boots-on-the-ground Rec2Rec in Australia.22 years running Mint R2R. Thousands of placements. A recognisable name across the entire Australian recruitment market.But 18 months ago, he was at the gym when he asked himself one question:"Would I do it all again?"His answer was immedi
Season 9 | Ep12 Michael Green: How he made $700K in year one (after not billing for 6 years)
Michael Green: How he made $700K in year one (after not billing for 6 years)Michael Green spent six years running teams of 100+ recruiters.Building offices. Managing people. Zero placements.When he launched Unico in April 2024, he had to go back to basics."I had to do role plays to myself. I hadn't qualified a candidate in six years."Day one was brutal. Just him, his house and a dog.But Michael ha
Season 9 | Ep 11 Jen Gaster: How she sold her business to her team (and kept the tax bill at zero)
Jen Gaster: How she sold her business to her team (and kept the tax bill at zero)Jen Gaster launched HR Heads in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis with a six-month-old baby and zero income security.17 years later, she runs three brands, 22 people, and just completed an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) transaction.Tax-free exit, 5-year payout. The employees own the business when the mortgage
Season 9 | Ep10 Helen Buchan-Connor on why she's building offshore teams and hitting $600K revenue
Helen Buchan-Connor on why she's building offshore teams and hitting $600K revenue"All I wanted to do was make £100,000. That's it"Helen Buchan Connor started her recruitment business in September 2020.Her husband had just been diagnosed with lymphoma.COVID had locked down Singapore a week earlier.She was working from her lift lobby because there was no space for an office.Most people would've wai
Season 9 | Ep9 Emily Van Eyssen on why she's firing staff and replacing them with AI
Emily Van Eyssen on why she's firing staff and replacing them with AI"I automated someone's entire job out of my business.""They're gone. That role doesn't exist anymore."Emily Van Eyssen isn't talking about the future.She's talking about last month.She had no recruitment experience when she started.Zero training. Never worked for an agency. Stumbled into it during the pandemic through a governmen
Season 9 | Ep8 Mark Thomas walked away from a six-figure salary without a concrete plan.
Mark Thomas walked away from a six-figure salary without a concrete plan.Three co-founders. One investment. Strict 9-month covenants.Then came March: dozens of pitches, everyone loved the vision, but almost no one was buying. The retained leadership search model wasn't landing. They started questioning everything.One week later, four retained searches landed. Revenue hasn't stopped climbing s
Season 9 | Ep7 Chris & Gemma built a 7-figure agency by saying NO to 90% of clients
Chris & Gemma built a 7-figure agency by saying NO to 90% of clientsChris walked into a client meeting. Got the job brief. Then said "No way."The client looked at him like he was insane."You haven't shown me the office. I don't know your team. I can't work on this job."She'd just told him they were more expensive than every other agency.He didn't care.This is how Chris and Gemma built Mixos -
Season 9 | Ep6 Mick Donaghy: How he built $1.4M from $7K (after his partnership collapsed)
Mick Donaghy: How he built $1.4M from $7K (after his partnership collapsed) Mick Donaghy's mother died when he was in his twenties.Life's too short became his operating system.He left Ireland. Moved to New Zealand. Became a top-billing recruiter! A few years later, he got his shot at ownership. A partnership to launch an Australian business for the agency he worked. For many reasons, thi
Season 9 | Ep5 Jordan Shlosberg: Why agency recruiters will win (and internal TA won't)
Jordan Shlosberg: Why agency recruiters will win (and internal TA won't)Jordan Shlosberg runs Atlas CRM—the fastest-growing, AI-native recruitment platform in the world.Thousands of recruiters use his technology every day. Real-time data. Real billings. Real problems being solved.If anyone knows what's actually working with AI in recruitment, it's him."Internal talent teams have a lot to worry abo
Season 9 | Ep4 Ricky Burns: How to build £1.1M profit in year one (after losing it all at 32)
Ricky Burns: How to build £1.1M profit in year one (after losing it all at 32)Ricky Burns made incredible money at 28Then he drank it all away.Partied it into oblivion and got hit with a massive VAT bill he couldn't pay.Most people never recover from that kind of failure, but at 32, he decided to shut the business down and start again.He went back into employment for 11 years.Ran Europea
Season 9 | Ep3 Matt Fox achieved a life-changing exit and walked away in 90 days!
Matt Fox achieved a life-changing exit and walked away in 90 days!Matt Fox was 72 hours from a multi-seven-figure exit when COVID killed the deal.What followed: a complete breakdown, 2 years of therapy, and a total rebuild.But he did it differently the second time.Cut from 30 stressed employees to 10 people he loved. Stripped costs. Turned it into a cash machine. By 40, he'd cleared his mortgage a
Season 9 | Ep2 Nick Hoadley on scaling Insurance Search to 7-figures at 50% plus profit
This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Nick Hoadley, founder of Insurance Search, a specialist executive search practice in the global insurance market.Nick quit a successful broking career nine years ago and launched a recruitment business with zero agency experience. Since then, he has shifted from 100% contingent to 100% retained, built a lean team, and maxed out a seven-figure practice wh
Season 9 | Ep1 Samm Green on rebuilding Few & Far towards £1m EBITDA in 2025, despite serious burnout and two years of losses
This week, on episode 1 of season 9 of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Samm Green, co-founder of Few & Far, a UK-based product management recruitment business with 22 people and a powerful story of resilience.Samm was the very first guest I ever recorded on The RAG back in 2019, and at that time, he had big plans to scale to 40 staff and eventually exit. While some of that came true, the road s
Anthony Webster on authenticity, inclusion and leading DVF Recruitment to success
This week on The RAG Podcast, I am revisiting my episode with Anthony Webster, Managing Director of DVF Recruitment and board member at Career Legal.Anthony and I go way back - we worked together for five years and even planned to launch Hoxo together before his journey took a different turn. At that point, Anthony made a life-changing decision: he came out as gay after years of hiding his true se
Laura Clark on taking over OA Group from her mum and leading it into the future
This week on The RAG Podcast, we are revisiting my episode with Laura Clark, CEO of OA Group.Laura’s journey is one of the most unique I’ve ever shared on the show. She grew up watching her mum build Osborne Appointments (now OA Group), joined the business at 19, and earlier this year bought it from her mother to take over as CEO.We talk about:What it was like growing up with an entrepreneurial mo
How Ben Wallin and Dan Cox scaled Edison Smart to 31 staff and expanded globally
This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m revisiting my episode with Ben Wallin and Dan Cox, founders of Edison Smart.When I spoke to them in August 2022, they’d already hit £1.7m revenue and built a team of nearly 20 in just over a year. One year later, they scaled to 31 employees, expanded into the US, put boots on the ground in Dubai, and built a structure that no longer relies on their own billing.We
Kevin Frater on leading global recruitment growth from 12 to 180 at Frank Group
This week on The RAG Podcast, we are revisiting Episode 1 from Season 7 with Kevin Frater, Director at Stable10 and a recruitment leader with over 18 years of experience across Allegis and Frank Group.Kevin built his reputation as a fixer, turning underperforming offices into high-performing teams. Most notably, he grew a team in Germany from 12 to 180 recruiters over six years, creating one of th
Joe Jani on growing Metric Search to 90 heads and a private equity deal in six years
This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m revisiting my episode with Joe Jani, founder and CEO of Metric Search, one of the fastest growing recruitment firms in the world.Joe launched Metric in 2019 and in just six years has scaled to 90 heads across the US and UK. At only 31 years old, he’s already closed a private equity deal, taking seven figures off the table while setting the business on course for a
Jordan Shlosberg on how AI can help you remove admin forever!
This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m revisiting my chat with Jordan Shlosberg, founder of Atlas, the first AI-first CRM built for the recruitment market.Jordan’s no stranger to scale. Before Atlas, he founded Prosapien, growing it to $40 million in revenue in just five years before exiting. He’s now bringing the same disruptive approach to recruitment technology.We talk about:How Atlas uses AI to eli
Stuart Mitchell on using personal brand to build a seven-figure agency in nine months
This week on The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Stuart Mitchell, the founder of Hampton North, a specialist cybersecurity search firm based in the US.Stuart launched his business, and in just nine months, he had already surpassed the seven-figure mark. There were no cold calls, no marketing spend, just LinkedIn and a consistent commitment to personal branding.We talk about:How he’s built a brand that
Digital nomad to 60% profit: Chris Redmond on remote success and exit plans
Chris Redmond is back on The RAG for the third time and his story keeps getting better.When I first interviewed Chris in 2019, he’d just gone fully remote and was chasing a digital nomad lifestyle with no fixed office. At the time, I thought he was mad.Then COVID hit, and while the rest of the industry scrambled, Chris and his team were already built for the new world.Fast forward to now, Redholt
Season 8 | Ep41 Season 8 wrap-up: What I’ve learned from 40 founder stories this year
What I’ve learned from 40 recruitment founder interviews in a yearThis week’s episode of The RAG is a little different - it’s just meAfter 40 in-person interviews across the UK, Dubai and Sydney, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve learned in season 8 and what’s next for the show.Here’s 3 key learnings that I cover in this solo episode:Why headcount is no longer the main measure of s
Season 8 | Ep40 Jamie Trevett on going all in on the US and shutting down his UK contracts business
Would you walk away from recurring revenue to chase a bigger opportunity overseas?On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Jamie Trevett, founder of Just Construction. Jamie was last on the show in 2022 when his UK construction recruitment firm had 25 staff and a growing contract book.Fast forward to today and Jamie has completely transformed the business. He shut down the contract
Season 8 | Ep39 Matt Tyson on two life-changing exits and the personal cost of chasing growth
What’s the point in building a business if you lose everything at home?On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Matt Tyson, founder of Knockout Consulting and former owner of two successful payroll companies.Matt has achieved what many founders dream of—two life-changing exits in 15 years. But behind the success was a personal cost he never expected. In his pursuit of business grow
Season 8 | Ep38 Dan Grim on what top recruitment talent really wants and why most agencies miss the mark
Why most recruitment businesses fail to attract top-tier leadership talentOn this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Dan Grim, founder of Inside Recruitment.With 25 years in the industry and two previous equity partnerships under his belt, Dan now runs a solo rec-to-rec firm helping recruitment businesses hire the kind of leadership talent that drives real scale.In this episode, Dan
Season 8 | Ep37 Why Martin Smith spends 90% of his time on what he's best at - BD and brand growth
Most recruitment founders try to do it all and burn out in the process.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Martin Smith, founder of Talent Group, who shares how he's structured his business to double down on what he's best at and handed over the rest.Martin runs TalentDrive and Talent Finance, with a 12-person team across the UK. In this episode, we talk about:His journey from
Season 8 | Ep36 Philippa Smith on losing it all then scaling back to build a £1m+ EBITDA lifestyle agency
What happens when your 15-person agency runs out of cash and you have to start over from scratch?On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Philippa Smith, founder of Silver Swan Recruitment, a luxury staffing agency for ultra-high net worth individuals.After growing her team to 15, COVID and poor cash flow caught up with her. In August 2024, she made the entire team redundant and sc
Season 8 | Ep35 How Levy Global is scaling post-MBO with a clear vision for growth and legacy
From recruiter to CEO and majority shareholder, Matt Murphy’s journey at Levy Global is nothing short of remarkable. Now, with Rory McGowan joining from Opus as COO, the business is entering what they call "Levy 2.0" - a new chapter focused on scale, structure, and serious wealth creation.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Matt and Rory, who now lead a 50-person business head
Season 8 | Ep34 Jay Wynter on $1m billing for 7 years straight and leading Precision Sourcing’s largest and highest-performing team
What does it take to bill over $1 million a year for seven years straight, while leading the highest-performing team in your company?On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Jay Wynter, SAP Practice Lead at Precision Sourcing in Australia. From a tough start in recruitment to becoming a standout performer, Jay has built an elite billing record and helped shape a team known for its
Season 8 | Ep33 Dan Moussa on growth, consulting skills and leading rec forward in the age of AI
What does growth really look like in 2025's recruitment market? For Dan Moussa, it means combining consulting skills, AI adoption and personal branding to move the industry forward.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I'm joined by Dan Moussa, founder of Talesca, a specialist recruitment business in Australia. Dan’s story is one of consistent adaptation, leaning into the tools and strategies
Season 8 | Ep32 From cleaning to global recruiter - Leon Mitton on scaling with AI at the core
What does it take to go from running a cleaning business to founding a global recruitment firm? Leon Mitton shares how he launched Agnes Cole Consulting during COVID and is now using AI to drive scale and efficiency in a way few are even attempting.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Leon Mitton, founder of Agnes Cole Consulting, a specialist SAP and S4 HANA recruitment firm b
Season 8 | Ep31 Tom Warner on why he downsized his agency and now prefers building solo at a £500K+ run rate
What happens when scaling your recruitment business doesn’t bring success, but stress? Tom Warner opens up about the highs and lows of building GroTech and why going solo was the best decision he ever made.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by Tom Warner, founder of GroTech, a specialist go-to-market recruitment agency for SaaS businesses in the Nordics.Tom launched GrowTech dur
Season 8 | Ep30 James Waissel on hitting £300K within 7 months as a rec agency founder
James Waissel set a modest goal of £125K in year 1 of launching his own agency. Instead, he ended up billing over £300K in revenue in just seven months.On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast, I’m joined by James Waissel, founder and CEO of Huntsman Consult, a construction and real estate recruitment business based in London.James started the business in June 2024, backed by a couple of ke
Season 8 | Ep29 Graham Cosgrave on growing MatchMedics by going niche and marketing to doctors worldwide
What happens when you go all-in on a niche? Graham Cosgrave shares how MatchMedics transformed from a traditional agency into one of Ireland’s leading medical recruitment brands by focusing solely on doctors.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I'm joined by Graham Cosgrave, Director at MatchMedics, a recruitment business specialising in placing doctors from across the globe into roles in Ir
Season 8 | Ep28 From recruiter to founder at 25: Haseena Mooncey on building a global life sciences business
Starting a recruitment business at 25 with just three years of experience takes serious courage. Haseena Mooncey did exactly that – and she’s built something special.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I'm joined by Haseena Mooncey, co-founder of CHR Life Sciences, a modern boutique recruitment firm focused on niche roles across the UK, Ireland, and Europe.Haseena launched the business
Season 8 | Ep27 From refugee to 7-figure founder: Klajdi Bega on building Luminary Group by age 27
From Albanian refugee to running a seven-figure recruitment firm by age 27. On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I'm joined by Klajdi Bega, founder and CEO of Luminary Group, a life sciences headhunting firm operating across the UK, Europe, and the US. Born in Albania and raised in North London, Klajdi’s story is one of grit, vision, and relentless drive. After starting
Season 8 | Ep26 Tom Johnson on securing investment from Lord Sugar and buying back 100% of his recruitment business
What happens when you cold email Lord Sugar asking for investment? Tom Johnson did exactly that…and it worked!On this week's show, I am joined by Tom Johnson, founder of Hernshead Group, a recruitment business he launched six years ago with backing from Lord Alan Sugar after watching The Apprentice.In this episode, Tom shares the full story – from that bold email to building and scaling Hernshead
Season 8 | Ep25 Helen Yarrow on embracing solo entrepreneurship after 30 years in recruitment
What if recruitment agency growth didn’t mean adding headcount?Helen Yarrow has spent over 30 years in recruitment—and for most of it, she felt like she was falling short of the industry’s definition of success.Why? Because she never scaled a big team.Despite launching her business 14 years ago and building a strong reputation in the B2B events space, she carried a sense that staying solo meant sh
Season 8 | Ep24 Tom Essex on losing their niche, and completely rebuilding the agency inside the first five years!
Founders fall out. Niches get blurred. This is what no one tells you about before you launch your own recruitment agencyOn this week's show, I am joined by Tom Essex, co-founder of Kigyo Solutions, a recruitment business based in Amsterdam focused on logistics and renewable energy.Tom launched the business in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as a niche SAP agency quickly b
Season 8 | Ep23 Marc Cohen on scaling in the US and securing an 8-figure exit!
Marc Cohen scaled his recruitment agency in the US and secured an 8 figure exit.On this week's RAG Podcast, I am joined by Marc, founder of ConSol Partners, who achieved something that 99.9% of recruitment founders will never do.Marc and his co-founder Graeme built their agency with an exit strategy in mind from day 1, navigating economic downturns, and predicting the success of future markets.In
Season 8 | Ep22 Kyle Winterbottom on how building his brand isn’t just attracting clients—it’s making his business an acquisition target!
Here is a recruitment business that doesn’t rely on outbound salesKyle Winterbottom has done things a little differently to the restKyle and I sat down for this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast to discuss how his business has evolved since he was last on the show in 2022.He’s built a global community of 1,500+ Chief Data Officers, driving all of his revenue through inbound relationships. His
Season 8 | Ep21 Lloyd Gordon: Merging 2 rec firms with 100+ staff into one unified team
In 2022, Lloyd Gordon had just acquired Cognitive Group, bringing his team to over 100 people.Over the past 3 years, he has had the challenge of successfully integrating the two businesses.On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast, I am joined for the fourth time by Lloyd, CEO of Focus Cloud Group, and this time we discussed:The challenges of merging two teams, cultures, and leadership styles.How
Season 8 | Ep20 Alex Dick on why 400 recruiters apply to work with his business every week!
Why 400 recruiters apply to work with Alex’s business every single week.On this week's show, I am joined by Alex Dick, founder of Alexander Lyons Solutions.Alex built a £1m legal recruitment desk for nearly a decade before a personal event led him to rethink everything.Now, he’s on a mission to scale with a revolutionary recruitment model – one that sits between the traditional agency and incubato
Season 8 | Ep19 FIFA to Founder: How a 20yr old Harry Portch built HM Staffing by accident
On this week’s episode of The RAG Podcast with Harry Portch, founder of HM Staffing. Harry’s journey is anything but ordinary. He started his business at just 20 years old – almost by accident – while playing FIFA! Now, six years later, he’s built a leading sales and marketing recruitment agency, transitioned to a fully remote model, and became a LinkedIn Top Voice. In t
Season 8 | Ep18 How 100K LinkedIn followers delivered customers, revenue & an exit strategy
The fastest-growing LinkedIn account I have ever seen in the recruitment industry!This week I sat down with Andrew MacAskill.From launching Executive Career Jump to becoming Chief Commercial Officer at Fraser Dove, Andrew has built a personal brand that’s led to over 105,000 LinkedIn followers, a published book, and global business success. What we cover in this episode:How Andrew built his L
Season 8 | Ep17 Jordan Shlosberg: Using tech, branding & social selling to drive revenue
Introducing the Top 100 most influential recruiters on LinkedIn...This week, I am re-joined by Jordan Shlosberg, founder of Atlas, for an unmissable episode of The RAG Podcast.Since we last spoke in September, Atlas – the world’s first AI-powered CRM for recruiters – has skyrocketed to nearly £1M ARR in just 9 months! But this episode isn’t just about AI: it’s about how recruiters can leverag
Season 8 | Ep16 James Sanders: 200 employees & 4 brands to selling 50% for £1 to survive!
Some recruitment founder stories end with an exit.This one starts with it falling apart.On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I am joined by James SandersJames built PSR Solutions from his bedroom to:£65M turnover200+ staffMultiple acquisitions4 specialist brandsThen came an unexpected call:£3M due. 7 days to pay.But some key lessons came from all of this and in this powerful episode, James c
Season 8 | Ep15 From doubt to £1M in 2yrs: How Hemish Ilangaratne built RX Group
On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I am joined by Hemish Ilangaratne, founder of RX Group, a specialist life sciences recruitment agency.In this candid episode, Hemish sheds light on his inspiring journey: From 11 years at S3 Group (where he didn’t close a single deal in the last seven years) to launching RX Group in 2023.Exceeding his modest first-year goal of £150k and reaching near
Season 8 | Ep14 Nick Asbridge on building a £1M AI rec business in 2 years – and working less!
This story is unlike anything I have heard in over 300 episodes of The RAG Podcast.On this week’s episode, I speak with Nick Asbridge, founder of Asobbi, a UK-based AI-focused recruitment company. Nick shares his incredible journey:From 15 years in recruitment to launching Asobbi in January 2023, achieving £1M+ in annual revenue in just two years.Why he worked less and felt less stressed as a
Season 8 | Ep13 Reflections, resilience & recruitment: my take on 2024 and goals for 2025
This is exactly what I see happening in the recruitment industry in 2025…This week is a special solo episode of The RAG Podcast, where I reflect on the challenges and lessons from 2024 and share my predictions for 2025.In this episode, I’ll dive into:📊 Why profit and quality are now prioritised over growth in recruitment.🤖 How AI and LinkedIn are reshaping the way we recruit and build relationship
Season 8 | Ep12 Keith Cronin on life without alcohol: Sobriety and living with purpose
The man who’s helped me live alcohol-free for the past 12 months!On this week's episode of The RAG Podcast, I am joined by Keith Cronin, the founder of Alcohol Free Living.Keith has been my personal coach for the past year and supported me in quitting the booze for a better life.In this honest conversation, he shares his powerful journey from struggling with alcohol to living a purpose-driven, alc
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